Model Forum / Radio Controlled / Air Models / March 2009

In Real Flight, put the heli in "idle up" by selecting
the middle position for the 3-way switch at the top
left of the controller.

This brings the engine up to full speed with a little
negative bite on the rotor to keep it on the ground.

The left stick then controls only the collective (the
thing that makes the heli go up and down) and does not
vary the throttle setting on the motor.

Anticipate that as you raise the collective, there may
be a tendency of the aircraft to yaw toward the left
(this happens to me all the time because I do not
wait for the rotor to reach proper speed).

For me, it helps to realize that I have to counteract
every input I just made in order to hover in one place.
I don't have the delicacy of touch not to overcorrect,
so I do a little dance on the right stick mostly,
left-right, forward-back.  I make corrections on
yaw less often and usually with less difficulty (I
guess there is a gyro on the yaw axis helping out).

Transitioning to flight from a hover means shoving
the nose down (if you're following the nose, of
course) and causing some of the lift vector to
be converted to thrust.  

Transitioning from flight back to hovering requires
hauling back on the stick momentarily to get the
rotors to act against the direction of flight,
then going into the hover-dance right away, starting
with a quick pitch forward to stop the aircraft
from reversing direction.  I think of this whole
sequence as the "Whoa, Nellie!" manuever: strong
move backwards to stop the forward motion, strong
move forward to get level, then twitching to
hover.

It took me nearly forever to be able to fly away
from myself, return, and land.  I'm not entirely
certain what I was doing wrong.  I just made hundreds
of attempts and eventually got better.

In a relatively stable hover, the rotors will
be slanted slightly to the right.  If you try
to hover with the rotors perfectly level, you
will cause the aircraft to move to the left.
This takes a little getting used to, especially
(for me) in nose-in hovering.

The rule for leveling the rotors when the heli
is coming toward you is the same as the rule for
leveling the wings of an airplane that is flying
toward you--low side gets the aileron input.

You have to level the heli yourself after every
bank you make.  So far as I know, there is no
aerodynamic tendency at work for helicopters
to come out of a bank as there is for high-wing
trainers with non-symmetrical airfoils and plenty
of dihedral.  If you bank it left, you will have
to bank it right shortly afterward if you want
to stay in the air.

I am a sloppy heli pilot.  I do 98% of my heli
flying on the simulator, so it doesn't cost me
too much money.  I think I've got a lot of
bad habits from plank flying (mixing up elevator
with every aileron input).

The heli columnist for MA used to write, "If you're
not flying, you're not trying."  Keep at it on the
simulator and you'll eventually work out your own
system.

                Marty

I have not used either of those.  I use FMS and had to first set it up
correctly and trim the heli. It is set now so that if I throttle up the heli
rises and doesn't spin.  After that it's like getting to Carnegie Hall,
practice, practice, practice.
With FMS you can fly from the heli if you want, that is instead of looking
at it from the fixed position on the ground ,it's like you are in the heli.
If you do this for a while you can get the hang of the controls and not have
to worry about the spatial relation between you and the model.  When you do
fly from the ground concentrate on the NOSE of the heli, not the tail.

I can fly up, out a bit and back and land. That's about it.
mk

Well, it's hard to tell what the problem is, but the first place to
start is to make sure that the controls are set up properly.

If you give it enough power to just rise off the ground, it should
mostly just sit there, perhaps drifting slowly somewhere -- but it
should not immediately spin out of control.  If it does, something
needs adjusting.

Beyond that, this is a good site on learning to fly a R/C helicopter --

  http://www.dream-models.com/eco/flying-index.html
  `RADD'S SCHOOL OF ROTARY FLIGHT'

Side note: about learning to fly the real thing --

  http://philip.greenspun.com/flying/helicopters

... from the guy who brought us SQL for web nerds!

If you have the current real flight, try selecting the Axe Ez
helicopter.  That's a beginner machine of the coaxial design that is
pretty easy to fly in real life too.   Fly it around a bit until it
gets boring both tail in and nose in, then tackle trying to keep one
of the 'real' ones under control.