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These lessons were written with the ECO8 in mind, they can be used for any electric heli including the micros, but if your chosen flying area is not VERY smooth and your heli is a micro, I suggest using the ping pong ball type training gear from the start.
The Lessons
PRE-FLIGHT SET-UPS,WARNINGS, AND SALUTATIONS....
For the next 2 and half days you will need to make a promise to yourself to be as disciplined as you remember that mean old playground teacher was. Remember how she use to jerk you off the monkey bars for hanging upside down with one foot? How she would slap you on the back of the head for throwing rocks towards the girls?..Oh Yeah....You were the reckless one..Weren't You?...Well... You wont have a baby sitter or a school teacher to watch if your being reckless or see if your cheating..It's up to you. I am going to ask you to do things that will seem stupid, childish, and a huge waste of time. But, I have my reasons. They work and will save you weeks of frustration. The only thing you have to loose is three days. There will be no broken parts or burnt up motors. You will become better faster. You will hold the tail dead spot on and you will have more hover control than most other newbies after a month or two of hopping..You will not be hop training! Thats just hoppin and hopin. You will be Flight training!.. There is a massive difference. A real flight instructor would not let you slide over sloppy performance or rush ahead. But since you're the only one watching yourself you MUST make the decision to be obedient to the lessons. Do you really want to fly in three days..or..hop and bash around for three weeks? I would also suggest something most other coaches would scoff at here..(Please learn this alone). Unless two of you can make the same commitment to be disciplined then an observer will only distract you and encourage you to "GO FOR IT"..
We will not be lifting off for at least three days so the chance of you being injured calling 911 and needing an ambulance is slim. Still, safety is safe so you may want to put the hospital number on speed dial just incase..(just kidding)...
Rest assured!..If I were there right now I'd slap you on the back or your head just to get your attention...Don't Be Reckless...( SWOP..POW!..)
This first lesson is all depending on that your building the helicopter has been done correctly. That the helicopter is balance and somewhat trimmed with the mechanics in neutral..By this I mean your radio and servos and linkages etc are set to factory. Your blades should be balanced and flypaddles equal and level. You can't trim a helicopter unless it is in the air but as we spin up you will be able to see quit a few things that may need to be done. I will repeat many times that in this period your are mearly getting acquainted with your machine so checking and re-checking and freaking out on the mechanics will hopefully take care of them selves.Especially if the helicopter is wobbling like a Hula Dancer or jerking like it's having a seizer.
These lessons should be done consecutively, hopefully three days in a row. It will be more to your benefit to have at least three batteries on full charge per session. But you will be stopping quite often to think and rest so If you don't have three batteries don't back out now. Three batteries usually is my limit on the first day of lessons due to the intensity of the concentration level and nerves, but feel free to heat your motor up like the kitchen stove if you prefer.. I do and would advise you to keep a can of motor cleaner handy.
You must get into a step by step start up mode. This is very very important. Always go through the same procedures when starting up your helicopter.. Such as.
1. Make sure the switch is off on your Helicopter.(If it has one)
2. Load battery , do not connect wires.
3. Tug the tips on the Main blades to center them and to aid them in spinning up.
4. Turn on the Transmitter.
5. Set throttle hold or Throttle Lock on your TX.
6. Double check that the switch on heli is off .
7. Plug up Battery.
8. Double check throttle hold switch on TX.
9. Switch on Helicopter.
10. Wait for Gyro to initialize.
11. Rotate and test Cyclic controls.
12. Set your tail. ( flick the rudder several times back and forth until the tail blades are straight up and down. This helps set the gyro for flight.)
These twelve steps can save you many disappointments , trips to bank, parts store and even the emergency room as my friend Malcolm can attest to. (Tehehe..) Once you have made them your first habits they can be accomplished in the blink of an eye. ( did I mention they will save you many unnecessary and embarrassing problems at the field?)
Now Lets set up your flying field, airport and home for the next three days..
On a (smooth hard) floor in a space 15 to 20 foot square and clean mark out a chalked box one foot square (chalk please..no tape or anything the helicopter skid can catch on).. This is your whole sky.. I know! It doesn't seem very large does it? Trust me here! At the end of three days it will feel like a football field. Now, many Heli pilots are going to slam the crap out of this but I don't care and neither do the folks that I trained . I'm very certain my flyers would jump in front of me like the president's guard and take the bullets for me. And, as cocky as this sounds if you discipline yourself you will defend this technique after your chopper has run full throttle across the runway as well. TRUST ME THIS WORKS!. The funny thing here and my last statement on the matter are this.. I have had "old Heli flyers" attack this first step only to feel in my bones the reason they did was because they could not do it! Strangely enough it was a student that pointed this out to Me..Now ask yourself a question. If they can't do it and you will be able, what does that tell you? You will have much more discipline and control .Whooo that's a real step out. Huh?
Okone more Bomb shell! I am torn here about what I am going to ask you to do. And the reason is because I don't know you reflexes, past history of RC of just how responsible you are going to beBut here goes??.TAKE THE TRAINING GEAR OFF!! (Oh crap!)what did I just say?That's right. For the first few days I don't let my students practice with gear. Why you ask?... Glup!..Well, first of all I am with them and I keep things very slow and safe. I keep the first spinups at low rotor speeds and shut them down often to talk and reset and rest. At low speeds training gear are like attaching rotorblades to the floor. They lack the sensitivity I am trying to reveal to the student. And most of all they promote carelessness and sloppiness. So what am I to ask you to do? Leave the training gear on or take it off? Only you know the answers to these questions....Do you know what you will do in a panic? Have you held a transmitter before? Can you truly take it slow? Can you be responsible. What are your abilities? If you are very certain you can take it slow not even attempting to rush the levels. I believe you'll be fine. However , if you have never held a radio in your hands before I would tell you to put some very light and small training gear on. Perhaps it would benefit you to go through the lesson of the first couple days twiceBut Your going to be Pilot...so.."Airman"...this is not the time to be a Big Fat Baby!...If you have handled a radio before then buck up the courage and let's go!!!
Remember, since we are only getting aquatinted and we are taking off the gear you must go SLOWLY!..You have no baby sitter .You must get focused . You must not push ahead.. If you don't stop when I suggest it, you have Failed! You have Cheated! And, you have just Crashed!..Crashed is a term I use when my students have lost control , not when they have actually hit the dirt, done the dead chicken dance and sprayed parts all over cars in the parking lot. You must make this term part of your responsibilityIf you leave the box with both skids, you have CRASHED. You must spin down, walk over and line your heli back in place by hand. You don't have a Babysitter! I'm not there to bash you on the back of your head and tell you that your cheating. But a smashed and twisted ,broken helicopter will!! And I will be angry.Even though I'm not there..My spirit will haunt you until the Mailman brings the replacements. BoooooHaaaaaa!!
You must understand how your radio works first and where to find what without looking. When the Helicopter is in the air and your looking like Helen Keller, blindly feeling all over for the controls you dont have time to guess.. But you will have plenty to pick up the mess....After all You wouldn't want a spoonful of spinach when your digging in for banana pudding now would you?. So, we must get aquatinted with the radio. Grabbing the throttle instead of the aileron is not a good thing. Not wanting to loose my life I always run through the controls with a student before he has a chance to freak me out. With TX on throttle hold, the motor unplugged and the power on we can test understanding of it .Which helps our confidence and reassures each other. ( Gee...that's smart huh?)
As for the controls, heres something very cool and easy. I call it ( Radd's TX Silly Stick and Clock Control Newbie Number System...or...RTXSSACCNNS.. for short)..Each gimbals or Control stick will be represented by the hands of the clock and separated with the word "and". Mid stick is referred to as "0". Such as 4 and 10. Depending on which continent you live on your either in mode 1 or 2. In America we are in mode 2 which is throttle and rudder on the left. Aileron and pitch is on the right. Here is Radd's numbersas a clock.. stick straight up is 12oclock .Straight down is 6 o'clock. Full left is 9 and full right is 3..Diagonal numbers ( 1,2,4,5,7, 8,10, 11 ) are diagonal movements of the sticks..Duh?... Sticks in the mid position or neutral spot are referred to as "0" An example would be if you were in forward fight making a right aileron turn movement the sticks might be around " 0 and 3 " or half stick on the throttle and right stick aileron..Of course this depends upon your set up. Where the throttle amount is crucial, the throttle amount will be referred to as.. zero stick , quarter stick ,half stick and full stick and written separately. **** Here's a cool thing to put in your tips box for the future and why we will be using thisWhen the pros think and discuss orientation or show each other tricks, they refer the helicopter in stick movementsIf your making a right turn they could show you how they move the sticks without the heli being in the air.. (ding!)Another cool tip is if your going into an orientation with certain stick movements then the opposite stick movements will in most cases pull you back out.. Once you begin to think this way you can visualize flight orientation, tricks and stick movements in your mind first. And with the number system we can discuss orientations accurately as we talk to each other. But the main reason I came up with this simple system is that my students can quickly and calmly make adjustments as I call them out while they are mid air. The commands are quick and brief( "0 and 4" ) ..( "0 and 3" ).Wow! look at the future!! a 3D backflip in idle up ."(12 and 6)"..then "(6 and 12)" then "( 0 and 0 ) "
BATTERY # ONEThis battery is called the "Spin UP"
Okeee DoeKeeeHere We GOOoooo I said HERE WE GO! Oh,Crap?!?
Place your heli in the center of the box and go through the start up procedure. This is your whole sky and any time both skids leave the box you have crashed. ( the DEAD ZONE)
Assuming that your heli is set up on the average with stock motors and settings, the normal helicopter hovers around half stick. We will stay well below that today. My trainers start to grind ( electric motor hum noise) around quarter stickYou should get use to this sound. I don't believe it damages the motor but for these first lessons you will want the head to spin up very slowly. By listening for the "grind" you can begin the spin up very very slowly. If you have tugged on the blades and set them center you shouldn't have much wobble and the heli should start to spin up nicely just past quarter stick. Let the blades spin up by their own inertia adding tiny amounts of throttle. You should not be rotating the blades fast enough to see any tail movement yetIf you do then gently back off on the throttleYou should also not hear sudden motor power or whistle coming from the blades at any time..This means you are not adding smooth throttle..Again, All we are doing here is getting aquatinted with the controls.. Now, gently spin downYeah I know you didn't do anything cool yet!Come on Man!..Just follow directions OK!.. "That's me yelling at my student!" Are you listening? "AIRMAN"??
Spin back up gently again and then spin down a couple times..You are getting use to the sensitivity of the throttle stick. When you are flying later on it will feel as if you only have to breathe on the control sticks and the helicopter will react. As you practice this you will begin to feel the tail wanting to move to the right. ( you probably have been too eager and too heavy on the throttle and it's swung anywayyou bad bad person you!)
If you did listen to me ( yeah sure..Ah huh!) and gently spun up your new helicopter slowly and not had the tail move on you then lets get ready and prepare for it. The tail blades move about 4 times as fast as the main blades and as the head speed increases the tail tends to want to move right..**** If you initialized your gyro right and spin up slowly a Heading Hold gyro shouldn't have any trouble holding tail in one place as you spin up..That said and now that you know the sensitivity of the throttle stick focus and think about the tailAs you spin up this time add a tiny more amount of throttle than before and you will feel the tail move. But this time we will give some rudder stick input to counter it.. your rudder stick at spin up should be heading for "2 or 3 o'clock".
Spin up gently again and hold the tail a couple times but watch that it you are still not anywhere near half stick or even getting the heli light on the skids!!! You don't want to crash before your even off the first battery( and make me look stupid! )
At spin up it is very easy to remember that a helicopter wants the tail to move right and the helicopter itself to drift left**** ( Tail Left, Helicopter Right )!!burn it in your memory..
Are you being patient? Does this seem unnecessarily slow? Can you follow the plan? Do you want to fly.? Be patient and things will come much faster than you can imagine
Spin up Hold the tail straight. Spin down..
