Flying around

[Disc]

Guys,

I have had to fly the Predator a lot this past week as I cooked my
poor TT39 engine

But after 10 flights I can do everything I could do with the Raptor
with the Gasser. BUT I am suffering when I do a Right handed turn
Its not quiet as smooth as my Left turns for some reason. Why...
I suspect its to do with the head rotation.

Not had the chance to try Nose in yet much but I can nearly land side
on already.

Yesterday was stall turns and Today I looped it for the First time and
Its dam impressive sooo smooth it makes the Raptor look so bad to be
honest. Also I don't find it as intimidating now when its sat in the Hover 10ft from me either.

Now I want to go for my 'B' around Sept/oct if possible now what should
I practice most of all? I do a bit of everything during a flight hovering
Heli placement around the landing area.

[Raptorite]

Sorry to hear about your TT39, you may want to consider an OS37 in its place.

As far as practicing for the B goes, when I did mine a few years ago I downloaded the B test and examiner notes from the BMFA's web site and went through the list. The most important ones are the hovering M, top hat and 45 degree descent, if you and and do regularly auto, its amazing how much different the 45 degree descent is, as it is powered the whole way down. The hovering manoeuvres are all done at an altitude of skids at eye level, so dont be tempted to practice with the model lower down.

The other thing to work on is to make sure your left and right hand circuits are silky smooth with no gain or loss of altitude as are your stall turns. Also when you do your stall turns the piro rotation must always be away from the crowd, which are an imaginary 30 meters behind you. So in other words when you fly left to right you need to piro to the left and when you fly right to left you need to piro to the right.

The only other thing to spend some time on is nose in hovering, you need to be able to sustain it for at least 15 seconds.

Thats really all there is to the flying aspect of the test, but that isnt all the test is about, you must read the BMFA safety codes and understand them as you will be asked questions on both general club flying and flying at displays, so read the BMFA handbook carefully and learn it all. Also you will be asked to go through both the pre and post flight checks, which are also laid out in the handbook, so again read and learn those well too.

Practice wise, I was out flying every day for about 3 weeks before my test, going over the manoeuvres time and time again until I had them down to a T. One other useful word of advice is if you intend to use a model which you have setup for 3d with light paddles and things, it is well worth detuning the model a bit and going back to the standard heavier paddles until after the test.

Good luck!

Cheers,
Pete.

[Disc]

Rap,

I have gone for an OS 37 and Muscle pipe for the Raptor.

But the 'B' Over the Shoulder hovering concerns me a bit.

I will start practicing hovering at eye level, and Nose in...

BMFA rules and saftey stuff I'm not to bad on that as I had to help do
some of our Club rules and layout etc. My Circuits are not to bad with either
Heli but I gain height with the Predator out of the turn unless I am on the
Ball.

I think I will just to fly as much as I can trying out diffrent parts of the 'B'
and if I can get some one to be a caller at the Club so I can go through
the schedule as much as possible.



Best bit is the Pred now screams accross the strip at 12-16ft and it does
move for such a big machine



I might even go for my plane 'B' as well soon

[Raptorite]

I have heard something about this over the shoulder hovering thing, but I havent seen any specific details of it. The thing that surprises me a little is the existing hovering M is very similar, as the M is formed by the pilot standing behind where the bottom of the V is in the middle of the letter, therefore he/she is expected to hover the model out to both the left and right for the tails of the letter in line with the pilots position, so this is nothing new in terms of the B test as far as I can see.

As the B test is the one which allows you to fly at public displays and so on, the safety codes questions are biased towards the display flying side of things, so if you are well up on the club flying safety codes, thats great but dont forget the display ones.

It is probably worth flying the whole schedule now, see which areas you need to work on and go from there. The ones like the hovering M and the top hat will need some attention as they are not the thing we all normally fly on an average sunday afternoon at the field!

I can imagine what you mean about the predator, mine is as heavy as you like yet it still whistles along at a hell of a lick, long, low and fast flying is pretty spectacular and it can do some pretty huge loops too.

Good luck for your test, whenever you decide to go for it.

Cheers,
Pete.

[Sao]

Practice not tripping over when you perform the pilot 90 degree piro's

[Smoothound]

Just make sure the old tosser who is testing you can actually distinguish the heli from the surrounding hedgerows and birds flying across your field

[Disc]

Guys,

Did a loop today and well it went pair shaped and nearly Put my baby in
BUT I have discovered ask her to move and BLOODY hell it can power
out hard and fast if required! It just has bags of power to spare.

I certianly won't need a 90 Size Heli ever!

[Raptorite]

Well done on the recovery, I bet that was a heart stopping moment for you!!

At least now you know just how much power your model does have in case you need it at any time.

Keep up the good work!

Cheers,
Pete.

[Disc]

Actually I recoverd and resumed Circuits, I wasn't shaking at all just
annoyed. But yes I now know what power she has!