Hover accuracy

[wheredidthetailgo]

Like most people I want to race around and do magic with my heli however as my driving instructor told me 20+ years ago "a monkey can drive fast but it cannot reverse park around a corner down a hill". So, trying to behave I am putting in my orientation practice in a confined garage space, concrete focuses the mind on hovering skills.

How accurately should I realistically expect to hover the 130x given its size and weight. I read about the 1m box or the 1 foot box etc. however usually with larger heli's. Is it really possible with a small and light heli ?

[SaneAdam]

Depends on your skill. I can keep mine easily within a foot if not less. Only moving an inch here and there.

[muscleflex]

I think your instructor lied to you - monkeys CAN NOT drive!

[NoFixedAbode]

I think you have the right idea by not running before you can walk. But don't get tunnel vision learn to hover in all 360 positions.

[wheredidthetailgo]

Depends on your skill. I can keep mine easily within a foot if not less. Only moving an inch here and there.

Drat, I was really hoping to hear people having problems keeping it on the spot. At least I know it can do it though which gives me a realistic target to aim for over the winter.

[DaveJones]

Inside I can keep my smaller MCPx hovering within a few inches but it took a while to master it, keep practising and gradually the box gets smaller. I second the point of not forgetting the other orientations, getting comfortable hovering with all orientations will pay huge dividends when you try doing more exciting stuff as you are better placed to recover when things go astray.

Outside the smaller heli's get bounced around by the slightest of winds so present more of a challenge to hold in one place. Don't shy away from this though as I find it great practise. The bigger heli's are affected much less and consequently are easier to hold in place.

[SaneAdam]

Yes, don't beat yourself up yourself to hover perfectly in one orientation. Keep practising them all. But maybe focus on nailing nose in and tail in first, then moving on to side on. Or switch it up and focus on tail in and side, then move onto nose in and the other side on. Totally unto you. The trick to flying heli's very well and comfortably is to learn all the orientations. All these fancy moves seem so magical simply because your brain cant compute being able to control the heli in any position. Once you have done the hard graft of learning to control the helicopter in any position you will suddenly realise that you know how to do moves without ever even trying them. Your fingers become one step ahead of your brain instead of the other way round. For example imo, Piro flips will not be possible until you don't have to think how to control the heli. It then just becomes a battle of confidence, timing and rhythm

[brin]

the knack is to put in very small inputs with the sticks once you have it fairly stable. then you can practice turning the tail even keeping it turning slowly soon you will be able to hover at any orientation.
then you can try doing the same outside in the wind.keeping control in strong winds is great fun :-)

[wheredidthetailgo]

I was finding the recommended ail/elev settings to be to soft/unresponsive so I am playing with them to find a good setting which is helping. Part of the challenge is seeing the heli move away and closer, I find it can move a few feet without it being discernible to the eye without other references like a ground shadow. Part of why I was wondering about the size of the heli impacting accuracy of hovering. It is certainly a challenge :0)

[NoFixedAbode]

Height is another perspective to learn. Try and look at the heli as a whole...do not fixate on the skids being level.

[wheredidthetailgo]

Nose in is not so bad and something I am more comfortable with then side in which is not that hard either. It is really about how tight I can keep the heli in the box and how big that box needs to be. Fortunately my box has a max size of 5m by 2.5m by "really long" which is a good place to start. Height is a challenge, I notice that with no collective input my best hover (say 2 feet square) still rises and falls but keeping that in check is good practice for outside in the wind.

I appreciate all the feedback.

[NoFixedAbode]

It's not so much hovering in different direction but being happy in the transitions. Height will not be fixed atm you have to factor in ground effect.

[wheredidthetailgo]

I thought ground effect for the 130 was about 50-60cm, does it still play into the hover at 1.5m high as well? I notice that the heli will just start dropping all the way to the ground if uncorrected from what appeared to be a stable hover in idle up. Almost as if the down force was blown away, the garage space is open so a through draft is certainly possible.

[NoFixedAbode]

With out be technical ground effect is rotor diameter * 1.5. But in a confined area with a smooth floor the rotors are going to create a lot of turbulence. So as other have said do not worry to much. Now that you have that sussed do sloooow piro's left/right.

[cjcj1949]

There are lots of skills. Tracking the orientatiion is pretty important. When something goes wrong you need to recognize the new orientation and be able to give the correct response to save. Accurate hovering doesn't help, only throwing it around. All the skills help but you also need to know when not to fly. A steady wind is one thing but gusty is much more tricky. You have to look where the wind is coming from and estimate what the turbulence is going to be like. You won't learn by being too cautious though. Gusts are much more of a problem when close to the ground, so landing and takeoff needs to be fast and preferably in a lull rather than a gust.