In this month’s tip we will be talking about preparation and how to practice effectively. Preparation is key when trying to be successful in anything that you do. Over the years I have been able to fly in a lot of various events which required different styles of flying and a wide range of airplane designs. I have been fortunate enough to learn at an early age how to practice and prepare for events.
Before you can accurately practice you have to make sure that you equipment is ready to fly at its full potential. This doesn’t mean that you have to have the best of everything but you need to make sure what you do have is reliable and well maintained. Your equipment will take care of you as long as you take care of it. I routinely check my airplanes and radios to make sure that they are in tip top shape so that I don’t have problems when I go out to practice.
I have found that with all competition the best way to practice is not to go out and go thru the motions over and over again but you have to go out and fly with a purpose. That purpose has to be to improve the flying each flight. Whether it’s as simple as you landed the airplane or helicopter in the exact spot you wanted or you finally nailed a specific maneuver the way it’s supposed to be done. If you aren’t learning something new or polishing something you have already learned it’s very hard to progress which is what practice is all about. A lot of people say the person that flies the most wins. I don’t believe in that I believe the person that practices EFFECTIVELY the most wins. If you don’t practice effectively and practice the maneuvers correctly you will find yourself learning very bad habits. Bad habits take longer to break then just learning the correct way from the start.
The best way I have found to practice pattern flying correctly is to first isolate your weak maneuvers and practice them over and over again. Before you can fly a whole sequence correctly you must first be able to fly the maneuvers in the sequence correctly. My father always taught me once you learn the maneuvers and can fly them correctly you need to string the first 3 maneuvers together first because they set the tone for the flight. If the judges see you fly the first 3 maneuvers wrong it sets up for a bad rest of the flight. Once I have isolated and mastered the first 3 maneuvers I begin to learn the rest of the sequence as one whole flight instead of multiple parts.
This has been the way I have practiced for years. I’m not saying it’s the perfect way to do it but it is what I have found is the most effective way of doing things. The key in all of this is maintain your equipment and practice effectively.