| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 34.1 | STEP ONE | MJOVAX::BENSON | | Wed Jan 28 1987 10:43 | 3 |
| Seems to me the best mode of action would be to find an instructor
or at least asympathetic hobby shop person to take you out for your
first flight!
|
| 34.2 | Don't Goose it! | MDADMN::EATOND | Dan Eaton | Wed Jan 28 1987 11:09 | 36 |
| RE: 34.0
DON'T GOOSE IT!!! Back before I had a gyro in my Cobra I got kind
of discouraged with my progress one day. I was having the same problem
you seem to be having. I wasn't able to get the copter in the air
long enough to get any practice at hovering. So I decided to try
something that was recommended by someone else and get the copter up
about three feet or so where it would be out of the ground effect
and more stable. What I ended up doing was watching my copter flying
along about six feet up doing pirouettes and heading rapidly for
the backstop fence at the softball field I was flying at. Luckily
the field was muddy and I managled the copter into the mud on an
even keel with the front pointing into the direction of travel.
The training gear left a three foot skid in the mud and my landing
skids were flattened but otherwise no damage.
After that little fiasco, I decided I was better off taking it nice
and slow. One bit of advise I got from this notesfile came in handy.
Watch the copter as it starts to get light and try to keep everything
on an even keel even before you lift off. That helps to avoid the
copter lifting off and immediately moving off in some direction
and you overcontrolling it back again.
One final point. Do you have a gyro? I was amazed at the difference
a gyro made when I put one on my Cobra.
Quote for the day.
"Helicopters don't fly.....
They beat the air into submission!"
Dan Eaton
|
| 34.3 | Another Hint. | MDADMN::EATOND | Dan Eaton | Wed Jan 28 1987 11:28 | 16 |
| re:34.0
Just remembered something else that might help. I haven't tried
this myself but it sounds like a good idea. Try getting the copter
light on the skids (training gear) and the practice moving the copter
from side to side, forward and back. Keep the copter light on its
skids and always pointed in the same direction while you're doing
this. Another point is that most people find flying the copter more
comfortable if the copter is off of their right hand side. Keep
practicing these moves untill you can do them and keep the tail
and collective under control with no problems. That should get your
control reflexes with in range so that you can then lift off and
try doing the same moves a foot off the ground.
Hope this helps.
Dan Eaton
|
| 34.4 | DRAFT | LOOKUP::AMSCOM | | Tue Feb 03 1987 03:38 | 15 |
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| 34.5 | Off Instructors and Gyros | AKOV03::BURKLEY | | Wed Feb 04 1987 11:40 | 13 |
| Thanks for response, people! RE 34.1, I went the instructor route
but because my throttle stick was reversed from U.S. side, it's
hard to get somebody willing to "take the risk". I'm used to Japanese
radio arrangement--all my radios are "backwards"--so rather than
switch pots I thought I'd keep trying myself. Maybe one hobby shop
guy (Fisher RC) will go out w/me sometime, though.
RE 34.3, thanks for advice. I'm using Sanyo gyro linkage for rear
rotor. If it helps so much, I can't imagine what it'd be w/o one!!
I will keep trying and will prevail (someday!). And I thought flying
a pattern ship inverted two feet off the ground was hard to get
to....
|
| 34.6 | Radio question????? | MDADMN::EATOND | Dan Eaton | Wed Feb 04 1987 13:32 | 5 |
| Ok, maybe I can hover my Cobra but I'm still learning this "RC"
stuff. What do you mean the radio's backwords? What kind of radio
is it?. Is it set up for helicopters?
Dan Eaton
|
| 34.7 | Answer to question about radio modes. | SPKALI::THOMAS | | Wed Feb 04 1987 14:45 | 11 |
|
Dan what I think he is Talking about is that he is using
a different "MODE" set up than the flyers around him use.
Modes are the set up of the four common functions of the gimbles.
I'm not positive but I think mode 1 is aileron/throttle on
the left stick and rudder/elev. on the right. Mode 2 being the
rudder/throttle on the left and aileron/elev. on the right.
I think there is a thrid mode but I'm not sure what exactly it is.
I'm becoming a single stick guy myself.