Spin up Hold the tail straight. Spin down..
You should have quite a bit of the first battery leftAs of now you should have been concentrating on three things. The first being throttle..The second being the tail and the third being the box on the floor.. You must remain in the box..As we add a little more throttle and spin up faster the Heli will try to lean to the left. Just as we added rudder input, now we will add right cyclic to hold the helicopter from tipping over and to hold it in one place. Ask yourself . Where is your throttle? Do you feel a little more comfortable adding throttle and can you do it smoothly enough that nothing sudden happens?
At this point I usually sit down with the person and ask them how the sticks felt and were they in touch with the machine? Did it react as they thought it was going to? Because.. we are going to add even more throttle next and begin to feel a little more authority.
Also, at this time I usually re-introduce what I call punishmentPunishment is spinning down an walking over and realining the heli in the boxIf you want to be a good pilot and fly well your going to be punishing yourself a lot from here onSame as a full size aircraft pilot would do..This punishment will transform you and change your outlook on flying for a lifetime. It will become your best friend. It will protect you and treat you well. Not to mention how much money it will save you. In years to come it will be there and whisper in your ear telling you not to take off or becareful! Back off!..This is dangerous..
If at anytime the helicopter doesn't obey,turning without your stick imput ,(which means your out of control)..You must punish yourself. Spin down and reset the copter..Don't think even for a second about trying to fly out a mistakeOr flying the tail back to center ( That is a CRASH!) If your not in control at all times then the helicopter is and I consider it a (CRASH)..In this stage of learning there is NO recovery!..only crashing!! So we are not going to get out of controlNot ever!You must be in perfect control at all times. If your not then you must punish yourself If the tail does not stay dead straight punish yourself. Stop Spin down and reset the helicopterThis is the basis for everything in these lessons I'm not there with you but I were I would tell you this over and over againAs anyone of my flyers would tell youSTOP DO IT RIGHT!.This is also why the Old flyers think it's unreasonable to stay in the boxBecause it's hard!! Don't listen to them.This is very good training and you must PUNISH yourself often(You will soon see the power of the Box Grasshopper")
******** there are a few places most heli pilots watch as their Helicopters are "Live". Some guys watch the nose. Some watch the skids. Some watch the rotor disk, tail or body and some watch the mast.. Well, lets think about that for a second.. On the spin up if I watch the nose and it's pointing away from me then my tail controls seem ether backward or minute. If you watch the skids (Most popular) then you are playing catch up because with everything that's happening ..the last thing to move are the skidsIf I watch the tail it's backwards to the TX controls. Watching the tail, about the only thing you'll notice imediately is nose up and down and tilting sideways and this is way too slow..That leaves the rotor disk and mast. At this point in your training the huge spinning rotor disk is way too intimidating and also way to late to get you out of trouble..The (mast) is the pumbob of a helicopter and which ever way it moves or tilts is an indicator of which way the chopper IS going to moveNotice how I capitalized IS?The mast moves first in realtionship to the controls on your radio. It's movements can be noticed in very slight changes. Before any other part of the heli can react the mast has to move first. In flight or Hover the mast will show you the intent of the heli before it ever happens. Which ever way it tilts that is the way the machine is going to go. By watching the mast you can actually be ahead of the helicopter in a hover, correct it and think ahead before the chopper has even moved..Cool Huh?
So as we spin up the helicopter somewhere under half throttle and move your aleron sticks you should watch the tilt of the swash..If your well under half stick you can really work the stick hard and tilt the swash quite severly to get a feel for the relationship or sensitivity of the radio to the helicopter and how it will react. STAY WAY UNDER HALF STICK!
As I said earlier , the tail will want to swing right and the heli will want to drift leftSo be ready on the sticks. Your sticks will be heading for "( 10 and 10 )"Spin up and feel the inertia and the tendency of both the movementsHold the tail and be ready on the right stick to keep the heli level. Hold it steady for only a second or two and then spin downCome On!!..Don't pushTake a breath and think about how small the stick movements actually were..
For the rest of the battery run through the spin up and spin downsYou'll start to know your radio and your control over the machine.. If your not in controlthe Helicopter is!..
Hold the tail dead on 6 oclock and keep the heli in the box
HOLD THE TAILYOU BIG BABY!.. HOLD THE TAIL !!!.... (and call me SIR! "When you start to whine!)"(I cant hold it .SIR!) the student says!" " STOP whining Soldier!!"I SAID!HOLD IT!
WATCH THE MAST!IT'S TILTING!..KEEP THE HELI LEVEL!.RIGHT STICK 10 oclock! HOLD THE TAIL!.WATCH THE MAST!!! CONCENTRATE!!! YOU BIG BABY!!*** I SAID***HOLD THE TAIL IN ONE PLACE!!! NOW YOUR GOING OUT OF THE BOX!!WATCH THE THROTTLE DON'T INCREASE IT!!
Ok! At Ease!!!.spin down and Breath deep!
AlrightHow did it go? Did you feel me yelling at you like a drill sargent? All joking aside did you cheat? Did you take it past the safety level? Did you spin up and down as often as I told you? You still have a alot of batteries yet to gocan you follow the plan? I hope so because we're becoming friendsEach time you were able to spin down you are going to focus much harder next time..The safety factor goes up and the cost of repairs goes down..Your control will become razor sharp and your sticks will begin to feel totally natural in your hands..You are getting aquainted with your heliI'd say bird, but that sounds funny..I just wish I was there to SCREAM AT YOU!..that's fun to!
Did you notice anything strange mechanically going on with your new bird? Do you feel any Red Flags? You must trust themCheck over all linkages and controls before going to the new battery
As simple as it sounds you must also have a proceedure for when changing battery packs..
1.Always hit throttle hold before walking over the heli after flying.
2. Always hit the off switch before carring the heli
3. Always dissconnect the battery before shutting off the transmitter. ( very important habit)..
Install and new battery and then go through the start up porceedures..
Second Battery: SAME AS THE FIRST BATTERY!" awh come on??"Yeah I can hear it now! "WHINE , WHINE, WHINE." Quit crying you big baby! A battery only takes about ten or 15 mimutesCheeeezze whats that?
SECOND BATTERY is called " SAME AS THE FIRST!"
Would you let a student of full size helicopters advance too fast?.."Come On Yourself." This is a Man killing, Cat chasing , tear everything up machine
Your learning.! Not Flying!..You're getting aquatinted and your not doing the BUNNY HOP all over the front yard. Hoppity Hopping like the big Bunny Rabbit and probably smashing and tearing itself to pieces in the dead Chicken Dance
On the second Battery you will be tempted to increase the throttle and that's Ok.as long as it's hardly noticeableand smooth..BUT, keep it on the ground! If you cant restrain yourself your not cheating me ---- your cheating time! If you hurry you'll only slow yourself downThe Hobby is littered with the carcasses of dead helicopters in the graveyards of attics and basements all over the world. On the second battery..HOLD THE TAIL, STAY IN THE BOX, WATCH THE MAST. PUNISH YOUSELF!!..QUESTION YOURSELF. STOP AND THINK. STOP AND REST.. Stop and breath, at least every one or two minutesspin down and get refocused
BATTERY #3
The third battery is called "Tilt the Swash".
Spin the heli up butway way under 50%. What we are going to do on this battery is get the rotor spinning and get use to the cyclic controls..We are going to hit the sticks pretty hard so keep the head speed way down so not to dump over the heli.You must not be anywhere near lift off speed or half stick but fast enough that in low head speed you don't wobble the stuffing out of the chopper, throw it off balance and do a boom strikeConcentration WhooooHoo
After it's spun up take the aileron stick slowly to 3 o'clock and then back to zero. Then move the cyclic to the left or 9 o'clockIf your calm and feeling this is a good safe head speed stay there alittle and move the controls back and forth from 3 to 9 and back againDo Not move the sticks Fore and Aft. Not yet!.. Once you are comfortable and in control with the right and left cyclic spin down and think about how the sticks felt and how proportional they were to the Helicopter.
After resting a moment spin back up and increase your head speed a little. This time we are going to watch the mast and what I call the "Plate" which is the spinning fly bar and paddles ( Don't know why I named it that? Guess I was hungry?)It takes on a silver color as it gets up to speed. But mostly this time around I want you to watch the mast and the linkages and how they move and tilt. Again since your not at lift off RPM you should be quite safe. While all this is going on you've almost forgotten about the tail (have you?)Are you holding it? Give yourself a minute or two feeling the cyclic and it's relationship to the radioWatch the mast and the Plate..Remember. If you not in control The Helicopter is! After watching the mast take sometime to watch the plate as it tilts as wellYou should have a couple minutes of battery left and it may be a good time to rest..
Again picture in your mind how much stick and how much control you had with the machine.If your reading this completely through before try it I'm sure you can't imagine what is exciting about any of this.However I'm sure you'll have the tingles when you give it a go in real timeYou may want to read each plan for the separate batteries again and each time before you burn the whole pack..
After resting a moment we will spin back up and test the pitch cyclic or the fore and aft controls.. Spin it back up and once again hold the tail and feel the right and left cyclic for a moment and then very gently give it forward controlVery gently does it! Visually the movement is harder to see and the heli is a little more unstable on the skids fore and aft so take it easy. Also we don't want to bang the tail hard on the floorLater we will be moving the cyclic in a circle but for the moment practice a little on the right and left, fore and aft control..Hold the tail and keep the heli in the boxIf you feel comfortable take up the head speed to your safety level. 1. Hold the tail. 2. Watch the Mast and the Plate. 3. Stop and ask yourself the usual questionsDid it react as you thought? How much pressure did the sticks require? And most important how stable were the skids?Did they try to come off?BAD, BAD person!
Oh My!!!Battery 4 coming up!! ( second day?)
Battery 4 is called Throttle up!.not idle up .THROTTLE UP!
With this Battery we are going to do the same control movements but we are going to increase the head speed..Yep! that's right, the same thingbut with higher head speed you should hear that Drill Sargent screaming in your headKEEP THE SKIDS FLAT ON THE DECKSOLDIER!!.If they lift off, especially the right one, back off on the throttle and let it settle..Figure out how much aileron stick you need to hold it on the floor with the plate tilted and speed up againKEEP IT ON THE FLOOR WATCH THE BOX. .KEEP THE TAILKEEP IT IN THE BOXTHE BOXTHE BOXTHE BOX..at ease soldierSpin down and catch your breath.your going back up to speed when your blood pressure gets out of the stroke range.
The controls should becoming much more sensitive at a higher head speedballs the tail should be finding it's home as well.. Your hopefully finding your rudder thumb relaxing a lot as it gets head speed..The reason for this is because the ratio of head speed to tail speed is balancing itself and the gyro is waking up! However since the head speed is beginning to scream and the controls are more sensitive this is definitely no time to relax.I'm tingling just thinking about"IT'S ALIVE..'"
If the helicopter drifts out of the box remember your punishmentWalk over and drag it back into place..It's acceptable for one skid to peep out of the box but when the second skid crosses the line it's punishment timeCome on you made the deal!!!
As you practice spinning up and down with fairly strong head speed you will be building up your skill and coordination at hold the tail and keeping the skids flat..You'll be working on keeping the plate as flat as possible but giving it just enough aileron to hold it on the floor.. But the main task at this point should be keeping it in the box.SoSoldier..your challenge is hold that baby in the boxthe box boss...The box..If you see the skids rocking or lifting off then back off on the throttle. Stay with it and stay spinning a little long than you were beforeStay on it for about three minutes at a timeIf you would like to practice spinning up and spinning down several times towards the end of the battery you will greatly benefit from this but most people want to ride the wild tiger till the battery is dead Take it easy this is only your 4th battery and your not quite ready to go into a dog fight just yet..Slow down a bit and think of you wallet..relax and think about what the helicopter has been doing and what you have been doing to counter act IF YOUR NOT IN CONTROL THE HELICOPTER IS!SOLDIER!!
