Any tips for forward flight?

[Espeefan]

I'm getting pretty decent at nose and tail in hovering on G3 and have started playing around with some forward flight. I know the tail rotor is used to turn more then anything else, but it seems like a bit of cyclic (aileron) is required to help bank the heli in the turn and then a bit more to level it out after, am I right? Some of the time, I find my heli flying a little sideways after making a turn and I need some rudder to get the tail in line. Like anything else, I'm sure it just takes practice, but do you guys have any tips for a newbie trying forward flight? Seems like the heli doesn't require much cyclic (elevator) input to maintain forward flight, but every now, and then coming out of a turn I find my heli flying backwards or sideways. I'm not sure if I am accidently pulling the radio stick back (elevator) while using a little aileron to bank without noticing it, but at least it seems like forward flight is a little easier to pick up initially.

[tnreefguy]

yea cross your fingers. Just go fly man, nothing teaches you better than the real thing.

[DavidH]

The only advice I can give you. Is try and keep the heli in close at first. When you start getting the heli further away from you. It is harder to see what orientation it is in.

David

[Espeefan]

Okay, but how about the actual stick inputs? I can fly forward, but when I need to turn, should I be using some aileron and evelator like a plane, in addition to some rudder, or just rudder and aileron? How do you maintain forward momentum. I always seem to loose the momentum after existing a turn. My attempts usually end up looking like I'm flying to point A, pausing, turning the tail, and then flying off to point B.

[HelicopterJohn]

Espeefan,

David H gave you some excellent advise. Keep it in close when you are learning.

Are you also an airplane pilot?

If so, you need to change some of your basic instincts. (Don't ask me how I know this ha ha) When you attempt forward flight you have to remember a couple of things.

To make the helicopter go forward you have to push the elevator(forward/aft cyclic) slightly forward to tilt the rotor head down to get the correct angle for forward flight. While doing this you have to maintain the proper amount of collective to keep the helicopter level while maintaining your forward flight. Too little collective will cause the helicopter to lose altitude as the helicopter goes forward and too much collective will cause the helicopter to climb.

When you want to stop the helicopter from forward flight just relax the slight forward stick movement on the elevator and replace it with slight amount of aft cyclic while applying collective + or - to maintain the proper altitude.

Turning with a helicopter is similar to airplane except you have to aid the turn with the proper tail rotor control. For an example if you want to make a left hand circle from a hover you may want to try the following:

Get the helicopter in a hover and apply sufficient collective to gain a little altitude while applying a slight amount of forward cyclic to get the helicopter moving forward. Adjust the forward speed of the turn buy the amount of collective applied and forward cyclic given. As you begin your turn apply a slight amount of left cyclic and left tail rotor and hold that input as you continue the turn. To stop the helicopter release the controls to neutral and apply a little rear cyclic and adjust your collective to stop the forward movement.

The reason you helicopter climbs when coming out of a turn is either too much collective or too much aft cyclic or not enough forward cyclic.

Once you get where you can do left hand turns, learn to to right hand turns. Then do figure eights. Then practice doing the figure eights in a reverse order. By that I mean, first do the left hand turn on your left side and the right hand turn on your right side, then do the right hand turn on your left side and left hand turn on your right side.

When you can accomplish this you will be a well balanced pilot with decent orientation.

Remember, like David H says: keep it close while learning.

Hope this helps.

I am sure I may left something out, and maybe others can offer additional help.


:)

[Seeker]

Like HC says...

You gotta hold aileron and add rudder through the turn... I find I often try to "gain a little alt" by pulling the elevator back.. this pulls the nose up and stops forward flight (and ends up going backwards).. all the while.. still losing some altitude.

[Espeefan]

Thanks guys. That helps me out more! At least it seems like I'm on the right track. I do use aileron and rudder together most of the time, and ocassionally some elevator to bank tighter in the turn, but like Paul says, I often end up with my heli going backwards or loosing all the forward momentum.

John, I'm not really a heli pilot or a plank :mrgreen: pilot yet, but I do have more 'real world' stick time with planes then helis right now. One flight. But on the simulator, I fly helis 97% of the time! Probably a good thing, as I hear it's hard to break the yank and bank habbits with planes.

Sounds like I just need to train my mind and hands to use everything together to get a nice turn. I watched an upright figure eight demo flight on G3 and I noticed small amounts of elevator being used to tighten up the turning radius. Practice, practice.

[tnreefguy]

Also make sure you practice both left and right turns. Stall turns are the easiest. just shoot a straight line pull up elevator move your collective to half stick then turn your rudder 180 the pull the collective again. three simple stick movement to turn you back around. Good luck. :D