Matty Flip: Roll and Flip in Opposite Directions

What is a Matty flip?

A Matty flip stacks two rotations that cancel each other’s orientation change: you roll one way and flip the other. The result is a heading reversal that leaves the camera roughly upright — which is why it reads as a stylish U-turn rather than a tumble.

The name is a pilot’s name, not a description. What matters is the structure: two opposite rotations, one upright exit.

Why is it harder than a split-S?

A split-S has one rotation and a clear inverted moment. A Matty flip has two rotations happening in sequence, and the second one starts while your orientation is already unfamiliar. That is why it looks easy on video and feels disorienting the first ten times.

The recovery demand is also higher: you finish facing the opposite direction, often at low altitude, with a camera that may be pointed anywhere.

How should you learn it?

Split the move before joining it:

1. Roll half, hold, recover. Practise rolling to inverted and rolling back out to level. You are training the pause, not the trick.
2. Flip half, hold, recover. Pull a half flip and stop. Same purpose.
3. Join them at reduced rate. Roll in one direction, then immediately flip the other way. Keep the throttle steady; the move needs no power surge.
4. Add height and repeat. Move the whole thing higher until the exit stops feeling like a rescue.

Keep the camera angle modest while learning. A steep camera makes the horizon leave the frame during the flip and removes the one reference you need. If you have not settled on a camera angle yet, do that first — the beginner guide covers the first-session basics, and Acro mode explained covers why the pitch stick behaves the way it does when you are inverted.

What are the common mistakes?

Rolling and flipping the same way. That combines into a larger tumble instead of cancelling out, and the exit is usually inverted.

Starting the flip before the roll finishes. Two overlapping rotations are much harder to read than two sequential ones. Finish one, then start the other.

Learning it low and fast. The move already consumes altitude and orientation confidence. Add height before you add speed.

Changing rates halfway through the learning curve. A rates change alters how long each rotation takes, which resets the timing you just built.

When is it ready to use in a line?

When you can choose the exit heading deliberately rather than accepting whatever the quad gives you. A usable Matty flip ends with a specific direction in mind — back through a gate, away from a wall, toward the next object.

Test it that way: pick a target behind you, fly away from it, Matty flip, and check whether you are now pointed at it. If you are consistently ten degrees off, the second rotation is finishing early or late; adjust the pause, not the rates. The tricks overview lists the rest of the set, and the settings database keeps any profile you settle on tied to the simulator it was flown in.