For those who can hover inverted and all directions easily..

[xStatiCa]

I am trying to find a way to reference the heli as far as directions go so that no matter what way it is pointed I will know to apply the correct stick movement.

My current scheme is this...

I picture myself in the cockpit and think of everything as a reference from that. If I want the cockpit to go toward the blades then I pull back on the stick. If I want the cockpit to go toward the skids then I push forward. This seems to help me because it doesn't matter if I am inverted, pointing at me, or pointing at an angle the reference is always the same regardless.

The tail is a different story though. I currently have to just flip my thinking when upside down which I am learning much slower than the method above and I am afraid that learning that way will cause me to have to switch my reference in mid flight when flipping over. One idea for the tail rudder I have is to reference sides as going toward passenger or pilot side but I find myself having trouble picturing which side is pilot and passenger when flying which takes waaaaay too long for me for some reason.

I don't have any problems with the aileron direction because that does not change when going inverted.

For those that the upright, inverted, etc orientations comes to them naturally now... Did you find a way to make sure your reference never changes when dealing with going inverted or did you train by telling yourself to flip the rudder when upside down?

Since I noticed that finding something that never changes seems to make learning MUCH faster so if I can find something to reference on the rudder I will probably pick it up faster too.

[DEX0807]

The way i figured the rudder out is this...

When upright you rudder the far side
For example, tail in, right rudder makes the nose move right
nose in, right rudder makes the tail move right

When inverted you rudder the near side
For example, tail in, right rudder makes the tail move right
nose in, right rudder makes the nose moves right

I hope this help :?

[xStatiCa]

I was thinking about that yesterday. I will try it that way. It makes sense. Thanks for the input.

[Espeefan]

Always think in terms of 'Relative to the helicopter'.

Inverted flight and cyclic inputs change because of the reverse thrust, but you just need to make a mental note of that. The rotor thrust is now going the opposite direction you are used to, but the helicopter's right, is still it's right.

When I first started learning nose in hovering, I learned really quick that if I wanted my helicopter to hover in different direction, I needed to think in relation to my helicopter's right or left, not my own.

For the really challenged, picture an R on the heli's right side of the canopy and an L on the left side of the canpoy. Which ever letter you would see, is the direction of stick movement you must input to bring or turn the heli torwards you.

[BarracudaHockey]

Practice on the sim till you don't have to think about it.

[xStatiCa]

That is pretty much what I have been doing so far (thinking right and left from heli perspective) but for some reason I am having problems thinking right and left with the tail. I will just have to keep working on it. I need to paint it anyway so maybe I will just paint a big L on th left side and R on the right ;). The previous owner painted the canopy a dark purple color which is VERY hard to see even 70 feet away.

The sim is what I use all the time to hone my orientation skills.

[Espeefan]

:mrgreen: Well don't paint the L and R on there, just give it a proper paint job with bright colors. The rest is just getting used to the controls. Like Andy said, it just takes a lot of practice. You'll progress when you are ready. It will become second nature. Inverted flight is not quite second nature to me yet either, but in upright I don't think much at all.

[Steve Rogers]

Practice on the sim till you don't have to think about it.

Exactly :!:

[toryjordan]

i am just trying to hover
still in the lower learning stages
hope this post is still here in 5 yrs
i may be able to use it


______________________________
wanted
1. divorce lawyer

2. someone good with sheetrock

this heli has forced me to find both!!! :arggg:

[xStatiCa]

Well. I have found so far that picturing myself in the cockpit seems to be the best way so far for me. I equate it to taking your hand and holding it out in front of you. The back of your hand being the top of the heli and the end of your fingers being the front. If I then flip my hand to simulate inverted my brain aleady knows how to deal with that situation when twisting your hand so I try to think the same way when flying the heli.

When I flip upside down I am starting to get the left and right side even with the tail (the hand thing is helping). I am identifying which side is left and right much faster now and it is starting to become automatic sometimes. When inverted nose in is easier to picture myself in the cockpit than tail in for some reason. The tricky part is getting my brain trained to know what the left side is in all orientations. When I am not flying or near the sim I need to find a very small matchbox size toy heli. I can practice orientations by thinking about stick movements when manually moving the heli with my hand so that the hand movements become the same as the stick movements. So if you see a 34 year old guy playing with a matchbox heli in the movie theater line you will know it is me ;). I still crash every once in awhile while trying to hover inverted on the sim but I am getting much better at it.

Hovering upright has become pretty easy for me now in all directions on the sim. It seems to just click in my brain without thinking about it. When hovering upright I can not keep the heli perfectly in one spot in all directions but I can keep it in a 3 foot area in the worst areas. I can spin the heli around very slowly (one 360 per 20 seconds) and keep it in the same 3 foot area or smaller too.

Today I did a nose in hover about 30 feet up on the real heli for the first time and it went pretty smoothly so the sim has definitely helped a lot. Forward flight 40 feet out going left and right in front of me is going well too. I tend to feel safer doing slight stall turns instead of a circular turn but I keep trying to push for more circular turns. This is probably because I am more confortable hovering than flying even though I don't seem to have any major problems with the circular turns.