Practice tip

[kenny d]

This feels more like home work than fun

[mattscupoftea]

All the orientation practice feels like homework to me - the 'games' I've suggested just make the time needed to be spent more palatable. . .

The upside of it, in my opinion, is that the homework gets stuff firmly drilled in, which leads to the more fun stuff much more successfully.

Managed my first half piro flips in real life on the Logo 500 today (controlled, smooth, and unpanicked)- 9 months after buying my first heli. So for me, homework pays off!

[mattscupoftea]

Today I discovered another hole in my flying. I've been practicing hard the last few months, and really feeling progress with my flying, but when 'critiqueing' a fellow club member's FFF travelling rolls, I suggested he try just running stationary rolls, slowing down the roll rate to get an idea of where his manoeuvre was going wrong. Having made a suggestion, I tried it myself on my next flight and realised that I am somewhat lacking in control myself, and have discovered something new to work on!

I have noticed recently that quite a few of the very proficient pilots I have met recently mention that they have 'holes' in their technique, generally in the basics.

So I thought I'd pass it on with the hope that it helps someone else out too, or even helps a beginner to nail the basics and not make the same mistakes.

The exercise is very simple but really helps both analyze and improve basic technique. . .

Bring the heli to a hover at a safe height. I find that about 20-30 ft up and the same distance in front of you is a nice working position. It gives you room to correct without panic whilst still being clearly visible.

Perform a slow (about 1 second upright to inverted) stationary half roll. The aim is to keep the heli in position without it drifting in any direction too much. Once you have the heli back in place in a stationary inverted hover, finish the roll to upright. I find that with this simple manoeuvre you really get a chance to discover how well timed your collective inputs are (if you apply cyclic before collective the heli will tend to drop through the manoeuvre. . . If you hang onto the collective after the initial 'pop' the heli will travel in the direction of the roll like a mini rainbow. . . if you come in with negative collective too early you will travel away from the roll direction and too late will mean that the heli drops), and whether you hit the correct amount of collective to 'lift' at the start or 'catch' the heli at the end.

Then turn the heli through 90 degrees and repeat the process. side on, the heli will give less information about sideways movement and accuracy but will show up any accidental elevator inputs through the manoeuvre and allow you to begin work on correcting them.

Next, turn another 90 degrees and repeat. This doesn't show up anything different from the tail-in one but it's always great practice to learn manoeuvres in different orientations. It's amazing how your brain can get used to a manoeuvre in one orientation yet struggle with the same move in another. If you don't believe me, try half piro flips nose in or side on!

Finally for this part, turn another 90 degrees and do the same two-half-roll move again. Then turn back to tail in.

Repeat the sequence as above but with roll and turn directions reversed.

As I mentioned, I find the exercise helped me notice where I go wrong with rolls and begin to correct my technique, whilst also ensuring that I have all bases covered and am not skipping a particular orientation or direction with my practice (If I execute rolls in forward flight, I tend to only roll to the right and during a side-to side pass).

The exercise works perfectly for stationary flips too in much the same way, so you can do a full practice by running the full sequence for rolls followed by the full sequence for flips. That can pretty much take up a whole 5 minute flight. If you finish with charge left, then maybe have a go at forward flight rolls to see if things have improved, or just have a blat about the sky to clear your head from the more intensely focussed state.

Hope that helps someone!

[dillwhacker]

"Once you have the heli back in place in a stationary inverted hover, finish the roll to inverted. "
?

[mattscupoftea]

Whoops! Thanks for that. I really ought to read the post through before I press send!

[dillwhacker]

Whoops! Thanks for that. I really ought to read the post through before I press send!

Good post though, thanks!
I'll be trying some of that in the wind tomorrow!
Taa
T

[mattscupoftea]

Yeah, even more fun in the wind! Me too - today's practice sesh made me keen to work on it some more.

[z0m8i3]

Excellent stuff Matt!, see you on the field!! (Phoenix)