First proper weekend of flying

OK so it's not a first flight, but i had a really good flying weekend this weekend.

Saturday:

windless, sunny day, did some hovering, tail-in side in, sideways, forward, backward, trying different heights. Basically just trying to learn precision on collective, rudder and cyclic.

After three tanks i could no longer hold a side in hover as my eyes started to lie to me about the helis orientation. After tank 4 the orientation problems were creeping in during tail-in, so i went to the pub to watch the football rather than risk the wrath of the Dumb-Thumb God.

Sunday i turned up at our club with a delightful wind blowing, sat around a bit trying to get some inspiration to fly. Another pilot turned up so i watched him hover for a bit to gauge the wind.

I decided what the hell and tried to start the heli but the starter wouldn't even turn the engine. 1 stripped down heli and a lot of very patient help later and the bird was running sweetly again.

1 tank of fuel to get the feel of it again and then the dreaded nose in. After about 30s sliding around on the deck, raised the collective and there she was, nose in about 3 in above the ground.

Managed some good nose-in hovering by the end of the session and finished with a 360 piro in each direction.

I'm loving this hobby, and now that i'm not so scared of the wind i hope to get through the next gallon of fuel in less than the 2 months its taken me to do this one.

Thanks to everyone on this board who helped when i was trying to get this beast flying, whether on the internet forums or at the flying field, people seem so willing to help out a beginner, it can only be good for the hobby.

Russ

[darren_uk]

Originally posted by arachnoid
windless, sunny day, did some hovering, tail-in side in, sideways, forward, backward, trying different heights. Basically just trying to learn precision on collective, rudder and cyclic.

In flying real helicopters, one of the exercises during training is the quickstop. It's one hell of a coordination tester (over and above hovering itself).

Basically you transition away (gradually picking up forward flight, keeping the helicopter the same height above the ground) until you reach about 40 knots and then begin your climb out. But then you pretend that you have to stop fast (maybe birds have flown up in front of you). You have to:

- Pull back on the cyclic, which means you start to climb so you
- lower the collective, which means less torgue so you
- adjust the rudder pedals
- and then as the helicopter pitches through the vertical and tilts nose up (to begin decellarating), you have to
- raise collective because the helicopter start to decend, which mean
- adjust the rudder again

Oh yes, I forgot: on the piston helicopters you have to adjust the throttle through all this too.

At least your collective and throttle are on the same stick, and you've got the gyro to help you out, but it's still a tricky exercise.

After three tanks i could no longer hold a side in hover as my eyes started to lie to me about the helis orientation. After tank 4 the orientation problems were creeping in during tail-in, so i went to the pub to watch the football rather than risk the wrath of the Dumb-Thumb God.,

I read somewhere, I think in Ray's Helicopter Manual, that two tanks are the maximum, otherwise you'll start getting what you experienced.

Sunday i turned up at our club with a delightful wind blowing, sat around a bit trying to get some inspiration to fly. Another pilot turned up so i watched him hover for a bit to gauge the wind.

I decided what the hell and tried to start the heli but the starter wouldn't even turn the engine. 1 stripped down heli and a lot of very patient help later and the bird was running sweetly again.

1 tank of fuel to get the feel of it again and then the dreaded nose in. After about 30s sliding around on the deck, raised the collective and there she was, nose in about 3 in above the ground.

When I joined a club, the first tip I got was to face into the wind, that way the heli will weathercock into the wind and I'll be helped.

I've never been able to do a piro like you though :-) I need more practice on a simulator.

Managed some good nose-in hovering by the end of the session and finished with a 360 piro in each direction.

I'm loving this hobby, and now that i'm not so scared of the wind i hope to get through the next gallon of fuel in less than the 2 months its taken me to do this one.

After a couple of years and I'm just getting to the bottom of my gallon of fuel :-(

But now I've just bought an electric I hope to get more flying done!!

I'm really impressed you did a couple of pirouettes even though you're just starting out!! I bottle out when I get a bit beyond side on hovering.

i kinda started hovering nose-in and did 180s to get tail in. Got fed up with landing and letting it rotate back to nose in on the training carriage so i did started going in through hovered 180s. The difficult bit i found is from tail-in to nose-in, the last half of the piro is just excecuting my recovery plan without giving it any collective.

It has to be said that i have become an absolute sim addict. 1hr every day and often much more if i have nothing to do. I find the skills transfer really well to the real world, the amount i have to move the sticks may be different from real life, but the directions are identical