I'm nosey and curious about training sticks

[nobbycopter]

My first heli was a Gaui255...I got a small training gear set for it but it made it shake so badly that it was unflyable, my mare made me take it off and that was that never used them again. As stated by others my mCPX is what I use to try new things. Just done nose in, circles on it and can now do them on my bugger helis. Just learning flips....over long grass

[Sheldrake]

+1 Keeping mine on until I am more confident. although I have been gradually cutting them down! I like the fact they keep the tail clear of the ground. In our club there are several of us all learning at a similar stage and all using training gear!

No one seems bothered by it and we all have a great laugh on a Saturday morning!

My raptor 50 CGW_4339.jpgCGW_4380.jpg with Balls on!

[Stevec]

I don't use them any more for general flying but I did put them on to test a tarot fbl controller the other week. I didn't want anything tipping over during the initial flight check. once I realised it wasn't going to do a sideways flip on lift off I took them off.

the only problems that I can see with them is getting dependant for orientation. there are plenty of other cues you can use on the helicopter for orientation and getting used to using them is asking for trouble when you do take them off. the other thing is the helicopter does fly differently with them on, everything is slower and more dialled in due to the weight and the fact it is as far below the CoG as you can get, meaning you get a pendulum effect .

I feel that once you have a safe base for a tail in hover and can return to that position when you are in trouble then you are ready for them to come off. keep them long so you can use them on the next heli for set up.

/Steve

[helijohn]

I don't think we want them on for a lengthy period as such. And I would use them for a heli of unknown origins but with the advent of sims and the mcpx I wondered if people thought them redundant. I can see from the answers so far that they are still in use.

[helimadness]

I got to the point of ff before taking them off. Problem I found when the heli got a little far away it actually made the orientation harder to judge. I got it wrong a few times with the balls high or low on the opposite side to I thought.
I think they are a must for learning to get your collective and cyclic control sorted for take off and landing.
Once you are happy you can hover your heli and not bounce on the ground randomly as I did in the beginning then time to take them off.
Hey sheldrake, at least you can say your heli has balls :-)

Enjoy.

[helijohn]

Once you are happy you can hover your heli

Yeah, landing it is the key too. That done the rest is experimenting.

[Sheldrake]

I don't think we want them on for a lengthy period as such

Yeah I can see the point! OK time to grow a pair and take them off the Heli!

Thats a target for this weekend then. Cheers everyone.



(Oh heck!)

[aparkin]

heres a pick of mine i used them untill i could take off land and hold a hover
Photo0381.jpg

[helijohn]

heres a pick of mine i used them untill i could take off land and hold a hover
[ATTACH=CONFIG]48367[/ATTACH]

That's had me laffing!

[Steve]

Training sticks should be handed down through consecutive learning members at the club.

[nobbycopter]

As soon as you can land by setting the heli straight down with no lateral skidding on the floor it's time to take em off!!

[scallybert]

I can think of people who would probably have progressed better if they'd kept them on longer.

[& possibly vice-versa... ]

They're a useful tool to use whichever way works best for you. I don't subscribe to the idea that they're some kind of 'badge of a beginner', that should be discarded ASAP.

[nobbycopter]

I can think of people who would probably have progressed better if they'd kept them on longer.

[& possibly vice-versa... ]

They're a useful tool to use whichever way works best for you. I don't subscribe to the idea that they're some kind of 'badge of a beginner', that should be discarded ASAP.

I agree about the badge of a beginner bit, I think people can sometimes become a little too hooked on the whole...I don't want to be seen to be a noob thing.

At the end of the day we're all different and do things at a different pace. Ask for advice (it's what this forum is brilliant for as there are so many people willing to help), read what people put then make a decision based on what you feel and find out what works best for you and stick with it.

Me, I found that as soon as I could hover and land it ok I took the training gear off. Sure I had some tip overs but I think it taught me not to just lower the collective and rely on the training gear to stop me from tipping over, I had to try to recover the situation...sometimes succeeded...sometimes didn't

[A.N.T]

I ve got them for my 300x, no shame in having them on, we ve all got to start somewhere, I ve actually upgraded the poles on mine to carbon fibre kite poles as the fg ones are too flexible, going to make my own hub so that the poles angle down a bit more, bit like you get on the top of a tent 4 way joiner.