Do you pinch or use your thumbs

[RCTrayManUSA]

On my 9CHP I use my thumb on the gas ( left) and thumb and forefinger on the flying side (right). It's about a smooth move on the power side and more control of the motion in the ocean on the flight control. Of course I can split things up because I don't hold my transmitter my Tray does.

[afineman]

Hey All

When flying fixed wing: No neck strap and thumbs.

When flying Helli: Neck strap and pinch.

I find the neck strap and pinching gives much better control over the Helli where with the fixed wing I find I don't need such precise control.

Brent

[Doc Pete]

Originally Posted by cadconversions

I learned on my thumbs and switched to the "pinch" when I played with RFG2 by laying my tx on the desk. Really liked it so I purchased a tray and have found that I'm more steady and can really hold everything steady. I still fly with my thumbs if I don't have my tray.

That's what I found. In fact, that's what made me design my tray..........
Petal R/C Trays

[Grasshopper]

Two thumbs up here!

[Danimal]

Thumbs only for me I just tried the pinch method on my sim (didnt wont to crash one of my Heli's) just to see if I could do it.To watch me you would think I was flying with my feet.I don't know how you guys do it!

[cbethenc]

I'm a pincher too... been flying for a good 20 years, most of it in slope soarers say like 70% the rest is heli time mixed with glo and a small dose of electric (now increasing). And guess what.... i fly pinch all the time all the models/types....

[UncleBob]

I use the thumbs on the top with my index finger resting across the front of each stick.

[HX3D014]

So we use fingers or thumbs or both. But what do we use as a reference?

I.E. how dose ones thumb or fingers know where directly up is. Or down.

Besides our natural hand hand close ness orientation . where on the transmitter do we hold our other fingers hands etc .

My Helicopter instructor. for R22 and Jet ranger. says you can use just your finger thumb for cyclic and collective is usually at sea height . a quick thumb out to touch the seat. is enough to confirm. ( of cause this is just for low level bombing around). (NB Did not get heli license. and not even enough time to go solo, ran out of money).

Most every vehicle we drive we use hand or finger thumbs..
Car. hand palm wheel. some times it changes due to driving attitude.
Boat. same eh?
Bus / truck same eh?
Airplane same eh? Duno.

Who has been following the red bull races. Watch as they use whole plm n hand.

We use thumb and finger/s for a pen and this is some of our most preciece control that we can exercise.

so why did i go thumbs on a TX and not finger thumbs. ? ?

Dun O. think it was for faster responce. and so learnt that way. Oh And From Parachute and Sega and other games with butons. cept eh Mortal combat etc where combination of buttons were required and so I grabed the controler so each finger could land over one of each button or over two per finger.... I typed this with nine fingers. one is at the bottom of keyboard for refference. and the keyboard is small. So I also need also palm on bottom of keyboard to stable it (as i have no desk space and so the key board is resting on one lap).

To many choices in life. some need to be made in a split second, and. others over the period of your life. just make them on practicality, or good advice, and not Un Educated, but popular. Like Snakes on a Plane.

[kenchiroalpha]

hi i use what ever feels better for the tx im using at the time. based on size and feel of the grips of the joystick. clear skies and good flying

[Scottsr]

Thumbs for me . BUT I use a Transmitter tray with with a harness that goes over your shoulders instead of that neck strap that to me isn't very comfortable . Once you put the radio in the tray you just clip it on or off the harness and it hangs right there were you want it . You can even get hand rests if you use the pinch so you can rest the side of your hands and you can fly all day and never get fatigued . No I don't sell them I just really like mine !

[vax6335]

I use a neck strap to hold the weight of the TX and I pinch both sticks. I've always done that, just seems like using thumbs isn't precise enough for me.

[bert269]

I learned to fly a few months ago, in fact my first flight was in 2006!...WOW. Someone at the local RC Soaring club told me to use my thumb and forefinger...for more precise control. I can just say 'Thank you Roy Stubbs'. I've been doing that ever-since, plane and heli.

