Paul Heckles - Excellent training session!

[Jonathan M]

Had my first intermediate training session yesterday with Paul Heckles (near Swindon), and very pleased indeed.

In one afternoon of training, my understanding of piloting of a model in the air has been fundamentally transformed. I now visualise the plane and the rectangular volume of air in which it flies completely differently, and have begun to learn the tricks of how to anticipate rather than to just react - so much smoother, more predictable and less stressful!

I won't go into the finer detail or his teaching-style here, suffice that I woke up this morning strongly aware of the changes in how I think about it. Reviewing in my mind's eye the various training flights I made (rather than referring to any notes I jotted down during the de-brief afterwards), I'm confident that I've absorbed these first key lessons.

Clearly (as I already knew from my own job training adults), there's a tremendous and immediate benefit in un-learning poor basic techniques and building good new foundations for advanced ones - eventually!

Keen now to get out and practice, with the aim of returning for more lessons over the next few months.

PS - Paul also quickly suggested minor tweaks on my TX so that roll and pitch rates on my Acrowot are now better harmonised. And he got my FS engine running perfectly: reliably now at slow tickover, quick and unfaltering in acceleration, etc.

[Mike Stevens]

I have been looking at Paul Heckles for training but note he charges by the hour I think - looking to get some basic training on I/c flight but progressing towards A cert - wondered about the Midlands Flight school also - Swindon would be handy as could combine with a mini break but obviously also weather dependent so tricky to comit to holiday and get no flying........

[Bert]

A great flier, Paul Heckles. I remember him flying a Wot 4 with an Enya at the shows. He would fly around his head, doing flick rolls, then hang it on the prop and fly it backwards into his hand. Very entertaining!

Bert

[Cuban8]

Pleased that you chaps are doing so well with commercial training, but having looked at the price on the PH website £50/hour (2 hours minimum to start with) instructor time, you need to be pretty quick on the uptake!

It's a good service that they offer and they clearly have many satisfied customers from what I've read of them. Not just model flying but corporate shindigs, paramotor training etc.

Edited By Cuban8 on 10/10/2017 10:03:35

[Jonathan M]

Yes, not cheap, but infinitely preferable to no training at all, and the frustrating and damaging perpetuation of poor understanding and skills.

The lack of a suitable person to train me at my club meant that it took ages to get my A Cert, and even then it was only my self-taught soaring experience that enabled me to present a thin veneer of competence for the task. Subsequent to which, the continuing lack of a suitable club instructor to help me improve my skills meant that I hit a wall early on and never experienced the satisfaction of flying well without stress and frustration - until I spent this first £150 for three hours focussed, highly-experienced expert tuition.

Some clubs have a large regular roster of skilled instructors, others - like mine - virtually none at all, and so that for me was money well spent. I'll spend it again after some practice, and later on will spend it again if need be, until I can do all components of the B Certif confidently, competently, repeatedly and in any sequence.

In comparative terms, that total of £450 (or £600 if I need to do a fourth session at some later time) equates to the cost of a couple more fully-equipped proper models... which I'd fly just as badly as my current one without this sort of time-efficient, highly-effective training.

[MattyB]

All fair points, but £450 buys a lot of petrol and several years membership at most clubs - you could have joined up somewhere else further away with a good rep for instruction and got membership at a new and different site thrown in for "free"... It wouldn't have been so time efficient though, you are right.

Edited By MattyB on 10/10/2017 16:03:15

[Ian Jones]

Quite some years ago and at considerabley lower prices I spent 2 days with Paul Heckles. The first day was specificaly pre B cert. training and the 2nd was one the now discontinued jet experience days. Both great days, I did follow up by getting my B cert but I don't have a jet though!

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Jonathan M]

A fiver every six minutes certainly focusses the mind!!

In every activity I've taken up for any length of time (tennis as a youngster until I smashed my ankle, chess in my 20's, motorcycling and furniture-making in my 30's, sailing in my 40's) I've been entirely open to learning from expert instructors. Some stuff is virtually free (like second-hand chess books and nearly drowning through my own early ignorance), but some stuff needs to be paid for.

