G3 Heli glitch?

[Espeefan]

Hi guys! I just recently picked a copy of Realflight G3 and have been working up the skills needed to hover. I've always had an interest in RC helicopters, and now I am realizing the skills needed to fly one, and just as I suspected it's not easy. I'm glad I bought the sim first!

Anyway, I've progressed along very well, putting in a couple hours everyday on the sim for the last week. I can hover pretty well, tail in, and have sustained a hover long enough to actually run out of fuel - about 27 mins. But, the strange thing that has me wondering is a few mins before I run out of fuel, my heli starts getting unstable. The rotor blades act like they are out of balance, or the head acts like it is getting cyclic inputs, but in a real choppy (pun not intended) or twitchy manner. I can still actually hover the heli like this, but it feels more unstable. I have all the flight failures turned off, so it can't be that. Is this unstability caused purely by the tank of fuel running low? If I kill the throttle with the auto rotation switch on the radio, there is no out of balance effect. If I simply reduce the collective pitch and set the heli down, while maintaining head speed, the head still pitches around.

Anyone care to explain what is happening? I can understand a low fuel tank causing the balance of the heli to be off, but what's with the collective pitch problem? Gyro trying to make some in flight adjustments? Then again, do gyros only keep the tail in check?

Just thought I'd ask because I'd like to be prepared for this some day when I try to hover an actual RC heli! Thanks!

[tnreefguy]

The computer is probably simulating a lean engine or something. Sometimes when an engine goes lean at the bottom of a tank you will get a head overspeed or a miss. It causes the heli to shake and the tail to twitch. We usually get around this in the real world with a header tank, pumped engine, better fuel clunck such as a fuel magnet or a combo of all three. Do a search on the above topics to find out more.

[Espeefan]

Thanks for the info. That could be what the simulator is trying to simulate. Often times when the problem starts I'll be out of fuel in a matter of a min. or two, so that makes sense. I also noticed a lack of power about this same time, so that must be what the problem is.

[jschief]

I always had the same problem, so that is what it could be. Thanks for the info. I usually do not run the tank to empty any more because of this. I usually leave about 5 oz in, I can not get below this.

[ChiefWilson]

I have never ran it out. LOL I always crash way before that.

[DebianDog]

I have never ran it out. LOL I always crash way before that.

The surprise of the Century right there! :rolling

Actually the first time I ran out of fuel in G2 I was like "WTF?! I have never managed to fly a helicopter out of fuel before?" :arggg:

[Espeefan]

LOL! It took me about one week to finally run a full tank, tail in hovering without a crash. This week, it's nose in hovering! Man, that's tough! :mrgreen:

jschief, just noticed you're from Wausau. I'm from Mosinee! How long have you been flying?

[vitek]

Several users have reported this issue. I have never seen it myself, but it has been filed as a bug and we will fix it when we have the time.

Travis

[pilotError]

Are they going to fix the issue with having to delete the file in the data directory before getting the sim to start again? I just upgraded to the latest and greatest and it still does it.

My son (7) keeps getting this just about every day. He switches models a lot, but I don't know how he gets into it.

Its a PITA to keep going upstairs and deleting that file.

[vitek]

If you are talking about the .adj file issue, we are looking into it. I just found out what the problem was a little over a week ago, so the bug hasn't found its way to the top of the pile yet.

Travis

[jschief]

I noticed when the helicopters will starts unstable flying is around 5 to 6 oz of fuel. I land the helicopter and noticed the flybar is shaped in a slight V. This seams to happen every time. When you look at the helicopter for the first time the flybar is straight, and yes I did not hit anything to cause this.

[capebob]

It's been over a year since this bug was first posted and the problem still exists. After about ten minutes of flight the helicopter becomes very unstable. Upon landing I've noticed that the flybar looks like it's broken and each side flaps up and down independently just like reported in the above post. It is very annoying.

Bob