Learning orientation?

[Murv]

Any tips? I'm sure after a while it becomes instinctive, or at least I assume it does after watching 3D flying vids!

But, to start with, are there any tips for a newbie? At the moment, I'm trying to think of it from the heli's point of view (if that makes sense) but more often than not manage to correct it the wrong way when it's drifting towards something fragile (also noticed that the more expensive and fragile the item is, the stronger the heli's draw?)
I'm mainly practicing indoors with my msr-x as well as on Phoenix as my heli spends far more time waiting for replacement parts to turn up than actually being usable...

Sorry, I know I'm not explaining my question very well but hopefully you'll get what I'm on about!

Cheers,

Chris

[Sesame]

When I was practicing orientations I found circuits helped, going out in the circuit then bringing it around further and further until it was nose in. also doing this way by continuing on the circuit you have a way out.

just make sure you are comfortable with side on both ways around this helps.

[askeys_heli_madness]

One thing I found useful when learning to fly side on was to turn your body sideways to the helicopter and then turn your head through 90 degrees to see the heli. That way your tx is still pointing the same way as the heli (as if flying tail in) and the direction you move the sticks in is matched by the heli. Your brain then gets used to seeing the heli sideways on and eventally it just clicks!!

[Planehazza]

Murv, what you said is smart. IMO, it's best to think of it as "if I push forward, the nose drops", not "if I push forward it goes away from me", which it will if you're still used to flying tail in. Even if you're not actually flying, when in the sim try and put the heli in a weird orientation and try and picture which way the nose will go if you give it right rudder etc.

[Mark_T]

Murv, what you said is smart. IMO, it's best to think of it as "if I push forward, the nose drops", not "if I push forward it goes away from me"

I've seen it described as 'nose towards the skids' or 'nose towards the rotor' as well so it works inverted as well.

For nitro at least, you can also think 'nose towards the smoke' and 'nose away from smoke' for left/right

[LaurenceGough]

Hi Chris,

Have you got training gear for your heli? It might help out. Perhaps a little heavy for the msr-x mind you.

It might be worthwhile purchasing a coaxial helicopter to get used to orientations such as the Blade MCX or Blade CX2. These are much more stable and can hover hands off while you get used to the feel of different orientations.

First of all make sure you are 100% comfortable tail in. Practice many landings and take offs tail in, from in front of you, far away from you to the sides etc. Pick a spot on the ground or make a mark and land on it every time. If you feel comfortable go up a little higher tail in, get used to how the helicopter looks higher up looking from below the helicopter can be quite a change.

Get a feel for the tail when tail in, move it side to side a little bit when hovering while remaining in a stable hover, this gets you ready for the next step.

Then work your way onto side in, pick one side and stick to it, if you get into trouble swing the tail around to tail in where you are comfortable.

From there it's just a case of sticking to it, when you learn both side ins go for nose in from side in flight - this is the hardest one!

I didn't use any tricks to learn nose in, they do work for some people and sometimes not for others. I just pretend to be flying the heli, and going from side in it's just another change to get used to.

Cheers

[Murv]

Many thanks all, some good stuff there for me to try

Probably would've been easier if I'd started this hobby 20 Years ago, although I guess a lot of model heli's weren't even readily available back then!

[Planehazza]

I've seen it described as 'nose towards the skids' or 'nose towards the rotor' as well so it works inverted as well.

For nitro at least, you can also think 'nose towards the smoke' and 'nose away from smoke' for left/right

Yeah I think of it as pulling up into the blades. I wasn't very clear in my post, sorry.

[Guest]

It goes a bit against the grain of "letting the heli fly", but I put in little micro-movements to keep me tuned in to the orientation. Some orientations I have no trouble with, but others I need over-control, if I don't put a control input in for a while then the chance of me making the right one when needed drops off.

Probably got pros and cons .. you don't have to remember anything, and it always works, but you do need to be able to basically control the heli in any orientation once you've jogged your memory about what does what

For context I've been flying a couple of years.. really thought it would be more instinctive by now! Well, sometimes it is. After a few flights I'm alright..

[Planehazza]

It goes a bit against the grain of "letting the heli fly", but I put in little micro-movements to keep me tuned in to the orientation. Some orientations I have no trouble with, but others I need over-control, if I don't put a control input in for a while then the chance of me making the right one when needed drops off.

Probably got pros and cons .. you don't have to remember anything, and it always works, but you do need to be able to basically control the heli in any orientation once you've jogged your memory about what does what

For context I've been flying a couple of years.. really thought it would be more instinctive by now! Well, sometimes it is. After a few flights I'm alright..

Same, and I'm still not fully confident with tail in inverted.

[DaveJones]

I'm still working at perfecting this, just getting to grips with nose in. For me nailing the tail in hover was critical, once I was comfortable with this I found I could relatively easily flick the tail back around and stabilise when I lost it in other orientations. From tail in I moved on to focusing on 3 o clock then 9 o clock hovering before moving onto nose in. the logic still holds true if I loose it nose in and can flip it through 90º and regain control mostly before hitting the solid fragile object my MCPx s drawn towards.

Good luck, its a buz when you manage it, even for a few seconds.

[Mike W]

Once you got tail in sorted then just turn the model a little at a time with the tail until you get all the way round ... TBh half of crashes are because people have not got something in place in case it all goes wrong ... if your doing stuff and it goes wrong .. just push the collective up and swing the tail in ...once side in is mastered then its nose in .. i just usedto fly towards myself and just slow down and then turn and fly off ... inthe end you get to the point where it becomes second nature ... TBH i fly planes as well which helped with my flying my heli towards myself ... another good thing with nose in is if one side drops then go that way on the sticks ... bit like propping a disc up

[ridell]

The Blade MQX Quad Heli has helped my nose in and orientation due to it being so stable.....