Flying tips

[Chris Currie]

Hi all,

its been a while while since I first posted on here, basically I got the urge to do more heli flying but had a busy year with work and moving house. I bought a trex 700 but sold it recently not having put it together. Ironically after it went I started flying my 130x and have now got more enthusiasm to learn to fly properly.

I've got myself RF7 and I'm trying to learn backwards flying, it's not going well but I've certainly progressed from being totally unsuccessful to where I'm now at the stage where I only crash 50% of the time!

My current plan is to concentrate on the backwards flying and slow pirouettes both upright and inverted to gain confidence in all orientations. I was just curious to see if anyone had some tips or ideas on what other skills would be good to spend some time on. I can do some basic flips as I've messed about a little with the small blades, however I don't want to spend too much time on 3D if I can't fly a heli round in a controlled manor.

Any advice would be gratefully received

cheers

Chris

[myxiplx]

My advice would be to work on orientations, they're the stepping stone to everything else. Slow piros are awesome, spend a few minutes working on those upright and inverted each day, and once you're comfortable with those start drifting them around. It might take a while but you'll get to the point you can fly anywhere you like while piroetting, and at that point you'll find you really don't need to think about what the helicopter is doing, or where it's facing, you just fly it.

Those slow piros also transition naturally to flying forwards, backwards and sideways. For backwards flying just start from a hover and just drift it slowly round a figure 8. As you get more confident build up a little speed and it'll eventually start to click. Do the same for sideways flying.

Once you can do all the figure 8's, start doing slow piros around the 8.

That'll give you a core set of skills that transition naturally to a whole host of things:
- Piro travel
- Hurricanes
- Funnels
- Backwards flight
- Backwards inverted flight
- etc...

Just for kicks, this is the skills chart I used to work to. I haven't updated it in a while, but this was great fun to work off while learning, and it really helped me see how much I was progressing from one month to the next:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...#gid=615055709

[myxiplx]

PS. Don't feel you have to tackle skills in order. I'm generally working on a whole bunch of new things at once. Just make sure you keep coming back to the basics to put a little time into them, but don't be afraid to work on other stuff too if you enjoy it.

[hedge]

This helped me so hopefully it will you. Backwards - To turn its sticks apart or sticks together (cyclic rudder). This is the same for inverted forwards (albeit reversed direction). Many people will say learn to fly so it's muscle memory, while I agree to a point it's also well worth learning exactly what the stick movement your about to give will do, and having bailout options planned - a full proof way of knowing exactly what to do when brain freezes. Now this is no good for fast flying but whil learning slow circuits you'll be amazed how many small oops this can save. I have to say for me it was like learning to fly again and I have still to learn inverted backward ugh.

[Chris Currie]

Many thanks for the replies, interesting little spreadsheet, I think I'm a little lazy to complete something like that but will definitely print it off as a bit of a guide to make sure I'm doing most things. I managed some piro circuits on the sim which I already feel has helped with my orientation.

Regarding the backwards flying, I actually found it a little easier to fly them faster which is ok on the sim or with my nanocpx as crashes don't really matter, it's only now using the sim more regularly I can slow it down and find it a little easier. I also am not too bad with the stick directions as you say(apart together etc.) it's the actual way I need to turn that catches me out sometimes, ie. if I want to turn left I actually turn right. Still early days though so I'll sort it out before I plump for a bigger heli!

One big thing I'm struggling to grasp is keeping forward momentum in all orientations. This is for me one of the biggest hurdles to get over having flown only fixed wing for 25 years. I noticed when rolling that after 1 the nose comes back up and the heli slows down. I'll probably post another thread on this as i don't want to confuse myself or others helping me here.

Again, I appreciate the time taken by you all to help. For info, I fly mode 2, usually a big debate on fixed wing which is best but for me, the best is the one you know well. I certainly won't be swapping to mode 1, 3 or 4!

I may try and get a video off one of my sim sessions to give you an idea of where I'm at and see if there are any glaringly obvious errors and things I need to work on.

Cheers
Chris

[myxiplx]

Keeping momentum going in all the orientations is tricky. The big difference between a heli and a plane is that the 'go faster' stick movement can be forwards, backwards, sideways, or anywhere in between! In a roll, keeping the roll precise is key, if you mix in any elevator you're either going to have the tail drift, or the heli pitch up, and it will throw you off.

Just keep practising your orientations. Work on sideways travel as well as forwards and backwards as it'll really help you if things go wrong. Being able to confidently fly the helicopter no matter where its facing or which direction it's moving is a huge help in avoiding crashes. In the early days I would always be going right instead of left, it just takes a good amount of stick time in all the positions to get it instinctive at all times.

[Chris Currie]

The rolls confuse me a little as it's hard to see what's axial, will have a look at some more videos to see how the experts do it. I wondered if anyone used tail when rolling to keep the nose in the right attitude. I use rudder on my fixed wing in every roll no matter how fast so it's probably something I'll be doing unconsciously for a while. Again I'll spend a bit more time on the basics but I do like to mess around every now and again for a little break from practising the less interesting manoeuvres.

[Chris Currie]

On a slight sidenote, does anyone know "gary911" on here. I seen is selling a logo 500, I was originally contemplating a t-Rex 550L but after a bit of research I had decided on a logo550sx asihave some 5000mah 6S packs. However if the price was right I could be tempted by his 500. As I'm new to the forum I can't post in the for sale forum. If anybody could let him know it would be greatly appreciated. Sorry if this is against forum rules.

[Boggy]

Chris use the private message system to contact him.

[Chris Currie]

Hi Boggy, I had tried but it seems my account is blocking it. I can't even view the for sale pages when I am logged in. I assume it is because I haven't used my account much. I did contact the forum admin but no reply as yet, I understand they will be busy so it's not a huge drama.

Cheers

[james_2k]

try this link:

http://www.rcheliaddict.co.uk/privat...o=newpm&u=5669

[_tj_]

Hi Chris.

I'm not an expert 3d flier way off to be precise.

I also learnt to fly inverted hover, stationary flips and rolls before I could fly circuits.
It took me ages and at least 2 450's to learn circuits, orientation and the model becoming really small kept catching me out.

Slightly odd.

But one day it just clicked and done it without thinking.

I've just learnt inverted tail first circuits (for some reason I find them easier than nose first?)

But I'm with you on the try on Nano cpx and then, in my case the 450.

I get told by my mates if you can do it with that (nano) you can do it with bigger helis.

It maybe not be difficult for others to do.
But each time I learn something new the satisfaction is great.

[Chris Currie]

Tried that link James but still no joy, lack of privileges, thanks anyway.

I'm with you tj on the orientation, I'm enjoying the Sim at the moment so will try and fly regularly. Unfortunately I work abroad for 4 weeks at a time so I just want to do what I can while I'm home. I almost cracked backwards inverted last night which felt good, still rough but I'm getting there!

[Boggy]

Chris your email is showing as unverified. If you look in your email folder you should have an email from heliaddicts with a link in it. follow that link and you should get access to the pm system.(not the foresale forum though you can only access that after 50 posts /one month membership.)

[Chris Currie]

Chris your email is showing as unverified. If you look in your email folder you should have an email from heliaddicts with a link in it. follow that link and you should get access to the pm system.(not the foresale forum though you can only access that after 50 posts /one month membership.)

I had a look in my mailbox but could not see anything recent. Did find my original activation from 2013 but the link did not work. Sorry for the inconvenience but could you please send one more.

Many thanks
Chris