Finally nosein hover....

[crashagain]

I got my T-Rex a couple of months ago and it seems that it has been taking me forever to get the hang of flying heli's.. Been flying planks for years and cars before that..
Everytime I would practice it has to be in front of my house, since my backyard sucks...
I feel like an episode of Wayne's World.... Game off.........Game on...
Everytime a car came by I'd have to set it down and pick everything up till they pass..
No wonder I could not learn, I could not get any quality stick time in..

So today, I figured I'd take everything to work, and after work look for a nice big place to practice.
Found a big parking lot, no one around and no traffic.. WHOO HOO!!!!
By the time I hit my third battery pack I was nose in hovering perfectly and even managed to get in a few figure eights just to see if I could do it..
Now I am having fun....
Can't wait to get back tomorrow and get a few more packs in..

[hawkman]

The trick is to have a set move so if things get silly you can recover the heli.

The best move is to go..right rudder...this way the heli will swing around and you will be ok...because once the tail is toward you its all ok.

If you have a simulator...if you dont I would reccomend it...then I use a simple trick to get used to the handling...I use 'Phoenix' which has a 'balloon popping' game...the balloons rise from the ground and you simply fly into them to bust them...the more balloons you bust the higher the score...this gets you used to the controls very quickly.

Congrats on a nice flying space...it must **** if you dont have a good place to fly...I am lucky with millions of places to fly here.

Rob

[crashagain]

I do have a sim and it's helped alot.
I can do all the stuff on the sim, it's just kinda scary doing it on the real thing.
At least the place I found to fly is nice and big and is not going anywhere.
I'm using the parking lot at the convention center.
Unless there is an event going on I got the whole place to myself.

[crashagain]

I got a question about turning around the heli in the air.
As I turn mine around for nose in, it slides to the right and loses altitude.
I have checked everything in the head and it's all tight and balanced and tracking perfectly.
Is it normal for the heli to lose altitude and slide sideways as it comes around?
I can keep it level if I go real slow but I see videos of guys going around it just stays put.
Is it me or my heli?

[hawkman]

Depending on which way you turn you can loose power because of the tail rotor input.

You have torque which is twisting then heli....the tail counters this...so going nose left will be 'easy' for the heli....but nose right...the tail is fighting the torque...so there will be a slight drain on power...just nudge the collective up a tiny bit...the heli will also tilt slightly. This happens because the tail rotor thrust is pushing the heli sideways...usually to the left...you counter this by leaning slightly right....the right skid will be a touch lower than the left.

Hope this helps.

Rob

[crashagain]

This helps a lot.
I have been turning the heli to the right while it does this.
Next time I'll turn it to the left and see what it does and pay more attention the the inputs I give it.
It sucks that the sim does not duplicate these charactaristics. Would help better when flying the real thing..

[hawkman]

Sims have limitations...I have yet to see an accurate 'vortex ring state' scenario being included....Vortex ring happens when you hover in calm conditions...and descend quickly...the disturbed air comes up and over the blade tips and ruins the air flow...thus starting a cycle which ends with the heli hitting the ground hard...if you are lucky the heli will bounce....the engine/motor gets blamed then....when its not actually that at all.

The best way out of this state is to fly forwards...or backwards...its rare that you have that much power that you can climb out of trouble.

Be careful when flying downwind too while descending....the disturbed air will be blown with the heli....and will cause loss of lift too.

Apart from that Sims are a good tool...heres a great tip:

If you have a balloon popping game included on your sim...set it up...and fly about busting those balloons...set the fuel/power level for 2 mins or so...and just fly like a maniac..the combo of balloon busting and power failures will get you learning to fly well and try some autorotations too.

Let me know how you get on.

Rob

[crashagain]

I have real flight and I don't think it has that game on it, but I'll look..
I went out today and got in some more stick time and did much better.
Now that I knew what to expect I was able to anticipate it and add the cyclic and other controls to make a perfect turn without it sliding off to the side.

Just have to keep practicing..