Nervous newbie

[darkchiild]

2 weeks ago, I bought the G4 sim, and a CP Pro at the same time. It's been two weeks of diligent practice on the sim, and I'm getting pretty good at it. I can do forward flight, stable hover nose in and out, and even some sloppy inverted flight.

So I got my CP adjusted to the best of my ability. Guessed on the gain, and set the proportional so the heli wouldn't spin when light on the skids. The blades were tracking fine, and I didn't have a pitch gauge but figured "It should be fine, they fly them before shipping right?". Uhh.. No.. I should have known. The swashplate was way off level and needed adjusting. I caught that before flying though.

So I took it to the parking lot at work, and brought it up. I was pretty close to the ground, and all over the damn place. I cut the throttle quickly, and found I'd scraped up the tips of the blades just a little on the cement, no real damage. Good. Let's give it another go. This time I'll try to bring it a little higher to get out of the ground effect.

So I spin up the blades until it's getting just a little light on the skids and bring it up to.... Full throttle? It's only hovering about 6" off the ground. Turns out the pitch was only at about 5 degrees at full throttle. Spec is 10. I found this out only AFTER having to buy new blades along with a pitch gauge.

In any event.. my question is this: I was really surprised to find that I really was all over the place taking off. I found it was nothing like the sim at all. Now before I go out and trash the heli again, I thought I'd get some opinions.

Is the RealFlight G4 sim close to real flying? Now that the blades are properly pitched, will I have the same trouble on my second flight? Was it just because of rotor wash that the bird was so unstable? If I bring it up higher should I be able to hold it with having a couple weeks on the sim under my belt, or is flying the real thing completely different?

Thanks for posting folks. Although this is my first post, you guys have all been a really big help getting me started thus far. Thanks,
Joe.

[sleddog7]

Different you ask? Well it is and it isn't.

You have to remember that the sim's helis are 'set-up' for a good flight, ie.. correct pitch of blades, center of gravity is right on, heading hold gyro actually holds and blah blah blah.

The sim is good practice for your reflexes and it will help 'teach yourself' on what to make the heli do to make the flight look good and realistic.

Yes, hovering in ground effect is not easy... get it off the ground at chest height.

[ChasHeliCop]

First, the CP Pro is a very "twitchy" bird. Had one that used to chase me around the yard. I thought the same as you when I bought it, "tested at the factory" HA !
I find the sim is much easier than real flight and is a learning tool for stick movements. Also, everyone seems to go too fast and wants instant satifaction of getting in the air. With the CP, I found you almost have to compensate for the movements and anticipate what the bird is going to do in advance. Just go slow and before you know it, you will be hooked. Only took me 30 days to buy a second heli :happyd

[darkchiild]

So being a beginner, if I want to get the thing flying, do you suggest spinning it up, and hopping until I can get it to lift straight up, or should I be a cowboy, and just bring it up, then try to get it under control once it's up?

[sleddog7]

LOL, cowboy... I like that one. :D

Let it spin up, get it light on the skids... all the while making sure you keep the tail pointed to YOU, then slooooowly give in a little more collective untill it climbs at a SLOW rate to about eye or chest level. DON"T punch the collective up, it's "game over" if you do that. LEAN up on the stick.

Once there, you LEAN (almost not moving it) back down on the super sensative collective stick to maintain the desired height.

BTW: Watching the heli for the VERY FIRST time lift up higher than knee height is FRIGHTENING!... KEEP you cool during this! Under no circumstances are you to dump the collective down quickly if you mentally freak-out or break-down in the head.

As on the sim, it's micro stick movements for the cyclic and SUPER micro movements using the collective stick.

Always remember to keep the tail pointed to you when learning... the workload is soooooo much easier. :D

[Billybuck]

Hi darkchiild

I'm just a noob, so as one to the other, I thought I might give you some insight into my learning curve.

First of all, I used the G4 Sim (And still do) to train my muscle memory on the sticks. The sim will works wonders for that. I also find it helpful for trying new stuff as it will give you the basic idea of what's needed on the sticks to accomplish each new thing you try.

As far as spooling up to a hover, you need to watch the reaction of your heli as it gets light on the skids. Trim out any movements to the left, right, forward, backwards movement, until it will lift up relatively straight then retrim at about head level until she is fairly stable.

You will find throttle (collective) your biggest challenge. Trying not to rise or descend to fast was a real challenge for me. After awhile you will learn how really little the input is on the throttle, especially landing. Don't forget to nudge her a little forward as you land to save those tail blades.

As far as flying your heli, it's all in the setup. I found mine a little hard to fly at first and it was always because I didn't have something set right. Pitch or throttle curves, gyro. CG...etc. After frequent help from the "Freaks" I was able to dial it in and now all I can say is what a blast.

Flew through several packs today with no mishaps and the fun meter was pegged.

So what basically is working for me is continued practice on the sim and always trying to make sure everything is setup correctly. When you have it right, you will never look back.

Goodluck.

[Pinecone]

If you are doing things alone use this:

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

Long and somewhat boring, but it works.

[darkchiild]

Wow.. Good info. Thanks very much all.

[rockjock3]

I have to second Radd's school of rotary flight. It works. Don't get me wrong. I have G4 and work with it a lot. I wasn't having much luck with my Axe CP though. I tried Radd's lessons and I am doing a lot better. Still can't get it to sit real still, but can keep in tail in easy enough and within about a 10x10 imaginary box easy enough. It doesn't slide around fast in any directions, but just sort of drifts around. I do this all about waist level and am comfortable with the heli in the air. Once I can put it in one place and make it stay there then I will start working on left and right facing flight in the same square. I also moved the control arms in one hole from the out hole on the servos. This dampened the cyclic controls a little bit and made it a little less twitchy for me. I have a set of flat bottom blades coming as well, which is supposed to calm it down a bit as well.

[darkchiild]

I also moved the control arms in one hole from the out hole on the servos. This dampened the cyclic controls a little bit and made it a little less twitchy for me.

I have a set of flat bottomed plasti-blades, but could you elaborate on this statement? Or point to a link? I noticed it was a little twitchy too.

I know I probably should have gone ahead and followed Rad's school, but frankly I just don't have that much self control. I guess G4 did me a lot of good, because I managed to get it hovering last night on only my second flight. Worst that happened was I skipped the tail rotor a little once. No damage though.

[whtmex]

Do you have someplace where you can practice inside? I started out on the CP myself last year, and it doesn't perform very well outside if there is too much wind. Once you learn to control it you'll be able to tolerate a little wind, but until then you'll be chasing her all over.