You must not let yourself be distracted even for a second at this head speedYou must have tunnel vision and in total contact with your helicopter..As you moves ..It movesAs you think It thinks( tee hee..that's so silly!).. NEVER, EVER NEVER EVER, NENENENENVER EVER TAKE YOUR EYES OFF THE MACHINE It can kill you!I lost my composer raising my voice at students who take their eyes off the machine.why?BECAUSE IT CAN KILL ME TOO!!!!
5th Battery This battery is called ("Tilt the swash!")
Hey ? I thought we already did that?.
Yes, We've already did that ! But I'm just mean and nasty and want you to do it again! Actually we need the practice cause the 6th battery is gona kick your little hiney..On the 5th battery we don't want to spin up and down but concentrate on two things for longer blocks of time.( You should have been doing short spin ups before??You lousy cheater! )..
Ok, So. Spin up to where your skids feel light but not bouncing on the groundhold the tail, keep the skids on the ground and stay in the box. Bring the throttle back if your heli wants to lift off. At this speed I want you to very very carefully play with the plate and tilt the swash right and left and VERY gently fore and aft..COME ON DUDE!I SAID GENTLY!stay in control and stay on the ground..STAY IN THE BOX!.If the tail swings, Punish Yourself.. DON'T CHEAT!!
6th Battery. This battery is called "PUT THE TRAINING GEAR ON!"
Oh, My, Goodness!!.Ah, Yeah!!!Put them on because your gonna need themWhooo Hoooo!!
I can see your eyes now!!."Oh Man, this is what I have been waiting for!"..Well, not quite. But close! And it's gonna be really cool!With the extra weight of the training gear it's going to change the feel of the Heli again so we're going to have to get aquatinted with the machine again.."BOO, Hissssssss!"..Come on ya whiner.. Your getting close to flying .so quit whimperingThe fun is about to get with it!!
Since the Helicopter is going to be heavier and the controls will be sluggish due to that weight..Guess what?Yeah, We have to add more power.. More Power, Higher head speed and more adreniline.Your gonna feel and hear the power now Yeah Baby!..
Hey!Don't forget!..stay on the ground! Here's what we are going to do..Add more power,Get really light on the gear. Hold the Tail. Turn the tail, Rotate the Plate!
Ok, For the love of ADRENILINE!. BECAREFUL!!and.. FOCUS..
Remember! If your not in control the heli is! So DANG,DARN,FREAKIN, FRAKINbe focused! There is no recovery for a newbie, only crashing..You must stay in control! You must not cheat and you must punish your self for sloppiness.Oh, Man.Martha Look out!
Spin that baby up and get it light on the skids.SWEET MOTHER OF TROY!be ready, be ahead of the mast!. Come on now ? Get it light and STAY IN THE BOXCONTROL, CONTROL CONTROL..
Seriously, stay in the boxwe've got some really cool things coming up and your gonna love themBut remember to use your head..Stop and think..Stop often and feel whats going on..Don't power on and lift off yetCome on Please? Whata Ya Say? ..Don't blow it now!!..
Here's what we're going to do..We are going to hold the tail at 6 o'clock, as the helicopter skims light on the gear and while still inside the box we want to turn the tail ever so gently and smoothly to the leftaround 8 O'clock..The helicopter should be diagonal slightly and the whole thing should be pointing to the right. Do not turn the heli more than 8 oclock. You can easily become disorientated. Concentrate and slowly bring it back to 6 o'clock again..Then gently slide the tail back to 8 o'clock and back to center againThe difficulty here is holding the heli in the box while moving the tail sidewaysThis is truly much easier said than done..After six or seven times of taking it to 8 o'clock you may want to rest and let your motor cool down. Next we will focus on sliding the tail to the opposite side to around 4 o'clock. A rule that we will be following well through Forward flight is to practice your weaknesses" Fall in love with your weaknesses and your strengths will reward you". In other words we will be practicing rights sides and left sides equally.
At this time you will definitely want to spin down and rest a momentAsk the same old questions..How did the controls feel? Could you move smoothly ? Were you totally in control or was the helicopter. Next we will rotate the swash after spin up. As you begin your spin up and are holding the tail don't quite get it that light yet and move the swash and mast in a gentle circle. You should see the frame of the helicopter softly look as though it bending in circular motions. You should be able to see the plate move as the saucer is slowly tilting and turning. On the last of the charge to the 6th battery you should finish it by spinning it out in the box tilting the swash and moving the tail gently.You've come along way But from here it only gets betterDID YOU CHEAT? There's still time to be goodBecareful. Be honest. Be focused! We are about to have some real fun so hang on!
We are still working on getting you in touch with your relationship to the controls and the movement of the swash. But. Think about it? How much have you advanced and broken down some the walls of fear?
Has your control of the helicopter increased? Do you feel anymore confident? Can you remain calm as the blades are spinning up? At the end of second day and as the 7th battery begins are you the same nervous heli student you were when you started? If you were patient you have indeed come a long long way.
Her comes the 7th Battery this battery is called the " THE SCOOTER"
Why the scooter? Cause that's what I call my son and I just wanted to name it after him. Plus we are going to move the chopper around the floor a little too..BUT! We are going to stay on the floor..Make no mistake we are not ready to fly yet but this going to be exciting enoughnothing for the faint hearted or elderly( sounds like me?)and if by now you haven't been into the adrenaline cookie jar something's wrongmaybe you should take up bull fighting or something..
This time we are going to get up to maximum ground power on the 7th battery. Just as much throttle as it takes to scoot the heli forward..A couple feet only, and don't try to slide it backward yet because that takes a lot more power and may require a short hopAnd I hate hopping so for the first couple times please spin down after scooting forward and drag the heli back into the box..Keep the tail straight and slide it forward but make sure you feel under control.
Spin it up and let the blades do the work..Slowly very slowly inch it forward..Then walk over and slide it back by hand. Do this several times and try hard not to let the helicopter slide side ways.It will want to move to its left..So you must counter with right stickAs difficult as it sound it is very possible to maintain the amount of right aileron to keep the skids down and still move forward. Hold the tail and again slide it back by hand.
After a few slides forward you may want to relax and get your wits about you for a moment. Then we will next slide forward and to the left a couple feet. .Holding the tail raise the throttle up very slightly and very gently begin to slide the helicopter to your right. Watch the left skid and keep it as low on the floor as possible. Maintain power and slide the machine to the right. Again don't try to slide the copter towards the rear unless the Helicopter with slight rear pitch and naturally wants to move that way.
Battery 8 and 9 are both "Your Batteries"
You've earned a little R & R If you've done your best not to cheat and stayed in the box when I ask you to ( Ha! )..If you feel under control and relaxed and feel you can remain still on the floor for two more batteries before trying anything crazy then these two batteries are all yoursFeel free to buzz around on the floor how you like and in what direction you choose. Tilt the swash, turn the tail, slide around in your favorite direction. Make sure your in control, calm and focused. And enjoy yourself.
On the tenth pack we are going to fly. But take a second and look back at what you have accomplished? Are you still nervous when your helicopter spins up? Is it still the Man killing death trap it once appeared?
By now you should not be afraid of the controls as you add throttle. You now know what to expect as it spins up. You know how much power to apply and how much cyclic to add and how sensitive your control are.. You know what to do to hold the heli in place and how to slide it aroundAnd in these last two batteries your fear factor has dropped even more..Are you still excited? Are you still having funAre you ready to fly? Take a deep breath and picture it lifting off very gently and in control.That's what's next
Battery #10.. ( TIME TO FLY!)
Here's the real deal!.If I completely left this lesson off I know that you could fly nowI am so confident that even if I dropped dead on the heli pad right now you would be fine. And you could fly..And I'll betcha you feel the same. If you have followed the lessons and been honest with your self and not rushed ahead then you are ready and you know it. You can feel it. The beautiful secret that we share and which you now take for granted is that though you've only been at this a few days your not scared anymore. From now on you will look back on the frightened faces of newbies that have been "hopping and hoping" for as long as a month or more and still do not feel the sense of confidence that you do now..Had I not seen that confident stare in the eyes of my flyers many times I could not have the audacity say this is true..But I always see it !.
By now many things about helicopters have changed for you. You understand them much better. Your not afraid of them anymore.You have felt totally in control as well as being very confident in a confined space. Many new flyers with 4 time the experience do not feel the way you do now even in a space the size of a football field. And you have mastered the controls of a helicopter in the space of one square foot!! ( Well mastering it maybe pushing it a little?) And, at this moment your probably feeling one of two thingsYour either thinking I've been holding you back or you've accidentally bounced off the ground a couple times and your ready to stay up for a while
It's about this time that I do you a great favor and ask that you once again to STOP AND THINK!! Stop, think and listen to me for one last Battery Pack. Just one more pack and you can be on your way.
For a brief moment think back on all the steps and battery lessons you practiced up to this point..
1.You spun up and held the tail
2. You held the tail and tilted the swash
3. You increased the Head speed and maintained control
4. You became light on the skids and moved the tail in both directions
5. You held the tail straight and scooted the Heli in the direction of you choice.
6. You learn to spin down and think. ( Most important of all..you disciplined yourself)
7. You stayed within the box..( your sky!)
Here's another way to look at it.(As if you were flying).
1.You lifted off and held the tail in towards you
2.By tilting the swash you flew to the left and right
3. By increasing the throttle and head speed you learned how sensitive your throttle and collective is. What it takes to climb out or maintain hoveras well as what the tail is going to do with the increase of power.
4. You learned to make the helicopter's tail stay rock solid. By moving the tail to the right and left on the floor you've learned how to control, keep and move the rudder in the air.
5. By scooting the heli in different directions on the floor you've become aquatinted with the cyclic controls and how they will react in the air.
6. You've learned the fine art of when to becareful and when to back off.
So what does all this sound like? Does it sound like you can fly it without any concern.. Well, not exactly but you are miles ahead of the average beginner. There is just a few things you need to know before hitting the throttle flying around the house and making all your neighbors whoot and holler and pat you on the back.
Here weeee go..and .one more list of the things to practice.
Batttery #10
1. Take that Flyin Machine OUTSIDE!
2. Burn half a pack outside on the pavement. ( that's my advice..You'll feel better and a little more calm if you can use just that small bit of patience before the first lift offYou don't have to scoot it around just get it light on the skids and calm down..In just thirty seconds after windup let your shoulders relax take a deep breath try to relax you hands and fingersAfter a minute or two you will be ready to lift off
What is your helicopter going to do?
As soon as your helicopter becomes light on the skids it can only lift off in one of two ways. The first being slowly.If you continue to add very small amounts of throttle until your machine lifts off it will skid and drift on the ground to the left before it becomes airborne..You may even run out of space if you throttle up slowly enough..The second being of course throttling up quickly. If you find that after the helicopter is light on the skids and you punch up the throttle quickly to bring it off the ground you will see the helicopter raise and pitch severely left due to the rotation of the main blades. You must immediately give right aileron to counter act and then back off the aileron to 0 or mid stick again to avoid flying off to your right. So which way is best? Sounds simple to say somewhere in-between. The truth is, after you lift off a hundred times or so You will naturally compensate for the Yaw and Roll even before your fully spun up.. What does that mean? If you know for one hundred percent certainty that the heli is going to pitch or roll to the left on lift off then it makes great sense to be ready on the sticks to counter that movement with right aileron. As you practice lifting off you will notice that as you add throttle It becomes quite natural to add right aileron and tilt the swash to the right at the same time causing a gentle and graceful lift off straight up. At the same time after all my yelling you should already be holding the tail dead on 6 O'clock or I'm going to give up and go back to work for my Uncle Louie at his Hamburger stand and forget I ever knew you
So.DRIFT LEFT AND COMPINSATE RIGHTsimple huh? Remember..the helicopter will upon lift off ( DRIFT LEFT SO BE READY TO COMPINSATE WITH RIGHT AILERON..)
