B-400 in 10-15 Knot Gusty winds....(With Vid)

[JimLerch]

Well, I almost lost the bird down wind. It got so far all I could see was the rotor disk and tail boom Kinda.... WOW that was ugly.

After recovering from that flight, I shot this video. Nothing overly interesting, but who knows, someone may find it of interest :)

RG_8gT-TJkQ


BTW. I STILL Love my B-400 :)

[JimLerch]

Here's another flight from that day (actually prior to this one). I damn near lost the bird down wind into the trees! The winds above the tree line took me by surprise and I guess you could say I got a little behind the curve :oops:

ds1-9NqmZCo

[LockMD]

awesome flying Jim!

the other day I was flying (hovering) about 8' in 8-10 mile gusty winds and the wind quickly grabbed it above the trees (maybe 30') I had to back off on the throttle quite a bit just to get her to sink then about 5' I realized I was coming down too fast hit the throttle too late kissed the ground pretty hard but luckily no damage. I only wish to be as half as good as you, someday......

oh yeah I do most of my hovering at night with the flood lights on pretty easy to see the rotor disc. Hovered in daylight the other day, WOW I could not see the disc at all past the tree line. So after my crash last night, I bought some align carbon blades. Hopefully this will help my vision in the daylight having a black disc to see.

[sokal]

remember if the wind comes from the clean side of the blades it will induce ETL or lift
and if it hits the retreating side it will decend so nose in to the wind and mostly it will climb

[sokal]

nice flyin jim

[JimLerch]

remember if the wind comes from the clean side of the blades it will induce ETL or lift
and if it hits the retreating side it will decend so nose in to the wind and mostly it will climb

I think I finally Get it !!! I always got the part about "extra wind = extra lift" but I always figured in forward flight and head wind, advancing blade gets more lift, and it would induce a ROLL!!

However, after thinking about it some more and factoring in the effects of the rotor acting as a huge gyro, the force applied while the blades are pointing out to the sides of the heli don't affect the heli until ~90 degrees of rotation later... (right??)

So extra lift on the "left" blade, while sticking out perpendicular to the body, will apply a nose UP force.. (strange but true, I think..)

[sokal]

hey jim this FAA manual will help u understand the efects of a helicopter in flight mostly chaper 9 and 10 but lots of good info

http://www.faa.gov/library/manuals/aircraft/media/faa-h-8083-21.pdf

[sokal]

for all 2 bladed helicopter all inputs in heli wont take effect until the blades rotate 90 deg from the time u input it. and its faster for helicopters with more blades

[widower]

It's called the gyro effect. On a spinning object, any force applied will react at a 90deg angle from where the force was applied.

That's why you will notice that if you push your elevator stick forward (nose down) and manually rotate the rotor, the blades will pitch down when they are at the side of the heli.

I learned this physics lesson the hard way and have never forgot. My first radio install was on a 2servo swash. I had the blade pitch down when in the front, for nose down. Went on the street, fired it up and all reactions were 90deg out. Glad I realized it while setting trims.