okay so this has been bugging me for a while. i switched to manual mode (acro i guess, no angle limits) on my 5inch freestyle build back in november and i felt like i was improving pretty fast the first couple months. doing basic splits, some juicy dives, getting comfortable with the sticks in general. but now its like march and i feel like i havent actually gotten better in a long time. still making the same mistakes, still defaulting to the same 3 moves i know, not really pushing into anything new.

is this just a plateau thing that happens or am i doing something wrong training wise. i usually fly a couple times a week for like an hour each session. i do use a simulator too, velocidrone mostly, but honestly i get bored in the sim and dont spend as much time there as i probably should. wondering if theres a more structured way to approach practicing or if people just kind of freefly and pick things up naturally over time

plateaus are real and i think the sim boredom thing is actually the core issue here. when i hit a wall i started setting specific goals in the sim rather than just freflying around. like okay today im only doing power loops until i can do 10 in a row without a crash, then move on. treating it like practice drills rather than just messing around made a huge difference for me. also recording your flights and watching them back is brutal but useful ? you start seeing the same bad habits over and over and once you see them you cant unsee them

an hour twice a week might actually not be enough to break through a plateau depending on how much of that time you're actually pushing yourself vs just cruising around comfortably. ive noticed i improve way faster in shorter more intense sessions where im deliberately trying stuff that scares me a little, versus longer relaxed sessions where i just fly what i know. also are you flying the same spot every time? new environments force you to adapt in ways that familiar spots dont, you end up flying more actively instead of on autopilot basically