Tom
|
| 34.8 | Question on how single stick radios work | MJOVAX::BENSON | | Thu Feb 05 1987 12:03 | 5 |
| OK, I'LL BITE...
I've seen "single stick" in advertisements-
How do they fit rudder/aileron/elevator/throttle on one stick?
|
| 34.9 | Long winded answer to how single stick radios work | SPKALI::THOMAS | | Thu Feb 05 1987 12:17 | 24 |
|
Rudder,aileron and elevator is on the gimbal. The throttle is
on a seperate switch. You rest the transmitter in your left hand
and fore arm. the throttle is set up like a stim switch on the
right side of the transmitter. This is easily actuated by you middle
finger of the left hand. Also all dual rate switches and usually
the retract switch can be operated by the fingers of the left hand.
What a single stick does is give you is two things. One is command
of the three major attitude control functions on a plane in one
hand and secondly is that it forces you to control the stick with
arm movements not only hand or finger movements. What I mean by
arm movements is that it's like how your taught to write in school.
They teach you to move your arm not just your fingers. It's the
same for a single stick radio. If you use your fingers only and
don't move your arm you can't get full control of the rudder at
all tiimes and typically you will find that movements of the stick
with just fingers will input slight rudder inputs that you didn't
intend to input. The rudder knob on the top of the stick is sensetive.
Once you get the hang of it it is great. If your interested try
and find someone that has a single stick and see if they'll let
you try it. They are very expensive to buy and they realize that
single stick isn't for you.
Tom
|
| 34.10 | In Japan, the Throttle is on the Right | AKOV03::BURKLEY | | Thu Feb 05 1987 15:41 | 17 |
| RE 34.5: Yes, I was referring to dual-stick mode being reversed
from "American" mode. All Japanese dual sticks are set up w/throttle
on "the wrong side"--kind of like their cars' steering wheel!
While in Japan, I learned to use throttle on the right w/aileron.
When I came back to states, it was no big deal to fly either mode
for airplanes--I was "switch" hitter. But helicopters are a different
world. No margin for error, huh? So that's why instructors cringed
when they picked up my radio and decided not to risk it. They shook
their heads and said "good luck".
By the way, if you think single stick or reversed modes are dicy,
you probably never flew old reeds "proportional" radios OR the
one-button escapement systems. Great fun for all. Let me see...
did you press button twice for left or right--or was it reversed?
Whoops, I pressed twice too slow and got two "right" signals!!
CRASH
|
| 34.11 | A beginner's first attempt. | BASHER::DAY | I might as well be parking cars | Mon Mar 30 1987 07:12 | 15 |
|
So how're you getting on?....
I had mine out
yesterday for the first serious appempt at flying... An
experienced guy checked it out for me, all ok,so off
I went.. Aren't they great,bloody difficult, but great. I
had to stop before my brain overheated, haven't concentrated
so hard for years..... I was enjoying it so much that I didn't
even get my plane out of the boot....
bob
|
| 34.12 | chopper flying is hard to learn | KERNEL::DAY | Just playing with my chopper.... | Thu Nov 05 1987 04:00 | 36 |
|
> I presently have a Hirobo Shuttle and hope that it survives
> long enough to teach me how to hover and get me into forward
> flight. By then I'll be pushing it and will be looking at
> getting into aerobatics.
There's a long way to go from forward flight to controlled
forward flight to aerobatics, an awful long way...
My kid of 4 could pull a reasonable loop with a plane. Helis
are not quite so easy. It's not just a case of pull back the stick.
It's not until you try to fly one of these things that you
realise how difficult they are to control, and how unforgiving
they are of mistakes....
One of the biggest (read most expensive) barriers to overcome
is 'nose in hover'. This really destroys choppers. I haven't
got to this stage yet, I can hover and fly around to my hearts
content. I turned it round to face me, just to try it. I guess
it stayed in the air for about 20mS... more new blades...
Expect it to take weeks to even get it off the ground in something
that resembles a controlled fashion...
I guess the difficulty is what makes them so satisfying to play
with...
