Are they really that hard to fly, I mean really?

[Murv]

As soon as it lifts off, it starts the drift to the left. A very gently compensation for that sees it tip on it's side and eat dirt. So, next time, even more gently stick input (less than 2mm?) sees it careering across the field, left stick to bring it back sees it tip on it's side and eat dirt.

And repeat...

I'm happy to put the time in to learn to fly but it's just so tedious with the non-stop crashes. Is it really this hard?

[sacko]

Definitely setup correctly.

Where abouts in Kent?

[Cagey]

Have to say it Murv, most of them heli things are. But once you do it for a few packs out at the field you'll be tweaking just a smidgeon of right aileron on lift off without realising you're doing it, and wondering what all the fuss was about a while back. No sh*t, it WILL happen. Till then don't treat everything Phoenix tells you as gospel, it has it's limitations, only my opinion for example but my 450s are certainly easier to hover smoothly for real than on the sim. Stick at it tho' as it will definitely steer you in the right direction more cheaply too.

[brin]

sounds like you need to recalibrate your transmitter also in the setup menus you can set it for hover practice and novice also you can dumb down the settings.
.

[SaneAdam]

Sounds like you need to set your model up a bit more on Phoenix. Go into the settings and tweak it till it feels better. I have got the 550 on Phoenix flying almost identical to my real one. Lots of trial and error set up wise. But it is possible to make Phoenix even more like real life if you spend a bit of time setting them up. Let me know if you want any tips on what to change Murv

[Murv]

Thanks all, I'll have a look at the settings. I'm using the current setup as per the sticky on here but have altered it to 60% expo which, maybe, helps a tiny bit

Sacko, I'm in Sittingbourne

[sacko]

Seems to be a few of you up that way lately

If its a laptop, we're flying in Ashford tomorrow if you fancy it.

If you are using 60%expo and it is still twitchy, something isn't right.

[SaneAdam]

use the dual rates on your tx to tame it down too. Rates of 70 combined with a lot of Phoenix expo should make it a lot more manageable

[Planehazza]

It's like anything. I'm no amazing 3D pilot, but what I can do, I find pretty easy now. Having said that, when I started out, I could never imagine doing nose in hovering, let alone inverted backwards, tick tocks etc. It's all through practice mate.

Keep at it, every time you nail something new, it's as good as that first hover!

[Rich23]

If you need any help setting it up I'm over that way Sunday/Monday.

What transmitter are you using?

[cjcj1949]

For any single rotor heli to hover it needs the blades tilted to one side. It needs this on Phoenix as well. It isn't a correction you need, not in the sense that your trims are wrong you just need to give a short dab of left to change the rotor angle so that its right side is down a bit.

This is due to the tail rotor producing a force one way and the only way to produce an equal and opposite force is to tilt the blades. Helis are not proper flying machines, they are a lot of bodges on top of another. Pretty clever bodges by very clever people which luckily we don't usually need to know about.

[Boggy]

just my 2p worth but if 60% expo see's it careering across the field then I would guess your using a tx that see's + expo as increased sensitivity(eg futaba). set all your transmitter settings to default(dual rates and expo) and use the settings within phoenix to alter the feel of the transmitter.(in the set up menus)

Sounds like you need to set your model up a bit more on Phoenix. Go into the settings and tweak it till it feels better. I have got the 550 on Phoenix flying almost identical to my real one. Lots of trial and error set up wise. But it is possible to make Phoenix even more like real life if you spend a bit of time setting them up. Let me know if you want any tips on what to change Murv

all very well for a seasoned flyer Adam but how does a newby do that?

[AcidDrink]

As soon as it lifts off, it starts the drift to the left. A very gently compensation for that sees it tip on it's side and eat dirt. So, next time, even more gently stick input (less than 2mm?) sees it careering across the field, left stick to bring it back sees it tip on it's side and eat dirt.

And repeat...

I'm happy to put the time in to learn to fly but it's just so tedious with the non-stop crashes. Is it really this hard?

Can you post a video or Phoenix recording?
You are most likely over correcting, 2 mm stick movement is quite a lot.
As others said make sure your transmitter is calibrated.
Other than that, you can slow donw the heli by moving the physical slider in edit model to less than 50 and adding expo (60% is excessive, 20-25% is better)

[3D FLIP]

Have you set the expo on your transmitter. if you have 60% in the wrong direction it would be hard to fly. JR +% Futaba -%

[Murv]

Many thanks all, I hadn't realised you could change expo in the software as well as the tx

If my daughter ever gets off the TV I'll have another go at it today (desktop is plugged into TV)
Rich23 and Sacko, many thanks for your kind offers of help but I'm suffering a bit of manflu at the moment so wouldn't want to pass it on. If i can't nail it, I may well ask if anyone is free to offer some assistance in the future

Thanks again,

Chris

EDIT: It's a DX6i I'm using, so the expo should be correct (positive values)
I just can't believe how steep this learning curve is, everything is complicated!