How and where to position upstairs maneuvers

[ShawnK]

I've been practicing my Class 1 stuff a lot lately (mostly the hovering moves right now), but I have a question on how to position the forward flight maneuvers.

Am I required to keep a minimum height and distance when flying through the box? How do I figure out where to put the heli... do I need to use the centerline as defined by the ground cones? Can I put it as far out as I want?

Also, for the translational approach to hover, I assume that this move needs to be done parallel to the runway and in line with the outer cones and start circle, but do I have to wait until the model enters the 120 degree window before I start the maneuver, or can I start it before I get in the window and before the caller calls it, like guys do with an autorotation?

[DavidH]

There is a minimum altitude for aerial maneuvers . It is 10 meters,

As for the distance the maneuvers are flown in front of the pilot that is purely pilot preference. The closer in the maneuvers are flown, the narrower the 120 deg flight window. The further out they are flown the 120 deg window is wider.
Also if they are flown to far out the judges can't tell what the model is doing, so usually there is severe downgrade on the scores.

As for the translational landing. It should begin exactly in line with the center landing pad. The maneuver should be done where the heli is coming straight to a landing on the central helipad and not varying left or right to get there. If the maneuver is started in line with the outer edge of the box. That means a heading correction of 5 meters on the way to the landing. So the maneuver starts in line with the central helipad. You can start this one maneuver before the caller says Now.

The maneuver has to be started and completed inside the 120 deg window. The judges start judging the maneuver when the caller says Start or Now and they quit judging when the callers says Complete or Finish. That is the only time the maneuver is judged, and what happens between those two commands from the caller is what determines the score the judges will issue.

David