Another aerly morning flight and...

[Cralis]

... no problems!

Took mt 450SE to the golf course, and flew out too batteries. But, didn't feel too happy with the flying. No wind, so no excuses, but I was nothing like I am on Phoenix. All over the place. Couldn't even do gental left to right to left flybys. The heli was all over the show. When it's >20 meters from me, and high, I struggle to see the orientation of the heli, and it's doing a lot of side to side movement, and I am too late to catch it. So I need to push the stick quite hard to counteract it - and you can hear the blade slapping the air. So I can tell I'm too late to catch the drift.

I also have to throw it into tail in flight to try and catch it going crazy sometimes.. Close in hovers, I got it side ways and stable, but if FFF, it's not going where I want it.

Maybe because the trex is so small, I'm battling with seeing what it's doing? My next outing, I will concerntrate of close in hovers again (Like I do in the garden) trying to get control back, and then slowly do it further and further away.

Maybe I'm taking the move from garden hovers to FF to quickly, and expecting too much...

[XH558]

This sounds so much like me its uncanny

I can close hover my Eolo in the garden really accurately now - tail and side in I can make it do pretty much what I want it to........... but when I try even the most basic of circuits at the field I get completely twisted up and need to get back to tail in real quick to regain control.

What foxes me is that in the garden I can automatically input all the little minute control movements without thinking to keep the rotor disc level .....but when it gets away from me - like Cralis - I lose orientation and have to start thinking ....and thats when it all goes tits up.

I got so frustrated with it I'm back to planking at the moment and will have another go on the heli when I get the urge to have an adrenaline fix

[Cralis]

I don't have planes... so stuck with Helis for now, but happy with that. I'm determined to be one of the better guys. It's just, today for the first time, it felt... impossible... like, maybe my eyes aren't good enough. When it's at distance... >15 meters from me, the only way I can tell if the heli is level, and not drifting, is if it's not drifting. At that point, it's too late, and you need a lot of stick to get it stable again.

When it's close to you, you can pretty much get a stable hover instantly, and then you just need small inputs to keep it there. It's nearly automatic. But when it's far (and high), it's hard to tell it's drifting until it's really shunting away - and then you have to battle to get it stable again.

Maybe it is impossible to hover it at distance and above .. say... 10 meters off the ground? That would put my nerves at rest, if someone said that that IS quite hard.

Also, when you're doing a flyby... again, it's hard to tell if you need a bit of aileron to try and keey it straight...

Arr!

[XH558]

When it's close to you, you can pretty much get a stable hover instantly, and then you just need small inputs to keep it there. It's nearly automatic. But when it's far (and high), it's hard to tell it's drifting until it's really shunting away - and then you have to battle to get it stable again.
Maybe it is impossible to hover it at distance and above .. say... 10 meters off the ground? That would put my nerves at rest, if someone said that that IS quite hard.
Arr!

Yes I agree - that's almost exactly what I said ..... I even tried letting a very stable hover in the garden rise slowly up to 20 feet or so - just to see - then I lost forward and back orientation really quickly because the rotor disc is at an odd angle relative to your eys ....and I had to bring it down to regain a comfort feeling that I was actually in control When it came down it was much further in front of me than where it started when it went up and I don't consciously remember doing that

[Philimon]

My opinion: Small heli's are difficult to see from a distance. And being more twitchy, things go wrong quicker, which means, at distance, when one sees that something is 'wrong', its almost too late.

Craig, get yer raptor in the air. Lovely to fly, easy to hover and FFF is a dream. Rock stable like a plane. I'm excited for you and your reaction after your first flight!

[Cralis]

Rappy time this weekend! Rain, snow.. what ever!

If I get wood while flying, should I be worried?

[moyesboy]

If you switch the gyro to rate mode then you can fly circuits with the heli just like it is a plane. you just haveto recognise the shape of it - small bank angles are easier to see on a plane. However small bank angle changes don't really effect the circuit shape too much - just have the confidence that it didn't roll on its own very much, and you didn't roll it so its still at the angle it was more or less.

If you circuit in HH then you have to keep the tail pointing the right way within reason so that is one extra thing compared to a plane.

hovering at a distance is difficult and you can't tell if it drifting away or towards you. Similar hovering high is difficult because you have nothing else in your view to see relative movement.

You have to "go for it" in FFF. The heli will fly like a plane if you are careful not to let it start hovering and going backwards which can be confusing if you let it do it at a distance.
This is where it gets difficult for heli fliers who never flew planks.

It may be just my slope soaring apprenticeship, but its actually easier to fly the heli up and down with a stall turn at each end than it is to fly accurate circuits at constant height and speed.

[richieclarkie]

It's perfectly natural to find the 450 difficult at distance and up high, It's such small heli that you need to fly it in good light to keep visual orientation.

Also depending in the paddle setup you have, the 450 will have a tendency to "fall out" of position fairly easily. The more expereinced you get the easier this becomes to deal with.

The raptor will be much easier to fly as Phil said

[Cralis]

Thanks guys...
Feeling a bit less depressed...
Hope Dave is too..
Dave? DAVE???
Come back from the dark side, Dave! Helis are your friends!

[Philimon]

Rappy time this weekend! Rain, snow.. what ever!

If I get wood while flying, should I be worried?

Depends on if you're flying with the chainsaw tail attachement the 600E's are coming out with

[jamiem]

you'll be fine craig, you'll pick up oreientation as time goes by, i really struggled for the first few months, then it suddenly clicked, just persevere

you using the dx7 yet?

[Cralis]

Thanks!
No DX7 yet. Called the guy who's sending it, and it's only being despatched today... so just have to wait. Not sure if the DX7 will help my flying though... hehe... It's not THAT good, is it??

[Philimon]

I noticed that you've promoted yourself - your signature no longer says 'Extreme novice' - is that because of the DX7??

[Boggy]

If I get wood while flying,......... should I be worried?

you will!!.....and you won't!!!

[XH558]

Thanks guys...
Feeling a bit less depressed...
Hope Dave is too..
Dave? DAVE???
Come back from the dark side, Dave! Helis are your friends!

Sorry - been away all weekend - only just got back on line.......wife's birthday - been to daughters place up in Fleet (man it was hot up there this weekend!!) and also up to the smoke to see The Lion King ... just got back to Cornwall and its pi$$ing down here!!

Yes I fully intend to get back into the Eolo whan I've got my current Delta plank finished and I've mastered elevons
But I've also got a whole new GWS Spitfire (slope glider - no power system) kit waiting to be built so I can try again with it having learned all the pitfalls from the first one

I like the tip about switching out of HH mode - that seems like a good plan as presumably the tail follows through on its own then rather than having to be 'adjusted' round the corners - could be where I was going wrong - flying smaller planks has helped me learn to fly much nearer to myself too so that might also help with heli orientation.

Back to the fettling .........