3. FREAK OUT!! No matter how much we have prepared for this, when your helicopter lifts off for the very first time and you see it.You Will Freak Out!That Special magic of flight always amazes..And why shouldn't it? That's what We've been working so hard all this time for..As it lifts off And you see those skids rise off the cement you can't help but shocked and filled with excitement.. And being the mean old kill joy it's my job to keep the machine in one piece..So.. Yeah you guessed it!! My rule here is to set it right back down..I know, we all want to say and tell our friends about the first time flying and how it stayed up for ever. But,Even if you were in perfect control and calm I still ask my new flyers to set the bird down right away after the first time it becomes airborneUsually after they do they don't say a single wordThey simply stare at me for a secondThen they shrug their shoulders trying not to blow their cool image by screaming and face the heli once more. Why do I ask you to come out of the candy store when your sooooo hungry? Because in this first flight You can actually focus so intently on the machine you can actually forget how close you really are to other objects such as telephone poles,cars,people and even the ground
4. DO NOT TAKE YOUR EYES OFF THE COPTER!Strange as it seems after setting it back down after the first time in the air new pilots often want to share the adrenaline. By turning to their friends and screaming.Yeah , screaming!something like.( #$%^&*) or (@#$%^&*)But,Keep your focusKeep your eyes on the machine!
5. SO! NOW YOUR FLYING!! What's going to happen now?..Usually again..Two things continually happen. First being, most new flyers leave the box and start flying and drifting all over the placeBut! "you didn't tell me about any flying box?".Yeah, that's true but It wouldn't have done any good anyway !!. What should I say ?? 6 foot box? 8 foot box??..Neither.. The best thing to do is set some parameters in your own head as to how far big and wide is "YOUR BOX".. This is one of the hardest teaching and learning steps.. Most new flyers will tell you and totally believe they were incontrol as the Helicopter tilted and jiggled and danced like a hoola dancer around the parking lot.. But in most cases they are Extremely Turned On! Happy to the point of Hystriahia and lacking all judgement!.What is to be done with students at this point? I have found that there is only two things I have found effective in stopping them. The first being to slug them swiftly in the back of the neck with a lead pipe wrapped in leather, or, Screaming continuely to be reasonable..
Suppose your one of the sane and unusual test pilots that doesn't loose his mind as the rotors go higher and higher.Why would I ask him to set the helicopter back down even if he is in control?Because this is your last day of training and you are still suppose to be learning Isn't that right? My logic for asking the unreasonable request is that you stay in control. Remember I have been teaching you to control and not how to recoverYou must remain in control. You must not let the helicopter control you! This includes flying as well as scooting on the groundWhen the machine lifts off it should be right where you want it to be and to stay right where you tell it to stay.The only way to over come this sloppiness is the beaware of this before it happensWhen it comes off the ground..Make it stay putMake it be obedientHover in controlFOCUS!!! Set it down often and thinkand re-think once again!
6. STAY IN YOUR AREA!..use the same control and discipline and punishment as when you were staying in that old chalk box on the floor. You might laugh, but If I let new flyers go they will be wobbling tilting and flying all over the placeOver the cars, missing the trees and scaring the crap out of the guy scattering his French fries and milkshake all over the parking lot.. And .. all the while thinking they were just hovering and not in forward flightso..ok OK!Keep it in a ten foot spaceHow's that? TEN FOOT SQUARE!!!
7. KEEP IT SHORT
8. KEEP THE TAIL
9. KEEP IT IN YOUR SPACE
10. KEEP IT SAFE..
11. KEEP IT IN ONE PIECE Watch the mast, watch the swash, watch the plate.And watch out for me!!!!
OK...you can hover. BUT WHAT NOW ????
So You Want To Fly But Your Stuck In Hover?
I've been having such a blast flying lately...but, I keep thinking of some of the comments about crashing and all the stuff we've been talking about...I remember when I was very content to just hover my Eco's..I would watch the 3d pilots and think..man theres just no way I will ever do that...Since my new feelings on the joy of crashing I look back and really wished inside that I could have flown out of the parking lot...but just the thought of it getting turned around on me made me stay right where I was....I know that there are tons of people out there just like me...wanting to build scale heli's cause you just cant see yourself hitting full throttle and yanking it back into a stall turn...not to mention 3d???? But I can honestly say now that I can fly my gas heli's and ECO's at full throttle and feel totally in control...If I can.. and I am still amazed because I never even knew Helicopters could even do these kind of maneuvers..so can you...If your worried about the cost of your heli or waiting for parts to rebuild it....dont worry... I've been thinking how to get us all flying without crashing all the time and letting it all hang out ...Anyone interested? If Not...I'll just fly off.....takes allot of nerve just to say YES !! Radd...( the cowardly Lion)
I can't be the only one surprised at Helicopter pilots that don't use simulators and progress faster than those with simulators.This doesn't make much sense to me but it happens all the time..You can spend 4 or five hours a week on the computer and some guy fly's twice a week and progresses much faster? Why? Another strange thing I've seen is a guy that bought a helicopter at clearance sale for $200 and the next week he's flying it all over the place..That confused me to say the least, and.. made me feel less than average .You can give any reason you want..talent, natural ability, blind recklessness? But I think it boils down to just two things...Either they simply believe they can do it, or want to fly helicopters badly, and will fly no matter what it takes.I suppose our personalities reflect clearly in the way we fly.But..If your not currently flying like you thought you would by now don't let it get you down until you've tried a few different ways to break through the walls..And walls are what they are..Fear, Money, Pride,or your wife's ridicule.What ever your wall is it is still based on a fear of some kind..The best motivator at the field is your friends pushing you to the limits they believe your capable of.(not the kind of friends that want to laugh at your stupidity) If they can encourage you to stretch past a wall or a rut, they usually feel just as good as you. But, we can't do that here can we?..Well, We can if we are honest about where we currently are and where we want to go and if we share our progress. We can encourage each other..This board is famous for the way we support each other.. The real problem is that it's not very macho to admit your not Curtis Youngblood and that you may still be in the hover mode? I my case I was quite happy hovering around my yard,work shop, and parking lot.. But...brother when I finally started flying I couldn't believe how much time I wasted..I could have been flying the way they were meant to..banking, stalling, tail whipping..I always wanted to land like I saw the Hueys in Vietnam, coming in hot with their tails practically dragging in the grass.Then lifting off nose down and tail high banking hard and pulling out in a hurry.That's no problem for me now and that doesn't include what I can do in the sky...I am not into 3d yet but you can't do a flip or roll and consider yourself to be into 3d..That's heavy duty stuff and we are suppose to be honest here?? Ok.. with all that out of the way are you ready? I hope you put your name up and your progress will encourage us and you'll help push us all to the level we can be at..
Unfortunately this applies to those who are stuck in the hover mode, if you can't fly (hover) out a whole battery pack (tail in) your not ready for forward flight anyway..sorry, but you can't run if you cant walk..there is not 12 easy steps to forward flight, only three rules and they are so simple that it's gonna make you sick. They are Discipline,Boredom and the third is this
You'll get there faster if you slow down). If you cheat your only wasting your own time...But If you want to fly your gonna get there faster than you ever imagined and your gonna feel great about yourself and flying..
Your going to do one of two things. You are either going to give up or your going to get better. The speed that you do either is up to you.. When you get bored you will either want to try something new or you just peter out move on to a new hobby..right? well, what if we set out to get bored a little early? Two things will happen.You'll start to relax and if your relaxed long enough you'll get bored and of course if your bored you can't be afraid...
The guys flying and learning without a sim don't have time for toys.....that's how they see sims..a waste of valuable time. They could be really flying, not fakey flying.and ( they believe they can do it so you find them trying)
The guys that get the heli's at a garage sales, clearance sales or as a gift..have no real attachments or fascination about them.They simply treat them as if they are airplanes...Ask one of these fast learners yourself..I'll bet the first thing they'll say is.".well I've flown airplanes for awhile and it really doesn't freak me out." Everyone else will say.." I cant fly helicopters!! ..they are too complicated..they freak me out.."
Finally..Here's how you do it...
A helicopter should want to fly....and a pilot should "only" fly it!??.. sound crazy?....before I do any flying at all I trim the model..(from now on we will call our copters "models"...lets not puff them up anymore..they are just machines..) It's not uncommon for me to waste half a battery pack trimming a model for level flight..The Helicopters job is to fly..the pilots job is simply to push it around..The first time I had a model really trimmed out and the gyro was working as it should I was very surprised to see all I had to do was move the aileron stick a little right and the model moved right and stopped when I let up on the stick!! Then I moved it Left and it moved back again..actually I was shocked!..I thought you had to fight to keep a helicopter in the air..WRONG ...Because if you have to keep the machine in the air you cant really be flying.Your doing two jobs..Get it? The model should be balanced and trimmed...The pilot should only push it around...DING...TAH DAH!!!!! Ok now picture this again...imagine a perfectly balanced machine, hovering only with small corrections.. that leaves you the pilot time to decide where to go!! Gee...Just one stick can move it left, right, forward, backward....cool..huh? and not so complicated...I know what your thinking...My model doesn't fly that well?? Then you need to spend two or three packs trimming or work on your mechanics cause it should....
Second thing you have to do is know what your going to do and how to recover if you get scared. The main reason for helicopter crashes is usually because pilots have combined a combination of moves and loosing the orientation it takes to recover. Combinations are the killers. So If you practice one movement at a time and it's recovery your crashes will become less frequent especially if you know the recovery when your going in.
1.With that in mind here's your first orienation.(The Model should be hovered at least chest high)..If you can hover a pack out tail in then your next orientation should be left side in.The key to the fear wall here is to slowly rotate it to the left side with the rudder stick....until it's side in..(please left so we are all on the same page). Your (recovery) will be rudder back to tail in...If you freak out at full left side in then go 45degs..You MUST....remain in this orientation for an entire battery pack...Until you are capable of staying side in or 45 deg for a whole pack you must recover with rudder until stable again then return to the orientation...You cant move on until you can hover in this posisition for an entire pack..An easy way to relax is to watch the skids..they are a quick reference to see if the model is tilting.Later you'll have to kick this habit but it will help for now.
2. When you can hover left side in for two or three packs or until you are bored..( don't be in a hurry...a week can last a lifetime.) ( remember, you get there faster by slowing down).....Now it's time to rotate to the right side. Your recovery will be rudder back to tail in as before. Don't cheat! this will get you flying trust me.. practice until you can remain stable for two or three packs or until you are bored...but not less than two or three packs.
3. Next you should be ready to move from left side in to right side in after freezing in each position for around ten seconds. You should be confident now of you recovery out moves..Same story again Discipline yourself until you can rotate the model left side in to right side in ten second movements until your are bored to tears or confident through 2 to 3 packs.
4.Now the fun stuff begins...Turn your model left side in as usual hold it for ten seconds then slowly move forward one foot! JUST ONE FOOT...don't cheat!...( Boredom, Discipline. You'll get there faster by going slow!). turn the model right side in and hold it ten seconds, then move forward one foot...This one foot is more important than you'll ever know..don't cheat. Same story again don't move on until your bored or at least two to three packs..
5.More Fun is on the way... Left side in...freeze...move (Two) feet forward...freeze...right side...(Two) feet forward ..more batteries..
6. Here we go... we are going to do the same thing as before, moving two foot forward, only this time your NOT going to freeze..try to make it one smooth movement...rotate slowly left side in. move slowly forward two feet and gently rotate to right side in and slowly move two feet forward and so on....what your are doing is a figure 8....Yea!
7.now, if you feel the way I did after the boredom you wont have any problem moving forward 5 feet then 8...10 and rotating smoothly...When you feel you burned enough battery packs move to a large field and slowly take it away 20 feet each way..When you go home at the end of that day...If you don't feel absolutely great....you had a mechanical failure.