After ten years of riding large touring bikes, the most remarkable leap in my motorcycling skills came about from doing a 3-day intensive 1:1 course with a retired police rider. Didn't have a holiday that year!

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Jon Laughton]

Well done Jonathan - Ive met Paul and visited his field many times when it was owned by ATS: I learned to fly there and took my A certificate there as well. Im sure iti was money well spent!👍

Edited By Jon Laughton on 11/10/2017 18:17:28

[Jonathan M]

Cheers Jon

Paul took my chum Andy through his B a few years ago, and he now instructs at his own club.

The one thing I found that made a huge difference however was nothing to do the quality of Paul's training or my own ability to absorb and put it into practice: it was the simple fact that his school patch is on ground that is almost completely flat all around it and with very few obstructions. By comparison, my local club's patch sits out on a spur with significant slope-lift from three of the four cardinal points - and turbulence inducing foliage from the fourth!

Edited By Jonathan M on 11/10/2017 19:51:45

[Jon Laughton]

Yes its a good flying field although when I was starting to learn I did put a model (a Flair Kite) in one of the trees! Shameful! 🙄

Edited By Jon Laughton on 11/10/2017 19:58:04

[Chris Walby]

I think I'll chip in, as there is more than one way to skin a cat (in figurative terms).

If your club has plenty of instructors willing to give up their chance to fly on the few good days of weather while competing with all of the fair weather pilots crowding the flight line then that's one way. This might extend the time it takes to progress with specific skills and is it fair on the others wanting to fly while you practice set routines?

There is an alternative and that is to book a slot with instructor, so what do you get:
* Their undivided attention as you are paying them
* An empty flight line allows for more set piece work and try that again practice
* Drawing on the instructors experience and skills including model set up
* Between instruction sessions you can practice what you have learnt
* You can plan a structured and timely approach while working to your goal, we effectively have a flying season and trying to stay motivated throughout the winter will be hard

For me It was money well spend, for others its not needed as they are happy where they are or they can obtain the skills by other means, each to there own.

[Ian Jones]

Posted by Percy Verance on 11/10/2017 08:06:23:

I got my "B" about 30 years ago, and I've never owned a jet Ian........

HI Percy, don't think I'll ever own one either, even if I could afford it, it would probably mean focusing just on that one aspect of model flying and I I don't want to give up the favourites I already have.

So far as paying for instruction goes, at the time I was the only instructor in my club, we had one member with a B and he said he'd passed it so long ago he didn't feel he could help. My options were somewhat limited!

[Jonathan M]

Posted by Chris Walby on 11/10/2017 20:10:54:

I think I'll chip in, as there is more than one way to skin a cat (in figurative terms).

If your club has plenty of instructors willing to give up their chance to fly on the few good days of weather while competing with all of the fair weather pilots crowding the flight line then that's one way. This might extend the time it takes to progress with specific skills and is it fair on the others wanting to fly while you practice set routines?

There is an alternative and that is to book a slot with instructor, so what do you get:
* Their undivided attention as you are paying them
* An empty flight line allows for more set piece work and try that again practice
* Drawing on the instructors experience and skills including model set up
* Between instruction sessions you can practice what you have learnt
* You can plan a structured and timely approach while working to your goal, we effectively have a flying season and trying to stay motivated throughout the winter will be hard

For me It was money well spend, for others its not needed as they are happy where they are or they can obtain the skills by other means, each to there own.

 

Clear comparative analysis Chris. After struggling on, post-A, for another year or so at my club, I chose the commercial route. Worked for me.

Edited By Jonathan M on 13/10/2017 08:39:34

[Geoff S]

I always felt a bit diffident asking for someone to instruct me when I first took up aeromodelling in the early 90s. I built a trainer and, whilst several of the 'B' pilots at RR (Hucknall) MAC were happy to help I didn't like to pester them so I opted for paid lessons from a guy at Goosedale. Norman charged £5/hour and it was another £5 for day membership of the club and further £5 if you used his Precedent Hi Boy. Quite often I took the option of being able to cycle the 20 miles and forking out £15 for the whole package. Eventually I joined the club and saved the £5 day fee.

