| Re: Practice those Autos!!!
Yes its important...though not much negative pitch is needed in reality.
I fly a Predator gasser that has about minus 4 degrees...this autos well enough...too much negative pitch can be bad..the heli can drop too fast.
Real helis auto with negative pitch.....where as Autogiros obviously autorotate but they are using 'advancing/retreating blade' to keep the blades turning. Its quite a complex subject...check out a library and find a theory of flight book to find out more.
If the blades are quite heavy on a model then there is a lot of inertia...so if the engine fails and you are quick to dump the collective the inertia is preserved...to a degree...and if you are low enough you can get a good landing....but from a height? I am not so sure about that. If you have been autoing from a good height I would say you must have some degree of negative pitch in there somewhere....plus some quite heavy blades?
Its interesting on sims when you alter the weights...lengths and drag figures of blades...I have managed to get my favorite sim model to behave much like the Predator I have....which autos really well.
Rob  |