Going Sideways

[SteveTTL]

Well, I'm another newbie trying to learn how to hover. I'm starting out with a SRC Pegasus (which is waiting for repair parts to arrive), and a Blade CP. My big problem in learning to hover the Blade is with the copter moving sideways. I can keep the tail straight now, but when I increase the throttle, it wants to slide sideways to the left. What am I doing wrong? This has made me afraid to try going into a hover.

[Al Austria]

Naturally, helicopters with a CW rotating main rotor need some right cyclic upon takeoff to counter act the transitional lift created by the tail rotor. If you don't hold a slight amount of right cyclic when taking off, the helicopter(especially a lightweight like the Blade CP) will start to drift to the left like you are describing.

[ClayK]

Collective stick is the left stick. Cyclic stick on the right. Aileron input is the left/right motion on the cyclic, this causes the helicopter to roll left or right. Elevator is the up/down on the cyclic, this causes the helicopter to lift the nose up and down. You may already know this, but I wish someone had explained it to me when I was first starting out.

That being said, check the trim on the aileron. Blades are a little touchy might fix the problem. However, normally a helicopter will tilt a little to the side. You have to apply a slight amount of right aileron to compensate for the main rotor during lift off.

[Rick Rotorhead]

Hell Steve, I can't keep my Twister/Blade CP clone still in hover even with no collective inputs. Once you start playing with collective, that motor driven tail will swing about and its changing thrust will push the heli left or let it slide right.
Take heart, don't be afraid to hover, but a few precautions will save crash cash - use a training undercarriage if you're not already, it helps absorb hard landings and prevents (mostly) tip overs. Keep hovers down to knee hieght until you can automatically give corrective cyclic, then if she drifts off you can reduce throttle a couple of clicks and she'll come down landing gently. As guide, you can hover good enough to risk more hieght when you can keep her within the bounderies of a box, marked on the ground, of about 2 feet square (for the little Blade CP). I've practiced a lot and can now hover my CP keeping a chosen spot on the ground visible within the circle of the rotor disk. The heli will naturally swing (yaw) right and pull left fairly violently, just for a moment, upon lift off she she breaks free of the ground. Be ready to counter this. There are two ways to deal with it. 1) get the heli just light on its skids then apply more collective one notch at a time until she's kind of hopping up and down, then just one more click and your airborne and its gradual enough to allow slow correction. 2) What the more accomplished flyers do, which is spool up until near take off speed then give a sudden few extra notches of collective so the heli makes a short, but decisive hop, straight up out of its own rotor wash and clear of any ground obstuctions that could trip the heli over - a small quick dab of corrective cyclic and tail being input immediately.
In your case, initially it might be better to stick with the very slow lift off, but only with training gear on otherwise grass or weed etc will catch the skids and trip her!

[SteveTTL]

Thanks for the advice all. I've gotten to the point where I control it good if I don't lift off. Now I'm trying to learn to control it just slightly off the ground. The thing seems to have a mind all it's own. Took Rick's advice and put training gear on. Seemed to make it easier for me, but I still ended up letting it get away from me, crashed and off flew the tail rotor w/gear, holding tube and one of the bearings. You know you're hooked when you discover yourself crawling around the yard on all fours looking in the grass for a bearing not much bigger than 1/8" dia. Didn't stop looking until I found it, lol! A bit later I had her back together and at it again.

[Graeme]

That's how ya do it. Keep at it and you'll be comin' back up to Lousy-town to show Ras how it's done.

Don't be afraid to get it higher off the ground, though. Down there you're in "ground effect" and it's a little harder to handle.

[SteveTTL]

That stupid bearing again, took it to the local ball park parking lot to learn on, thinking if the bearing flew out with the tail rotor again, I'd have an easier time finding it on the asphalt. Wrong, this time I couldn't find it. I just finished ordering a wheel barrel load of them. I can't seem to keep it at a steady height :arggg: . It wants to bounce and sometimes shoot up four or five feet, then starts drifting off. I'm not sure if it's me or due to a slight breeze that's been blowing off and on for the past few days. One thing's for sure, after watching some of the pros fly, I'm not gonna give up!

[Rick Rotorhead]

Steve, if your're still talking about the Blade CP, then yeah, it will gain and lose height without input from you, as much as 4 feet easy ! The slightest breeze will greatly affect hover height. Wind blowing across the heli seems to translate into a vertical movement more than a horizontal push. You can only counter this with a quick dab of collective change. Just do not fly in wind until you are proficient in correcting all 3 axis plus yaw pretty much automatically. By 'wind' I mean any air movement over about gentle walking pace (2-3mph). Steady airflow is much less of a problem, its gusts and turbulance that upset it... Be very wary of flying in the apparantly calm 'dead air' behind a building etc on an otherwise breezy day - its rife with eddys and short strong gusty bursts that will make anything like a steady hover impossible................ Rick

[SteveTTL]

Thanks Rick, I'm glad to know that it's something other than just me. I do gather that the blade cp is a tough copter to learn on, but that should make us all the much better when we progress. I bought the blade cp pro, but as yet I'm not even going to take it out of the box! There's just something about those blades that attract me! I saw a turbine that I would have loved to order, the price wasn't as steep as I thought it would be, but.............I don't even want to think about the cost of learning on one of those. Watching a turbine fly and the sound of that engine gives me goose bumps! I wish I'd have started this hobby years ago instead of just recently. I'm glad I found this group to join, the help and support that everyone here gives can't be matched. A great bunch of people!

[Rick Rotorhead]

Yeah I love the sound of a big gas turbine as it starts up. That whine that rises in pitch as the starter spools up, then joined by that thunderous growling as the fuel starts to ignite and that tremendous hissing of huge volumes of air being swallowed up at the intake. Its a monsterous symphony of raw power - gotta love it......... Never heard a model sized gt running though.

[SteveTTL]

Gotta love it! There is a two day meet coming up at a nearby city in about a month and a half from now. I hope to see one then. You seem to be coming along great with your bird. They are addictive machinery!

[Graeme]

Lexington? I had to miss the Bardstown one, doggoneit!

[SteveTTL]

Still can't maintain a low hover for more than a few seconds :oops: , but, I haven't been crawling around the ground looking for tail rotor bearings lately. I have started having a problem with the tail motor. The front bushing keeps jumping out of the front of the motor case, letting the pinion gear wobble around. I've ordered a new tail motor and the bell mixer upgrade kit. I'm in hopes the upgrade kit will help since the slow cyclic response is starting to annoy me. I also ordered a sim to practice and learn on. Gonna keep on keeping on!

[SteveTTL]

I've gotten better at hovering thanks to the sim. But..........when I practice on the blade cp, things start off good, but as soon as I give it cyclic control (no matter the direction) she just slams back down to the ground. It's as if the ground suddenly turned on a vacuum cleaner. This happens even on a day when there isn't any wind at all. I've upgraded the mixer to the bell-hiller, set the pitch to zero at zero throttle and adjusted the blade tracking. Could I have a faulty servo? I'm not sure if the servo rods are even adjusted correctly.