Although the £5 was supposed to cover an hour, in reality it was much longer including breaks. The other members in attendance knew all of Norman's shouts about not following instruction properly and there was a lot of banter which made the sessions a real joy. I learned a lot and eventually passed my 'A' and I didn't feel guilty about taking up people's personal flying time even though I'm sure they didn't mind.

Geoff

[chris evans 8]

i'm sure he's great and there's no doubting that a good instructor can make all the difference but paying for it? really? wow i had no idea people did that. at my club there is a very rich vein of people who more often than not turn up without a model just to help others... i guess we are lucky.

 

Edited By chris evans 8 on 27/10/2017 00:05:36

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

Never felt shy asking for help when i learnt, be polite n patient worked for me.

[Tom Thomas]

Sounds more like an advert! Buy a good sim, crash all you like whilst learning your own limits.

Stretch them in increments, discover more and more that you never thought possible, then up your game to more advanced flying and discover different disciplines.

All in the comfort of you're own chair, for one fixed fee and it doesn't matter what the location or weather forecast, you are able to have a crack.

That said I'm not knocking one on one tuition, but if you've enough of a grasp of basic flight, a sim will help.

We don't all have the money to indulge in one on one intense sessions as posted, great for those that are able to achieve it, but there are a great many ways to skin a cat.

Our hobby is addictive, indulgent sometimes, and fantastic, what ever way we as individuals improve in our skills...... it brings us together and fun is our collective goal.

Oh..... um...... sorry, I got a bit carried away!

[Jonathan M]

Some clubs are loaded with good instructors every weekend, others - like mine - have virtually none.

Simulators are okay for exploring some things, e.g. slowing the timeframe to learn, say, hesitation-roll stick sequences in zoom-mode then speeding things back up until the muscle-memory is there. But slumped in a chair in a weather-free environment with a virtual model that doesn't respond like my real one, trying to tighten up my whole flying doesn't cut it for me. Trying out a load of pretend foam warbirds or crashing a screen-based helicopter over and over again is also pointless. I want to be standing with my feet parallel to the flight-line, with the horizon in constant view, feeling the gusts on my face and neck, practicing real flying, living the stress of trying to get it consistently right in the real world.

No point in practicing rubbish. I want to practice the stuff that will make me a better precision RC pilot. I need someone to show me how to do that, then go away and practice, later on go back to the expert for more tuition and constructive criticism to help get me to the next level.

Loads of mediocre pilots spend tons of money on lots of models, which they fly... mediocrely! I'd rather have one or two good ones which I've been taught to fly well. We're all free to choose how we consume.

Jon

PS - If I said that I got really good customer service from a RC retailer, people would appreciate that - rather than cry out that it was an advert!

Edited By Jonathan M on 27/10/2017 05:33:19

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Mike Stevens]

I joined a club to get some training specifically turned up at the field and had a wait, didn't mind that - eventually had a flight on buddy - i could fly, but was flying an IC model for first time, but then there were so many others wanting training as well that i didn't get another flight that day so lasted all of 5-10 minutes. I would much prefer and willing to pay for some on to one where I can fly for a morning and get some tuition and feed back on any issues I have.

[Jonathan M]

Fair enough Percy. I didn't mean to be harsh and should have used the term 'average' rather than 'mediocre'. We all enjoy the activity and - my point was - we spend what money we have on the hobby in different ways. In some cases that means building up to a very full hanger, in others - like mine - that means a bit of intensive training. I'll probably end up not much better than average, but I need to get there first!

I just don't do the neg attitude to people spending money to advance their skills when they have little other option.

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

I had a long post written to reply, deleted it, has the pilot got a smile on his/her face is all that counts (and safe)

Rest is rubbish, do your own thing and don't stick labels on others.