Hi everyone,
I am far from being in the position of counseling anyone here,
but I'd like to quickly type down my mistakes/problems in order to have someone who reads this avoid them or have a somewhat smoother experience:
One thing I did today is (finally) opening up my Taranis and fiddling around with the throttle gimbal until it felt somewhat right. It still doesn't feel "like it should" (..and not that I could give exact indications about how that would be ), but it is much better now! My improvement in the flight simulator was immediate - I was seriously starting to doubt my coordination skills, very bad thing for a surgeon..
What I did is very simple:
Take out the batteries of the Taranis, unscrew all the screws on the back while you make sure you have all switches facing the same direction. They WILL fall out, and in case you haven't been watching, you won't know how to put the switch back in. So I put all my switches facing away from me.
I left the flat connector cable on while working on the gimbal, that was no problem. Just get the appropriate size screw driver for the gimbal screw head and the case. Those are two quite different sizes..
I took "out" the indexing of the throttle by unscrewing the one screw with a smooth section on it. The other one (..in my rc-control it was the lower one) is a thoroughly threaded screw and I guess is not meant for regulating the tension.
Screw the screw holding the indentated metal strip back until its indentation does not touch the indexed wheel any more.
In my remote, the second metal strip - which regulates the friction resistance to movement, mainly the initial resistance - was fastened way too heavily, increasing the initial resistance for movement a whole lot, thus lowering the sensitivity. In this case it does not help fidgeting w the sensitivity on the software side: Your stick is just a brute.
It's much softer now, but I can't get that initial "plop" out. I will look for some silicone grease and see if that helps..

I don't know how it is for others,
but I consider the time spent in the simulator as very important.
I have spent quite some hour in the sky with my mavic, but that's a whole different pair of shoes.. It just barely touches what steering an fpv quadcopter means, I have the feeling.
Even though my mind is longing badly for the freedom of expression which is granted by the proficiency of steering an fpv quad smoothly, and it sure is trying to push the procedures,
I just can't get around exercising the same stuff over and over again, until my fingers - all of a sudden - start to do the right thing, diligently following what my mind comes up with. "Muscle memory", as it is called here, or oculomotorical reflex loop, as it's called in physiology.
To make a long story short:
One does not have to think in order to breathe. We, meaning our bodies, breathe perfectly - not too much, not too little. Just when we're anxious, or furious, or scared - then we breathe the galloping nonsense out of our lungs. THAT is the influence of conscience. That's what is happening when we learn:
The 20% of day-active conscience has to write the routine/program for those 80% of deep conscience or animal reflexes which govern us throughout the day. (Really true, 80% of the time we don't know what we're doing, we just feel it.)
Conscience has to be able to let go of control & the written program for the reflex system to take over. This transition happens a little bit like when we're falling asleep: As a kid, I was trying to catch the moment it happens.. Result: I couldn't sleep.
We have to observe attentively,
break down movements into simple components,
exercise them one by one,
put them together and exercise some more,
and then we have to forget about the whole stuff and..
..exercise some more :-)

So long,
be & do well & gnarly flying!!

E

I'm convinced that the mind writes these programs while we sleep.

I spent a long time learning to fly line of sight and that mental leap that's needed to put your mind in the pilot's seat just wasn't happening. One day, I came home from a frustrating day at the field thinking I'd never crack it. I went to bed that night feeling dispirited and wondering if I'd bitten off more than I could chew.

Anyway, the next day, I charged some more batteries and headed off to the field again. I remember it was a lovely warm sunny day and it lifted my spirits as I walked. I put my first battery on the quad, took off and instantly knew how to move the sticks, regardless of if which direction I was flying. It was a revelation! Literally overnight, I went from struggling newbie to confident line of sight pilot.

Great post campagnium!

I don't know if I have the guts, or need, to take apart my taranis but I can validate your second point. Yesterday I went out for my first flight and while I am by far no where near "experienced" as I fly out there I have control and I am able to manage turns and put myself where I want to be.

As another noob who has had my share of mistakes I'd like to add some thoughts. Much of this is stuff that I've read on here, or asked about on here, and now have confirmed or in one case found I don't agree with :p

1. Definitely get goggles with HDMI input, but they don't have to be the HD3 Fat Sharks but something that can connect to your computer to give an even closer to RL perspective. While it's still not even close to the real thing it does get you used to staying still as your flying.
   
2. As you mention above, create drills for yourself that you can practice over and over again. Make it something fun but something that can be done with discipline. I had a path in the autumn scene in liftoff where I would fly from the open field to the left of the starting point to the back one, circle the big tree then come back between the gap in the trees, turn around and go back through the tighter gap and then back around the tree. I've done that drill hundreds of times and I still do it sometimes even though I no longer float around when I try it. Now I try to get tighter in the corners.
   
3. Get used to long shipping times. If you walk into the hobby with a mindset that everything is going to ship as fast as Amazon it will cause unneeded frustration. If you know you're going to be ready to make it out to the field in 3 weeks, and you need something from China, order TODAY... If buying something domestic with standard shipping, give it at least 1 week just in case. 
   
4. Start with props that will forgive you when you crash. 
   
5. When you do make it to the field after practicing on sims try to go with experienced flyers. Going out to an AMA park and talking with guys who had a couple of years experience was way more fun!
   