8. More come...
Happy Flying !!!!
The Lessons
PRE-FLIGHT SET-UPS,WARNINGS, AND SALUTATIONS....
For the next 2 and half days you will need to make a promise to yourself to be as disciplined as you remember that mean old playground teacher was. Remember how she use to jerk you off the monkey bars for hanging upside down with one foot? How she would slap you on the back of the head for throwing rocks towards the girls?..Oh Yeah....You were the reckless one..Weren't You?...Well... You wont have a baby sitter or a school teacher to watch if your being reckless or see if your cheating..It's up to you. I am going to ask you to do things that will seem stupid, childish, and a huge waste of time. But, I have my reasons. They work and will save you weeks of frustration. The only thing you have to loose is three days. There will be no broken parts or burnt up motors. You will become better faster. You will hold the tail dead spot on and you will have more hover control than most other newbies after a month or two of hopping..You will not be hop training! Thats just hoppin and hopin. You will be Flight training!.. There is a massive difference. A real flight instructor would not let you slide over sloppy performance or rush ahead. But since you're the only one watching yourself you MUST make the decision to be obedient to the lessons. Do you really want to fly in three days..or..hop and bash around for three weeks? I would also suggest something most other coaches would scoff at here..(Please learn this alone). Unless two of you can make the same commitment to be disciplined then an observer will only distract you and encourage you to "GO FOR IT"..
We will not be lifting off for at least three days so the chance of you being injured calling 911 and needing an ambulance is slim. Still, safety is safe so you may want to put the hospital number on speed dial just incase..(just kidding)...
Rest assured!..If I were there right now I'd slap you on the back or your head just to get your attention...Don't Be Reckless...( SWOP..POW!..)
This first lesson is all depending on that your building the helicopter has been done correctly. That the helicopter is balance and somewhat trimmed with the mechanics in neutral..By this I mean your radio and servos and linkages etc are set to factory. Your blades should be balanced and flypaddles equal and level. You can't trim a helicopter unless it is in the air but as we spin up you will be able to see quit a few things that may need to be done. I will repeat many times that in this period your are mearly getting acquainted with your machine so checking and re-checking and freaking out on the mechanics will hopefully take care of them selves.Especially if the helicopter is wobbling like a Hula Dancer or jerking like it's having a seizer.
These lessons should be done consecutively, hopefully three days in a row. It will be more to your benefit to have at least three batteries on full charge per session. But you will be stopping quite often to think and rest so If you don't have three batteries don't back out now. Three batteries usually is my limit on the first day of lessons due to the intensity of the concentration level and nerves, but feel free to heat your motor up like the kitchen stove if you prefer.. I do and would advise you to keep a can of motor cleaner handy.
You must get into a step by step start up mode. This is very very important. Always go through the same procedures when starting up your helicopter.. Such as.
1. Make sure the switch is off on your Helicopter.(If it has one)
2. Load battery , do not connect wires.
3. Tug the tips on the Main blades to center them and to aid them in spinning up.
4. Turn on the Transmitter.
5. Set throttle hold or Throttle Lock on your TX.
6. Double check that the switch on heli is off .
7. Plug up Battery.
8. Double check throttle hold switch on TX.
9. Switch on Helicopter.
10. Wait for Gyro to initialize.
11. Rotate and test Cyclic controls.
12. Set your tail. ( flick the rudder several times back and forth until the tail blades are straight up and down. This helps set the gyro for flight.)
These twelve steps can save you many disappointments , trips to bank, parts store and even the emergency room as my friend Malcolm can attest to. (Tehehe..) Once you have made them your first habits they can be accomplished in the blink of an eye. ( did I mention they will save you many unnecessary and embarrassing problems at the field?)
Now Lets set up your flying field, airport and home for the next three days..
On a (smooth hard) floor in a space 15 to 20 foot square and clean mark out a chalked box one foot square (chalk please..no tape or anything the helicopter skid can catch on).. This is your whole sky.. I know! It doesn't seem very large does it? Trust me here! At the end of three days it will feel like a football field. Now, many Heli pilots are going to slam the crap out of this but I don't care and neither do the folks that I trained . I'm very certain my flyers would jump in front of me like the president's guard and take the bullets for me. And, as cocky as this sounds if you discipline yourself you will defend this technique after your chopper has run full throttle across the runway as well. TRUST ME THIS WORKS!. The funny thing here and my last statement on the matter are this.. I have had "old Heli flyers" attack this first step only to feel in my bones the reason they did was because they could not do it! Strangely enough it was a student that pointed this out to Me..Now ask yourself a question. If they can't do it and you will be able, what does that tell you? You will have much more discipline and control .Whooo that's a real step out. Huh?
Okone more Bomb shell! I am torn here about what I am going to ask you to do. And the reason is because I don't know you reflexes, past history of RC of just how responsible you are going to beBut here goes??.TAKE THE TRAINING GEAR OFF!! (Oh crap!)what did I just say?That's right. For the first few days I don't let my students practice with gear. Why you ask?... Glup!..Well, first of all I am with them and I keep things very slow and safe. I keep the first spinups at low rotor speeds and shut them down often to talk and reset and rest. At low speeds training gear are like attaching rotorblades to the floor. They lack the sensitivity I am trying to reveal to the student. And most of all they promote carelessness and sloppiness. So what am I to ask you to do? Leave the training gear on or take it off? Only you know the answers to these questions....Do you know what you will do in a panic? Have you held a transmitter before? Can you truly take it slow? Can you be responsible. What are your abilities? If you are very certain you can take it slow not even attempting to rush the levels. I believe you'll be fine. However , if you have never held a radio in your hands before I would tell you to put some very light and small training gear on. Perhaps it would benefit you to go through the lesson of the first couple days twiceBut Your going to be Pilot...so.."Airman"...this is not the time to be a Big Fat Baby!...If you have handled a radio before then buck up the courage and let's go!!!
Remember, since we are only getting aquatinted and we are taking off the gear you must go SLOWLY!..You have no baby sitter .You must get focused . You must not push ahead.. If you don't stop when I suggest it, you have Failed! You have Cheated! And, you have just Crashed!..Crashed is a term I use when my students have lost control , not when they have actually hit the dirt, done the dead chicken dance and sprayed parts all over cars in the parking lot. You must make this term part of your responsibilityIf you leave the box with both skids, you have CRASHED. You must spin down, walk over and line your heli back in place by hand. You don't have a Babysitter! I'm not there to bash you on the back of your head and tell you that your cheating. But a smashed and twisted ,broken helicopter will!! And I will be angry.Even though I'm not there..My spirit will haunt you until the Mailman brings the replacements. BoooooHaaaaaa!!
You must understand how your radio works first and where to find what without looking. When the Helicopter is in the air and your looking like Helen Keller, blindly feeling all over for the controls you dont have time to guess.. But you will have plenty to pick up the mess....After all You wouldn't want a spoonful of spinach when your digging in for banana pudding now would you?. So, we must get aquatinted with the radio. Grabbing the throttle instead of the aileron is not a good thing. Not wanting to loose my life I always run through the controls with a student before he has a chance to freak me out. With TX on throttle hold, the motor unplugged and the power on we can test understanding of it .Which helps our confidence and reassures each other. ( Gee...that's smart huh?)
As for the controls, heres something very cool and easy. I call it ( Radd's TX Silly Stick and Clock Control Newbie Number System...or...RTXSSACCNNS.. for short)..Each gimbals or Control stick will be represented by the hands of the clock and separated with the word "and". Mid stick is referred to as "0". Such as 4 and 10. Depending on which continent you live on your either in mode 1 or 2. In America we are in mode 2 which is throttle and rudder on the left. Aileron and pitch is on the right. Here is Radd's numbersas a clock.. stick straight up is 12oclock .Straight down is 6 o'clock. Full left is 9 and full right is 3..Diagonal numbers ( 1,2,4,5,7, 8,10, 11 ) are diagonal movements of the sticks..Duh?... Sticks in the mid position or neutral spot are referred to as "0" An example would be if you were in forward fight making a right aileron turn movement the sticks might be around " 0 and 3 " or half stick on the throttle and right stick aileron..Of course this depends upon your set up. Where the throttle amount is crucial, the throttle amount will be referred to as.. zero stick , quarter stick ,half stick and full stick and written separately. **** Here's a cool thing to put in your tips box for the future and why we will be using thisWhen the pros think and discuss orientation or show each other tricks, they refer the helicopter in stick movementsIf your making a right turn they could show you how they move the sticks without the heli being in the air.. (ding!)Another cool tip is if your going into an orientation with certain stick movements then the opposite stick movements will in most cases pull you back out.. Once you begin to think this way you can visualize flight orientation, tricks and stick movements in your mind first. And with the number system we can discuss orientations accurately as we talk to each other. But the main reason I came up with this simple system is that my students can quickly and calmly make adjustments as I call them out while they are mid air. The commands are quick and brief( "0 and 4" ) ..( "0 and 3" ).Wow! look at the future!! a 3D backflip in idle up ."(12 and 6)"..then "(6 and 12)" then "( 0 and 0 ) "
BATTERY # ONEThis battery is called the "Spin UP"
Okeee DoeKeeeHere We GOOoooo I said HERE WE GO! Oh,Crap?!?
Place your heli in the center of the box and go through the start up procedure. This is your whole sky and any time both skids leave the box you have crashed. ( the DEAD ZONE)
Assuming that your heli is set up on the average with stock motors and settings, the normal helicopter hovers around half stick. We will stay well below that today. My trainers start to grind ( electric motor hum noise) around quarter stickYou should get use to this sound. I don't believe it damages the motor but for these first lessons you will want the head to spin up very slowly. By listening for the "grind" you can begin the spin up very very slowly. If you have tugged on the blades and set them center you shouldn't have much wobble and the heli should start to spin up nicely just past quarter stick. Let the blades spin up by their own inertia adding tiny amounts of throttle. You should not be rotating the blades fast enough to see any tail movement yetIf you do then gently back off on the throttleYou should also not hear sudden motor power or whistle coming from the blades at any time..This means you are not adding smooth throttle..Again, All we are doing here is getting aquatinted with the controls.. Now, gently spin downYeah I know you didn't do anything cool yet!Come on Man!..Just follow directions OK!.. "That's me yelling at my student!" Are you listening? "AIRMAN"??
Spin back up gently again and then spin down a couple times..You are getting use to the sensitivity of the throttle stick. When you are flying later on it will feel as if you only have to breathe on the control sticks and the helicopter will react. As you practice this you will begin to feel the tail wanting to move to the right. ( you probably have been too eager and too heavy on the throttle and it's swung anywayyou bad bad person you!)
If you did listen to me ( yeah sure..Ah huh!) and gently spun up your new helicopter slowly and not had the tail move on you then lets get ready and prepare for it. The tail blades move about 4 times as fast as the main blades and as the head speed increases the tail tends to want to move right..**** If you initialized your gyro right and spin up slowly a Heading Hold gyro shouldn't have any trouble holding tail in one place as you spin up..That said and now that you know the sensitivity of the throttle stick focus and think about the tailAs you spin up this time add a tiny more amount of throttle than before and you will feel the tail move. But this time we will give some rudder stick input to counter it.. your rudder stick at spin up should be heading for "2 or 3 o'clock".
Spin up gently again and hold the tail a couple times but watch that it you are still not anywhere near half stick or even getting the heli light on the skids!!! You don't want to crash before your even off the first battery( and make me look stupid! )
At spin up it is very easy to remember that a helicopter wants the tail to move right and the helicopter itself to drift left**** ( Tail Left, Helicopter Right )!!burn it in your memory..
Are you being patient? Does this seem unnecessarily slow? Can you follow the plan? Do you want to fly.? Be patient and things will come much faster than you can imagine
Spin up Hold the tail straight. Spin down..
Spin up Hold the tail straight. Spin down..
