Just over two weeks using Phoenix. Should I be better?

[Mart61]

Hi guys

I'm still being self critical on my tail-in hovering. It is getting better but I feel it should be better than this after 2 weeks. Take a look and see what ya think?

I've learnt how to control the wallowing but still get into them a bit.

Your thoughts? How long did it take you guys to get tail-in wired?

[Hunders]

How do I view this?

[Mart61]

Hi and thanks. Alas it's a Phoenix flight recorder file. If you have Phoenix flight sim, you can download and open it. If not, I'm afraid you can't.

[DIJ]

I don't think there's any rule of thumb here, some poeple take to it very quickly, while others (including myself) take a lot longer. Speaking as one who has really poor coordination I can honestly say that you will get there, just give it time

One of the most common mistakes while learning is over compensating on the cyclic, and the best advice I can give is to suggest you move the sticks in really small amounts, like you are breathing on them.

[Hunders]

Yeah I have Phoenix. I can't open the file from the desktop so I figured I have to put it in a folder in the Phoenix directory but I don't know which.

[Mart61]

Yeah I have Phoenix. I can't open the file from the desktop so I figured I have to put it in a folder in the Phoenix directory but I don't know which.

If you save the file into your documents/phoenix/recordings folder, you can load it from there.

[Hunders]

Ah yeah I got it now, cheers bud.

I had a watch and you are pretty good. You sway left and right a fair bit but it doesn't seem out of control. Do you fly around on the sim or just hover? Also, do you put any wind on at all?

Its been three weeks in since buying my B400 and Phoenix and I'm getting pretty good if I do say so myself. On the sim I can just about fly inverted now but I still need a great deal of practice. I would not even attempt it on the real thing just yet, though :P

Cheers.

[chemicalbro]

you are being hypercrytical m8,looks good to me mart, although i'd suggest moving it back a little closer to yourself so you can see the heli better....
the wallowing around is normal for the first while (personally it took me around a couple of weeks to get that sorted too)
as time goes by you'll get quicker at correcting that.

even somebody who's been flying for years won't be able to hold a perfect stationary hover. take 110% concentration off it for half a second and it will start to sway around.

[Mart61]

Thanks for your kind words guys. I'll keep practising!

[chemicalbro]

another way to get a good steady hover is to have the tail at a slight angle away from you (whichever way is comfy and just a small amount... say 25 past on a clock...or 35.. whatever works for you) so that you can see the side of the canopy, that will let you see your elevator angle better and cut down on forward/backward motion.

[Mart61]

Thanks for the tip Alan.

What I reckon I could use is for someone to show me, on my pc, how it's done. Would be good to see it done "in the flesh" as it were. That way I'd know there was no issues with my Phoenix, cables and PC.

Sounds dumb I know but I think the phrase "Wouldn't have believed it was possible until I saw it with my own eyes!" springs to mind.

[quanter]

Martin

As Hunders said, if you have the wind turned on, as it looks like from the constant drift left, you are doing well on the hovering.

Brian

[Mart61]

Alas I have the weather selected to dead calm day. All winds etc at 0. And still I drift left. Does anything need trimming?

[Sesame]

Try recalibrating the Transmitter if you dont run through the sequence correctly it can be setup with an offset.

you dont normally need to use trim on Pheonix.

Ive not seen the vid yet so dont know how much your moving, but to hold a completely steady hover on PHeonix is quite tricky. so if its moving around a little it should be fine, only you shouldnt be driffting constantly left.

[Si Goodchild]

Haven't seen the vid yet, but a bit of left-drift is to be expected due to the tail rotor pushing you that way. Holding it steady means a little bit of lean to the right which is especially noticeable on the smaller models.

Have to agree with an earlier post that having the heli dead-straight tail-in isn't necessarily the easiest way to fly. Personally I tend to take off and land with the heli nose pointing about 45 degrees to the right or left. For some reason I find it easier to perceive the drift better that way.

Not sure which model you are flying in Phoenix but the smaller ones do seem quite twitchy don't be put off. The TREX 500 flies like a dream.

Happy landings, and keep up the practice.

Si