I'd go for the .60 size.. Bigger is more stable, and will handle
the weight of a scale fuz better...
cheers
bob
|
| 34.13 | Shuttle Ready for Flight | VERGA::MACDONALD | Home of Digital Realtime Pubs | Mon Nov 04 1991 11:13 | 17 |
| Somewhat of a dead note ...
I finished building a Hiroba Shuttle ZX over the weekend. I need
to add the gyro and then I'll be ready for an engine start.
I noticed when I was installing the servos that the main rotor tilts
back at a greater angle than it tilts forward. Is this normal? I would
have expected the opposite.
Figuring out all the parameters on the Futaba transmitter will be a
bigger challenge than flying the chopper!
Does anyone have recommendations as to what control surfaces I should
reduce the sensitivity for?
-Paul
|
| 34.14 | Whirling Death Machines | LEDS::COHEN | What do I drive? a Taylor-Made! | Tue Nov 05 1991 14:07 | 30 |
| > I noticed when I was installing the servos that the main rotor tilts
> back at a greater angle than it tilts forward. Is this normal? I would
> have expected the opposite.
It's far from normal. What I hope you mean is that the Swashplate tilts
backwards more than it tilts forwards. The Rotor head itself shouldn't
tilt anyway at all. As for travel, your Cyclic should provide equal
amounts in all four directions. A Heli isn't like a plane, where more
up might be needed as opposed to down due to airfoil incidence. A
perfectly trimmed Heli should almost hover by itself, it's flight
envelope should, exclusive of the drag caused by the fuselage at
different attitudes, be the same in any direction.
> Figuring out all the parameters on the Futaba transmitter will be a
> bigger challenge than flying the chopper!
I take it you've never flown a Heli, you couldn't be further from the
mark.
> Does anyone have recommendations as to what control surfaces I should
> reduce the sensitivity for?
I would have expected the ZX manual would suggest throws.
Since you don't seem to have much experience, I STRONGLY suggest you
find someone in your area to help you out. The worst experience you can
have is to wreck it all on the very first attempt.
Randy
|
| 34.15 | | VERGA::MACDONALD | Home of Digital Realtime Pubs | Tue Nov 05 1991 14:15 | 6 |
| Right, the swash-plate. According to the manual (buried among all the
Japanese) the forward pitch should be greater than the rearward pitch.
I have all the control surfaces pretty trim and the gyro appears to be
functioning as advertised. I guess the final tweaking has to wait until
powerup day.
|
| 34.16 | Even-Steven on that swash plate. | STOHUB::JETRGR::EATON | Dan Eaton St.Louis,MO,USA, 445-6522 | Tue Nov 05 1991 16:14 | 37 |
| > Right, the swash-plate. According to the manual (buried among all the
> Japanese) the forward pitch should be greater than the rearward pitch.
Better re-read that manual. I agree with what Randy said in the previous note.
The travel on the swash plate should be equal in all directions. The only
reasons I can think of to explain that would be to either compensate for a tail
heavy problem or better, give the heli a natural inclination to move forward in
order to make it a tad easyier for a beginner to control. Personally, I'd set
the swashplate up for equal travel and then use the trim on the transmitter to
give it the forward inclination.
The idea behind giving it the forward inclination is that then the helicopter
will want to move forward on a learning hop instead of any direction. So the
beginner only has to controll side to side and the tail rotor while chasing the
heli across the field. Not such a bad idea for the first couple of hops but I
wouldn't carry it beyond that.
I also second Randy's suggestion that you find someone with a bit of experience
to give you a hand. A training stand might pay for itself in the parts it'll
save you also.
/ \ /
Dan Eaton - Demented / / \
Dragonfly / #
Pilot / #
/ #
\ #
//@@@ #
/ l @## .
/ #@ .
/ .
@ / \.
_/\
/\_
l
|
| 34.17 | | VERGA::MACDONALD | Home of Digital Realtime Pubs | Wed Nov 06 1991 12:53 | 2 |
|
Thanks for the tips. Look for a complete "First Day" report Monday!
|
| 34.18 | Pre-Liftoff | VERGA::MACDONALD | Home of Digital Realtime Pubs | Thu Nov 07 1991 15:19 | 15 |
| I have the engine running, but it tends to quit as the throttle
increases. I noticed some black threadlike material in the fuel line,
perhaps from the hand-crank pump I filled the tank with. Even with a
filter, the debris got in.
