Learning Piroflips

[hedge]

Started this a while ago, when I concentrate I can repeat maybe 2-3 half piro flips so still learning, however at this early stage I cant see how to transition to full piro flips. I feel I can fly the heli around the halfs - just about able to follow it and make corrections, but just cant see how this is possible when doing full piro flips... any advice from those who have been through it would be appreciated.

[GIXERMAN]

Broken down nicely by Nick Maxwell

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P05Q6HeoSek

[waveydavey]

Concentrate on steadying the model once inverted and then if you flipped on tail whilst pirouetting flip on nose as you come round, same movement, forward elevator and get used to half flips with full piro in-between.

[milly0812]

I found the easiest way is to blag it, it works for me lol just piro and stir https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TXaRkJ0sCPE

[hedge]

Thanks, I’ve seen the NM vids and the Bert K ones, I think I might be over thinking it, just not sure what the difference is between half and full piroflips. like I say I can do continuous flips and pirouettes 2-3 times. But the flip - upright to inverted - is only half a piro, then the flip back concludes the full piro. I assume that that is a half piro flip? Or is that a Piro Flip???

[p4ddy]

When I first tried them I was doing just like a transitional half piro flip upright to inverted with half a piro. Then I started doing one full cyclic stir so it was one complete flip to one piro. Then I started keeping the piro going and leveling the Heli before fliping upright again. Then I began keeping the piro going and so when either upright or inverted I would do teeny stirs in time with the piro rate then when nose away I would give a stab or forward cyclic, and when inverted a stab of tail to start the flip but all the time keeping the stir in time with the piro. When I went fbl I found vbar done most of the work. More

[bigpops]

The biggest leap I found while learning as that the stir is not a circle, but more a spiral. I went from half piro flips like yourself to being able to do a full pirouette every half flip (so tail in upright to nose in inverted, and vice versa) almost instantly. It was a revelation.

I'm still can't do continuous piro flips on the spot, even though I've been doing them for about 3 years.

[myxiplx]

Nick Maxwell's video was great, but I also found that piro travel and flip practice helped me build the base skills to control these.

For piros, work on a slow piro hover, take a full 10-15s for a revolution and keep the heli in one spot the whole time. Then work towards doing piro travel in a straight line, square and circle. Practice this for both directions of piro and both circuit directions, and slowly build up the piro speed. Once you can do that upright and inverted you'll find the stir you need for a piro flip is already automatic.

I also worked on doing half flips in every orientation, with a simple drill that runs you through 16 different flips:

- Start in a tail in hover
- Perform a half front flip away from you, ending up nose in, inverted
- Rotate 90 degrees
- Perform a half flip away from you
- Rotate 90 degrees
- Perform a half backflip away from you
- Rotate 90 degrees
- Perform a half flip away from you
- Rotate 90 degrees

And now repeat with a front flip, which will be to the left or right depending on which direction you were rotating. Keep going until you're back at your starting position.

I found that picked up on several orientations where I was weak and really helped me get comfortable with all the components that make up a piro flip.

[hedge]

Nick Maxwell's video was great, but I also found that piro travel and flip practice helped me build the base skills to control these.

For piros, work on a slow piro hover, take a full 10-15s for a revolution and keep the heli in one spot the whole time. Then work towards doing piro travel in a straight line, square and circle. Practice this for both directions of piro and both circuit directions, and slowly build up the piro speed. Once you can do that upright and inverted you'll find the stir you need for a piro flip is already automatic.

I also worked on doing half flips in every orientation, with a simple drill that runs you through 16 different flips:

- Start in a tail in hover
- Perform a half front flip away from you, ending up nose in, inverted
- Rotate 90 degrees
- Perform a half flip away from you
- Rotate 90 degrees
- Perform a half backflip away from you
- Rotate 90 degrees
- Perform a half flip away from you
- Rotate 90 degrees

And now repeat with a front flip, which will be to the left or right depending on which direction you were rotating. Keep going until you're back at your starting position.

I found that picked up on several orientations where I was weak and really helped me get comfortable with all the components that make up a piro flip.

Thanks for the advice, I agree your routine has pointed out where I am weak. Ironically I find it easier to do my 2-3 (sometimes 4) continuous half piro flips then your "flipping" routine. However I will stick at it. Right now its as much the switch from inverted to upright and back again that's hitting home, when doing it continuously the collective is sort of doing its own thing - up, down, up down etc. However when flipping and then holding it and flipping again, this makes me think more and is harder.

[myxiplx]

For the switch to upright & inverted, work on continuous flips. I started with nose in backflips as they were the most comfortable (you end up tail in inverted). Work on a half flip first, trying to keep the model totally still, then build that up to a complete flip while keeping the model stationary.

Once you're comfortable, move to 2 flips or more in a row, all while trying to keep the model still in the air. It really helps you learn that smooth collective transition from upright to inverted, and as a bonus looks darn cool when you can have a heli just sitting there spinning on its axis.

Continuous flips, my flip orientation drill, and the piro drills are a cracking set of things to work on. None of them take more than a minute or so, but they cover so many core skills and orientations.

[crash-test-tomo]

I found the maxwell video the most helpful, though mine are still quite messy too, as well as being rusty lately!
Its not a bad idea to learn left rudder first, if ever you lose the tail the heli will spin nose left so gives you a fighting chance of saving the model, or at least levelling it for less damage.
Another thing I found useful was using dual rates or bank switches to slow down the tail, that way you can just hold full rudder and keep a constant pirouette rate allowing you to concentrate more on your stir