You should have quite a bit of the first battery leftAs of now you should have been concentrating on three things. The first being throttle..The second being the tail and the third being the box on the floor.. You must remain in the box..As we add a little more throttle and spin up faster the Heli will try to lean to the left. Just as we added rudder input, now we will add right cyclic to hold the helicopter from tipping over and to hold it in one place. Ask yourself . Where is your throttle? Do you feel a little more comfortable adding throttle and can you do it smoothly enough that nothing sudden happens?
At this point I usually sit down with the person and ask them how the sticks felt and were they in touch with the machine? Did it react as they thought it was going to? Because.. we are going to add even more throttle next and begin to feel a little more authority.
Also, at this time I usually re-introduce what I call punishmentPunishment is spinning down an walking over and realining the heli in the boxIf you want to be a good pilot and fly well your going to be punishing yourself a lot from here onSame as a full size aircraft pilot would do..This punishment will transform you and change your outlook on flying for a lifetime. It will become your best friend. It will protect you and treat you well. Not to mention how much money it will save you. In years to come it will be there and whisper in your ear telling you not to take off or becareful! Back off!..This is dangerous..
If at anytime the helicopter doesn't obey,turning without your stick imput ,(which means your out of control)..You must punish yourself. Spin down and reset the copter..Don't think even for a second about trying to fly out a mistakeOr flying the tail back to center ( That is a CRASH!) If your not in control at all times then the helicopter is and I consider it a (CRASH)..In this stage of learning there is NO recovery!..only crashing!! So we are not going to get out of controlNot ever!You must be in perfect control at all times. If your not then you must punish yourself If the tail does not stay dead straight punish yourself. Stop Spin down and reset the helicopterThis is the basis for everything in these lessons I'm not there with you but I were I would tell you this over and over againAs anyone of my flyers would tell youSTOP DO IT RIGHT!.This is also why the Old flyers think it's unreasonable to stay in the boxBecause it's hard!! Don't listen to them.This is very good training and you must PUNISH yourself often(You will soon see the power of the Box Grasshopper")
******** there are a few places most heli pilots watch as their Helicopters are "Live". Some guys watch the nose. Some watch the skids. Some watch the rotor disk, tail or body and some watch the mast.. Well, lets think about that for a second.. On the spin up if I watch the nose and it's pointing away from me then my tail controls seem ether backward or minute. If you watch the skids (Most popular) then you are playing catch up because with everything that's happening ..the last thing to move are the skidsIf I watch the tail it's backwards to the TX controls. Watching the tail, about the only thing you'll notice imediately is nose up and down and tilting sideways and this is way too slow..That leaves the rotor disk and mast. At this point in your training the huge spinning rotor disk is way too intimidating and also way to late to get you out of trouble..The (mast) is the pumbob of a helicopter and which ever way it moves or tilts is an indicator of which way the chopper IS going to moveNotice how I capitalized IS?The mast moves first in realtionship to the controls on your radio. It's movements can be noticed in very slight changes. Before any other part of the heli can react the mast has to move first. In flight or Hover the mast will show you the intent of the heli before it ever happens. Which ever way it tilts that is the way the machine is going to go. By watching the mast you can actually be ahead of the helicopter in a hover, correct it and think ahead before the chopper has even moved..Cool Huh?
So as we spin up the helicopter somewhere under half throttle and move your aleron sticks you should watch the tilt of the swash..If your well under half stick you can really work the stick hard and tilt the swash quite severly to get a feel for the relationship or sensitivity of the radio to the helicopter and how it will react. STAY WAY UNDER HALF STICK!
As I said earlier , the tail will want to swing right and the heli will want to drift leftSo be ready on the sticks. Your sticks will be heading for "( 10 and 10 )"Spin up and feel the inertia and the tendency of both the movementsHold the tail and be ready on the right stick to keep the heli level. Hold it steady for only a second or two and then spin downCome On!!..Don't pushTake a breath and think about how small the stick movements actually were..
For the rest of the battery run through the spin up and spin downsYou'll start to know your radio and your control over the machine.. If your not in controlthe Helicopter is!..
Hold the tail dead on 6 oclock and keep the heli in the box
HOLD THE TAILYOU BIG BABY!.. HOLD THE TAIL !!!.... (and call me SIR! "When you start to whine!)"(I cant hold it .SIR!) the student says!" " STOP whining Soldier!!"I SAID!HOLD IT!
WATCH THE MAST!IT'S TILTING!..KEEP THE HELI LEVEL!.RIGHT STICK 10 oclock! HOLD THE TAIL!.WATCH THE MAST!!! CONCENTRATE!!! YOU BIG BABY!!*** I SAID***HOLD THE TAIL IN ONE PLACE!!! NOW YOUR GOING OUT OF THE BOX!!WATCH THE THROTTLE DON'T INCREASE IT!!
Ok! At Ease!!!.spin down and Breath deep!
AlrightHow did it go? Did you feel me yelling at you like a drill sargent? All joking aside did you cheat? Did you take it past the safety level? Did you spin up and down as often as I told you? You still have a alot of batteries yet to gocan you follow the plan? I hope so because we're becoming friendsEach time you were able to spin down you are going to focus much harder next time..The safety factor goes up and the cost of repairs goes down..Your control will become razor sharp and your sticks will begin to feel totally natural in your hands..You are getting aquainted with your heliI'd say bird, but that sounds funny..I just wish I was there to SCREAM AT YOU!..that's fun to!
Did you notice anything strange mechanically going on with your new bird? Do you feel any Red Flags? You must trust themCheck over all linkages and controls before going to the new battery
As simple as it sounds you must also have a proceedure for when changing battery packs..
1.Always hit throttle hold before walking over the heli after flying.
2. Always hit the off switch before carring the heli
3. Always dissconnect the battery before shutting off the transmitter. ( very important habit)..
Install and new battery and then go through the start up porceedures..
Second Battery: SAME AS THE FIRST BATTERY!" awh come on??"Yeah I can hear it now! "WHINE , WHINE, WHINE." Quit crying you big baby! A battery only takes about ten or 15 mimutesCheeeezze whats that?
SECOND BATTERY is called " SAME AS THE FIRST!"
Would you let a student of full size helicopters advance too fast?.."Come On Yourself." This is a Man killing, Cat chasing , tear everything up machine
Your learning.! Not Flying!..You're getting aquatinted and your not doing the BUNNY HOP all over the front yard. Hoppity Hopping like the big Bunny Rabbit and probably smashing and tearing itself to pieces in the dead Chicken Dance
On the second Battery you will be tempted to increase the throttle and that's Ok.as long as it's hardly noticeableand smooth..BUT, keep it on the ground! If you cant restrain yourself your not cheating me ---- your cheating time! If you hurry you'll only slow yourself downThe Hobby is littered with the carcasses of dead helicopters in the graveyards of attics and basements all over the world. On the second battery..HOLD THE TAIL, STAY IN THE BOX, WATCH THE MAST. PUNISH YOUSELF!!..QUESTION YOURSELF. STOP AND THINK. STOP AND REST.. Stop and breath, at least every one or two minutesspin down and get refocused
BATTERY #3
The third battery is called "Tilt the Swash".
Spin the heli up butway way under 50%. What we are going to do on this battery is get the rotor spinning and get use to the cyclic controls..We are going to hit the sticks pretty hard so keep the head speed way down so not to dump over the heli.You must not be anywhere near lift off speed or half stick but fast enough that in low head speed you don't wobble the stuffing out of the chopper, throw it off balance and do a boom strikeConcentration WhooooHoo
After it's spun up take the aileron stick slowly to 3 o'clock and then back to zero. Then move the cyclic to the left or 9 o'clockIf your calm and feeling this is a good safe head speed stay there alittle and move the controls back and forth from 3 to 9 and back againDo Not move the sticks Fore and Aft. Not yet!.. Once you are comfortable and in control with the right and left cyclic spin down and think about how the sticks felt and how proportional they were to the Helicopter.
After resting a moment spin back up and increase your head speed a little. This time we are going to watch the mast and what I call the "Plate" which is the spinning fly bar and paddles ( Don't know why I named it that? Guess I was hungry?)It takes on a silver color as it gets up to speed. But mostly this time around I want you to watch the mast and the linkages and how they move and tilt. Again since your not at lift off RPM you should be quite safe. While all this is going on you've almost forgotten about the tail (have you?)Are you holding it? Give yourself a minute or two feeling the cyclic and it's relationship to the radioWatch the mast and the Plate..Remember. If you not in control The Helicopter is! After watching the mast take sometime to watch the plate as it tilts as wellYou should have a couple minutes of battery left and it may be a good time to rest..
Again picture in your mind how much stick and how much control you had with the machine.If your reading this completely through before try it I'm sure you can't imagine what is exciting about any of this.However I'm sure you'll have the tingles when you give it a go in real timeYou may want to read each plan for the separate batteries again and each time before you burn the whole pack..
After resting a moment we will spin back up and test the pitch cyclic or the fore and aft controls.. Spin it back up and once again hold the tail and feel the right and left cyclic for a moment and then very gently give it forward controlVery gently does it! Visually the movement is harder to see and the heli is a little more unstable on the skids fore and aft so take it easy. Also we don't want to bang the tail hard on the floorLater we will be moving the cyclic in a circle but for the moment practice a little on the right and left, fore and aft control..Hold the tail and keep the heli in the boxIf you feel comfortable take up the head speed to your safety level. 1. Hold the tail. 2. Watch the Mast and the Plate. 3. Stop and ask yourself the usual questionsDid it react as you thought? How much pressure did the sticks require? And most important how stable were the skids?Did they try to come off?BAD, BAD person!
Oh My!!!Battery 4 coming up!! ( second day?)
Battery 4 is called Throttle up!.not idle up .THROTTLE UP!
With this Battery we are going to do the same control movements but we are going to increase the head speed..Yep! that's right, the same thingbut with higher head speed you should hear that Drill Sargent screaming in your headKEEP THE SKIDS FLAT ON THE DECKSOLDIER!!.If they lift off, especially the right one, back off on the throttle and let it settle..Figure out how much aileron stick you need to hold it on the floor with the plate tilted and speed up againKEEP IT ON THE FLOOR WATCH THE BOX. .KEEP THE TAILKEEP IT IN THE BOXTHE BOXTHE BOXTHE BOX..at ease soldierSpin down and catch your breath.your going back up to speed when your blood pressure gets out of the stroke range.
The controls should becoming much more sensitive at a higher head speedballs the tail should be finding it's home as well.. Your hopefully finding your rudder thumb relaxing a lot as it gets head speed..The reason for this is because the ratio of head speed to tail speed is balancing itself and the gyro is waking up! However since the head speed is beginning to scream and the controls are more sensitive this is definitely no time to relax.I'm tingling just thinking about"IT'S ALIVE..'"
If the helicopter drifts out of the box remember your punishmentWalk over and drag it back into place..It's acceptable for one skid to peep out of the box but when the second skid crosses the line it's punishment timeCome on you made the deal!!!
As you practice spinning up and down with fairly strong head speed you will be building up your skill and coordination at hold the tail and keeping the skids flat..You'll be working on keeping the plate as flat as possible but giving it just enough aileron to hold it on the floor.. But the main task at this point should be keeping it in the box.SoSoldier..your challenge is hold that baby in the boxthe box boss...The box..If you see the skids rocking or lifting off then back off on the throttle. Stay with it and stay spinning a little long than you were beforeStay on it for about three minutes at a timeIf you would like to practice spinning up and spinning down several times towards the end of the battery you will greatly benefit from this but most people want to ride the wild tiger till the battery is dead Take it easy this is only your 4th battery and your not quite ready to go into a dog fight just yet..Slow down a bit and think of you wallet..relax and think about what the helicopter has been doing and what you have been doing to counter act IF YOUR NOT IN CONTROL THE HELICOPTER IS!SOLDIER!!