At any rate, even with the throttle at 3/4, the machine won't lift up
even an inch. The collective is moving through its range along with the
throttle. As I move past 3/4 throttle, the power seems to tail off
rapidly, and then the engine dies. Any thoughts on what might be
happening?
I corrected the swashplate problem (was tilting back fine, but not
forward). That problem was attributed to the aileron control rods set
too far apart and forward on the servo. This inhibited the forward
movement of the swashplate.
|
| 34.19 | No glow, no go. | STOHUB::JETRGR::EATON | Dan Eaton St.Louis,MO,USA, 445-6522 | Thu Nov 07 1991 16:12 | 7 |
| Sounds like a fuel flow problem to me. I had a similar problem on my Cobra years
back. Youd advance the throttle and about the time the rotors took up the load
the power would die off. Turned out to be some gunk that had got in the fuel and
lodged in the needle valve.
I suggest you flush your fuel tank to get rid of the black threadlike material
and then clean your needle valve assembly.
|
| 34.20 | | SA1794::TENEROWICZT | | Thu Nov 07 1991 16:24 | 20 |
|
here's a trick we've used with the new computer radios.
First start the engine and then flip the throttle hold switch.
with the throttle stick down use the computer percentage adjustment to
advance the throttle until you get 50% throttle. Then advance the
throttle stick. In this way you have a set throttle and a variable
pitch curve. You can use this to fine tune rotor speed,throttle
settings at hover and pitch settings at hover.
Other things to check might be a to lean engine
mismatch of the throttle and collective pitch curves.
How is the rotor speed at center stick?
Tom
|
| 34.21 | | VERGA::MACDONALD | Home of Digital Realtime Pubs | Thu Nov 07 1991 17:56 | 10 |
|
I have a feeling it is the mixture .. the Enya manual talks about
HI/LOW throttle problems and how too lean a mixture can cause the
problems I mentioned. I also suspect I had the needle value closed too
much. Turns out it was only open 2 turns. At high throttle, the engine
just couldn't suck enough fuel across the valve!
I'll print the info on the comp radio setup. Thanks
-Paul
|
| 34.22 | Seen that before | LEDS::COHEN | What do I drive? a Taylor-Made! | Fri Nov 08 1991 14:26 | 6 |
|
I've had similar problems with a friends Shuttle. Your needle setting
is too lean. Richen it up a lot.
Randy
|
| 34.23 | Update on First Flight | VERGA::MACDONALD | Home of Digital Realtime Pubs | Mon Nov 11 1991 08:12 | 31 |
| Well, I got the engine running smooth, and all the setup just right.
It helps to have a pitch meter! Bob at RC Buyers helped out quite a bit
in directing my fine tuning (something that the manual doesn't
provide). I also discovered that having the gyro set to reverse rather
than normal helps a GREAT deal.
So, I slapped on some training gear, and off I went. The first flight
was a full tank and consisted of a lot of short hops, hovering, and
manuvering just a few inches off the ground. It was a sense of
accomplishment.
The second tank was not so uneventful. I got a bit high (5-6') and
found myself getting a bit to close to a fence. I pulled back on the
stick (elevator), and dropped the throttle too quickly. Well,
even the training gear couldn't have prevented the rotor from hitting
the tail boom. $100 later ....
When I set it up again, I will eliminate a good bit of the rear
movement of the swashplate!
One comment about the Shuttle's robustness - 50% of the damage in
dollars was to the rotor blades, tail boom, and main frame. Both
sides of the main frame suffered severe cracks. The tail rotor housing
also suffered a couple cracks. The tail rotor mechanism was not
damaged. The only damage to the the main rotor mechanism was a few
broken linkages. There was no damage to the main shaft or anything from
the swashplate down.
It'll back in the air next weekend!
-Paul
|
| 34.24 | Question on helicopter radio's | SNAX::SMITH | I FEEL THE NEED | Mon Nov 11 1991 08:24 | 16 |
| A friend here at work was given a helicopter. He knows nothing about it, but
wants to fly it. I've already given him the standard "don't do it yourself"
pitch (no pun intended). He has an experienced fling wing pilot that will
help him.
