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General control line discussion => Open Forum => Topic started by: Tim Wescott on May 11, 2016, 03:44:17 PM

Title: Learning to fly.
Post by: Tim Wescott on May 11, 2016, 03:44:17 PM
Well, my wife made over half a dozen loops today.  Next we're going to go back to the little 1/2-A thing and learn lazy eights, in preparation for inverted flight and outside loops.

My right shoulder is still not up to flying, so I brought Sister Jenny out and did as much as I dared with my left.  There's an amazing amount of stuff that I just can't do left-handed still -- I think I now have the flavor, if not nearly the magnitude, of what it would take to re-learn how to do things if I ever get a stroke.

My left hand managed to fly inside and outside loops, inverted flight, a square loop, a triangle, and lazy eights for all the maneuvers I didn't have the courage to try.  It's getting better, but I lost line tension on landing (the engine cut out in a loop), got discombobulated, and had a hard landing (it was just a very ungraceful bend-the-gear sort of landing, fortunately, not a "break Sister Jenny" landing).

It certainly looks like I'll be flying Carrier only at Roseburg -- but if a miracle happens and I can manage a reverse wingover I may do profile.  I'll nail down the low score with all the maneuvers I can do and zeros for the rest.

One of my club members was bragging about all the surgery he's had to his wrists and shoulders -- I said thank you very much, allowing someone to cut bits off of me with a knife will be a last resort, not the first thing I do.
Title: Re: Learning to fly.
Post by: john e. holliday on May 12, 2016, 11:33:51 AM
Sounds like you are getting there.  Stay with it, in time you will wonder why it was so hard.  Glad to hear your better half is doing better. H^^
Title: Re: Learning to fly.
Post by: Tim Wescott on May 12, 2016, 01:11:00 PM
Sounds like you are getting there.  Stay with it, in time you will wonder why it was so hard.  Glad to hear your better half is doing better. H^^

It's a bit frustrating in that my left hand is more or less at the level of capability that right-handed-me was when I was 16.  But I think that left-handed-me will pick things up faster.
Title: Re: Learning to fly.
Post by: John Leidle on May 12, 2016, 03:07:01 PM
   Tim ,
  I believe you can fly left handed if you take the time needed. By this time next year I believe you would be 98% .
                       John
Title: Re: Learning to fly.
Post by: Chris Fretz on May 12, 2016, 08:09:00 PM
I had a accident on a mini bike of all things two years ago an had to get surgery on my right shoulder. It was much better than living with the pain. It wasn't easy by any means but it was worth it. I ended up having to have surgery on my left shoulder last year. Thanks to having the left one done I got back into flying control line, I had a lot of free time being off work. It truly takes a year after surgery to feel great again. But it is better than living with the pain. Just my 2 cents...
Title: Re: Learning to fly.
Post by: RknRusty on May 12, 2016, 08:37:06 PM
A good many of us have bad shoulders, including me. So if I decide to learn to fly left handed it'll be a good opportunity to learn while holding the handle correctly, rather than backwards as I do with my right hand. My backasswards way inhibits my ability to teach someone to fly, and complicates my assisting someone to fly when I need to quickly take the reins.
It's something for me to think about. Either shoulder could blow without warning at any time.
Rusty
Title: Re: Learning to fly.
Post by: Phil Krankowski on May 13, 2016, 07:12:01 PM
You can do squares and triangles so it is a matter of time before the bits become wholes.

Phil