It is phenonemanally difficult!

I'd always heard that it was three times as difficult as a 'straight ahead only' aircraft. Thought this was a bitover the top.

Tried it on a really sophisticated military simulator once and even keeping the helicopting from spinning (let alone crashing) was a major brain challenge.

You need so many skills and have to fine adjust so many factors. The tail end tends to overtake you. Wind factors are crucial.

Crashing was, I found, an absolute piece of cake.

From my family album. My first solo flight.

Its does take a lot of conrtols from the pilot as well as skill.
Found this.

Hover
Hovering is the most challenging part of flying a helicopter. This is because a helicopter generates its own gusty air while in a hover, which acts against the fuselage and flight control surfaces. The end result is constant control inputs and corrections by the pilot to keep the helicopter where it is required to be. Despite the complexity of the task, the control inputs in a hover are simple. The cyclic is used to eliminate drift in the horizontal plane, that is to control forward and back, right and left. The collective is used to maintain altitude. The pedals are used to control nose direction or heading. It is the interaction of these controls that makes hovering so difficult, since an adjustment in any one control requires an adjustment of the other two, creating a cycle of constant correction.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicopter

It takes a great deal of expertise to keep a helicopter hovvering and I have attached a game I have been sent just to show you how hard it is.

Be warned very addictive and see if you can keep it flying then you will know what they are contending with!

http://www.hurtwood.demon.co.uk/Fun/copter.swf

It's very difficult, requiring intense concentration, you have to keep 3 different controls in balance:

1) The Cyclic, this controls the horizontal position of the helicopter.

2) The Collective, controls the vertical position, on may helicopters this also incorporates the throttle for the engine.

3) The Foot-Pedals, these are used to control the rotation of the helicopter, by varying the pitch of the Tail Rotor blades, or the relative speed of the Tail rotor to the Main Rotor.

This can be further complicated by where you are hovering. In deserts or other arid areas, you may have to contend with a 'Brown-out'. This is where surface dust is blown up by the 'Rotor wash', leaving you entirely reliant on your instruments, as you have no external reference.

As above - rather difficult. I always gor confused by "cyclic" and "collective", so here's my explanation:

a) the stick (cyclic) - push it in a direction and the chopper will lean in that direction.
b) the accelerator (collective) - looks like a handbrake with a twisty handle. The twisty bit is the throttle - i.e. turn it in one direction for more power, the other direction for less power. The "handbrake" aspect of it changes the angle of the rotor blades above you to either increase or decrease lift.
c) steering pedals - the two pedals change the angle of the rotor blades at the back of the tail, which in turn changes the sideways thrust on that part of the tail, hence rotating (or yawing) the craft.