You must not let yourself be distracted even for a second at this head speedYou must have tunnel vision and in total contact with your helicopter..As you moves ..It movesAs you think It thinks( tee hee..that's so silly!).. NEVER, EVER NEVER EVER, NENENENENVER EVER TAKE YOUR EYES OFF THE MACHINE It can kill you!I lost my composer raising my voice at students who take their eyes off the machine.why?BECAUSE IT CAN KILL ME TOO!!!!
5th Battery This battery is called ("Tilt the swash!")
Hey ? I thought we already did that?.
Yes, We've already did that ! But I'm just mean and nasty and want you to do it again! Actually we need the practice cause the 6th battery is gona kick your little hiney..On the 5th battery we don't want to spin up and down but concentrate on two things for longer blocks of time.( You should have been doing short spin ups before??You lousy cheater! )..
Ok, So. Spin up to where your skids feel light but not bouncing on the groundhold the tail, keep the skids on the ground and stay in the box. Bring the throttle back if your heli wants to lift off. At this speed I want you to very very carefully play with the plate and tilt the swash right and left and VERY gently fore and aft..COME ON DUDE!I SAID GENTLY!stay in control and stay on the ground..STAY IN THE BOX!.If the tail swings, Punish Yourself.. DON'T CHEAT!!
6th Battery. This battery is called "PUT THE TRAINING GEAR ON!"
Oh, My, Goodness!!.Ah, Yeah!!!Put them on because your gonna need themWhooo Hoooo!!
I can see your eyes now!!."Oh Man, this is what I have been waiting for!"..Well, not quite. But close! And it's gonna be really cool!With the extra weight of the training gear it's going to change the feel of the Heli again so we're going to have to get aquatinted with the machine again.."BOO, Hissssssss!"..Come on ya whiner.. Your getting close to flying .so quit whimperingThe fun is about to get with it!!
Since the Helicopter is going to be heavier and the controls will be sluggish due to that weight..Guess what?Yeah, We have to add more power.. More Power, Higher head speed and more adreniline.Your gonna feel and hear the power now Yeah Baby!..
Hey!Don't forget!..stay on the ground! Here's what we are going to do..Add more power,Get really light on the gear. Hold the Tail. Turn the tail, Rotate the Plate!
Ok, For the love of ADRENILINE!. BECAREFUL!!and.. FOCUS..
Remember! If your not in control the heli is! So DANG,DARN,FREAKIN, FRAKINbe focused! There is no recovery for a newbie, only crashing..You must stay in control! You must not cheat and you must punish your self for sloppiness.Oh, Man.Martha Look out!
Spin that baby up and get it light on the skids.SWEET MOTHER OF TROY!be ready, be ahead of the mast!. Come on now ? Get it light and STAY IN THE BOXCONTROL, CONTROL CONTROL..
Seriously, stay in the boxwe've got some really cool things coming up and your gonna love themBut remember to use your head..Stop and think..Stop often and feel whats going on..Don't power on and lift off yetCome on Please? Whata Ya Say? ..Don't blow it now!!..
Here's what we're going to do..We are going to hold the tail at 6 o'clock, as the helicopter skims light on the gear and while still inside the box we want to turn the tail ever so gently and smoothly to the leftaround 8 O'clock..The helicopter should be diagonal slightly and the whole thing should be pointing to the right. Do not turn the heli more than 8 oclock. You can easily become disorientated. Concentrate and slowly bring it back to 6 o'clock again..Then gently slide the tail back to 8 o'clock and back to center againThe difficulty here is holding the heli in the box while moving the tail sidewaysThis is truly much easier said than done..After six or seven times of taking it to 8 o'clock you may want to rest and let your motor cool down. Next we will focus on sliding the tail to the opposite side to around 4 o'clock. A rule that we will be following well through Forward flight is to practice your weaknesses" Fall in love with your weaknesses and your strengths will reward you". In other words we will be practicing rights sides and left sides equally.
At this time you will definitely want to spin down and rest a momentAsk the same old questions..How did the controls feel? Could you move smoothly ? Were you totally in control or was the helicopter. Next we will rotate the swash after spin up. As you begin your spin up and are holding the tail don't quite get it that light yet and move the swash and mast in a gentle circle. You should see the frame of the helicopter softly look as though it bending in circular motions. You should be able to see the plate move as the saucer is slowly tilting and turning. On the last of the charge to the 6th battery you should finish it by spinning it out in the box tilting the swash and moving the tail gently.You've come along way But from here it only gets betterDID YOU CHEAT? There's still time to be goodBecareful. Be honest. Be focused! We are about to have some real fun so hang on!
We are still working on getting you in touch with your relationship to the controls and the movement of the swash. But. Think about it? How much have you advanced and broken down some the walls of fear?
Has your control of the helicopter increased? Do you feel anymore confident? Can you remain calm as the blades are spinning up? At the end of second day and as the 7th battery begins are you the same nervous heli student you were when you started? If you were patient you have indeed come a long long way.
Her comes the 7th Battery this battery is called the " THE SCOOTER"
Why the scooter? Cause that's what I call my son and I just wanted to name it after him. Plus we are going to move the chopper around the floor a little too..BUT! We are going to stay on the floor..Make no mistake we are not ready to fly yet but this going to be exciting enoughnothing for the faint hearted or elderly( sounds like me?)and if by now you haven't been into the adrenaline cookie jar something's wrongmaybe you should take up bull fighting or something..
This time we are going to get up to maximum ground power on the 7th battery. Just as much throttle as it takes to scoot the heli forward..A couple feet only, and don't try to slide it backward yet because that takes a lot more power and may require a short hopAnd I hate hopping so for the first couple times please spin down after scooting forward and drag the heli back into the box..Keep the tail straight and slide it forward but make sure you feel under control.
Spin it up and let the blades do the work..Slowly very slowly inch it forward..Then walk over and slide it back by hand. Do this several times and try hard not to let the helicopter slide side ways.It will want to move to its left..So you must counter with right stickAs difficult as it sound it is very possible to maintain the amount of right aileron to keep the skids down and still move forward. Hold the tail and again slide it back by hand.
After a few slides forward you may want to relax and get your wits about you for a moment. Then we will next slide forward and to the left a couple feet. .Holding the tail raise the throttle up very slightly and very gently begin to slide the helicopter to your right. Watch the left skid and keep it as low on the floor as possible. Maintain power and slide the machine to the right. Again don't try to slide the copter towards the rear unless the Helicopter with slight rear pitch and naturally wants to move that way.
Battery 8 and 9 are both "Your Batteries"
You've earned a little R & R If you've done your best not to cheat and stayed in the box when I ask you to ( Ha! )..If you feel under control and relaxed and feel you can remain still on the floor for two more batteries before trying anything crazy then these two batteries are all yoursFeel free to buzz around on the floor how you like and in what direction you choose. Tilt the swash, turn the tail, slide around in your favorite direction. Make sure your in control, calm and focused. And enjoy yourself.
On the tenth pack we are going to fly. But take a second and look back at what you have accomplished? Are you still nervous when your helicopter spins up? Is it still the Man killing death trap it once appeared?
By now you should not be afraid of the controls as you add throttle. You now know what to expect as it spins up. You know how much power to apply and how much cyclic to add and how sensitive your control are.. You know what to do to hold the heli in place and how to slide it aroundAnd in these last two batteries your fear factor has dropped even more..Are you still excited? Are you still having funAre you ready to fly? Take a deep breath and picture it lifting off very gently and in control.That's what's next
Battery #10.. ( TIME TO FLY!)
Here's the real deal!.If I completely left this lesson off I know that you could fly nowI am so confident that even if I dropped dead on the heli pad right now you would be fine. And you could fly..And I'll betcha you feel the same. If you have followed the lessons and been honest with your self and not rushed ahead then you are ready and you know it. You can feel it. The beautiful secret that we share and which you now take for granted is that though you've only been at this a few days your not scared anymore. From now on you will look back on the frightened faces of newbies that have been "hopping and hoping" for as long as a month or more and still do not feel the sense of confidence that you do now..Had I not seen that confident stare in the eyes of my flyers many times I could not have the audacity say this is true..But I always see it !.
By now many things about helicopters have changed for you. You understand them much better. Your not afraid of them anymore.You have felt totally in control as well as being very confident in a confined space. Many new flyers with 4 time the experience do not feel the way you do now even in a space the size of a football field. And you have mastered the controls of a helicopter in the space of one square foot!! ( Well mastering it maybe pushing it a little?) And, at this moment your probably feeling one of two thingsYour either thinking I've been holding you back or you've accidentally bounced off the ground a couple times and your ready to stay up for a while
It's about this time that I do you a great favor and ask that you once again to STOP AND THINK!! Stop, think and listen to me for one last Battery Pack. Just one more pack and you can be on your way.
For a brief moment think back on all the steps and battery lessons you practiced up to this point..
1.You spun up and held the tail
2. You held the tail and tilted the swash
3. You increased the Head speed and maintained control
4. You became light on the skids and moved the tail in both directions
5. You held the tail straight and scooted the Heli in the direction of you choice.
6. You learn to spin down and think. ( Most important of all..you disciplined yourself)
7. You stayed within the box..( your sky!)
Here's another way to look at it.(As if you were flying).
1.You lifted off and held the tail in towards you
2.By tilting the swash you flew to the left and right
3. By increasing the throttle and head speed you learned how sensitive your throttle and collective is. What it takes to climb out or maintain hoveras well as what the tail is going to do with the increase of power.
4. You learned to make the helicopter's tail stay rock solid. By moving the tail to the right and left on the floor you've learned how to control, keep and move the rudder in the air.
5. By scooting the heli in different directions on the floor you've become aquatinted with the cyclic controls and how they will react in the air.
6. You've learned the fine art of when to becareful and when to back off.
So what does all this sound like? Does it sound like you can fly it without any concern.. Well, not exactly but you are miles ahead of the average beginner. There is just a few things you need to know before hitting the throttle flying around the house and making all your neighbors whoot and holler and pat you on the back.
Here weeee go..and .one more list of the things to practice.
Batttery #10
1. Take that Flyin Machine OUTSIDE!
2. Burn half a pack outside on the pavement. ( that's my advice..You'll feel better and a little more calm if you can use just that small bit of patience before the first lift offYou don't have to scoot it around just get it light on the skids and calm down..In just thirty seconds after windup let your shoulders relax take a deep breath try to relax you hands and fingersAfter a minute or two you will be ready to lift off
What is your helicopter going to do?
As soon as your helicopter becomes light on the skids it can only lift off in one of two ways. The first being slowly.If you continue to add very small amounts of throttle until your machine lifts off it will skid and drift on the ground to the left before it becomes airborne..You may even run out of space if you throttle up slowly enough..The second being of course throttling up quickly. If you find that after the helicopter is light on the skids and you punch up the throttle quickly to bring it off the ground you will see the helicopter raise and pitch severely left due to the rotation of the main blades. You must immediately give right aileron to counter act and then back off the aileron to 0 or mid stick again to avoid flying off to your right. So which way is best? Sounds simple to say somewhere in-between. The truth is, after you lift off a hundred times or so You will naturally compensate for the Yaw and Roll even before your fully spun up.. What does that mean? If you know for one hundred percent certainty that the heli is going to pitch or roll to the left on lift off then it makes great sense to be ready on the sticks to counter that movement with right aileron. As you practice lifting off you will notice that as you add throttle It becomes quite natural to add right aileron and tilt the swash to the right at the same time causing a gentle and graceful lift off straight up. At the same time after all my yelling you should already be holding the tail dead on 6 O'clock or I'm going to give up and go back to work for my Uncle Louie at his Hamburger stand and forget I ever knew you
So.DRIFT LEFT AND COMPINSATE RIGHTsimple huh? Remember..the helicopter will upon lift off ( DRIFT LEFT SO BE READY TO COMPINSATE WITH RIGHT AILERON..)
