Fear of lifting off

[allegro16]

I am a newbie to RC heli. Previously been playing with a 2 channel coaxial heli. I've just bought an Esky Belt CP with a heading hold gyro.

It's been a week and all I've ever done was to practice on the control responses i.e. I just throttle up till the heli is light on its skids and test the cyclic, ailerons and rudders to familiarize on the control movements. There was once I tried to lift off but it went out of control and ended up in a crash. Luckily it was just a minor one but the $$ I need to fork out for the repairs is just a painful experience. Ever since there is this fear in me if the heli ever lift up from the ground. Will it crash again and cost me more ?

Now the problem is I do not dare to increase the throttles further to get airborne. My heli is attached to the training kit.

Any advise from fellow flyers here ?

[hawkman]

Do you have a simulator? I would get one and learn on this....it will help you a lot.

Rob

[allegro16]

Does the simulator really helps ?
Yes I am thinking of getting one.

[Aztek1701]

Hi there.

Yes a simulator really helps. It will help you to get the "instinct". Which is essential when you fly helis.

Some other things to bear in mind. First you need to be flying it from the ground up. This is a big difference from the coaxial (2 channel?) becase it is basically stable and will lift off and fly on its own with very little help from you so all you needed to do was spool up and wait until it lifted. There is NO WAY that a 6 channel CP heli will do that. You must be in control and ready for what it is likely to do before it gets light (youve found this out now though). Second, it is a painful experience crashing them (I know I put one of mine in last thursday AGAIN so thats 2 expensive crashes in 6 weeks) but it goes with the territory in model heli flying. There is one certainty when flying helis... You will crash, even when your experienced, it still happens. The skill is to get more flying in than crashing and thats where the sim comes in. Third.. some heli for getting airborne.. As you spin up, the heli well want to roll to the left and yaw to the right you need to control that while smoothly and gently increasing the throttle. As soon as it gets airborne, it will want to move sideways to the left (this depends on rotor direction) You need to have a touch of right aileron in to compensate. The control movments you need to fly the machine are tiny.

My advice.. 1. Get a sim. 2. take a look at Radds School. http://www.dream-models.com/eco/flying-index.html 3. Skid it about on a smooth floor until you are really comfortable with it. 4. Get a sim and practice lifing off until it is second nature.

Hope this helps, Good luck.... Azzy

[vlam67]

Originally Posted by allegro16

I am a newbie to RC heli. Previously been playing with a 2 channel coaxial heli. I've just bought an Esky Belt CP with a heading hold gyro.

It's been a week and all I've ever done was to practice on the control responses i.e. I just throttle up till the heli is light on its skids and test the cyclic, ailerons and rudders to familiarize on the control movements. There was once I tried to lift off but it went out of control and ended up in a crash. Luckily it was just a minor one but the $$ I need to fork out for the repairs is just a painful experience. Ever since there is this fear in me if the heli ever lift up from the ground. Will it crash again and cost me more ?

Now the problem is I do not dare to increase the throttles further to get airborne. My heli is attached to the training kit.

Any advise from fellow flyers here ?

Your experience of the crash mirrored my own. After the first crash, I wondered if I am mentally challenged, and my motor neurons are all dead!?? Mind you, I have driven all sorts of vehicles from cars to trucks for 20 years, without any crash, dent or bump; and I can change gears, match rpm and brake at the same time going around corners using two feet on three pedals of a manual vehicle at the same time, like a racer. Imagine my disappointment!

After taking a big breath and ordered replacement parts, I concentrated on some hours of simulator flying to get the reflexes and getting used to the TX controls under my fingers. I have a Walkera 36, with training gear, and I used the free FMS simulator, because I still don't know how far I wanted to get/how far I would progress in this new hobby, so I do not want to spent more than what I have to, ie replacement parts. I can tell you, basic as it is, FMS got me past the fear of hover, and actually helped me to do it successfully.

Now is the particulars of my heli's behaviors at transition to lift off. I hope you can translate them into what happened to yours. My 36 main rotor turns clockwise, and the tail rotor is on the right side of the tail of the heli, looking from the top of the heli. It is pushing air to the right to counteract the turning torque of the main rotor. So when the turning moments is neutralized, there is a net push from the tail rotor to the right, bounded and amplified by the ground (ground effects), so the heli moves to the left as it about to lift off.

