So sensitive on the controls?

[dillwhacker]

Agreed. Your'e dead right Tom.
I find a lot of expo (> 20%) gives the heli a strange un-natural feel, and often catches me out. Your thumbs will 'learn' how much stick movement is required, and massive expo will 'surprise' them by making the heli move more than expected. I don't like it. Need to train the thumbs to be delicate on the sticks.
Dead right about training legs - as soon as you can hover and land straight, take them off ...you will be frightened for about 3 flights, then you will wonder why the feck you ever had them - I promise.
Good luck - well - perseverance!

[hedge]

I would check your expo is the correct way around differs between radios, you may well have it positive - increase movement around center as opposed to negative or decreased movement around center...

To calm a model down around centre stick with a JR radio you would set +ve expo
To calm a model down around centre stick with a futaba radio you would set -ve expo.
To make a model more responsive around centre stick with a JR radio you would set -ve expo
To make a model more responsive around centre stick with a futaba radio you would set +ve expo

To provide some levity to the Expo vs Non expo, when Bert Kammerer was one of the worlds best pilots he would use 25% expo to calm the model down around center. So if you plan to be a #1 flyer your ok with expo :-)

[Mike Sanders]

As we all know, expo is useful to reduce the effect of the non-linearity of the travel of the servo arm.

By applying expo the sensitivity around the centre point is reduced, giving the user a more consistent response to inputs throughout the range of travel.

[Bamboo]

I have talked to many pilots over the weeks from pro to beginner and there does not seem to be one clear rule. i met a good 3d flyer who uses + 20 expo and another -20. One guy i met who was fairly good flew with 30 ex and 80DR and would never change it. Then a beginner on zero . As for training gear it really does not stop you landing heavy which is common with beginners but only makes you land balanced. it's the last minute slamming that beginners suffer with the most and the ping pongs don't help at all with that .....

[Ross Northcott]

I have talked to many pilots over the weeks from pro to beginner and there does not seem to be one clear rule. i met a good 3d flyer who uses + 20 expo and another -20. One guy i met who was fairly good flew with 30 ex and 80DR and would never change it. Then a beginner on zero . As for training gear it really does not stop you landing heavy which is common with beginners but only makes you land balanced. it's the last minute slamming that beginners suffer with the most and the ping pongs don't help at all with that .....

Of course people are gonna use differant amounts of expo, its just humun nature, what expo i like you might hate, just try it and see how it feels, but minus expo usually means there using Futaba radio as the needs minus rather than plus like spektrum radio's

[jwatts007]

Try making the sticks on your radio longer and tighten them up a bit...you will have too remove the back of the radio too alter the tension...
...

[Grumpy]

Some FBL controllers have expo programmed in by default, so you might well have expo even if you havent set any on the Tx.


To the OP... what pitch curve are you using? As a beginner there is no need for a linear +/- 12% 'curve'. You can reduce the pitch range to something like -4 and plus 8 which will soften the response considerably. If you aren't flying inverted then you don't need heaps of negative pitch.

[helijohn]

Ok, here's my tuppence. Experiment with expo ... I think I found about 25% to be about right for me on the 450x. Personally however, I found DR better at 100%. Otherwise you're just limiting how much throw / control you have.

left drift is normal as you've discovered, but forward movement isn't. You've either got the heli nose heavy (unlikely with a BNF) or the swash isn't level. Do you have anybody nearby who can test fly it for you to make sure it's flying as it should.

Regarding training gear, I think they're a mental crutch, but practically they cause more problems than they solve.

As as for thumb on sticks or pinching, most I know are thumb people, but it's whatever works for you ...

I have a mix of thumb on top and finger on the side.

I use about 20% expo.

The trainers are fine for stopping tip-over in a learner but as has been said try to remove them once out of the hovering/landing learning stage. I even use them when trying a new heli for the first time! A tip I used as I, being self taught and tended to lack confidence, was to cut the sticks down a lot but bit by bit.