How'd yout do that?

[planejunk]

sup folks... I was looking for a bit of help, so I hope ya dont mind me borrowing the forum for a sec.. (probally a better forum for this question, but this is bout' the only one ii'm following.shhh) I have the nice chunk of swirling art they call the t600n pro.. it ok.. My first too.. nirto heli that is.. OK here the deal. I have master the tail in hover.. Bam! And my rights and lefts.. Bam! Butt thats it... now here is where I ask for your help.. I live quite a bit from the closest flying feild.. I did go and get finishing help with the maiden flight... everything went wonderful.. cept for a bad throttle servo, but no biggie *fixed* does anyone have some videos that can help me move into nose-in hovers and forward flight.... I kinda get the theory of making turns, but not got the feel yet.. so post up some good links.. you've all been where I am so you guys know what i'm needing. thanks and happy flying!

[Mercuriell]

You really need to master nose-in as well to be able to fly the thing properly so I'd turn the bird round and start off like you did with tail in till you're comfortable. Now practice the hover nose or tail in and start increasing height - not to much say about 10-20 feet and pracice taking her up and putting her down.

Once you've done this you can fly out - do a 180 turn and fly back in again and land. Next hard bit is orientation while controlling R/L side in. You can either do this in hover (my preference) or start in free flight 10-20 feet off ground - when you get disoreientated flip around into the comfort zone of nose or tail in then start off again.

Once you are comfortable side in you can then fly square circuits in FFF and then start to practice turns.

When comfortable in turns and circuits can try a loop and roll - but that's a few weeks off yet !!!

[Bignose13]

Best bit of kit I ever bought was the flight sim, taught me just about everything I know about flying the heli today, you just need the confidence to change over the transition to the real thing but that all depends on what sim you decide to buy, there is a saying that says "you pays yer money". I started on FMS which is ok for just about tail in but to move on from this you will want something better (I use Phoenix but was on AFPD, Phoenix much better in my opinon). It's just having the confidence to realise that the heli will be like the sim.
Hope this helps

[Ghostrider]

If you truly have tail in and left/right, then while doing your left/right hovers, start turning in slightly more towards nose in while in a hover. Before you know it, the heli will be looking directly at you.

Once you get that, move onto figure 8's. This will get you moving into forward flight.

Keep practicing the basics and try not to move ahead until you have a firm grasp of the basics. Remember, you are building your foundation right now. The better your foundation, the better pilot you will become in the future and with a good foundation, you will start to surpass many of the pilots that have been flying for years because they did not spend the time to build a solid foundation with regards to the basics. The hard (boring) way is the easy way to learn long term!

Once you master everything right side up, you start all over with tail in/out, left/right, but inverted! If you want to move into 3D flying, the idea is to be comfortable in any orientation. Having the basics down in any orientation including inverted, will allow you in the future to try new things and not freak out if you come out of some maneuver in some funky position.

I see this all the time with people that don't have the basic fundamentals. They will try something and come out of it wrong and panic because they are not comfortable inverted nose in or tail in etc.

Sim time is an absolute must. I would fly the sim everyday at least 30 minutes. I do a minimum of 15min in the morning before work and sometimes an hour or so in the evenings every day!

Good luck!

[bstock]

Ghostrider - good advise about building the Foundation for your skills!!

[planejunk]

thanks guys for all the advise, but not to sound rude in any way form or fashion.. this is the same answer I always get.. I am burning atleast 4 tanks a day practicing the orientation.. still need a bit more work on the nose-in, but it coming along well.. like I said before videos of the figure 8's and ect is really what I need.. I have no plans on rushing into FFF until I feel comfortable with all orientations, and I do spend time on AFPD, but I really dont like the feel of that sim.. but never the less I still practice at least 15-30 mins a day.. agine thanks and i'll keep ya posted... and NO crashes yet, and dont plan on one.. baby step!

[Mercuriell]

I think Figure 8s are pretty darn tricky and if you can do these you're well on your way to FFF

[Rogan]

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=C1OYZFTsCWc

Some guy doing a fig8 on fms. You're sure to find some vids on youtube.

http://www.dream-models.com/eco/Radd-nose-in.html

RADDS has a bit on nose in and first steps.

None of it helps. The only way to safely learn is to sim it imo; this is especially true with nose in! If you don't sim then get someone to buddy box you. If you can't get anyone to buddy box you then get used to flicking back to tail in and flying the heli back towards yourself.

The first time you get into FF it's scary, and you need a LOT of space to gear up for your turns. I'm getting to the point where I can turn how and where I want it, but before that I was just sticking it and hoping for the best.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=YNiXZ3SBth8

I had no one to teach me, and as you can see it was hit and miss to say the least! Get it high and try to move slowly and surely.

When you make your turns you start the turn with the rudder (the rudder controls the nose - not the tail - i got this wrong at first). To turn you'd start the turn with a little rudder and use the cyclic to keep the heli upright (or in a smooth bank), whilst using the collective to maintain the altitude.

Normally to do a banked turn you'd turn, say left, by pushing the rudder left, following with a little left and back on the cyclic, and adding a touch of collective to keep the heli up there.

To fly nose in you have to be able to visualize the heli as if you were flying with it, looking out of the nose. People will offer tricks, like pushing the stick towards the low side, but that's only going to get you so far.

Get a sim you do enjoy, I like Realflight G3.5 personally, and use it. Fly it for 15 mins before you go out, and practice exactly what you're aiming to do on the field. I actually find fff a lot easier in real life, it seems way more difficult in the sim for some reason.

[erniefritz]

there's no sure way to learn FF , no Vid's going to show you. you just have to start moving the chopper around learning to turn the heli as you go gradually making your radius larger, then sooner or later you just have to go for it... it will be scary but there is always a first time... :wink:

[Mercuriell]

When you make your turns you start the turn with the rudder (the rudder controls the nose - not the tail - i got this wrong at first). To turn you'd start the turn with a little rudder and use the cyclic to keep the heli upright (or in a smooth bank), whilst using the collective to maintain the altitude.

Normally to do a banked turn you'd turn, say left, by pushing the rudder left, following with a little left and back on the cyclic, and adding a touch of collective to keep the heli up there.


These aren't really balanced co-ordinated turns - if you just use tail rotor you're doing a pirouette or if moving forward a skidding turn. To do a balanced turn it's very similar to a fixed wing, initiate the turn with bank (lateral cyclic), pull up elevator and then follow the tail round with tail rotor applied last - the steeper the bank, the tighter the turn - a well executed balanced turn is a zero G manouevre.

In a fixed wing full sized aircraft there is a little ball in a turn co-ordinator that stays in the centre if you get it right. Perhaps the full sized heli pilots can tell me if there is a turn co-ordinator in full sized helis.