Heli flight school online....

[jiberjaber]

I thought this link might be of use to some beginners.

RC heli flight school v1.1 learning to fly 3D RC Helicopters |

[CookieMan]

Thank you, mate.

[heliboy]

Thats real cool..Thanks

[GravityKills]

erm, inverted hovering before flying in circles?
With a sim maybe. With a real model that's maybe not the most efficient way to learn. I think you should be very confident in upright so you can recover when flipping out of an awkward situation.

inverted funnels before loops??? That's complete nonsense, IMO.
Fast funnels before slow ones: same.
That's a stickbanging school, not a flight school

OK, it's labeled as "sim workout plan". But don't try this with a real heli.

My own approach is to learn everything in all directions before proceeding. Reason: There is nothing inherently more difficult about one direction than another (99 % true => side-in hovering is harder than nose-in / tail in).
And why proceed to the difficult moves, when there are easier ones to learn, simply by flying in another direction?
My strategy is to minimize risk in the field, and spend the little time I have flying instead of fixing helis.

[jiberjaber]

When I first looked at the list, I too was suprised by what he was suggesting after learning standard hovering the right way up, but, how much "in all orientations" is left once you can hover inverted and the right way up?

There is no right or wrong way to progress after you have the orientation skills to be honest is there?

[themagician]

flight school

bryll,without waffling on about what fuel he or is mates use.
great for begginers just to have a go when them boring moments come when you've been hovering for hours.
only thing is you need to know how to set up the sim aswell!.

[Bruv147]

Good find Jason

[dogbiscuit]

my sim arrives in the post today (phoenix). cant wait to have a go after watching that.
so far i can fly my msr well and have now hovered my blade 400 tail in for 12 batteries or so without incident. the moment i attemp to do much more than hovering and tail in moving around, it gets a litle unnerving though (despite feeling 100 confident with the msr and orientation)
looking foreward to the sim helping with this progression but also having fun with the flight school moves posted above. are there any other good video/tutorial sites that anyone would recomend for practice on the sim

[bolders]

Phoenix is a great investment and will help your flying no end.
I know its tempting to select the same heli in phoenix as you have in real life but I would suggest starting with something bigger as it is more stable and easier to see.
I would suggest starting with the easyFLY 50 as it is very docile and when you feel that is too easy move to a more performance orientated 90size heli. Practice the basics as much as possible you will be amased how much hovering in all orientations helps in other areas of flight - I know I was.
Once you are comfortable flying the bigger helis then look into using smaller helis and possibly adding a bit of wind.

As you have a blade 400 I assume you are using a DX6i. There are some threads on how to set up the DX6i in phoenix here

http://www.rcheliaddict.co.uk/phoeni...tionality.html

and here

http://www.rcheliaddict.co.uk/phoeni...i-phoenix.html

There are some good tutorials here. The very basics such as hovering are not covered. The only basic video they have posted is of a lazy 8 and then they get progressively harder - sport flying, 3D and then advanced 3D but it is still interesting to see how the moves are constructed and how stick inputs control the heli as it changes orientation through the move.

Heli Tuning Flight Training Videos

[GravityKills]

...
There is no right or wrong way to progress after you have the orientation skills to be honest is there?

of course there is - it's more efficient to do the easy stuff first. The proverbial "Learn to walk before you run". Otherwise, what would be the sense of a training plan?

There are always exceptions - some people learn things in the hardest and most unsystematic way. But for Joe Average, this is like waiting for a miracle that will never happen. Instead, you do things by the book, take small steps and add one "feature" at a time. Anybody can learn it. You don't even need talent. It all boils down to hard work.

For example, "by the book" you first learn hovering, forwards flight, stall turns and then loops.
Many want to fly loops even though they have never managed proper stall turns and aren't confident in forwards flight (not to mention hovering). And here we've got another discussion "tried my first loop, lawn-darted the heli and don't understand why".

But don't get me wrong, this should give guidance, not be taken religiously. For example, I did piroing loops (hard) before ever trying a piroing stall turn (much easier). Which was, in retrospect, plain stupid.

[bolders]

of course there is - it's more efficient to do the easy stuff first. The proverbial "Learn to walk before you run". Otherwise, what would be the sense of a training plan?

There are always exceptions - some people learn things in the hardest and most unsystematic way. But for Joe Average, this is like waiting for a miracle that will never happen. Instead, you do things by the book, take small steps and add one "feature" at a time. Anybody can learn it. You don't even need talent. It all boils down to hard work.

For example, "by the book" you first learn hovering, forwards flight, stall turns and then loops.
Many want to fly loops even though they have never managed proper stall turns and aren't confident in forwards flight (not to mention hovering). And here we've got another discussion "tried my first loop, lawn-darted the heli and don't understand why".

But don't get me wrong, this should give guidance, not be taken religiously. For example, I did piroing loops (hard) before ever trying a piroing stall turn (much easier). Which was, in retrospect, plain stupid.

Can it really be classed as hard work when its so much fun

Ive always gone by the adage that work is the thing you are doing when you would rather be doing something else

[GravityKills]

Well...
A former national champion once told me, if you enjoy your flying, you're not learning. And, sad as it may sound, I agree completely.

Of course it's fun, but it's even more fun when I see I'm making progress. Which means hard work...

It's human nature, we tend to overestimate ourselves, when the task is easy, and underestimate when it's difficult. If I get excited by my own flying, it doesn't necessarily impress the audience.
I once registered to a baby-level eurosport competition, just for the hell of it. And it was then that I realized how badly my flying actually sucks. With that came the insight that I had to work to get ahead.

[trvo]

HeliTuning.com have been doing this for some time now: Flight Training

Trev

[Ashley Davis]

I do quite like what he's done, he isn't focusing on how you do the moves though, more on what to learn when and what to practice. You have to work out for yourself how it works from watching the sticks. The videos on helituning are less about what to learn first, next, last and more about exactly how you do them. Slightly different focus I think.

[jiberjaber]

I agree Ash, I think his first vids are a good starting point for anyone which is why I posted it.

Anyone who takes the time to fly on a sim, record it and produce a instructional video should be commended for doing so and putting something back in to the hobby

I was ammused at the route taken from normal hover to inverted hover, but on reflection it is as logical as other suggestions, it covers all orientations and then you're in good sted to recover from almost any situation the more advanced moves put you in to. There are plenty I know how have gone from being able to hover tail in with a bit of side on and then went in to forward flight, loops and rolls and flips.... however if the loop, roll, circuit goes wrong - then the heli goes in because they were presented with an orientation they were unfamiliar with.

I learnt tail in, side on then went in to circuits, it wasnt untill later I learnt nose in. Fair few close calls and crashes could have been avoided if I had the patients to cover the orientations thouroughly.

With the exception of hovering first, I dont think there really is a 'by the book' path once you have the orientations, it can be as challenging or easy as you want to make it! I think it is a unique take on the path to follow, I certainly think circles in the wind are a very challenging manouver, esp the down wind leg but the control learnt from that in terms of synch'ed cyclic and collective is a very worth while skill. YMMV