6. I know that a lot of the advice from folks on the forums is "build first" but after doing more and more reading on tuning I think that idea sounds insane! You're already handicapped by everything else, why make the need to tune your first quad an additional factor? Buy something tough to start with and be ready to make repairs. Then get experience, change some things up, re-tune, then after you have that experience build something. 
   

Also... I am going to need to remember "oculomotorical reflex loop" I have heard people misuse "muscle memory" a lot lately and I'd like to zing them with that one. 

As for knowledge locking in during sleep, I always thought of that differently. I think when we walk away from something we practice that our brain is just full of noise after the practice. I think that the sleep clears out all the noise for you, resetting your brain rather than writing the content as if from a buffer somewhere... Interesting to think about though. I definitely have experienced the same!

(11-Mar-2017, 05:40 PM)unseen Wrote: I'm convinced that the mind writes these programs while we sleep.

I spent a long time learning to fly line of sight and that mental leap that's needed to put your mind in the pilot's seat just wasn't happening. One day, I came home from a frustrating day at the field thinking I'd never crack it. I went to bed that night feeling dispirited and wondering if I'd bitten off more than I could chew.

Anyway, the next day, I charged some more batteries and headed off to the field again. I remember it was a lovely warm sunny day and it lifted my spirits as I walked. I put my first battery on the quad, took off and instantly knew how to move the sticks, regardless of if which direction I was flying. It was a revelation! Literally overnight, I went from struggling newbie to confident line of sight pilot.

Heya! Thanks for your reply,
indeed what you're describing is the neurophysiologic learning process (within humans..):
A newly learned process cannot be recreated smoothly, as long as it stays in the "RAM" of the brain, our conscience. While learning new things, we direct those 20% of our attention which are conscious (..and sort of short-time-programmable) entirely onto those at first clumsy reflexes.
What makes us smoothly descend some stairs while reading newspapers & holding a coffee mug in our hands, or just drive a car while thinking about other things etc. etc., is the "deep" portion of ourselves, the animal-driven complex-reflex module. Our brain needs to put down priorities when learning new things, though: This happens exclusively over emotions! - Even the most linear, appearingly emotionless mathematic can't remember anything at all if he or she doesn't have strong feelings/emotions for it. Doesn't matter whether they're positive or negative - luckily!
So if we're trying to teach our motorical cortex (*sorry.. ;-) new things, it's important not to be indifferent about it (..*well, I just have to..): Either love it or really passionately hate it, then it will stick!
..and indeed again you're right,
this all happens during sleep, when our brain filters through our experiences of the day, compares the emotive value attributed to it and then let's it "sink" into our OS, the "deep" part of our personalities..
We feel so in charge of ourselves, but basically it would be ok to be a little more modest and admit that we're not THAT far from the "animal" world yet, and that it is good that it's so..

 hasta priesto, gotta work (..but long for the bench, *hehee..)

(12-Mar-2017, 12:01 PM)Carl.Vegas Wrote: Great post campagnium!

I don't know if I have the guts, or need, to take apart my taranis but I can validate your second point. Yesterday I went out for my first flight and while I am by far no where near "experienced" as I fly out there I have control and I am able to manage turns and put myself where I want to be.

As another noob who has had my share of mistakes I'd like to add some thoughts. Much of this is stuff that I've read on here, or asked about on here, and now have confirmed or in one case found I don't agree with :p

1. Definitely get goggles with HDMI input, but they don't have to be the HD3 Fat Sharks but something that can connect to your computer to give an even closer to RL perspective. While it's still not even close to the real thing it does get you used to staying still as your flying.
   
2. As you mention above, create drills for yourself that you can practice over and over again. Make it something fun but something that can be done with discipline. I had a path in the autumn scene in liftoff where I would fly from the open field to the left of the starting point to the back one, circle the big tree then come back between the gap in the trees, turn around and go back through the tighter gap and then back around the tree. I've done that drill hundreds of times and I still do it sometimes even though I no longer float around when I try it. Now I try to get tighter in the corners.
   
3. Get used to long shipping times. If you walk into the hobby with a mindset that everything is going to ship as fast as Amazon it will cause unneeded frustration. If you know you're going to be ready to make it out to the field in 3 weeks, and you need something from China, order TODAY... If buying something domestic with standard shipping, give it at least 1 week just in case. 
   
4. Start with props that will forgive you when you crash. 
   
5. When you do make it to the field after practicing on sims try to go with experienced flyers. Going out to an AMA park and talking with guys who had a couple of years experience was way more fun!
   
6. I know that a lot of the advice from folks on the forums is "build first" but after doing more and more reading on tuning I think that idea sounds insane! You're already handicapped by everything else, why make the need to tune your first quad an additional factor? Buy something tough to start with and be ready to make repairs. Then get experience, change some things up, re-tune, then after you have that experience build something. 
   

Also... I am going to need to remember "oculomotorical reflex loop" I have heard people misuse "muscle memory" a lot lately and I'd like to zing them with that one. 

As for knowledge locking in during sleep, I always thought of that differently. I think when we walk away from something we practice that our brain is just full of noise after the practice. I think that the sleep clears out all the noise for you, resetting your brain rather than writing the content as if from a buffer somewhere... Interesting to think about though. I definitely have experienced the same!

Thanks again, Dear, that's a lot of information!!
I'll be coming back to you asap, promise!
Happy day!