First Flight - Caliber 30

Sinerio:
First helicopter, no prior experience, and no one to help me. Here's how my first flight went:

After doing an engine break-in and initial testing in my backyard (helicopter secured to the ground), all looked good. I prepard my training gear, equipment, and headed out to my field.

I got it started, blades up to speed, just to the point where it began to get "light" on its feet. I was carefully checking to see if the tail was responding correctly (with GY401 in HH), and it was. I raised the throttle stick until it lifted off the ground. I didn't have any problems keeping in control. It was just like in the RealFlight simulator. Within a few minutes, I could hover within a few square feet with no problem. The ground effect was getting anoying, so I brought it up to shoulder hight. Much better...

I noticed that it took pretty much all of the collective/throttle stick in order for it to climb at all. I know it had at least 6-8 degrees of pitch, so it must have been the extra weight (or maybe throttle curve too low???)

I just about ran out of my first tank then refueled for my second. All went well once again. Time to call it a day...transmitter battery low.

Afterwards, my helicopter was covered in fuel mist. The tail boom, fins, everything... is this pretty typical? Anything I can do to help minimize this? Maybe an extension onto my exaust to route more of it downwards...?

I look forward to many more days of flying. What a rush!

Jesse

Yeah mine was covered in fuel too. If you don't have one get an exhaust deflector. It's a silicone rubber tube that goes on the end of the muffler, you can get them from a hobby store. They come in different sizes and suggest you don't rely on the ".XX to .YY size engines" on the package. I suggest you measure the muffler and the deflector. Once I installed it on my caliber no more mist (will hardly any). Most of my clean up is on the landing gear.

I am not an expert but let me tell you what I have on mine. I have a max of +10 pitch but I take off about mid throttle. I need about 75% throttle with training gear (rotopad) and I can go up from there no problem. It always amazes me how the model can pick up so much weight.

Are you measuring your pitch with a guage or using the marks on heli? I suggest using a guage if you aren't, the marks do not always reflect reality. Put the stick at 1/2 throttle. The carb should open 1/2 way and then check that you have the appropriate pitch. This will be a starting point to make sure you have the right throttle - pitch ratio

HeliTick,

Thanks for the advice. I'll definitly look into a deflector ASAP.

As far as pitch angles and such, I use a Robbe pitch gauge. I will double check the half-throttle/half-carb and pitch relationships. Althouh, I believe they were set correctly, never hurts to check again.

3/4 stick sounds about what it took me to lift off with training gear on. I'm sure once I take them off, about 1/2 throttle is all I should need.

Thanks again,

Jesse