Flight Training videos - Sim and real life!

[Finless]

Nice idea! I will remember that next time thanks....

As for doing funnels and stuff.... I ain't good enough to do them well enough to teach anyone :(
But I will probably still do vids on these just with someone else flying for now.

Bob

[no1b4me]

Bob I currently use FS One for my flight sim, and I hate it. Which would you recomend if you where buying another one right now.

Phoenix or Real Flight G4?

[Finless]

Yea I hate to say it but FS one does kinds suck compared to what else is out there....

I am using Realflight 3.5 myself and it does what I need it to do. Havent tried G4 or Phoenix. Also I do like Reflex XTR as well but I tend to use RF3.5 mostly.

Bob

[no1b4me]

Thanks as always for the reply. I think I'm going to buy both.

[Kinta]

Hi Bob,

I'm watching all the movies you made and it helped me tremendously. However I guess I must be a slow learner or something just doesnt' click for me when I learn to make the heli turn (in sim).

I wonder if you would help point me in the right direction of how to learn to make a proper turn so that I would maintain the altitude of the heli. Maybe basic FF and basic turn with basic/slow stick input

Right now whenever I fly slow in the sim and make a turn, it's almost like FF, then hover, then 180 tail turn, attempt to hover again then FF back. Or I would lose in altitude or gain in altitude in a huge circle.

Thank you much,
David

[Speedycaper]

Great help Bob. I'm a total newbie with no club or help in my area, but I'm determined to have fun with this hobby. Thanks for your help.

Reg

[widower]

I'd like to see a video that shows me how to get rid of the 'pucker' or 'sphincter' factor. I'm doing really good in g3.5 but I still get the shakes and sweaty palms when I do FF for real.

[Rc_HeliPilot]

Finless, your training videos are great. If you could maker longer videos with more detailed descriptions, I'd certainly appreciate it. Things happen fast, so I find it a little hard to tie what you're saying to what I'm seeing. The extra explanation you gave at the end of your video on loops - where you held the heli and described your inputs at the four main phases of a loop - was very helpful.

If there are any special tips you can offer to help beginners orient ourselves, that would be great too. For example, I either read or heard from someone that, during nose-in flight, point the cyclic/elevator stick in the direction of the flight problem (e.g., apply stick input to the left if the heli is drifting to the left) to correct for the drift, etc. For me, this was a really helpful tip, and now I can nose-in hover reasonably well (for a beginner).

Thank you for such a great web site and all your videos. [The CCPM videos were indespensible.]

Rc_HeliPilot

[fogger]

Bob if you want I'll do the steeply banked turns / funnels / huricanes video, but I need a way of capturing the vid. Otherwise I can just do a g3.5 recording and send it to you to do the vid. Just throwing that out there for you if I can help with the effort.

-Chris

[fogger]

Hi Bob,

I'm watching all the movies you made and it helped me tremendously. However I guess I must be a slow learner or something just doesnt' click for me when I learn to make the heli turn (in sim).

I wonder if you would help point me in the right direction of how to learn to make a proper turn so that I would maintain the altitude of the heli. Maybe basic FF and basic turn with basic/slow stick input

Right now whenever I fly slow in the sim and make a turn, it's almost like FF, then hover, then 180 tail turn, attempt to hover again then FF back. Or I would lose in altitude or gain in altitude in a huge circle.

Thank you much,
David

Hi David,

Since Bob is busy I'll try and help. Bob went over this in one of his vids. The key to coordinated turns that don't change altitude is using enough rudder. Many new pilots I watch do not use anywhere near enough rudder in turns. It is actually better to use too much than not enough. Too much makes a turn that looks more like a funnel, but it at least stays in the air. Use too little and you will see the heli dropping altitude. You will instinctively add collective, which doesn't help, and eventually you run out of power and have to bail out of the turn, or crash.

So, the quick answer is use more rudder in your turns. Also you do have to add power (collective) after banking into a turn. The steeper the bank, the more power is required.

Hope that helps,

-Fog

[Rc_HeliPilot]

Not that it matters much Finless, but I need to qualify my comment about the tip that helped me with nose-in hover. I've only done it with my G3 sim. I can do it okay, but I haven't mustered the nerve to try it with my Mini Titan yet.

Rc_HeliPilot

[fogger]

Just take it up nice and high first, so you have time to get the tail turned back around if you get flustered... :)

[trickybit]

Also you do have to add power (collective) after banking into a turn. The steeper the bank, the more power is required.