What's he's asking me is "what radio should he buy". Beats me, so I thought
I'd ask here. Like I said, he knows nothing about the copter. He called it
a "shooter". Best I can figure is he meant Schulter. I'm assuming it's one of
the larger ones as he stated that the rotor length is 58". Do they make them
that big??????????
Anyway, assuming he has something around a 60 size Schulter, will a standard
4 channel radio suffice, or does he need more channels?
Steve
|
| 34.25 | It all depends | LEDS::COHEN | What do I drive? a Taylor-Made! | Tue Nov 12 1991 11:26 | 16 |
|
He needs a Heli Radio, especially for a larger craft. There are many
such radios available, with dramatically different features and prices.
If he expects to "get in to" Heli's, it's worth buying a decent radio.
If he thinks he'll bail out should this one be wrecked, a cheap radio is
a better choice.
At the high end, the JR347 is a good choice, it will also fly Airplanes
and Gliders.
At the low end, JR sells a 5 channel radio (HeliMax) that will just do
the job, but not break the bank.
Randy
|
| 34.26 | | SMURF::NADEAU | | Tue Nov 12 1991 12:44 | 17 |
| 58" sounds about right for the diameter of the main rotor disk.
Let us know which model it is, I'm curious as I fly a Magic.
As for radios: Any heli radio will do the job, what you want to
watch out for is the servos. If this is a 60 sized heli you'll want
the heavy duty ones. If you buy a low-end JR you'll likely get servos
that were intended for use in a 30 sized bird.
Everyone I know uses either JR or FUTABA, I don't know much about the
other brands but I do know that if you pick one of those you should
do well. I fly JR myself, I have a 347 and an old Century 7. The
servos that came with my 347 seem ok for a 60 size but I'm not sure
I'll ever use them. They just don't seem to be a rugged as the ones
that came with the Century 7 (no ball bearings, cheaper gears).
Brian
|
| 34.27 | Thanks for the info | SNAX::SMITH | I FEEL THE NEED | Tue Nov 12 1991 13:39 | 7 |
| Thanks guys,
I'll pass on the info and let you know what exactly he has. I'll be
bringing my Tower catalog in tomorrow for us to go through.
Steve
|
| 34.28 | Found out what it is | SNAX::SMITH | I FEEL THE NEED | Wed Nov 13 1991 08:19 | 7 |
| The helicopter this guy has is the Schluter Champion. The only one's I've seen
advertised are Champion "90's".
Anyone know anything about this helicopter???????
Steve
|
| 34.29 | Or I'll buy it from him, maybe | LEDS::COHEN | What do I drive? a Taylor-Made! | Wed Nov 13 1991 12:46 | 9 |
|
An excellent bird. Not at all a beginners Heli, though. Reportedly
expensive to repair.
If it's in good shape, suggest he look for a used Shuttle to learn on.
Save the Schluter for when he knows how to fly.
Randy
|
| 34.30 | Crash #2 and #3 | VERGA::MACDONALD | Home of Digital Realtime Pubs | Mon Dec 02 1991 08:10 | 58 |
| Over the holiday weekend I took the Shuttle out for a couple spins -
err, two crashes. Here's what happened.
FRIDAY - CRASH #1 [Pilot Error]
I decided to fly without the training gear this time. I found a nice
spot not too far away from three chaps flying their fixed wing
aircraft. After a brief intro and frequency check I set up and got the
engine running. After leaning the engine out a bit, I lifted off.
Without the training gear, lift-off was very smooth and even, although
the controls were very sensitive. I was standing directly behind the
chopper at lift-off so I lost my forward speed perspective. It took a
couple or three seconds to realize that I had quite a bit of forward
speed. At about 20 feet altitude and 50 feet out, I gave it some left
cyclic - whew! The bird went into a wide sweeping left turn and started
gaining altitude. It was rather impressive up there at about 75 feet
and out about 150 feet. As it came around to the 180 degreee mark I
decided it was time to do something. Erroneously I pulled back on the
throttle and gave it more left stick (when I should have given it right
stick). The expected loss of lift sent the bird right into the ground
sideways. Damade - about $55. Both main blades, a mixture arm and
linkage, the feathering spindle, flybar, and landing gear.
