Yes, I actually made the comment that he makes it look so easy. I was very envious of his ability. It was interesting, for all the flailing around we were doing when I was 'in control' it wasn't very scary, mostly because he was able to regain control so easily. He mentioned that in order to become an instructor he actually had to perform an autorotation to prove he could do it; the thought made me a little sick to my stomach; I know how all my simulator autorations have ended
The cyclic is definitely the hardest thing about it. And upon reflection about what he said and what I did, with practice I certainly could have done better; at least when just controlling the cyclic. When putting all three together it is very hard to coordinate! That, has to be the most time consuming thing to learn. And there is just no getting the thing to stay steady in any direction without some kind of input. I loved it though. I wish I had a few k just to spend on lessons to learn how to fly it well enough to hover. Maybe someday
The only classroom time was 30 minutes to quickly go over the basics of flight in a helicopter and safety, then straight into the heli.