Flips and how you do it properly?

[PeteStewardson]

OK so I've been doing flips for a while now but really can't do what I want to do. Height wise I'm getting better, but the heli moves more like it's doing a tight loop rather than a flip.

Now I know this is a 3D god flying but at 3:04 Alan does flips like I want to be able to get close to, where the heli seems to just pivot around a central point.

Alan Szabo Jr. ALIGN Trex 700E DFC 3GX 1/3/2012 Test Flight - YouTube!

Now I'm assuming it's just my collective that isn't right, but I'm going as smooth as I can between +ve and -ve and I'm not even close to doing this. Can anyone explain how you do a flip like this as I must be doing something wrong.

[cupracing]

Your probably feeding too much pitch in, you don't need much for that. More About using alot of elevator

[tourerjim]

Its take time & practice & .......... & ......... you need to try & get the right mix between collective & cyclic that is the best I can explain it, a lot of the manoeuvres are done ether with a lot collective & little cyclic & vice versa with little collective as the cyclic can produce a percentage of the collective.

[PeteStewardson]

Yeah I know you have to get the right mix. I guess what I'm asking for is a rough explanation of the mix required for that specific manoeuvre. I'm clearly doing it wrong but unless I know roughly what I should be doing I can't practice it

[Zeeflyboy]

It's all timing and controlled pitch inputs.

If you are looping when flipping, then you are probably keeping positive a bit too long. You want to be zero pitch as the heli passes through vertical.

[matt t]

i find if you are using very little cyclic then its more difficult to manage the pitch, i find that if you use more elevator then i find the pitch becomes easier to control as you do not have to be constantly changing through the flip.

i dont know if this helps

[challis349]

on my old 450 pro, young shane marshall showed me how to flip, I had the same as you going on Pete, and it was all down to too much collective, I was amazed really at how little collective it needed to flip her inverted then upright again, more cyclic, less collective is what I found

edit : as Matt says, throw in the cyclic, add a tiny bit of collective lol

[Aidi]

I would have to be trained by Yoda in the Jedi temple to ever do flips like those. Probably the best, neatest, and most consistant i have ever seen.

Very accurate pitch control i would say and tons of practice!

[LaurenceGough]

It's all in the pitch... You need to be around mid stick when the heli's disk is vertical to the ground, but this depends on the wind so try to pick a day with low wind... You do not need much pitch.

Always plan a recovery, nearly all helis will upright long before the ground so worst case just go to around mid pitch and hold it there with cyclic until you level out.

[PeteStewardson]

It's all in the pitch... You need to be around mid stick when the heli's disk is vertical to the ground, but this depends on the wind so try to pick a day with low wind... You do not need much pitch.

Always plan a recovery, nearly all helis will upright long before the ground so worst case just go to around mid pitch and hold it there with cyclic until you level out.

I'm doing it high enough that I can recover. so no worries there.

On the pitch, is is a smooth even change between +ve and -ve with midstick when it's vertical or is it more +ve, to 0 quick, pause, -ve quick etc. If that even makes sense. The reason I'm asking this is that I'm maintaining a height sometimes but the heli is still moving forwars/backwards during the flip. So either I'm just simply getting my timings wrong and it's not spot on getting to 0 at virtical, or it's more complicated and I should be moving faster between the 3 points int the pitch almost pausing at each.

[LaurenceGough]

It should be a smooth constant gradient, in the perfect world with no wind it would be a perfect relation between pitch extremes and mid pitch to the rotation of the flip, with the vertical position being mid stick. Smoothness is key.

[matt t]

if you are going forward and back that probably suggests that the pitch is being kept on to long, so trying them with the pause at 0 degrees would help i think

[PeteStewardson]

Thanks guys. I know I'm doing it right now, just need to work on timing. That I can work on

[trillian]

Well, I tried to get a video clip from Phoenix but the computer says no, I am so annoyed. I really
need to get the proper software to record the screen. I have something called 'Hypercam' and
it just looks horrid and what's more puzzling is that the playback was not at the same speed
it was like 3 times faster so it's completely useless. I was trying to get a recording with the
controller visible :-(

Oh well. Anyway, it's all in the timing of the collective really, I don't even know exactly
what my left thumb is doing without watching the playback myself but that's the key.
Too soon or too late making the crossover from positive to negative and you won't
flip in place.

[cjcj1949]

I wasn't sure what a flip was. I've been doing idle up stuff for a bit and I like the comment about wind. You tend to ignore the wind when you know what you're doing and can correct quickly when something goes wrong. But when you try something new and you have to think a bit when it goes wrong, the heli can move a long way. Well it did for me. Strange how easy it is to go from from being in control with a heli to scaring someone shitless. He was a plank flyer though and I had warned him. But the heli went straight for him. Best to practice new stuff on the sim first I think and then when noone else is about. If it goes wrong sometimes on the sim, it will go wrong more often at the field. I should really have dumped it, but there is so little time. I still find it hard to believe the difference between how well you can control the heli when it does what you want, and how far it can travel when it goes wrong. There's a fine line between a good save and an uncontrolled crash. I'm not sure if mine was a good save or not. I think there were two opinions on that.