Newbie help Stabilisation systems

[unwind-protect]

It's just an observation, but most of the people who come out against helicommand, etc never seem to have used them.

It's strange, you never see people saying that flybars make helis too easy to fly, or that we should forgo gyros, but they're both artificial stability aids.

I've pretty much come around to the conclusion that you do /whatever/ it is you need to do to get started. There is no 'right way' to start learning something, you just need to get your fingerholds wherever you can. When you've done enough to gather your bearings, then you can worry about "properly".

[dam74]

I've never used them but I have heard reports from an rc shop owner that sells them and installs them for customers and from what I've heard they sound more trouble then they are worth.

Flybars on the other hand are a working known method of stabilisation that won't fail because it miscalculates/processes something. I believe flybars or weights were used on full sized UH-1s and other helicopters to provide a means of stabilisation/cyclic control?? If they weren't overly expensive then perhaps I'd take a second look at one but some of these are the price of a helicopter

[Dazzyman]

Wont these teach you bad habits though when you do move on instead of just learning from crashing on Phoenix?

[Brian Gifford]

Just a thought. Suppose you fit a helicommand system, and learn to fly with it for about 6 months, then think "OK, I can do this on my own now", and remove it.

So, you are flying without the system, you have a dumb thumb moment, and automatically take your fingers/thumbs off the controls, cos that's what you are used to............ OOOPPPPSSSSSS!!!!!!

[unwind-protect]

The idea I believe is you slowly tone it down first (assuming that's what you want to do). Yes, it's possibly teaching you "bad habits", but at least you're in a position to learn bad habits in the first place, rather than being scared to even lift the heli off the ground.

To put it another way: learning forwards flight only teaches you bad habits when it comes to trying to do backwards and sideways flight, but without first learning to fly forwards, it's hard to progress into other orientations.