Various tutorials for newbies in one place

[chopperaddict]

In case thse are helpful for any newbies here, I thought I would post the list of tutorials that I have written over the last year or so, covering most of the things a new heli pilot wants and needs to know, and maybe some things that are even useful to some older hands......

The direct links to them are as follows:-

1 - Setting up a collective pitch helicopter -
http://www.netcplus.com/pub/downloads/How_to_set_up_a_Belt_CP.pdf

2 - Learning to hover a collective pitch helicopter
http://www.netcplus.com/pub/downloads/ChopperAddict's_tutorial_on_learning_to_hover.pdf

3 - Moving on from the Hover to forward flight -
http://www.netcplus.com/pub/downloads/Moving_forwards_from_hovering_an_RC_Helicopter.pdf

4 – Learning to fly basic aerobatics with a helicopter
http://www.netcplus.com/pub/downloads/ChopperAddicts_guide_to_early_heli_aerobatics.pdf

5 - How to correctly assemble and fit a Trex 450 style rotor head to a Belt CP–
http://www.netcplus.com/pub/downloads/How_to_correctly_assemble_and_fit_the_trex_450_sty le_rotor_head.pdf

6 – How to fit TowerPro SG90 servos to a Belt CP – and dodge the pitfalls
http://www.netcplus.com/pub/downloads/Fitting_Towerpro_servos_to_a_belt_CP.pdf

7 – Setting up a DX6i & heli for the first time – A step by step guide
http://www.netcplus.com/pub/downloads/Setting_up_a_DX6i_the_first_time.pdf

I hope these prove useful to anyone that reads them, and welcome feedback, criticisms, or suggestions for improvements

[Tom Burgess]

some good info there BUT..... it's not right to teach noobs to fly circuits around themselves

you fly in front of yourself as your peripheral vision lets you see whats in front of you.

[chopperaddict]

hi brgsstm

I really do have to disagree with you there..........

Almost every heli pilot I have ever met starts off FFF doing circuits around themselves

Remote circuits are several steps away from flying circuits around yourself, because the new pilot does not have to face any nose in orientation etc

I do agree with the peripheral vision comment, but NOT for the first time newbies fly FFF circuits. It is enough that they get the heli into FFF, they do NOT need to handle nose in orientations etc at that stage of their developmment IMHO ?

Once they can fly can fly circuits around themselves, they can then work on feeling comfortable with "semi" nose in via fig 8's and once comfortable with that, they can start to try out remote circuits, where the nose will cross in front of them. ?

[Boggy]

sorry but no choppertastic you are wrong. why do we have flight lines/pits areas? never fly around yourself which at some point will put the heli between yourself and onlookers / clubmates it downright dangerous

[Disc]

I agree with Boggy learning to around yourself is BAD Practice

Learn to fly in front of yourself is the best way IMO and no one I know has learn't to fly around themselfs and if they tryed that at the club i'm at I know what would happen very quickly....

[robgt]

Remote circuits should come after you've got orientation hovering sorted, so a lazy 8 shouldn't be too stressful

Cheers,
Rob

[swampy]

thanks Chopper as raw-meat myself, I found that usefull, however, what I've discovered (to my cost with the Gaui these last few weeks) if it ain't set up right, then you're ****in' against the wind, my best move was to join a club with experienced heli pilots there ready and willing to show me the ropes setting my heli up, as an engineer by trade, I set up my gaui to the book, to no avail, a week spent measuring swash heights with vernier calipers, makinf sure everything was just so count for f-all when the tx ain't set up right, and the bugger went manic on me and I binned it (again) (was nearly in tears this time around, bloody thing has cost me close on 300 quid these last 3 weeks !),,,so I've rebuilt the head again, this time, thanks to the guys in the club, I know how to set up my tx to tame the sod,,,

[unwind-protect]

I did LOTS of flying around myself when I was learning, as it teaches you a lot about coordinating all the controls to maintain a nice stable flightpath. I did it again when learning to fly backwards, and I started doing it when I was working on inverted (keep the heli pointing one way, and move it around yourself so you see it in all orientations).

However, this was ALL done on the simulator. Doing it in real life opens up too many issues.

[chopperaddict]

Hi everyone, and thanks for the feedback.

A mix of opinions here basically

As unwind-protect says, he did exactly the same thing, albeit on a sim, which he obviously found easier to do, so I still believe this is much easier for the new heli pilot trying to get used to flying FFF as it avoids the direct head on problem.

I have to admit that I rarely fly on an offical site as the local clubs around here are not interested in old heli pilots, so I virtually always use one of the many large areas of public land available where I can be WELL AWAY from anyone else.

