two weeks to learn how to fly before shooting day

[dimon]

Hi! Thanks to this forum and some shamans dancing with drums around my new (first) T-Rex 600 it feels complete and ready to shoot some video.

I'm new in heli (flying Blade SX in apartment not counts) and did 6 flights (tail in hovering) so far without camera and mount. Also was couple flights with sand bag attached to see lifting ability - got about 6 minutes hovering on TP5000 40-42F. I have everything stock, XL motor and just installed AP2000i (tomorrow gonna try it).

I'm going to do some aerial filming for my film school in two weeks. Does it looks crasy/inpossible/watewer - please, any advise what expect and what to do

thanks

[dimon]

how you guys usually flying for AP, Idle UP or Normal?

[piwko4]

hahahahahaha... hope you have a simulator and spend countless hours on it.. Not saying you wont be ready in 2 weeks w/o it, but .... you won't.

[Efliernz]

I was told easy this AP flying thing was recently by a good heli aerobatic pilot. I challenged him to fly 200 yards away, go nose-in at 200' and hold it there for one minute. What followed was entertaining (to me) but i earnt a little respect.
AP flying is different... and requires lots of practice. Good luck - two weeks is not impossible but it will need to aborb all your time.

[cbdane]

I've been flying planks for almost 20 years and my 600E for almost a year. I feel very confident with a lot of moderate 3D with (my favorite) high speed forward and inverted flight. So, fly around and take some pictures? No prob...

Hardest several flights I've ever tried. Don't underestimate how hard this is to fly to and hold a specified position and don't underestimate the value of your photo gear... :wink:

[Wbird]

Good luck and Kind of jealous. In order to make this work you will be eating and sleeping (as per usual) and flying helis both sim and real life. YEP that is about it. All I can say is Good Luck and you will need to get as much experience as possible. Visit RADD SCHOOL For Rotary Flight (link below). If you follow his guidelines (and don't cheat) you will be able to do a rock solid hover within a short time. Disipline yourself and keep at it.

http://www.dream-models.com/eco/flying-index.html

[wecoyote]

The biggest problem new heli pilots have is orientation and when you take that helicopter up to heights that will get a good ap shot it is REAL easy to loose your orientation. If you are not seasoned in recovering from this situation you will be kissing your heli and camera good bye.

Good luck.

[Wbird]

The biggest problem new heli pilots have is orientation and when you take that helicopter up to heights that will get a good ap shot it is REAL easy to loose your orientation. If you are not seasoned in recovering from this situation you will be kissing your heli and camera good bye.

Good luck.

How did you find out about the job I did on Tuesday. LOL
I was at a friend's farm and taking some pics of their yard and the exact thing happened. I had it high enough to almost loose sight of the tail boom. Next thing I knew it was doing it's own thing and was about 50 feet up when I finally recovered somewhat inverted. These things fall fast. I thought I had it sorted out a couple of times on the way down but I was wrong and was sure it was going in. Then one more time I seen skids up and gave full negative pitch and shot it straight sideways and was able to get it back. Never been this close to loosing it with AP before but it happens so fast you don't have time to think about it. It was only experience and reflexes that enabled me to recover. A ton of sim time helps.

[wecoyote]

it happens so fast you don't have time to think about it. It was only experience and reflexes that enabled me to recover.

That's what I'm talking about and you can't get that in two weeks.

[bullaculla]

On the sim, you can increase the weight of the bird, and lower the CG to make it more realistic. Mine sim bird is 17lbs, and CG is lowered buy 6 inches.

[AZ ChopperCam]

are you serious? you have a new Trex 600 and you plan to shoot usable video in 2 weeks with only some Blade time under your belt?

Good luck and please do not hurt anyone or cause property damage.

[SeaHawk]

You are not ready to do AP with your level of inexperience.

[Piton]

6 flights, filming for your film school.

How can you expect to safely fly video when you can't even safely fly?

[Jay]

Dimon,
I sincerely hope this is a gag post, and not some insanely stupid plan that you intend to proceed with.

[cbdane]

Whoa. :shock: Put down your weapons, guys, and step away from the heli... ;) Advice can go a long way with proper delivery.

[AZ ChopperCam]

Advice can go a long way

and so can hitting the "search" link which is where this guy needs to start. I'm normally accomodating and generally a nice guy but seeing stuff like this gets me going.


<taking a deep breath and counting to ten...>

[j_kookboy]

To put in bluntly, if you hurt someone, you hurt the people in this business.

There's a conversation on RR about insurance and the flux of new people getting into AP with zero to little experience.

Ditto as DJ. I usually post advice as best as I can but this is kind of the last drop in the bucket.

I am all for new AP'ers and welcome new people but the lack of basic heli/AP knowledge in many people (if these posts reflect their intention) is becoming more apparent.

Threads like these are popping up more frequently and frankly it's becoming scary as an AP business owner.

Jesse

[xfc3dcd]

Essentially, what you have stated here (if you are in fact serious) is the equivalent of someone saying "I got my learners permit last week and next month I want to drive in the Daytona 500.

You set a horrible example for way too many impressionable young minds my friend. Sadly these are the times we live in.

Wendell

[iflybyu77]

Good grief. Just mount the camera to your CX. That'll be much safer.

[skywalker73]

Keep your head speed up!! Do not fly in normal mode! The winds at higher altitudes will cause lift. If you throttle down, your head speed and tail speed will drop causing you to spin. You need to be in idle up with some negative pitch to get you back down if you run in to some wind up there.
Please make sure you are not putting yourself or anyone else in danger. You may need some more time behind the wheel. Good Luck!

[cbdane]

Glad to see some of the posts cleaned up a bit! :hug:

[BungeeMike]

He will be ready in time if he does what he does best and thats FILM. Do what you know and hire or find a competent pilot to fly for you. You do the film side thats more than enough to learn in 2 weeks and you might get somthing usable. I dont want to discourage you but as you know by now there is a LOT more to it than it looks. If you do it on your own best you can hope for is some hover footage and worst is a totaled helicopter and someone hurt.
My thoughts
Bungee

[Bigdipper]

Yeah...uhuh. I had a friend tell me he could learn a 3D Graphics program on his computer in 2 weeks and take some of my work away.............good luck there 'son'

[wecoyote]

All of you "professionals" are so worried that someone is going to steal your business. And have the "it took me years to learn how, so it should take everyone else years also" attitude.

How bout some constructive criticism instead. No one likes to hear their baby is ugly.

He is taking a class and wants to do something awesome for it, is that so wrong? (I know right know you "professionals" are thinking, "He could hurt someone and ruin my business"). That is where the constructive criticism comes in.
All of us that have been there know that 2 weeks is (in 99% cases) not enough time to learn this. That has been pointed out in this thread many times now.

Bottom line is GREAT idea for a class project, BAD planning on timeframe.

dimon,
Maybe you should consider a poll cam this time around and save the heli shots for when you have more stick time.

[Hogster]

Please consider doing this job for them this time next year .... I don't want to dampen your enthusiasm, but you are really underestimating the *time* you need to put into training before you should even consider starting aerial photography work.

Even if you are a proficient helicopter pilot, you will need several weeks/months of regular flying to get to the point where you would have the skills needed to SAFELY do aerial photography/videography work.

Just consider the fact that if a TRex 600 hits a person in the wrong position (ie. their head, neck or back) it could quite easily kill them.

The TRex is not a TOY.

Please listen to the guys on this forum ...


David