How to Master Revolution Reverse Flight: Tips for Mastery by Revolution Kites

Transcript

1. ›

   A gift for the lesson

   0:00

   Hi, I'm Joe Hadzicki, inventor of the Revolution, and today let's look at some advanced techniques to improve your reverse flying skills. But first, let me show you a surprise I got for Christmas from my brother, Dave, and my sister, Lolly, up at the Revolution shop: a Revolution masterpiece. Check that out. Normally these are only for special guests, but it was such a spectacular gift that I couldn't say no. You know what, let's use it today for our lesson.

2. ›

   Thumb control

   0:30

   The amazing thing about the Revolution is that it flies in all directions with total speed control: forward flight, reverse flight, and sliding, including speed control. The Revolution is all about precision control, and that starts at the wrist. It's all in this rotation. For example, bring those thumbs back, and that gives you forward flight by tilting the wing forward. Push those thumbs forward, and that tilts the wing back, and that's the reverse flight. In actual flying, those controls are very subtle and almost impossible to see. Thumbs back gives you forward flight. Thumbs forward gives you reverse flight. Find the balance in between the two, and you have a hover.

3. ›

   Horizontal reverse flight

   1:24

   For horizontal reverse flight, we have another challenge. If your hands are together, gravity will cause your Rev to slide down. What we need to do is pull back on the top wing. This tilts the top wing back and causes it to lift. If you can find the balance point on that sliding action, you'll end up with a side hover. It looks like this. Side hover. Put the hands together: it sinks down. Pull back on the top wing. Find the balance between pulling up and sinking down, and you have a side hover. All right, we've got our side hover balanced. What do we do now for reverse flight? That's right: thumb pressure forward will cause your Rev to fly in reverse.

4. ›

   The scooping problem

   2:13

   We've got one more challenge to address. We've got our side hover going, and what we've done to get it is rotate and pull the top wing back. This causes the wind to flow across that wing and down to the bottom wing. Now the bottom wing has more wind than the top wing. When you go into reverse flight, that extra wind causes your Rev to scoop up like this.

5. ›

   Three techniques

   2:36

   I've got three techniques to help you solve that problem. Reverse, scoop. Reverse, scoop. See how it scoops under like that? The first thing to realize is to be prepared for that to happen. Then when it starts to happen, you already know it's going to happen and you can fix it quickly. Number two, the real solution, especially while practicing: if you lead slightly with the top wing, it makes it difficult for the bottom wing to scoop under. So lead as you practice. Practice by leading slightly with the top wing. Number three, move into the reverse flight slow and steady until you lock in that direction. Once you've got the slow, steady direction set in, add more thumb pressure and accelerate, and you'll get a nice, smooth reverse flight.

6. ›

   Techniques in action

   3:26

   This is what it looks like. Reverse, scoop under, fix it. Reverse, scoop under, fix it. Number two, lead with the top wing a little bit. Lead, lead, lead, lead, lead. You can gradually decrease that lead until you've got it nice and steady. And number three, lock in a nice, smooth reverse and then accelerate.

7. ›

   Do not walk backwards

   4:01

   One of my pet peeves, and this drives me crazy, is when people walk across the field as they're flying in reverse. It looks like this. Reverse flying is not about you walking backwards. It's about your Rev flying backwards. So please, especially when you're practicing, fly your Rev backwards and stand still. It looks like this. Okay, you can actually walk backwards if there's no wind, like right now, but generally speaking, try to hold your position while you're flying in reverse. This is just a quick look at the details of reverse flight. We'll see you on the field.