SATURDAY - CRASH #2 [Mechanical failure - sort of]
I repaired the chopper and decided to go back to training gear for the
additional stability and less control response. As the bird started to
lift off, it drifted to the left. This is typical with training gear -
clockwise rotor direction results in a leftward drift. Compensation is
easily had by raising the left skid up an inch or so off the training
gear. As the bird lifted off, I moved it into a slow forward flight. It
was flying straight and true, although gaining altitude with the
forward flight. As the chopper moved out about 70 feet and perhaps 20
feet in altitude, I pulled back on the cyclic to slow the forward
motion. As the chopper slowly settled to the ground, I failed to add
forward cyclic to level it out and it sort of skidded to a halt on the
grass. Without the training gear, I may have lost it. At any rate, it
was a safe landing.
Next step was to get it back to the starting point. I lifted off again
and began to swing the nose back towards me. Much to my HORROR, the
training gear loosening from the landing skid and hung down. This
imparted some serious instability to the chopper which was about six
feet up. As I tried to bring the chopper down, one of the training gear
balls (plastic and hollow) was struck by a blade, sending the chopper
into the ground. Damage this time, about the same as last time: set of
main blades, two mixing arms, one linkage, main shaft (the main
shaft was probably damaged in the first crash - very slight wobble
noticed in the swashplate), and landing gear.
I still have a tendency to overcontrol. The right stick self-centers
for a reason, but I have been holding it rather than tapping it to
level the chopper.
-Paul
|
| 34.31 | belated comments | LEDS::COHEN | What do I drive? a Taylor-Made! | Sat Dec 21 1991 14:56 | 44 |
| > chopper at lift-off so I lost my forward speed perspective. It took a
> couple or three seconds to realize that I had quite a bit of forward
> speed. At about 20 feet altitude and 50 feet out, I gave it some left
You do not have your heli properly trimmed. run-up and lift-off should
be straight up, unless you specifically ask it for forward cyclic with
the stick.
> decided it was time to do something. Erroneously I pulled back on the
> throttle and gave it more left stick (when I should have given it right
Never throttle back unless you're ready to land. Heli's don't glide
well (well, they don't glide at all) when the motor's cut back, they
just sort of plummet.
> I repaired the chopper and decided to go back to training gear for the
> additional stability and less control response. As the bird started to
> lift off, it drifted to the left. This is typical with training gear -
Negative. It's typical of an improperly trimmed Heli. You have too
much forward and left cyclic trim, or too much weight on the left side
of the Training Gear.
> clockwise rotor direction results in a leftward drift. Compensation is
> easily had by raising the left skid up an inch or so off the training
> gear. As the bird lifted off, I moved it into a slow forward flight. It
You should NOT be trimmed for forward flight. Especially when you're
still learning to hover. You gotta walk before you can run.
> Next step was to get it back to the starting point. I lifted off again
> and began to swing the nose back towards me. Much to my HORROR, the
Just as well. If you haven't learned to "hover-in", ie, fly with the
nose pointed toward you, you were likely headed for a crash, anyway.
I have no trouble flying a plane "nose-in", but I still can't hover my
heli that way. I always fly it around in a circle to bring it back to
me, or just fly it backwards if the distance isn't too great.
That left-right thing will f*ck you up for sure, everytime.
Randy
|
| 34.32 | Crashless for Several Flights | VERGA::MACDONALD | Home of Digital Realtime Pubs | Wed Apr 15 1992 15:01 | 13 |
| I've had a gallon's worth of flight time without a crash since I last
entered a reply here. I can keep the bird hovering in a fairly small
(10' diameter) circle for an entire tankful. It is pretty much "practice
makes perfect" and learning how to respond to variable winds! My
next step is to fly nose-in. The mental conditioning required to
"invert" three different inputs is a bit challenging!
I also feel a sense of developing expertise in setup. A good setup of
both machine and computer adds to the pleasure and ease of flying!
Now that spring is here, anyone been out flying their chopper lately.
