Starting advice

[Shep0479]

I'm a newbie helicopter enthusiast I started about a year ago with a nano cpx and managed to hover ok and do half a circuit clockwise. I had lots of crashes but one big one eventually and haven't got around to fixing it. In the meantime I got my hands on a blade 4503d. This ended up damaged after second flight, however it is fixed but awaiting a setup in my local shop to explain setups.
However my question is because I've not touched the heli sticks for at least 6 months ( always flying planes though) what techniques should I be practising on the sim ( Phoenix ) so that I can start training myself and practising. Maybe a checklist of stuff to "master" lol cheers.

[SaneAdam]

I'm a newbie helicopter enthusiast I started about a year ago with a nano cpx and managed to hover ok and do half a circuit clockwise. I had lots of crashes but one big one eventually and haven't got around to fixing it. In the meantime I got my hands on a blade 4503d. This ended up damaged after second flight, however it is fixed but awaiting a setup in my local shop to explain setups.
However my question is because I've not touched the heli sticks for at least 6 months ( always flying planes though) what techniques should I be practising on the sim ( Phoenix ) so that I can start training myself and practising. Maybe a checklist of stuff to "master" lol cheers.

IMO, you should start with hovering. Learning to maintain a stable hover is obviously rather important.

Start with tail in. Once you are confident maintaining the hover tail in, start to gradually move the tail round so you are then in a side on orientation. Any tail inputs should be nice and smooth at this stage. Try to make sure the disc is level before you turn the tail, and keep it level throughout. (A good tip to get your head round side on is to slightly turn your body in the direction the nose is facing to trick your brain into thinking you are still tail in) You need be careful when giving tail inputs that you are not moving the collective too much (if at all…just enough to maintain altitude)

Get very familiar with controlling the heli in those orientations. Then my personal opinion is to then master nose in. Lots of people seem terrified of being nose in. It was the second thing i learned. It is no different to learning any of the other orientations. If you are disciplined and learn fine control in all upright orientations you will have a great basis for your skills

Then i would start to move the helicopter forwards and backwards getting a feel for increasing and decreasing forward momentum. That is crucial also…. and some may feel more comfortable moving to this stage before attempting nose in. That is fine. Providing you move to nose in once you can move the heli backwards and forwards and side to side while looking at it tail in….

Lots of people will have very different ideas on how you should learn based on their own experiences. Mine is just one example. IMO though hovering with fine control in all upright orientations is the key. It takes LOTS of time and LOTS of practice. Some become impatient and just want to fly around which may work. But i just feel you should be as disciplined as possible with your learning…… if you want to be really good anyway. It is not an overnight thing

[PKNEC]

Hi Shep.
hovering (tail in) at first then drifting from side to side and holding hovering position then when you are happy, slowly move the heli to side on orientations not to sharp an angle at first and moving it left to right etc.
It might seem a bit tedious at first but you will get to learn control in all orientations in a steady manner and prepare you very nicely for figure of 8's.

[Gaza-Davies]

I'm a newbie helicopter enthusiast I started about a year ago with a nano cpx and managed to hover ok and do half a circuit clockwise. I had lots of crashes but one big one eventually and haven't got around to fixing it. In the meantime I got my hands on a blade 4503d. This ended up damaged after second flight, however it is fixed but awaiting a setup in my local shop to explain setups.
However my question is because I've not touched the heli sticks for at least 6 months ( always flying planes though) what techniques should I be practising on the sim ( Phoenix ) so that I can start training myself and practising. Maybe a checklist of stuff to "master" lol cheers.

simulator is the best way to get your orientations down .. and will save you some cash on crashes id recomend you spend a couple hours practicing on the sim and it will improve your flying overall.

[Shep0479]

Thanks guys for all the opinions. I definetly know it's not an over night thing. I flew my nano every day at least 20 times and it took ages to do anything. But I want to get lots of sim practise so that I can enjoy my 450 putting all the sim hovering etc into practical flying. Cheers. Can anyone shed a bit of light on the characteristics between the 4503d Flybarr and 450x FBL cheers. Would I be better learning flybar less or does it not overly matter at this stage.

[Rich23]

Hi is that Chatham in Kent?

I second Adam's advice with learning hovering. One thing that helped me was to imagine a clock face and once you can hold a steady tail in hover start to move the heli's nose around the "hours" one at a time until your side on. Once your happy with side on (3 & 9) start to move round to nose in (6).

Hope this helps

Rich

[Shep0479]

Cheers rich. Used to live in Kent but I've now moved to tidworth Wiltshire last month. Need to update.

[Gaza-Davies]

You will notice the difference from flybar to flybarless .. they fly more sim like in comparison to a flybar .. in some sences flybar is harder to fly than a flyberless heli dont rush into fbl if your only hovering around but get your confidence up and go try it after you master your hovering etc

[Rich23]

I would have offered to help out if you needed any help but as you're not in Chatham anymore I cant just pop over lol

Rich

[Shep0479]

Cheers gaz. The reason I ask is I was after a 450x but the initial price put me off when a 4503d was very appealing to me. Cheers.

[Shep0479]

I would have offered to help out if you needed any help but as you're not in Chatham anymore I cant just pop over lol

Rich

Cheers matey.
People might be able to help actually. I repaired my 4503d but I'm struggling on setup as I had to replace the pushrods at the swash plate. But I'm struggling to set the pitch of the blades and holding the flybar still in parallel with the boom. Any tips for this? One of the reasons I can't be arsed with flybar

[Gaza-Davies]

Yep the prices shoot up from flybar to fbl but if you never used one before 450x would be a good choice as they are pre setup for you

[Shep0479]

Yep the prices shoot up from flybar to fbl but if you never used one before 450x would be a good choice as they are pre setup for you

I think I will put the sim time in. Fix the. 450 3d to practise as well. Then if I'm enjoying the slow learning I might treat myself to a new 450x or trex equivalent. After the summer. Cheers guys. Time to practise later.

[Shep0479]

Well the sim time is really coming in. I'm getting a lot better at hovering in all directions and I'm now doing slow circuits and figure of 8's. Can't wait to sort the 450 out to put it into practise. Cheers.

[Gaza-Davies]

That's good news dude! Keep at it ;-)

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