I think what I've been struggling with (with the sim's t-rex, and with my hb fp in the back yard) is figuring when to come off the collective, and for that matter back-elevator, when coming out of a sweeping banked turn, timed to avoid too much climb-out, or a kind of stalling/flaring...

failure modes of coming out of the turn with these adjustments include way too much speed (switching to forward cyclic too early) and, well, plowing-in (when I come off the collective to early). Or somethign like that.

I am fully committed to being able to fly my t-rex around in little ovals at a perfectly steady speed and altitude... in some kind of control.

Need.... more... sim time....

Jim

[fogger]

yup, the timing will only come with tons of practice. Eventually you don't even think about individual stick movements anymore, you just think, "do a banked turn to the right", and the heli does it. That is a cool feeling.

-Fog

[trickybit]

Yeah, right now, I'm gratified that I'm developing the non-thinking reactions to "Oh, no! It's getting away! Grab it back! Grab it back!" I panic-recover with the best of them... so at least I've got that going for me...

[wibble]

"OK I get asked all the time for flight training videos...
Please let me know if you think these are worth while, thoughts and suggestions, and if I should continue doing these?"

Please do continue with whatever you may have the time to do. Some of us live in places with no hobby shops, no clubs, no assistance, no nothing! Thank heavens for the net!

You are a true Gentleman and Scholar, Sir. Thank you.

[slotcars]

OK since people seem to like this format I will continue! I just posted a link to a vid on learning forward flight and transition to hover.

Again please..... Are these worth while?

Bob
Yes,
Im watching alot of your videos.Im new to helis and find them very helpful

[Rc_HeliPilot]

Just take it up nice and high first, so you have time to get the tail turned back around if you get flustered... :)
Thanks. The only concern I have with taking it very high is that I seem to loose my orientation, but I'll try it.

[t-rex pedro]

Hey Bob, I've told everyone I'm self taught however I feel that may be a lie now that I've got my own coach from the other side of the world!!!!

Great stuff mate. Keep up the good work. I dont know how you do it!!!!!

[trickybit]

Thanks. The only concern I have with taking it very high is that I seem to loose my orientation, but I'll try it.

Since nobody mentioned it, I discovered my little guerrilla field has a hill, and by taking the extra steps to stand up on the hill, I get the best of several factors:

- heli way up off the ground, but not way over my head
- better view of people who might be strolling/biking in my direction
- nice breeze up there, and less chance to get surprised by the breeze when the heli feels it but I don't.
- I like being way up in the air.

One thing I'm trying to be conscious of (n00b) is the background against which I view the heli. Sky = good, dark trees = bad. I haven't figured out if the hill helps me with that or not.

Jim

[merlin703]

Bob,
Thanks for the videos.... please keep them coming for us the noobs. I have my first fllight today. I followed your build videos, took it to my LHS for a quick QC, they gave it the go ahead (I think they were impressed by the fact that I don't have experience with this hobby at all and was able to build a heli from beginning to end, of course that was thanks to all the resources that HF provides :D ). My first flight was a success. Watched your training flight videos more than once to make sure I catch more details. I will keep doing the same.

Something that I haven't seen AT ALL no this or other sites is a suggestion for noobs... maybe it's just me... trying to fly on a parking lot (big one) instead that in a part made a HUGE difference to me. I couldn't land the heli softly.... meaning it was skidding a bit but because I didn't have all the grass... the heli was able to skid on the pavement, therefore, not tilting to one side and damaging the blades. Is this just my own observation and experience or this is something that, perhaps, all noobs should try on their first flights? The wind was a bit strong and couldnt' hover but I HAD to fly it today :happyd

[Corkscrew]

Hi Bob,

A fellow by the name of Edwin cited your new videos & this thread on my website (www.RCPhilippines.com). I thought I'd seen the last set of vids after studying the Trex set-up videos (these too, have been cited countless times in various threads). I am very happy to see that you'd worked on even more material for everyone to learn from & enjoy.

I hope you never tire of doing videos like these. They are a serious contribution to the RC Heli Community.

regards!

Corky

[mk1spitfire]

PLEASE DO MORE TRAINING VIDEOS

[ss1216]

Two thumbs up on the training videos Bob!! :thumbup::thumbup: You have a talent for explaining technical information in a down to earth way. I for one appreciate the time you take to make these videos. There isn't a heli pilot in my area that doesn't know and praise the name of "FINLESS"!! Keep up the good work!! YOU RULE! Sam

[JOMAZQ]

I'm not a very intuitive flyer, and this is so revealing to me. I'm a very young heli pilot with a blade 400 and a free sim. Thanks for all your work!