-Paul
|
| 34.33 | | SA1794::TENEROWICZT | | Wed Apr 15 1992 15:19 | 12 |
|
Paul,
WRONG,
There is a considerable amount of practice on other things to learn
before you tackle nose in. Learn to hover and walk along with the
chopp, Hover around yourself, Hover at 5",10"30" altitudes, Hover
in a figure 8, Then perhaps it will be time to think about learning to
transition to forward flight.
Tom
|
| 34.34 | | VERGA::MACDONALD | Home of Digital Realtime Pubs | Thu Apr 16 1992 11:15 | 18 |
| Hi Tom,
Walking the chopper around was the easy part! I even managed to
master landing it on the picnic table (after the first couple times I
decided those rubber tubes on the skids would be a good idea). The
tough part was keeping the hover in a tight circle. There are very few
calm days in the nor'east during the spring. There always seems to be a
breeze. Constant input to the sticks is a must!
I also discovered the value of a little negative pitch. The other
day a breeze (more like a squall) lifted the chopper up from about two
feet to about thirty feet. I almost lost it completely. Turns out my
low stick pitch was around 4 degrees which provided a more than ample
amount of lift in the strong breeze! It kept rising even with the
throttle all the way back - pretty scary! I should have readjusted the
pitch after putting different blades on.
-Paul
|
| 34.35 | Idle Comments | LEDS::COHEN | What do I drive? a Taylor-Made! | Thu Apr 16 1992 12:22 | 17 |
|
I second Tom's opinion. Nose-In is the LAST thing you want to spend
time on. Many seasoned pilots still have trouble with Nose-In Hover.
Learn to FLY the thing. You're not going to need Nose-In for anything
but competition.
Also, from experience, Nose-In is tough. I always prectice on my Flying
Stand. I screw it up enough that if it wasn't on the stand, I'd have
bought a new chopper about 1/2 dozen times by now.
Also, your Thottle curve is set too high, too, if you can't get the
Heli to drop like a rock at idle. Sure it'll auto rotate a bit, but
there's no amount of wind that will hold it aloft if the rotor's not
being held to speed. You'de need a SERIOUS amount of wind to do that in
place of a running motor.
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| 34.36 | Is idle up on? | STOHUB::JETRGR::EATON | Dan Eaton St.Louis,MO,USA, 445-6522 | Thu Apr 16 1992 14:14 | 52 |
| Ok, I'll take a break and throw in my $0.04 cents.
Learning nose-in hovering is not a bad idea. It's tough and will be expensive
but when you've mastered it but when you're done you have a lot better control
over your flying. Total control of the copter in a hover at any angle is real
tough but when you've accomplished that then everything else becomes a lot
easier. You won't be worried about the copter getting at an off angle, loosing
orientation, and crashing.
What happens to alot of people is they don't spend enough time working on
the basics and they start into forward flight. Forward flight is actually
pretty easy and fun. Now given the choice of doing something hard (practising
hovering) or something fun (forward flight) most people end up doing a lot
of flying and a little hovering. I know a guy who was a great hot dog pilot
who finally came to the decision that he needed to go back and work on his
hovering because he didn't have the control he needed to do the manuvers he
wanted to. Now, he's one of the best pilots I've ever seen.
> Also, your Thottle curve is set too high, too, if you can't get the
> Heli to drop like a rock at idle. Sure it'll auto rotate a bit, but
> there's no amount of wind that will hold it aloft if the rotor's not
> being held to speed. You'de need a SERIOUS amount of wind to do that in
> place of a running motor.
I agree that it should drop like a rock but I think he's better off adjusting
the negative pitch. It's been my experience that under some wind conditions
or forward flight, without enough negative pitch the copter doesn't want to
come down. Droping the throttle and losing rotor speed makes the control
response real mushy which makes control that much harder. The idea behind
the Throttle curve adjustment is to match the output of the engine against
the torque of the rotor so you maintain a constant rotor speed.
Just as a side light regarding the 'SERIOUS amount of wind' comment. It's
probably a lot less than you think. A couple of years ago, a fella in Japan
took a Concept 30 and turned it into a slope soarer. He replaced the tail rotor
with a fin and took the motor out. That one still amazes me everytime I pick
up my Concept.
