1st Forward Flight

[edm3]

Well I finally took my pride and joy to the local field to attempt forward flight. After some engine mixture adjustments I felt it was running well, I throttled up and lifted off and transitioned to forward flight, just like the sim. Well I was having a great time and came in for a landing, a little rough but I blame the nervous thumbs on that . Well off agiain, I did a couple of patterns and the the engine quit, YIKES. My luck on auto rotations on G2 has been 50/50. I was slow to recognise the problem and then gravity took over.

It landed on it's right side on grass. The last 3 or 4 feet of the fall I did not see. No, I did have my eyes open it just feel into a ditch.

The good news is I think I should have it flying again rather quickley since I did not suffer much damage.

So Far I will need:

A flybar
Landing skids

Not bad huh? But I am sure there will be a few more things as I break it down and check it out.

Anyhow the 2 flights I had in forward flight was awesome. I could have done it weeks ago. Now I need to practice the auto's.

Almost forgot, the main blades, woodies, did not appear to take any damage but I think I am going to replace them to be safe.

Graviity does suck. :D

[edm3]

After thinking about the crash it seemed to me that the main blades lost speed very fast. I thought I unloaded them quickly but not fast enough. Could there be a problem with how the feathering shaft was installed.

Thanks

Ed

[Gary O]

First, what heli are you flying?

[edm3]

I'm flying a Raptor 30v2 with an OS32 engine.

[Gary O]

On the Raptor 30's and even the 50's you don't have a lot of time once you hit hold or the engine dies. They won't maintain a high head speed for that long. The wood blades don't help either, once you get more comfortable get some good blades and that in itself will make a big difference. The feathering shaft doesn't have anything to do with that. Other things you'll want to check is the feathering shaft and the main shaft. It doesn't take much to bend either one.

[DebianDog]

Corgrats! I crashed my T-Rex real good the flight after I learned FF so don't feel bad.

Yep you HAVE to maintain FF and keep the headspeed up.

[edm3]

Dan,

Thanks, even though I crashed I still had a great time, got replacement parts on the way from Heliproz.

After thinking about it I failed realize that the engine had failed and it was a sick feeling watching it drop the last 10 or 15 feet. But now I know that forward flight is almost as easy as the sim except for the shaking, so I look forward to getting back at it. I ordered the basic crash kit and a see-saw bar, so that part of the head will be new.

Thanks again,
Ed :D

[woodturner]

Congrats ED. Welcome to the world of FF. My maden voyage was at Clint Stones 4th of July weekend.

One step at a time, happy flyin'

Frank

[edm3]

I do have a new set of carbon fiber blades but I have been waiting to start forward before I tried them. Maybe a couple more trips to the field before I put them on.

Thanks for the advice guys,

Ed