3. FREAK OUT!! No matter how much we have prepared for this, when your helicopter lifts off for the very first time and you see it.You Will Freak Out!That Special magic of flight always amazes..And why shouldn't it? That's what We've been working so hard all this time for..As it lifts off And you see those skids rise off the cement you can't help but shocked and filled with excitement.. And being the mean old kill joy it's my job to keep the machine in one piece..So.. Yeah you guessed it!! My rule here is to set it right back down..I know, we all want to say and tell our friends about the first time flying and how it stayed up for ever. But,Even if you were in perfect control and calm I still ask my new flyers to set the bird down right away after the first time it becomes airborneUsually after they do they don't say a single wordThey simply stare at me for a secondThen they shrug their shoulders trying not to blow their cool image by screaming and face the heli once more. Why do I ask you to come out of the candy store when your sooooo hungry? Because in this first flight You can actually focus so intently on the machine you can actually forget how close you really are to other objects such as telephone poles,cars,people and even the ground
4. DO NOT TAKE YOUR EYES OFF THE COPTER!Strange as it seems after setting it back down after the first time in the air new pilots often want to share the adrenaline. By turning to their friends and screaming.Yeah , screaming!something like.( #$%^&*) or (@#$%^&*)But,Keep your focusKeep your eyes on the machine!
5. SO! NOW YOUR FLYING!! What's going to happen now?..Usually again..Two things continually happen. First being, most new flyers leave the box and start flying and drifting all over the placeBut! "you didn't tell me about any flying box?".Yeah, that's true but It wouldn't have done any good anyway !!. What should I say ?? 6 foot box? 8 foot box??..Neither.. The best thing to do is set some parameters in your own head as to how far big and wide is "YOUR BOX".. This is one of the hardest teaching and learning steps.. Most new flyers will tell you and totally believe they were incontrol as the Helicopter tilted and jiggled and danced like a hoola dancer around the parking lot.. But in most cases they are Extremely Turned On! Happy to the point of Hystriahia and lacking all judgement!.What is to be done with students at this point? I have found that there is only two things I have found effective in stopping them. The first being to slug them swiftly in the back of the neck with a lead pipe wrapped in leather, or, Screaming continuely to be reasonable..
Suppose your one of the sane and unusual test pilots that doesn't loose his mind as the rotors go higher and higher.Why would I ask him to set the helicopter back down even if he is in control?Because this is your last day of training and you are still suppose to be learning Isn't that right? My logic for asking the unreasonable request is that you stay in control. Remember I have been teaching you to control and not how to recoverYou must remain in control. You must not let the helicopter control you! This includes flying as well as scooting on the groundWhen the machine lifts off it should be right where you want it to be and to stay right where you tell it to stay.The only way to over come this sloppiness is the beaware of this before it happensWhen it comes off the ground..Make it stay putMake it be obedientHover in controlFOCUS!!! Set it down often and thinkand re-think once again!
6. STAY IN YOUR AREA!..use the same control and discipline and punishment as when you were staying in that old chalk box on the floor. You might laugh, but If I let new flyers go they will be wobbling tilting and flying all over the placeOver the cars, missing the trees and scaring the crap out of the guy scattering his French fries and milkshake all over the parking lot.. And .. all the while thinking they were just hovering and not in forward flightso..ok OK!Keep it in a ten foot spaceHow's that? TEN FOOT SQUARE!!!
7. KEEP IT SHORT
8. KEEP THE TAIL
9. KEEP IT IN YOUR SPACE
10. KEEP IT SAFE..
11. KEEP IT IN ONE PIECE Watch the mast, watch the swash, watch the plate.And watch out for me!!!!
OK...you can hover. BUT WHAT NOW ????
So You Want To Fly But Your Stuck In Hover?
I've been having such a blast flying lately...but, I keep thinking of some of the comments about crashing and all the stuff we've been talking about...I remember when I was very content to just hover my Eco's..I would watch the 3d pilots and think..man theres just no way I will ever do that...Since my new feelings on the joy of crashing I look back and really wished inside that I could have flown out of the parking lot...but just the thought of it getting turned around on me made me stay right where I was....I know that there are tons of people out there just like me...wanting to build scale heli's cause you just cant see yourself hitting full throttle and yanking it back into a stall turn...not to mention 3d???? But I can honestly say now that I can fly my gas heli's and ECO's at full throttle and feel totally in control...If I can.. and I am still amazed because I never even knew Helicopters could even do these kind of maneuvers..so can you...If your worried about the cost of your heli or waiting for parts to rebuild it....dont worry... I've been thinking how to get us all flying without crashing all the time and letting it all hang out ...Anyone interested? If Not...I'll just fly off.....takes allot of nerve just to say YES !! Radd...( the cowardly Lion)
I can't be the only one surprised at Helicopter pilots that don't use simulators and progress faster than those with simulators.This doesn't make much sense to me but it happens all the time..You can spend 4 or five hours a week on the computer and some guy fly's twice a week and progresses much faster? Why? Another strange thing I've seen is a guy that bought a helicopter at clearance sale for $200 and the next week he's flying it all over the place..That confused me to say the least, and.. made me feel less than average .You can give any reason you want..talent, natural ability, blind recklessness? But I think it boils down to just two things...Either they simply believe they can do it, or want to fly helicopters badly, and will fly no matter what it takes.I suppose our personalities reflect clearly in the way we fly.But..If your not currently flying like you thought you would by now don't let it get you down until you've tried a few different ways to break through the walls..And walls are what they are..Fear, Money, Pride,or your wife's ridicule.What ever your wall is it is still based on a fear of some kind..The best motivator at the field is your friends pushing you to the limits they believe your capable of.(not the kind of friends that want to laugh at your stupidity) If they can encourage you to stretch past a wall or a rut, they usually feel just as good as you. But, we can't do that here can we?..Well, We can if we are honest about where we currently are and where we want to go and if we share our progress. We can encourage each other..This board is famous for the way we support each other.. The real problem is that it's not very macho to admit your not Curtis Youngblood and that you may still be in the hover mode? I my case I was quite happy hovering around my yard,work shop, and parking lot.. But...brother when I finally started flying I couldn't believe how much time I wasted..I could have been flying the way they were meant to..banking, stalling, tail whipping..I always wanted to land like I saw the Hueys in Vietnam, coming in hot with their tails practically dragging in the grass.Then lifting off nose down and tail high banking hard and pulling out in a hurry.That's no problem for me now and that doesn't include what I can do in the sky...I am not into 3d yet but you can't do a flip or roll and consider yourself to be into 3d..That's heavy duty stuff and we are suppose to be honest here?? Ok.. with all that out of the way are you ready? I hope you put your name up and your progress will encourage us and you'll help push us all to the level we can be at..
Unfortunately this applies to those who are stuck in the hover mode, if you can't fly (hover) out a whole battery pack (tail in) your not ready for forward flight anyway..sorry, but you can't run if you cant walk..there is not 12 easy steps to forward flight, only three rules and they are so simple that it's gonna make you sick. They are Discipline,Boredom and the third is this
You'll get there faster if you slow down). If you cheat your only wasting your own time...But If you want to fly your gonna get there faster than you ever imagined and your gonna feel great about yourself and flying..Your going to do one of two things. You are either going to give up or your going to get better. The speed that you do either is up to you.. When you get bored you will either want to try something new or you just peter out move on to a new hobby..right? well, what if we set out to get bored a little early? Two things will happen.You'll start to relax and if your relaxed long enough you'll get bored and of course if your bored you can't be afraid...
The guys flying and learning without a sim don't have time for toys.....that's how they see sims..a waste of valuable time. They could be really flying, not fakey flying.and ( they believe they can do it so you find them trying)
The guys that get the heli's at a garage sales, clearance sales or as a gift..have no real attachments or fascination about them.They simply treat them as if they are airplanes...Ask one of these fast learners yourself..I'll bet the first thing they'll say is.".well I've flown airplanes for awhile and it really doesn't freak me out." Everyone else will say.." I cant fly helicopters!! ..they are too complicated..they freak me out.."
Finally..Here's how you do it...
A helicopter should want to fly....and a pilot should "only" fly it!??.. sound crazy?....before I do any flying at all I trim the model..(from now on we will call our copters "models"...lets not puff them up anymore..they are just machines..) It's not uncommon for me to waste half a battery pack trimming a model for level flight..The Helicopters job is to fly..the pilots job is simply to push it around..The first time I had a model really trimmed out and the gyro was working as it should I was very surprised to see all I had to do was move the aileron stick a little right and the model moved right and stopped when I let up on the stick!! Then I moved it Left and it moved back again..actually I was shocked!..I thought you had to fight to keep a helicopter in the air..WRONG ...Because if you have to keep the machine in the air you cant really be flying.Your doing two jobs..Get it? The model should be balanced and trimmed...The pilot should only push it around...DING...TAH DAH!!!!! Ok now picture this again...imagine a perfectly balanced machine, hovering only with small corrections.. that leaves you the pilot time to decide where to go!! Gee...Just one stick can move it left, right, forward, backward....cool..huh? and not so complicated...I know what your thinking...My model doesn't fly that well?? Then you need to spend two or three packs trimming or work on your mechanics cause it should....
Second thing you have to do is know what your going to do and how to recover if you get scared. The main reason for helicopter crashes is usually because pilots have combined a combination of moves and loosing the orientation it takes to recover. Combinations are the killers. So If you practice one movement at a time and it's recovery your crashes will become less frequent especially if you know the recovery when your going in.
1.With that in mind here's your first orienation.(The Model should be hovered at least chest high)..If you can hover a pack out tail in then your next orientation should be left side in.The key to the fear wall here is to slowly rotate it to the left side with the rudder stick....until it's side in..(please left so we are all on the same page). Your (recovery) will be rudder back to tail in...If you freak out at full left side in then go 45degs..You MUST....remain in this orientation for an entire battery pack...Until you are capable of staying side in or 45 deg for a whole pack you must recover with rudder until stable again then return to the orientation...You cant move on until you can hover in this posisition for an entire pack..An easy way to relax is to watch the skids..they are a quick reference to see if the model is tilting.Later you'll have to kick this habit but it will help for now.
2. When you can hover left side in for two or three packs or until you are bored..( don't be in a hurry...a week can last a lifetime.) ( remember, you get there faster by slowing down).....Now it's time to rotate to the right side. Your recovery will be rudder back to tail in as before. Don't cheat! this will get you flying trust me.. practice until you can remain stable for two or three packs or until you are bored...but not less than two or three packs.
3. Next you should be ready to move from left side in to right side in after freezing in each position for around ten seconds. You should be confident now of you recovery out moves..Same story again Discipline yourself until you can rotate the model left side in to right side in ten second movements until your are bored to tears or confident through 2 to 3 packs.
4.Now the fun stuff begins...Turn your model left side in as usual hold it for ten seconds then slowly move forward one foot! JUST ONE FOOT...don't cheat!...( Boredom, Discipline. You'll get there faster by going slow!). turn the model right side in and hold it ten seconds, then move forward one foot...This one foot is more important than you'll ever know..don't cheat. Same story again don't move on until your bored or at least two to three packs..
5.More Fun is on the way... Left side in...freeze...move (Two) feet forward...freeze...right side...(Two) feet forward ..more batteries..
6. Here we go... we are going to do the same thing as before, moving two foot forward, only this time your NOT going to freeze..try to make it one smooth movement...rotate slowly left side in. move slowly forward two feet and gently rotate to right side in and slowly move two feet forward and so on....what your are doing is a figure 8....Yea!
7.now, if you feel the way I did after the boredom you wont have any problem moving forward 5 feet then 8...10 and rotating smoothly...When you feel you burned enough battery packs move to a large field and slowly take it away 20 feet each way..When you go home at the end of that day...If you don't feel absolutely great....you had a mechanical failure.
8. More come...
Happy Flying !!!!
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