Piloting Skills for L platers

[AnthD]

Hi Grumpy ,

thanks for the advise it's well received , My hover still needs improvement it's too hit and miss at the moment Im doing well with the turns you advised Grumpy and just lots of small adjustments i find it easier to hover head in looking at the heli as if it starts to lean to the right your lean with it I found this a good way of telling my brain to stay away from touching the oppossit direction that you mind first tells you .. So if I start rolling left I go left sounds stupid but once your brain is subconciously doing this its a lot better !

Quick set up question , I take it you can upgrade to a bluetooth option for your heli that you don't need to plug it in with these days? And you can set it up via whatever on the move with ease?

[Peteski]

I think you're describing a stall turn? Nose up to the sky, rudder around 180 then pull out of the dive? What you really need to practice are nice banked turns, blending aileron, rudder, elevator and collective to make a smooth curve in the sky ..

You might find this useful .. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...2E83D0CA530E14

I've been working on my smooth banked turns over the last few days on the sim. They're getting pretty smooth now in both directions, but I suspect they will be more difficult/risky in real life as they are not forgiving if you make a mistake, especially if you are too slow with the elevator as it comes around - resulting in a rapid spiralling nose dive. I've been thinking about how I would learn this for real with minimal chance of crashing and I was thinking the safest way would be to use plenty of elevator/collective to climb gently during the turn and then bring it down again once flying straight again. Is that a good idea? On the sim it works really well and gives plenty of time to correct if the turn isn't perfectly clean. If I try a fast banked turn in level flight, there seems to be a risk of losing altitude very quickly as I dial in the roll angle and start to bring the tail around with the rudder. I can do it on the sim pretty well now and balance it all nicely with elevator, but I'd be scared in real life for sure. So I was thinking that a climbing turn would be less risky to start off with. Not that I'd be attempting fast banked turns with an expensive heli anytime soon!

[AnthD]

I Met up with Snowy and one of his Freind both brough there very nice looking T-Rex600/700 Nitros along ! some great skils on show .. Thanks for putting up with Al the questions ;-) .. Wasn't ideal weather for it 2d and gusty ! Learning around people's that's actually know this stuff is second to none .

image.jpgSnowys Trex600 looking very nice !

[snowy]

Nice to meet up with you Anth and look forward to getting you flying soon yes it was a bit on the windy side today but makes big air loops and autos great fun !
With My T-rex 600.

[AnthD]

Cheers Snowy , after being out with you guys think I'm gonna need a 600 like yours great looking bit of kit plenty of time to make the nitro/elec call .. Give me a call this week if your wanting to fly up here next weekend have a good place lined up its the land I'll do my drills , no new planted crop walk either pal ;-)

[Peteski]

I was eyeing up the T-Rex 600 in the shop on Friday. Very nice piece of kit, but think I'll be going for a 500 or 550 as my first "proper" heli. The shop guy said that's a good compromise between stability and cost. In the meantime though I'm going to start outdoors with a Blade 200 SRX.

[AnthD]

Alright Peteski ,

i hear you on the cost front / repairs etc. I just know with the 500 Id have to upgrade pretty soon and the 600L Im hoping will last me till I want to try another brand etc. Or have one of each Nitro/elec still not decided what first but there's no rush I'll probabaly buy my kit about March ish .

flying question !
nose in flying back to land without killing motors or using Throttle hold switch again is the best way to slow just pitch the nose up and decrease throttle?
Landing great now but sometime I have to fanny about ages getting the Heli stable in the air before I can reduce then I over comp sometimes too.

also any rules for loosing a visual !!! .. I know it's easy done on the Sim but anything to add anyone , you can cheat and your your close up rear screen buts that's no benefit ! ..

[tomatwalden]

There's no way you'd need to upgrade a 500 pretty soon! I still have a (Goblin) 500 now and still enjoy flying it. A Trex500 is slightly smaller than the Goblin, but it's not the point. I flew a 450 for the best part of my first year and only really started flying a Trex500 properly in my second year.

As for landing ... I still land tail in. Landing nose-in is of course possible, but I wouldn't recommend it. Land tail-in and fanny about for as long as it takes, there are no prizes for rushing a landing - only broken parts and a repair bill!

As for losing visual - don't fly too far away!

[Grumpy]

+1 no way would you 'have to' upgrade from a 500. You might of course choose to, but a 500 will do anything you want and will cope with wind well enough so you wouldnt be limited in any way by a 500 size heli. It's always nice to have a couple of helis anyway! Somewhere down the road a Trex 500 and a 600 size heli make quite a good pair as they will both fly on the same 6s 3000 battery packs (one pack in the 500 and two in the 600).

PS.. I almost always take off and tail-in too.

[AnthD]

Thanks again , good advise on no rush on landing tom,
sometimes I need to take a little lazy loop around and then have the heli flying in again at the correct speed so I'm not trying to over compensate close to the deck! Which is asking for trouble :-/

Ok understood about the 500/600 etc , I just think the 600 has that presence about it over the 500 obviously due to its size and just feel the 600 id enjoy looking at more ! .. If that makes sense at all !!?

[tomatwalden]

FWIW, I avoided going beyond 550 size for quite some time because most 550+ setups are 12S only. Costs rise steeply therefore unless you want to spend lots of time charging only a few LIPOs.

[AnthD]

FWIW, I avoided going beyond 550 size for quite some time because most 550+ setups are 12S only. Costs rise steeply therefore unless you want to spend lots of time charging only a few LIPOs.

What's the price difference In LiPos? Eg.

[james_2k]

If i can make am comment on heli size. Having the goblin 570 has been awesome, it's a lovely machine. But. And there IS a big but (I like them, I cannot lie)

the size of it keeps me from being brave with it, I have had very limited development purely because I don't want to crash it. And as you may have seen, I just did.

if you had a heli you could not worry about and just throw it around. Then you will make much faster progress. And the 500 will be a lot cheaper to repair. My batteries for the 570 cost £97ish each. And it takes two of them per 'pack'

by all means get a 600 but not at the expense of your training (take it from someone who just learned this the hard way)

after i I rebuild the 570 it will be even more of a shelf queen, which is just sad. I think I'm going to get a 180cfx or 450 for the future

[Peteski]

I think that's spot on James. While I would love to start out of the box with a 600, it simply doesn't make any sense for a beginner unless you have very deep pockets. I'd just be too scared to learn anything with it, which would hold me back. I won't even fly my 130X yet for feck's sake!

Edit: It's making me think more and more about initially getting hold of a well battle scarred second hand 450 or 500 (obviously needs to be in good mechanical condition) to practice on before buying a shiny brand new and relatively expensive 550. But even before all that I'm going to start with a much cheaper 200 SRX.

[AnthD]

Hi James and very Valid point I agree if your just going to be a shaking wreck with sweat dripping down and the transmitter in your hand :-) doesn't sound enjoyable as a hobbie .

But on the flip side to this coin that's a person that is scared to crash there heli and just want it indoors polishing it , no one wants to crash there Heli Im sure but if without the confidence to fly what you have is one thing and cost is the other , I don't think just cause someone has a 500 they feel more confident I think this just comes down to the individual and again what they can afford to fly ,and as many have said larger Heli's are more stable ,personal I don't think id be scared to fly a 600 around and gradually between the Sim and flying bring up the flying skill.

On the hand like peteski says above anyone could buy a battered up 500 and use and abuse , but for the sake of how much that will cost compared to crashing the 600 I guess it's financially viable to have both then ..