In fact, when not on an official flying site, other experienced pilots do this, and I have flown with several very recently who regularly fly up and down the field, making hi speed stall turns at each end, and coming back on the OTHER side of themselves.

I totally agree that in a club environment, this would not be allowed for all the reasons rightly quoted by many of you, but so many new pilots do NOT learn to fly circuits, or indeed learn to hover in the confines of a club flying area.

It seems to me from your feedback that I should modify this by adding a rider to say that if you are flying at a (non official) site on your own, and you wish to try this, you can do so, but point out strongly that you cannot do so on official flying sites, pointing out the dangers involved in doing so ?

Does that make sense ?

I am trying to make these tutorials as good as possible, while also trying to cover all the bases if possible ?

[sacko]

Id personally stick with;

Hover tail in
Hover side in
Hover nose in
Figure of 8s... and you will have all the orientations a beginner will need for a smooth flight.

In that order. Flying around you is definitely asking for trouble and cannot see why it would benefit anybody. Surely if you think the heli is controlled when you are flying it around you, you can do it infront of you?

[Disc]

Hi everyone, and thanks for the feedback.


I totally agree that in a club environment, this would not be allowed for all the reasons rightly quoted by many of you, but so many new pilots do NOT learn to fly circuits, or indeed learn to hover in the confines of a club flying area.

I have a comment but I am afraid if I say it getting banned and probably ****ing a few people off at the same time...

So my polite version is:

What Rubbish

[Boggy]

a little senario for you chopperaddict.

you walk out to the middle of the field,and set up your heli. take off and hover for a few seconds and get the feel with a few gentle side turns and your happy with the heli,so off you go into forward flight(to your right or left it doesn't matter) now you turn the heli to come back around yourself as you suggest(stall turn /chandelle or banked or however) as the heli increases speed you turnaround to follow it and there stood behind you are 3 small children!!! ...............now not forgetting your a learner pilot that hasn't even done the basic orientations .what do you do???

[Flybar]

As some people seem opposed to flying circuits around themselves, how about hovering.

In Dave Days, book "Flying Model Helicopters" page 137 /138 he shows and describes hovering around oneself tail in, side in etc .I'm sure I've also read this method in one of the Heli. magazines beginners "start here" courses.

So is this method also a bad idea or ??

Cheers

Peter

[Boggy]

what do you learn from hovering around yourself tail in,except how to make yourself dizzy??? i still say everything should be done infront of yourself.isnt it just common sense?? how can you watch the heli and before doing this manouver check around yourself at the same time whilst your learning???

[chopperaddict]

a little senario for you chopperaddict.

you walk out to the middle of the field,and set up your heli. take off and hover for a few seconds and get the feel with a few gentle side turns and your happy with the heli,so off you go into forward flight(to your right or left it doesn't matter) now you turn the heli to come back around yourself as you suggest(stall turn /chandelle or banked or however) as the heli increases speed you turnaround to follow it and there stood behind you are 3 small children!!! ...............now not forgetting your a learner pilot that hasn't even done the basic orientations .what do you do???

Well personally, I will not not even spool up, much less take off if there is anyone even close enough to suddenly appear behind me in a few miinutes. That is a standard part of the pre flight checks after all. ?

And if you are able to fly around yourself, then you WILL almost certainly have also done the basic orientations, so in that event you turn it tail in and land.

As I have said, I totally agree with the safety reasons, but I am really talking about the easiest way for newbies to learn to fly circuits.

I am certainly not trying to fuel any huge arguments here, I am looking for both sides of the argument.... and am quite willing to accept all arguments at their face value.

As flybar has also mentioned here, Dave Days book also teaches hovering AROUND yourself. Under the flying field regulations, this is equally abhorrent, but I would guarantee that every heli pilot has done this a lot more than once in their own flying experience.

The "argument" that seems to be brewing here is what you should and must do on a formal flying field, where there are definitely others relatively close to you, and what is the easiest way to learn how to peform these manouevres initially

I should also perhaps mention that I have been flying helicopters for well nigh 20 years on and off, so when I first started there were few if any flying clubs that accepted helis, so we all learned by ourselves, and found out (the hard way) what we felt was the easiest method of learning all of these normal flight manouevres.

That doesnt necessarily make me right, but it sure did work just fine for me and many other pilots over the years, and of course, now we are able, we all do fly in front of ourselves at all times if we are not flying in a private space.

So can we lighten this up and just discuss how to help learners to join our band of merry pilots, rather than apparently trying to score points using the BMFA rules as the only route to be followed irrespective ?