Ergo 30 in PreFlight simulator moves like Pendulum

I'm getting my feet wet trying to fly the Ergo 30 using
the PreFlight simulator (keyboard), and I find that
the heli will start moving like a large pendulum across
the flying field. Think of a marble in a bowl, or one of
those large ceiling-hung pendulums at a science musuem

Once I get it into a hover and then feed in cyclic in
some direction, it will tend to start slowly moving back
and forth across the field. It doesn't crash (immediately),
but this movement is very disconcerting.

Is this a peculiarity of the simulator, or of using the keyboard?
A related problem I have is that the heli quickly flys too far away
to see its orientation without cheating (zoom window).
I must be doing something wrong.

I used to fly planes so I've got the nose in thing down,
but this pendulum oscillation thing is confusing.

[colin]

Err, how do you fly an RC simulator using a Keyboard? You can't possibly carry that keyboard to the flying field.

So, basically, I don't really know what you're trying to achieve by flying a RC heli simulator using a keyboard, because it doesn't teach you anything or hone in your skills at all.

Anyway, to answer your question on the heli behaviour.....

Your simulator got it all wrong!! The behaviour is more like a Metal ball bearing balancing on a convex glass surface, and you're trying to keep the ball bearing in the center of the glass.

Originally posted by colin
Err, how do you fly an RC simulator using a Keyboard? You can't possibly carry that keyboard to the flying field.

So, basically, I don't really know what you're trying to achieve by flying a RC heli simulator using a keyboard, because it doesn't teach you anything or hone in your skills at all.

Uh, I completely disagree with this statement. There's more
to flying than the muscle memory in your fingers. Are you
seriously arguing that, say, a real helicopter pilot that
learned on one type of control configuration would start
from *square one* on a helicopter that used a yoke instead
of a stick, or directional touch keys for control?

Certainly, *some* of the skill in flying is specific to the transmitter
setup, but definitely not *all*, and I would guess not even 50%.

Anyway, to answer your question on the heli behaviour.....

Your simulator got it all wrong!! The behaviour is more like a Metal ball bearing balancing on a convex glass surface, and you're trying to keep the ball bearing in the center of the glass.

If I remember science class, we were taught that if the model
doesn't fit the experimental data, you don't fudge the data
to match the model. Instead, you change the model.

I know what I saw. The heli moved in arcs that would be
20-30ft in real life, across the flying field, with the
greatest velocity in the middle and slightly higher
elevation and pitch at the edges. That's just like a pendulum,
or a marble in a bowl. I was looking for help in solving that
behavior. I guess I'll just have to figure out on my own.

[colin]

Hi Lance,

You find the truth hard to swallow? Don't take my word for it. Let the rest of the pilots here tell you just how dynamically unstable an RC Helicopter is.

It was once said that the Harrier Jet is able to hover, but hovering it is like trying to balance it at the tip of a funnel of air. There's no difference in a heli.

And to answer your question about how a real pilot learns, I can tell you from first person's experience that we don't learn flying real helis using a keyboard or any other apparatus that isn't the real thing.

I'm a PPL license holder for fixed wing, and my instructor was dead against the use of any form of PC flight simulation. There was some real truth and reason behind that. We have another RC pilot here who is a PPL for rotary wing. Unfortunately, he doesn't log in here quite that often anymore.

But his posts is still here, under the ask the pilots section. Go check it out.