Auto Practice?

[Gate88]

I want to start practicing autos with my 600, so far I can do them on Phoenix, and in real life I can do the approaches from high up with power, plus I can do little (real) autos from about 12 ft.

What I havent really practiced is using the negative to spin the blades up. Because I'm running a governer even in normal mode I'm never actually shutting the power down. Of course the easy answer is to strap on a pair, hit hold and have a go but I'd rather get a feel for how long and how much negative I need first.

I was wondering if anyone could see any pitfalls in me changing my stunt 1 settings to something like TH: 0 - 0 - 50 - 75 - 100 and adjusting my pitch curve to give me about -5 at bottom stick. That way I could get into my high hover in Normal then hit stunt 1 and I should be able to practice getting the blades turning but if I get into trouble I dont have to worry about hitting the switch I can just throttle up.

Do you reckon this would work or is the transition between 0 and 50 on the throttle going to cause me problems?

[DarkTherapy]

It depends on your ESC, if you have soft-start programmed in and you go to 0 throttle it could take some time for the power to come back. If there is no soft start the sudden torque could eat your main gear. If you can program the speed in which the motor changes rpm's then you could do it, like a castle creations esc. CC esc's also have an autorotation feature too, making sure you have the power at the right time but no damage to the main gear.

[Gate88]

Its a nitro, I should have mentioned that.

[DarkTherapy]

Ah sorry, yeh you should be fine with the increase in torque as you go above 50 percent, just watch out for the tail trying to kick round as the engine spools up.

[trillian]

I was wondering if anyone could see any pitfalls in me changing my stunt 1 settings to something like TH: 0 - 0 - 50 - 75 - 100 and adjusting my pitch curve to give me about -5 at bottom stick. That way I could get into my high hover in Normal then hit stunt 1 and I should be able to practice getting the blades turning but if I get into trouble I dont have to worry about hitting the switch I can just throttle up.

Do you reckon this would work or is the transition between 0 and 50 on the throttle going to cause me problems?

I have thought about setting up something like this as well, mainly because I am not used to flipping the hold switch and it feels strange to get away from my normal grip, even for a second, but I know I should start getting used to reaching for the switch so it becomes more instinctive if there were a tail rotor emergency.

I've been doing the same things, practising an approach and then doing the little autos near the ground.

[Gate88]

Thats kind of my problem, altough I'm ok hitting the hold switch to cut the engine, I have to readjust my hand on the Tx to power it up again and if youre having a bit of a panic up that could bring on a world of pain.

[trillian]

Thats kind of my problem, altough I'm ok hitting the hold switch to cut the engine, I have to readjust my hand on the Tx to power it up again and if youre having a bit of a panic up that could bring on a world of pain.

Yeah I think what I'll do is start doing some kind of autos on the sim with every flight and hopefully get used to reaching up for the switch. Lately I have not been flying on the sim at all but this could be a good reason to use it.

[crash-alot]

Just do it

[glen_j]

just go for it. don't worry about messing with the throttle curves if you feel its going wrong just flick out of throttle hold and go around again

[Gate88]

Just do it

Fine advice from the Auto King!

How is your Velocity after your last one!

[sacko]

Echo the above!

Watch the Curtis Younglbood autorotation class video, really good watch with loads of advice.

Then do some simulated ones at the field.

They are easier than they look... Saying that, mine seem to be looking worse as time goes on ha.....

[Gate88]

just go for it. don't worry about messing with the throttle curves if you feel its going wrong just flick out of throttle hold and go around again

Yea I tried that but I find getting back on the switch a bit awkward, I fly thumbs on a DX7 I'm sure I'll be able to do it once I'm a bit more comfortable but if it's all going reels of cotton the last thing I want to be doing is readjusting my hands to reach the switch.

[crash-alot]

Quick tip, Try putting a fuel tubing over the Throttle hold switch. That way you can maybe reach it easier

[Gate88]

Echo the above!

Watch the Curtis Younglbood autorotation class video, really good watch with loads of advice.

Then do some simulated ones at the field.

They are easier than they look... Saying that, mine seem to be looking worse as time goes on ha.....

I've watched it and others as well, I think I've gone as far as I can go without actually doing one. Yesterday I did a whole tank just climbing out doing a 45 degree fast approach and bailing out at the last second without incident. I feel I'm almost ready but I just need to know how much negative works best for my heli.

Some people recomend just -2 or -3, others -5 or -6, and some suggest full neg which on my heli is -13 and will probably bog.

[glen_j]

you need about -3 to -4 negative pitch to start with, if you want to bring it down a bit quicker you give it more negative to slow the decent a little less, its the flare at the bottom that really brings the headspeed up so you can land