Curious question - on the transmitter, when flying, Do you use thumbs only or pinching between thumb and pointer finger (index finger) to control the sticks?

How does everyone here fly? What about people flying in actual race events? Any difference between them?

Personal preference. If I am flying LOS just for fun, then thumbs will do bu if I am racing with high rates / expo then pinching (for me) is more precise.
It's the same concept as soldering...you pinch because you want precision...otherwise you would be all thumbs. LOL

From a FB group I read:

Technically Pinch is more precise.

However all lead to yourself which way is more comfortable with. If start learning to fly pinch might be better to learn but if already comfortable with thumbs I recommend stay with thumbs.

I'm using thumbs too with no issue but I see few of my friends trying to force themselves to use pinch because some top pilots do so and after many months they change back to thumbs lol

I fly thumbs. I find it harder to go to full throw while pinching and find my responce better. I gueuss I learned how to play xbox first tho. In reality it doesnt make much of a difference, and you probably fly better flying whatever you naturally do.

Personal choice. I've always thumbed it and will always thumb it.

I don't pinch when I play my Playstation.

I give this post two thumbs up

I've been wondering this same exact thing. I was wondering if I'll ever be able to be a good pilot only using thumbs. I definitely grew up on game consoles, it will be a challenge to switch to the pinch.

As above, personal choice and what you feel most comfortable with.

I'm a thumber

Thumber as well, and finding myself losing control of the stick a lot in the cold winter... with my frozen thumb LOL

haha... I was asking myself the same question..
up till now, with smaller quads I always thumb it and was wondering if I should switch to thumb and pitch, might give it a try, but I guess not

Like many of us, I'm sure, I have always wondered if all the best pilots pinch and if I was holding myself back by using thumbs. I wondered it if was considered a "noob" or "kiddy" way to hold the Tx. So I started googling.

Looks like there is absolutely no relationship whatsoever: it's personal preference, although there is a bit more respect for pinching (nobody starts pinching then tries to learn thumbs). And it doesn't even seem to correlate to flying style. Although some thumbs pilots think pinching is slow/restrictive, "smooth" pilots don't fly pinch any more than "gonzo" pilots fly thumbs. To survey the Rotor Riot crew for example:

FinalGlide (smooth yet aggressive): thumbs
Skitzo (one of the smoothest pilots—people have accused him of stabilizing his vids): thumbs
Steele (extreme gonzo pilot): switched from thumbs to pinch early on (Flitetest interview)
Charpu (classic gonzo pilot): thumbs
Tommy/Ummagawd (smooth/stylish): switched from thumbs to pinch a few months ago (YouTube comment)

Thumbs for me, I find it quicker than pinching.

Helicopter's I pinch because that's the way I started, multi's I thumb. I agree it's a personal choice and seldom if ever has any bearing on skill level.

Just one more data point.... I used thumb when learning to fly airplanes. Made a few attempts to learn pinch but found it uncomfortable and could never stick with it. But when I started flying multirotor, I found that I had to start using pinch (actually hybrid pinch) - it's the only way to get enough fine control (on all axes, but especially on the throttle). Now that I've gotten into that habit, it's what I use all the time, and it has improved my airplane flying too.