Great poll.!

Bert

[50+AirYears]

I kind of had to think about what I use as a reference, in regard to a previous question. One of those things you hust do without thinking. For myself, I guess part of it is hand position on the transmitter, part is the feel of no spring resistance on the sticks at neutral, part is felling the stick hitting the edges of the opening, and part is seeing and hearing what the plane is doing. I still haven't mastered getting the flap knob back to neutral yet, tho.

[red_z06]

deleted.

[rcjake]

I have been thumbing it for over 30 years...

[Lawn Dart]

I white-knuckle my radio like it's a video game controller, and use my thumbs to control my CP Pro. I tried the pinch method a few times, but I'm just not coordinated enough to fly like that and my poor poor heli usually ends up wandering all over the place. But I'm still pretty new to RC anything, so I may try the pinch method again.

[Adrian]

Strike's me, those who wear a neck strap "pinch" Those who "hold tx" use thumbs. I think it's all down to how we all 1st learnt how to fly. We of the modern generation (A-hem!) are used to Nintendo/PS controls & the rest are from the old school (read prehistoric-LOL ) use the pinch method. So next time at flying club, point out the reptiles! PS Many of the younger flyers younger than myself "pinch" But they were all taught by their fathers!!!- but like the rest of the dinosaurs they will die out.Long live "thumber's!"

[50+AirYears]

Speaking as one of dem "Prehistoric Dinosaurs", someone who's first radio had vacuum tubes instead of transistors and chips, and used a 3 Volt filament battery, a 6 Volt Bias Battery, and a 135 Volt Plate battery, and who's first reciever used a single tube with a 3 Volt filament battery, a 22.5 Volt plate battery, and separate 3 Volt battery for the rubber powered escapement, and pulsed a pushbutton with the thumb, and who remmembers Galloping Ghost, Kickin Duck, Reeds, Plug in Audi filters, the first Dee Bee Quadruplex and Sampey 404 Proportional rigs, I have to say that since going to proportional radios, a neckstrap for me is both an inconvenience and a danger around turning props, a tray for me is awkward and inconvenient, so I hold the tx in both hands, and pinch both sticks between thumb and forefinger. Never was comfortable thumbing sticks. Even harder for me now to thumb the left stick after having had a small stroke, but I have no trouble at all with pinching.
I even pinch on 2 channel 2 stick trannies.

Roar!!! Growl!!! Think I'll go out and push me over some balsa trees.

[50+AirYears]

Whoops, sorry, Adrian, I just noticed you're from England. Replace the word Vacuum Tube with Valve. I first just saw Cleveland, so I assumed Cleveland, Ohio, about 25 miles from me.

[bam75]

Hey guys new to the forum and just saw this. I have always been a thumb person. Used to fly planes in the 90's, now i have a heli and am considering trying pinch with it, since it is so different from fixed wing. Later.

[red_z06]

I've been flying airplanes with long extended sticks pinched with expo and no dual rate.

However, learning helis make me reduce the stick length to minimum while still pinching. The expo has been dialed to zero. The shortes stick feels still too long when doing piro-flips. While doing fast piro-flips, I feel like I'm losing firm grip or slipping during extended swirling on the right stick.

[Tireshred]

Pinch, I don't know why.

[Pyrock]

I used to do the thumbs method but recently changed to the pinch. The thumbs were ok but I found that the pinch gave me more stability when I increased my throws in order to do more aerobatic manuevers. I find that I actually use both methods because when I do flips and rolls, I actually remove my fingers for the quick movements necessary.

[andrewgore]

I was a thumb only kind of guy until I got into helis. At first with the heli I used just my thumbs, but decided to get used to thumbs\fingers on G3. Has helped a lot imo.

I do notice though my fingers tend to loosen up a bit, but are still there kind of thing. I dunno, I like it now. And with that, Im off to fly!

[SinxarKnights]

I was using a PSX style controller on the sim. I pinched that and got really good at it. When I finally got my HB CP2, the Tx is just too big to pinch.