Good flight........ sort of....

[kenh]

Just had the 120 out for a couple quick flights on my lunch hour. First flight great. Little to no wind.

Second flight a thermal came through and my 120 took off to the sky. I reduced the throttle a couple of times with the blades coming to a stop before I was able to get it down. My first blade stop auto ever:rotf No crash though. I continued to fly out the battery at a much lower alltitude.:oops:

[RoundWing]

More likely an headwind than a thermal. The 120SR is affected a lot by transitional lift. It's design controls how far forward the rotor disks can tilt. In FF even when you are pushing the stick all the way forward the rotor pitch is actually neutral between the two blades: the tilted swash and self-hovering characteristic of the 45° flybar cancel each other out at about a 45° tilt in calm air. A headwind increases transitional lift and changes the balance so the same stick input can no longer keep the rotor disk tilting forward.

Once the rotor disk gets tilted up in a head wind it will keep going up since there is no way to reduce lift via pitch or get the rotor disk tilted forward to maintain FF. Reducing power to cut lift stops the rotor and it falls like a rock. A better solution is to fly put of the stall by flipping the tail around with the rudder and flying downwind. The rotor disk up-tilt that was stopping you dead and causing the model to head skyward becomes a forward tilt for a very aggressive run down wind.

This strategy requires situational awareness and some planning. Always start by flying into the wind, even if it is slight so you will always have a downwind bailout path if a gust stall forward progress. When you get to the end of the downwind leg making a aggressive 180° stall turn will tilt and set up the rotor disk angle for a more aggressive upwind run. Aileron turns work better for changing direction than vertical flares with just elevator because more forward momentum is preserved in an aileron snap turn. See: http://roundwing.nova.org/Wind/ for more detail

[gmiller0]

Just had the 120 out for a couple quick flights on my lunch hour. First flight great. Little to no wind.

Second flight a thermal came through and my 120 took off to the sky. I reduced the throttle a couple of times with the blades coming to a stop before I was able to get it down. My first blade stop auto ever:rotf No crash though. I continued to fly out the battery at a much lower alltitude.:oops:
I love my 120, but if there is even a hint of a breeze or wind, it's really not that good.. I fly in a gym and its a blast.. I will tell you that I got the MCPX and it is awesome in the wind and I may end up selling my 120 here shortly.. Like I said, I do like the 120, but for outside flight... there is NOTHING like the MCPX for the price range..

[Torquewrench]

I had mine out during a incomming thunderstorm last evening, weather report stated 7-15 mph gusts... Had a blast, couple times had to cut throttle so heli would drop, power it back on with classic piro's and continue on my way, I have no problem with the 120 in wind. :clap

Will have to get a good video on here soon....:badair: