auto's on Phoenix

[richieclarkie]

Don't be autoing that 450 unless you are over very long grass

[Nutz]

Running the engine out of fuel will only lean it for a few seconds as I can hear when I am about to run out of fuel and quickly prepare for an auto, I love going really high so that you can just about see the helis orientation and chopping the throttle, you can play about with hanging here and there but don't let the head speed drop too much, when you get to low (low enough for a bail out) you want to get some forward momentum so that when you flair those blades start spinning faster or else it will end in tears.

The thing about autos is that if it goes wrong the damage can be boom, blades and main and feathering shaft if you touch down to hard as the blades swing in the grips, but wecause of the low head speed the damage is not too bad (except if your unlucky and do the blades). Do the blades as tight as you can in the grips when playing with autos, but don't 3D with it like this as if it does swing in the grip when tight the result will be really, really bad wobbles so avoid aggressive pitch changes!

[TinyChopper]

Did my first auto last weekend!
Unplanned but successful. My engine cut out and I just winged it, it came in hard but nothing broke, so I guess I can count that as a good one!

My mate even got it on video.

http://www.rcheli-vids.com/rcheli/vi...581499d7b70166

My header tank had pivoted on its mounting and nipped off the fuel supply, it's now epoxied in place so hopefully no more surprises.

I have been practicing on Phoenix for months and can auto the Raptor 30 99% of the time, it seems too easy having now done it for real, I was lucky to get away with it I think. Looking forward to the improvements

[richieclarkie]

I would just re-iterate I don't think you should base your autoing ability on the Raptor in Phoenix. The Knight is much more realistic although not perfect.

My first auto funnily enough was on the day I'd planned to do them for real. I bugged out and then on the next flight I forgot to fuel up . It was suprisingly easy and obviously Phoenix was the reason for me landing the heli safely.

[robgt]

Aerobatic autos in Phoenix are poor at the moment - but I believe they are working on it and hopefully will have a fix in the 1.04 release.
If you can auto on Phoenix, you can almost certainly do it for real - it's much easier on the real thing than on Phoenix currently.

Cheers,
Rob

[Raptormadsteve]

Hi Rob just been playin with the knight on phoenix a bit more tricky than the raptor on there If its easier on the sim gonna go to the chemist buy a big box of brave pills and go for it with my s e See if i can get over the fear factor like i said earlier in this thread chicken auto's are easy peasy... You on Phoenix later mate?
Steve

Aerobatic autos in Phoenix are poor at the moment - but I believe they are working on it and hopefully will have a fix in the 1.04 release.
If you can auto on Phoenix, you can almost certainly do it for real - it's much easier on the real thing than on Phoenix currently.

Cheers,
Rob

[robgt]

Good luck with the autos - if you can do it on phoenix, you should be fine for real - just go high!
(low autos are harder than high ones)

I'm afraid I'll be out of action for several days owing to a sad personal matter.
Normal service will resume soon...

Cheers,
Rob

[Leebert]

Are your blades the TT blades that BBT make? (the ones that used to be badged as Thunder Tigers) If so think they are excellent on the autos. I was using NHPs which aren't anywhere near as good.

Full autos are incredibly addictive and for me they sum up what heli flying is really about. They are fun and incredibly satisfying and inprove your flying IMHO.

I have TT carbon blades on my rappy 50 V2 - are they the same as the above and any good at autos?
Cheers,

[richieclarkie]

I have TT carbon blades on my rappy 50 V2 - are they the same as the above and any good at autos?
Cheers,

Hi, yeah they probably are. They cost about £40 and are half white and half black. The later ones are also white in the middle.

Midland do them: http://www.modelhelicopters.co.uk/ac...lades_Bbt.html

The code is BB3698-6020TT

Actually I've just come back from the field and probably did 40 autos. Most of then landed nice and soft down on the brown patch in front of me. They really are wicked fun, especially when you get comfortable with them.

[moyesboy]

I've just come back from the field where I crahed my rappy50 attemptng autos.
At least I put 3 tanks through it first...
hovering upside down, tick tocks, loops etc are all improving but I decided I need to be able to cope with a motor failure.

Today I had an audience of a few plank fliers so that perhaps made me a bit adventurous. Last time they saw me fly all I did was hover!

I did some idle descents in normal mode (minus 2 degrees) and al was going well.
I tried Aides trick of winding the t hold up a bit, (so the heli could just hover).
Then I flicked the auto switch but got the descent a bit wrong and was coming down way short. I wrongly applied too much pitch and bogged and the blades slowed right down and it hit hard.
blades, tailboom, undercart, head oval link, one lower mix arm, horiz stab support, main shaft, paddle shaft, feathering spindle no doubt.
first crash though, and this is why I bought second hand - to save on tears.

[Ashley Davis]

if it's wrong flick out and go round again.....easy to say after the event but it's best to try aborted autos first before trying one all the way down

[richieclarkie]

Did you practice your 45 degree powered decents?

[moyesboy]

yes loads of power descents. I just pushed the stick up without flicking the switch and then got in a muddle.

[richieclarkie]

yes loads of power descents. I just pushed the stick up without flicking the switch and then got in a muddle.

Mate that's sucks. I crashed an auto when I first tried my unhanded side (from left to right). You come away thinking why did I try an auto, but you just have to learn from it and remember to keep your cool.

I occaionally abort autos if I'm well out of shape and you must always be prepared to switch out of throttle hold if needs be. Actually I was well out of shape of one of mine 2nite and I aborted.

Don't let it affect you though.

[Nutz]

Sorry to hear about you incident Moyesboy, happens to all of us.

I am not sure if people recommend it but I Have the -10/+10 set-up (or in my case -14/+14 set up) when doing autos as some times I like to come down fast and flair but there is no gain in head speed in doing this and can be a little more risky, but I like to know I have the the full pitch range available.

I find if I can see the shadows of the blades (sort of like darker bits in the disc) as I am descending then the head speed is to slow and it is best to abort,