Fma co pilot

[briancleator]

Hi has any one used the co pilot and what did you think,

[Smoothound]

Hi has any one used the co pilot and what did you think,

I read about them a bit when I was first starting but at the time I decided there were too many issues with them and also that it was kind of cheating. I think there was a V2 or something that was better plus there are others on the market now.

Thing that worried me more than anything as a learning aid(mainly for solitary learning) was that it would install too much confidence and then go tits up mid flight and someone would end up flying or crashing into themselves. If you are learning on your own the normal way you are a lot more cautious

[Ade_Law]

i have used them.... 2 main issues

the rx that is part of the FS-8 is not suitable for use with helis and digital servos. Its DSP basically and not a very good implimentation of it.

You will spend a lot of time getting it to calibrate correctly. Trees and buildings will affect it.

something else to break when you do crash the model.

personally i would only use it for use on a camera ship. and even then the benefits arent really worth the expense.

to put it into perspective, I can get people hovering solo and safely without training undercarridge in under 5 hours (125ukp) for the average, never touched anything RC before. If you have experience with cars, planes and boats its generally quicker than this.

Ade

[briancleator]

Fma co-pilot

Cheers i was just hoping to save some cash with this as its getting a bit costly, i will be getting lessons off alpha model sports, and use a thing called a m&m heli trainer.
But now just want to take it up a bit further at my local club, as no one there flys heli's just planes.
And as soon as i fire the heli up they all stop flying as they will not fly while a heli is going, Talk about making you feel unwelcome so any flying i do is on my own near my home, £48 membership fee i pay to fly on my own (Bummer) But hey well worth it just to enjoy myself and relax a bit.

[Ade_Law]

I have seen the heli trainer in action and have information from a reliable source as to its saftey. That was over a year ago so maybe they have improved it.

These training undercarridige type training aids are costly and a very slow way to learn.

Ade

[briancleator]

Heli trainer

Cheers ade so do you think i would learn quicker without this. I ahve used the training balls on long tubes but this is when i crashed a couple of times.

[Smoothound]

I used the balls and tubes but found once I had a couple of reasonable tail in hovers under my belt it was easier to continue with just the skids and taking it easy on the landings

[Ade_Law]

i have seen so many people crash on training skids. Also its a very long slow process as you have to cope with all the controls right from the word go.

Ade

[Fixxxer]

A couple of fellow club members are using the FS-8 and tried to convince me to get one. After watching them mess around for a good 10-15 minutes trying to calibrate them I decided it was a definate 'NO'. Just seems something else to set up and go wrong plus they work partly on heat signatures if I'm not mistaken so if it isn't very warm then they tend to play up, from what I have seen anyway. I also think it's kind of cheating a little but obviously this is a personal choice

Cheers.

[ChrisB]

I have used the FMA copilot on somebody elses model and didnt really see it of any use at all,it was great that you could hover a model high bang in full roll or forward cyclic,let the stick go and it would level itself,but this was really just a gimmick to me which soon became boring,also its fiddly to calibrate and is affected by surrounding buildings/hills etc.Its another item to break and the sensor was boom mounted and prone to boomstrike damage,also when you try to fly a circuit and bank it resists to a degree.

A training gear or some decent coaching on a buddy lead without a training gear is probably the best option,backed up by a decent simulator.

[briancleator]

Fma co-pilot

Well after much research on the co-pilot i thought i would buy one, got it tues fitted wed flew friday evening.
FANTASTIC Took about 2 mins to calibrate 10 mins to fit at first and when i went up to the club it gave me more confidence to try the circuits. set it off on 100% reaction changed it to about 60%.
I must say one of the best buys this year...
the good thing about it is i can set the sesitivity lower as i get better making me more in charge of the correction's when i mess it up.
Controls were no different in response and i flew it close to club house to see what it would do, just tried to correct it self away from it, which was fine

[ChrisB]

If it works for you then thats fine,hope it all goes well,just remember as you progress and eventually remove it,if you get into difficulty DONT let go of the sticks!!!!

[Fixxxer]

And no Chopsticks either

[briancleator]

Funny guys

Ha cheers lads will try to keep that in mind,

[Fixer]

Well I bought 2 FS8 units one for my 30 and the other for my 90, I’ve never been able to calibrate them properly, I gave up in the end and now have two paper weights.