Nose-in hovering and fixed wing experience

[LawrenceHare]

In the view of this group, how much benefit does experience with fixed wing RC have when flying a helicopter? I have been hovering - which might be a rather grand way of describing my helicopter experience to-date - fairly well. This is my first helicopter, a Honey Bee King, and I have listened and read a bunch of what folks say here, and things have been going well. A couple of prangs, but I am very much enjoying this.

Which is a big change from all my fixed wing machines (plus it seems to cost a heck of a lot more too!) I have been flying RC for years, migrating to electric these last five because of noise and finding a field and all the rest. I learnt to intuitively adapt to the "coming toward ya" and "flying away from ya" long ago, and I wondered if this would help nose-in hovering - not having given nose-in any particular thought.

I have never been a great pilot. I can do the basics and have some fairly advanced planes. I love both building and flying and have a collection of WW1 and scale planes, plus some nifty little machines and one 3D Edge. I never thought much about helicopters as - well - they were, ahem, different! But I love pretty much anything that flies and it was only a matter of time - now I am having a blast. But it suddenly occurred to me that my experience today with fixed wing MIGHT be a liability. On the other hand, it could be very beneficial. In my hovering and floating around experience so far, it seems to be a great help (except I learnt REAL QUICK never to just slam shut the throttle on a helicopter, a helicopter returns to earth with great gusto when you do that!).

Am I fooling myself though, are there other areas where I will need to relearn (like inverted - which I view with great trepidation)?

Thanks - Lawrence

[BarracudaHockey]

Its both a blessing and a curse.

Just dont flare when you land.

[Russ McC]

Hi Lawrence,

Having fixed wing experience is a big plus when learning to fly helis! Forward flight inputs are the same with helis as with fixed wing both upright and inverted, the major differences are that the angle your model is tilted is more critical on a heli because if your nose is pointed up it will stop and then start backward, it has no prop pulling it forward. Also on a heli you have to input rudder/yaw control, it will not follow the model like the tail on a fixed wing. It is more difficult to tell the roll angle on a heli because the wings are not as visible as on a fixed wing. In theory once you can hover you should be able to go flying with little difficulty especially if you can do it on a sim. Good luck and have fun!

[woodturner]

I agree with Russ..

Fixed wing experience does help with your basic forward flight and some left / right turn orientation. A SIM will also provide a great asset..

You stated helis cost a "heck of a lot more" than planks.. Yes you do have some additional costs, however, if you look at the whole picture.

When you have a bad crash with a plane, you have spent many a night building it's game over, build another one. With a helicopter, you can replace the broken bent parts and fly again.

Get that SIM and happy flyin'

Frank

[LawrenceHare]

Thanks you folks, although my experience with repairing the helicopter is limited, I did note that so far I have not had to wait for any glue to dry! On the other hand, I have not been able to wittle the parts with bits of wood, piano wire, spit and chewing gum as I often can with a plane. The busted skid I could probably have remade with wire and wood - and I think possibly better than the original, the skids seem weak on this Honey Bee when compared to, say, a T-Rex. I repaired the split tail rotor drive shaft with monofilament and CA. The basic trouble as I see it is that for my Honey Bee I must buy everything through the web - and wait! The advantage of a T-Rex however is that the local store here seems to carry everything - and then some! Many parts come upgraded in aluminum, all in stock...

Guess what I'm going to buy!

Cheers - Lawrence