I have to control this drift by right cyclic stick and some rudder controls to hold the heli in place. As the throttle is increased pass the transition and the heli lifts off, it will immediately move to the right, because now the ground effects is less! You have to be ready and quick at this point- this is where the practiced hand movements in the simulator come into play! Correct it quickly but smoothly, while remember the same for the throttle and rudder controls, too! you don't want to panic and slammed shut the throttle here! (I winced in sympathy with the heli the times I did that, as the heli smashed back to the ground real quick!).

If you have caught that and brought it under control (heli steady, stays/ returns to where it was, nose direction steady), now is the hardest part. Slightly increase the throttle and let the heli raise to a foot or two, controlling the drift all the way. You would find it drifting every-which-way MUCH LESS! This lesson I learned by biting the bullet and said to myself "what the hell!" and overrode my fears and lift the heli UP! I found it helps by keep telling myself at this point:"Don't just correct the movements of the heli, FLY it, make it go where I want"

Some injections of the harsh reality here. You are guaranteed to crash heavily if you persist know, thinking you've mastered it! Even latter, you WILL crash at some point. The great Alan Szabo STILL crash from time to time! I know, when you successfully did it, the rush of the adrenaline is incredible. But don't push you luck! you are bound to be distracted at this point of your new-found success! Lower the heli gently after the successful 15-30 seconds or so. Get your breath going again, and begin to reflect and digest. Then go do something else, totally unrelated to heli flying. Then go back on the simulator, practice for a few sessions, the take a good sleep or rest, before trying to hover again. Your brain needs time to digest all the new experiences, that's what I have found the hard way!

And by the way, this is a rather more expensive hobby than many. Be mentally prepared for it. You decide for yourself how much you should spent in a given fortnight, month, or how long you will keep it up before major rethink ( for me, I set the total replacement costs at 1,000, take a breather, a hard look, then decide), taking into account of your spouse's sympathy, your desires, enthusiasm, and your finances...

Hope this long-winded post helps,

Vinnie

[dark_fox]

I don't know about the rest of you, but that fear when you first leave the ground never really goes away. All that happens now, is my fingers seem to do the corrections on their own. The entire flying experience is overtaken with less actual thinking, and more muscle trained movements.

I don't THINK, that the helicopter is moving to the left so I have to roll it right, my fingers just do it. Without realizing, I have complete control over the heli and all its small, hovering movements. Overtime this is what I see happens with most pilots, everything just becomes automatic. Its the same for nose in hovering, now I just seem to automatically start working in reverse. I dnow, maybe its just me.

The hobby isn't cheap, and definatly isn't easy. With practice and determination, I have reduced my crashing to almost a minimum. Which has defiantly made the hobby cheaper, and made my confidence greater. Now after almost 1-2 months on a sim, and quite a few flights of a Fixed pitch (and its a Walkera, go figure.) I am just getting ready to fly a CP. I can ALMOST fly inverted on a Sim, so I figured its time I gave the real thing a whirl.

[Aztek1701]

Hi Dark Fox,

Sounds like you are ready however, be awary that the real thing is different to the sim for a number of reasons. 1. The Adrenaline / Intimidation factor. The sims dont quite prepare you for the first time you are stood 2 metres away from a CP heli as the rotor gets to flying speed. 2000rpm might not sound like much but when you see and hear the rotor disk you will respect it lol. That plus the fact that if it crashes now its going to cost money, kind of focuses your "butt cheeks" 2. The sim helis are set up properly and dont do "unplanned things" when they lift off because the tail link has an extra 6 turns on it or the blades are out of track ect.

Bear in mind that the unexpected WILL happen in your real machine and you will be fine on your CP machine.

Good luck... Azzy

[hawkman]

Too right Aztek....The one important thing is a preflight and after flight check....if you are inclined to rush then opt for the after flight check.....use those tools and check tighten the tail rotor and work your way back....you dont need to re tighten everything...just look for loose screws/nuts/bolts...and dont forget the blades! check for cracks....and then check the electrics.

Chafing wires? by using some spare glo fuel tube you can cut this into a spiral...if you are patient...by using little bits of complete tube you can secure the wiring and make a nice neat job...stand the wiring off of anything with a sharp edge!

I have found Helicopters easy to maintain...its easy to see everything....and its easy to clean...for those nitro powered ones.

Get those checks in place....and whether you fly small helis or nitro....or gassers or even gas turbines....getting into a regular habit will pay dividends.