/ \ /
Dan Eaton - Demented / / \
Dragonfly / #
Pilot / #
/ #
\ #
//@@@ #
/ l @## .
/ #@ .
/ .
@ / \.
_/\
/\_
l
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| 34.37 | Forward Flight | VERGA::MACDONALD | Home of Digital Realtime Pubs | Fri Apr 17 1992 11:49 | 26 |
| I noticed one peculiar problem on my Enya that may have contributed to
my problem .. the extension tube on the throttle apparently loosened up
causing iratic engine RPM at low settings. I have since tightened it up
and added a lock washer.
So the general consensus is that "forward flight" does not include any
nose-in flight? Forward flight implies left-to-right and right-to-left
flight for the most part? I've never looked at waltzing around the yard
as forward flight since the bird has always been pretty much within 30
or 40 feet of me and moving very slowly. The common flight pattern I've
seen experienced chopper flyers do is fly left to right climbing
gradually, reach a particular point, turn the tail 180 degrees, come
back down right to left, start to climb again, turn the tail and repeat
the process back and forth.
_____ _____
+--[=] [=]--+
turn - - turn
- -
- - _____
_____ - - +--[=]
[=]--+ - - climb
climb - -
pilot
position
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| 34.38 | Advice from the Ignorant | LEDS::WATT | | Fri Apr 17 1992 11:58 | 9 |
| I ain't a chopper pilot, but nose in foward flight has to be much
easier than nose in hover! Foward flight should be more like a fixed
wing plane because the airstream keeps the tail under control. Nose in
fixed wing flight only really requires reversal of ailerons and rudder and
in most cases, the rudder isn't needed. It has to be easier to reverse
one control than two or more.
Charlie
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| 34.39 | First Loop | VERGA::MACDONALD | Home of Digital Realtime Pubs | Mon May 04 1992 17:08 | 14 |
| I performed my first loop yesterday. I started off a tad to low though
and wound up banging the landing gear against the ground at the
completion of the loop. I could've used more pitch too.
At any rate, I saw a piece of the landing gear fly off as the chopper
got back to altitude. I had so much forward speed though with a fairly
strong tail wind, that the bird got to far down the field for me to
feel comfortable with controlling its attitude. I slowed it down (I
could see the tail drop as it went away), but the bushes at the end of
the field caught it. Fortunately, the damage was minor - stabilizer
bar, feathering spindle, and boom. Main blades will need new covering,
but they held up very well.
-Paul
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| 34.40 | Reversing Controls for Nose-In Flight | VERGA::MACDONALD | Home of Digital Realtime Pubs | Fri Jul 24 1992 12:03 | 7 |
| After losing my wits on several occasions with nose-in encounters, it
occurred to me that it should be possible to program the transmitter to
allowing throwing one switch to reverse the controls for elevator,
rudder, and aileron. Anyone know if this is possible with the Futaba
7UHPS transmitters?
-Paul
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| 34.41 | It's really better to make the ol'brain work a little harder | STOHUB::JETRGR::EATON | Dan Eaton St.Louis,MO,USA, 445-6522 | Fri Jul 24 1992 14:22 | 16 |
| > After losing my wits on several occasions with nose-in encounters, it
> occurred to me that it should be possible to program the transmitter to
> allowing throwing one switch to reverse the controls for elevator,
> rudder, and aileron. Anyone know if this is possible with the Futaba
> 7UHPS transmitters?
Hi Paul,
I don't know if you can do it with a &UHPS but in any case I suggest you don't.
Beg, borrow, or make a training stand and spend some time with your copter on
it. This really helped me. The current trend in flying copters seems to be away
from the 'flick the switch to help the brain' stuff. Most people I know who
can fly inverted don't use the INVERTED switch any more. Mike Mas the master of
this stuff said people flying fixed wing patern don't flip a switch when flying
up side down so why do it with a copter. For nose in hovering, I found that the
forward/back cyclic (elevator) was the hardest, next came the right/left cyclic
(ailerons), and rudder was no problem.
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| 34.42 | | VERGA::MACDONALD | Home of Digital Realtime Pubs | Fri Jul 24 1992 15:57 | 1 |
| My brain tells me to duck first, work the sticks later!
|