autorotation

[Papakeith]

I'm still working on my orientations. I'm getting more confident day by day. Is it a good idea to start working on autorotations now, or should I wait until I have all of my orientations down.

My thoughts are that it can't be a bad thing to learn another necessary skill. But, I'd like to hear your thoughts on the matter.

If you think it's a good idea; where should I start? 1 ft? 3 ft? higher?

[BarracudaHockey]

Good idea? Its a helluva idea.

Start with baby autos, just a foot or two. After a couple feet its acutally better to do them from up high as 10 feet or so drop just isnt enough to pick up any blade speed from the descent.

What heli?

Read this http://www.ronlund.com/autos.htm

Some tips.
Tighten the blades up fairly tight in the grips, so you can just move them by hand.
Up your throttle hold to keep the blades spinning at first, it will help you from bleeding off too much energy during the flare till you get the idea, decrease it to an idle (or for an electric off) as you gain confidence.

The bigger the heli the better they auto.

[Jermo]

I've read using CF blades helps. I've not gotten brave enough to try ..

[Papakeith]

Thanks for the link. I'm flying a JR Ergo .30. I've run out of gas once and made it down in one piece.

Thankfully I was only 2 ft or so off the ground when the engine quit. I suppose that alone should tell me that learning this skill will be worth it because I will help ease any worries I may have about messing up the timer and running out again.

[Seeker]

I've read using CF blades helps. I've not gotten brave enough to try ..

I wouldnt auto a Trex, some people do it for fun and it can be done but it's real quick on losing head speed.

[wren1702]

Thanks for the link Andy.

I just started with a Nitro bird and had 2 engine failures on my second gallon of fuel. Both ended with a near perfect auto from FFF(Luck!). Sim time payed off! I've been practicing 8 and 10 foot autos on each flight.