How far away do you fly?

[mcomet]

How far away do people "start", "fly" and "land" their models? Particularly interested in say values for both micro helis, like a 450, and then something larger like a 600/.050.

I've been typically moving my 450 out like 5 feet away, then taking off and landing. I'm curious though, especially with some of the recent stuff posted to the image thread...

-comet

[Oldboy]

Well with my 450sev2, i tend to do a 5 foot spool up to look over everything, then back to 15-20 feet for take off's/landings. I have a feeling some might say this isnt far enough.
Once in the air I like it a good distance away.

[Epoweredrc]

Well I am just learning to fly my trex 450, At first when nothing was set up right and it sounded really mean I stood about 10 foot away, now that everything set up right i normally set it down within 5 feet of myself and stay about 5-10 feet hovering around, i can see it better up close.... if I ever get to flying 3D"ish it will be at least 20-30 foot in front of me, the scare me being right beside themselves flying these things..
but then again i hover my airplane witnin a arms reash away from myself

[kama1]

10 foot minimum for my 450.
i check all servo movement right after i plug in the battery ...all the time the throttle hold is on.
when i land its roughly in the same area at about 10 feet away(most of the time).
throttle hold go on before i start walking to it to unplug the battery.

raptor 50 is 20 to 25 feet.
check servo movement before i start the engine.
walk the heli out and away from my flight bag.
walk back to the flight bag area ...then only then will i shut off the throttle hold.
land it roughly the same area i took off from (will always be in that general area ... to darn big to mess around with like i do with the 450)
throttle down hit the throttle cut and then hit throttle hold immediately (can never be to safe)
walk over with radio in hand and bring the blades to a stop with the head button.(not the perfect thing to do in regards to safety )

hope this helps

[rdlohr]

450:

Since we takeoff and land on a cement platform that we stand on too, only about 5 feet. We take off pretty quick, but landing we end up hovering pretty close before touch down. I agree we are taking a risk.

Weekends, when we fly at the field, its about 10 or 15 feet.

Flying, since we start in the middle of a soccer field, we fly from end to end and the whole way across. I do some control work, nose in, slow piroetts and stuff about 15-20 feet ahead of me.

I usually fly fairly low, from 5 - 40 ft tops. Some times I go way high for the heck of it, or to try new stuff, but for good orientation, I stay pretty close.

600:

Always 20 feet or more.

Flying...no too close!

Rick

[ErichF]

9 meters...why? Because the rules say so. (AMA Class III contest rules) ;)

[ShawnK]

I was just going to say the same thing as Erich, until I saw that he beat me to it. ;)

My hard deck tends to be around 15-20 feet, and I get really paranoid if anything I do in the air brings the heli closer than about 30 feet. I simply don't feel comfortable with a 90-size helicopter close to me. I push it up and out at all times, more like flying FAI maneuvers.

What's interesting is that when I first measured out a 9m pilot station at my field, it felt kind of far out to me. Now, it actually feels more natural to me than what I used to do a couple of years ago. Kinda feels like a "respectful" distance, if that makes any sense.

[warpspeed]

Take off about 5', but landings are a crapshoot. Never know just exactly where that sucker's gonna make a dirt divot. All I know is when it starts to come down I'm running for cover!

[mcomet]

All I know is when it starts to come down I'm running for cover!

I see...your icon says it all...hehe.

[Big Fil]

I like to give the 450 about 5 ft for both landing and takeoffs and I regularly fly out 100-150yds in fast forward flight.

With the 600 I like to put it on top of my head to practice takeoffs and landings.

[MasterCrash]

How far away do people "start", "fly" and "land" their models? Particularly interested in say values for both micro helis, like a 450, and then something larger like a 600/.050.

I've been typically moving my 450 out like 5 feet away, then taking off and landing. I'm curious though, especially with some of the recent stuff posted to the image thread...

-comet

50 Feet with my Raptor 50, 20 Feet with my TRex 450, Scared to death of radio reciever failure some day, When that happens 200 feet is too close :-(
Scott

[Danyboy]

I'm falling more or less in-line with the above...

With the electric-micros, 2-3m is fine for me.

With my 90's Turbine, I don't feel comfortable when being closer than 5m. 7m feels just right for takeoff and landing.

Cheers,

Daniel

[iher]

450 - 5 m take off and 10m FF
0.50- 8 m take off and 15m FF
0.90- 10 m take off and 20m FF

I have landed 2 m from me with a nice steady hover.......but now I dont . too many things can go wrong.

Tip: be extra careful with the radio´s neck strap! It pulled the idle up switch when I was putting it around my neck.No damage except a nice wake up call. Since then I leave it on and just clip the radio.

[Skiddz]

FWIW. Leave the neck strap around your neck and clip it on once you're set to take off. I usually flip the strap over my back when I'm tweaking the heli just prior to take off. I flip it back around as I back away from the heli and once I'm set, I carefully clip it on.