Getting back into the swing!

[Stunt Daddy]

Hi Guy's its about time I did my 1st Post - Slightly embarrassed its taken this long! Just been treading water for a while trying to catch up with all the goodies available nowadays! Its been about 15 to 20 years from the last time I had a crack at this hobby and boy things have changed for the better! The choice of what to get now is unreal. After speaking to a friend that uses the forum he introduced the sales page in to my life - which a visit has now become an everyday event. After much deliberation I eventually settled on a trex 500 esp bought from the forum - a beauty in a case just like new! and a phoenix sim (worth every penny) I soon was back into figure if 8's and some circuits and very quickly wanted to go bigger! ££ caching! Again after deliberation between nitro and electric I bought a trex 600 nsp! Which brings me to where I am today - still doing 8's and circuits! and now have a trex 700fbl in transit being delivered today! £££ caching ching! Anyway that's the boring stuff out of the way and I was wondering if anyone could assist in the do's and don'ts in Auto's as I would really need to practice these on the bigger heli's just incase of the unmentionable's happening! It would be good to know if blade types or specific pitch set ups would be of benefit before really setting in to this! I had a moment of madness a while back and auto'd the 500 from 8ft which was a bit too light in my opinion? - it bounced and toppled bad - ££. Obviously this put me off a bit and not tried any since other than on the sim! I'm just not sure if the other heli's would be set up or react like the sim? need some help please! Many thanks - Stunt Daddy! not!

[Flat Eric]

Welcome to the forum

[Stunt Daddy]

Cheers Buddy! Can you help with the auto's?

[expensivhobby]

The bigger birds have lots of "hang time" use this. Be gentle with the pitch and try to gain some foward momentum on the way down. When you get close to the ground say a meter just try to hover and it will come down on its own nice and gently when the head speed comes down.

[Stunt Daddy]

Sounds simple!! I guess its down to the size of gonads on the day hey! I get that the bigger the blades the better the hang which makes sense and will give it a whirl next time out with the 600! What height would you recon as a good start point?? or should I go for an approach auto and chance the forward flight?? Weather looking rubbish for this weekend anyhow! - silver lining will be more sim time I guess!

[expensivhobby]

Start small. Every time you come to land get a foot or so off the ground then flick TH to get a feel of letting the head speed drop. Then just get a little higher as you become more relaxed. Remember to check pitch curve in TH is the same as your flight mode pitch curve or it could get a little hairy.

[Stunt Daddy]

Great stuff thanks for the pitch advise - happy flying buddy! cheers

[Flat Eric]

Cheers Buddy! Can you help with the auto's?

Probably help with the rebuild after the auto

[pgkevet]

Learning autos is a good way to learn how to chip the roots of blades and scrape the tips..so start off with a nice cheap set of blades for the auto practices and get them a little tighter in the grips so they don't flop about (but not dogged down). Consider some cheapo plastic tails too. If buying from Hk then add a couple of sets of clone skids and booms and a spare TT and get in a set of front and back tt gears: you're gonna need al that stuff sooner or later anyway :-)

You've practiced autos on the sim but if you have a nice mowed runway stretch to play with for real then go back to the sim and practice sliding a few autos in.. handy for the times you're a bit short/low of your target and want to avoid catching the tail with a flare. And they're fun to do.

I agree you start practcing autos just by TH a couple of feet above ground and feeling it settle..and feling how you can hold it above the ground and for suprisngly how long.. which is where you ding the roots and the headspeed sloughs off and the blades spread +/- the odd minor tip-over. Get into the habit of noting wind direction and remembering to do them into wind unless you really want an exciting life with a screwdriver. You will start to look forwards to windy days as auto days.

Folk go on about dead zones but I went from the couple of feet above ground to some 8-10 feet then 20 feet etc..once you're above 20-odd feet for auto practice you might as well go for 100 feet or more or less..it's all the same..if anythign once you've got comfy with height it really is easier to let it tickle down with the stick just a tad under mid and watching/listening to a steady headspeed. And landing an auto for real is easier for real than on phoenix.

The other plus to auto is that generally you land with the dregs of headspeed..so if you misjudge there's nowhere near as much momentum in the head and less damage than you might think - unless you want to start out at 150feet with a blade stop that is....

[Stunt Daddy]

Eric you cheeky swine! You can help set up the new 700 later if you've got time? It's home and looks the biz

[Stunt Daddy]

Many thanks pgkevet! great tips and info will have a lookie around for some old blades and tails and prepare for the worst - then hopefully wont need them! Its a good idea to chop the grass to the bone too to allow some skidding if required - best get the mower out! Cheers mate

[waveydavey]

I auto in the event of a flameout or a failure of some sort, of which I've had more than a few, I can see no good reason to tun off a particularly good engine or motor in order to risk the model in what is no more than a landing

Welcome to the forum by the way

[Stunt Daddy]

Thanks waveydavey - I'm in the same boat - autos hopefully only use them in emergency situations! Better the devil you know than the devil you don't. Cheers mate

[electricsceadu]

I auto in the event of a flameout or a failure of some sort, of which I've had more than a few, I can see no good reason to tun off a particularly good engine or motor in order to risk the model in what is no more than a landing

Welcome to the forum by the way

to practice when the brown trouser moment happens
we both know the engine always stops
at the wrong position in the sky



to the op
pick a windy day
set the throttle to still drive the blades when hold is selected (remember not to start the heli in hold set like this)
set the pitch curve similar to your flight mode curve
practise you landings as if you were going to auto in normal flight mode
next
from a few feet hit hold and start the autos low to the ground
when you are happy go higher
when you are good enough start lowering the throttle in hold
until you end up not driving the blades when hold is applied
remember auto into wind

[pgkevet]

I auto in the event of a flameout or a failure of some sort, of which I've had more than a few, I can see no good reason to tun off a particularly good engine or motor in order to risk the model in what is no more than a landing

Welcome to the forum by the way

One way of looking at it. the other way is that an elected auto should be near to zero risk and do enough of them and when a forced one happens it's second nature, no brainer, casual and stress free (plus any other tautology). Real heli pilots practice them too. And whne i had my real fixed wing licence I practiced engine failures regularly. The pinnacle of my fixed wing stuff was the instructor with a sense of humour that set me up with a night time electrical failure on-board along with an engine failure on airfield approach and failure of runway lights all at the same time. I'm still not sure if he was unnaturally brave or a complete sadist with a death-wish!