mnwizard
04-07-2008, 08:34 PM
Most often, guys who buy a Lama Co-axial have never flown a 4 channel heli before.
Maybe they've played with something like the little Air Hog, but never flown anything with control of all 4 axis.
Learning to fly a 4 channel heli can be difficult and fustrating, especially when the cost of replacements for all the crashed parts starts to add up.
The best way to learn is to have someone teach you personally, but most of us don't have that opportunity.
So the next best thing is to find help and support on a forum like this one.
There is a pretty good "flight school" at http://www.dream-models.com/eco/flying-index.html , but it's not written for co-axials, and some guys find it a bit tedious.
So for impatient guys like me, here are my recommendations for making the learning process as painless as possible. I have taught quite a few people to fly this way, many of them kids from our local school, and it's the best way I have found yet.
The biggest mistake noobies make is to try and fly in too small of an area. Hovering around the living room is great fun, but if you try and learn to fly in that small of an area, you are going to crash a lot.
The best place is a large, open indoor area. School gyms or enclosed parking ramps are great. Outdoors is not good for learners, as the smallest breeze will toss around your Lama and you will most likely crash.
Most Lamas are correctly set up right out of the box, and will hover pretty much "hands off" in calm air.
So for your first flights, forget about all control inputs except the throttle.
With the Lama on the ground 5-6 feet in front of you, with the tail pointed toward you (referred to as "tail-in") raise the throttle about 1/2 way fairly quickly. You need to get the Lama out of "ground effect" which will be about 3 feet high. Ground effect is the turbulent air from the Lamas rotors bouncing off the gound. While in ground effect the Lama is unstable and unpredictable. It will spin and tilt and until you learn, you will nearly always crash if you don't get up out of it.
Most guys try and stay close to the ground when learning, hoping to minimize damage during a crash. But the truth is, if you don't get up over 3 feet, you are going to crash much more often.
It takes a "leap of faith" but you've got to get the Lama up into the air.
The Lama will climb very fast, so you don't want to shove the throttle all the way up.
A quick "blip" of the throttle about 1/2 way will take the Lama quickly off the ground. Once at 3-4 feet of altitude, hold the throttle steady and let the Lama stabilize. Don't worry about anything but the throttle and keeping the right altitude. This is where having enough room is important. Let the Lama drift around while you concentrate on holding a steady altitude with the throttle.
If the Lama drifts too far or starts moving forward or backward, gently ease off the throttle and set the heli down.
Once on the ground, reposition the Lama in front of you and start again.
It won't take very long and you will be able to climb to 3-4 feet and hold that altitude.
Once you can do that, come back here to the forum for futher instructions.
Here's a short vid of one my "students" using this method. A little bounce at the end, but no damage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G99fku_C5kY
Maybe they've played with something like the little Air Hog, but never flown anything with control of all 4 axis.
Learning to fly a 4 channel heli can be difficult and fustrating, especially when the cost of replacements for all the crashed parts starts to add up.
The best way to learn is to have someone teach you personally, but most of us don't have that opportunity.
So the next best thing is to find help and support on a forum like this one.
There is a pretty good "flight school" at http://www.dream-models.com/eco/flying-index.html , but it's not written for co-axials, and some guys find it a bit tedious.
So for impatient guys like me, here are my recommendations for making the learning process as painless as possible. I have taught quite a few people to fly this way, many of them kids from our local school, and it's the best way I have found yet.
The biggest mistake noobies make is to try and fly in too small of an area. Hovering around the living room is great fun, but if you try and learn to fly in that small of an area, you are going to crash a lot.
The best place is a large, open indoor area. School gyms or enclosed parking ramps are great. Outdoors is not good for learners, as the smallest breeze will toss around your Lama and you will most likely crash.
Most Lamas are correctly set up right out of the box, and will hover pretty much "hands off" in calm air.
So for your first flights, forget about all control inputs except the throttle.
With the Lama on the ground 5-6 feet in front of you, with the tail pointed toward you (referred to as "tail-in") raise the throttle about 1/2 way fairly quickly. You need to get the Lama out of "ground effect" which will be about 3 feet high. Ground effect is the turbulent air from the Lamas rotors bouncing off the gound. While in ground effect the Lama is unstable and unpredictable. It will spin and tilt and until you learn, you will nearly always crash if you don't get up out of it.
Most guys try and stay close to the ground when learning, hoping to minimize damage during a crash. But the truth is, if you don't get up over 3 feet, you are going to crash much more often.
It takes a "leap of faith" but you've got to get the Lama up into the air.
The Lama will climb very fast, so you don't want to shove the throttle all the way up.
A quick "blip" of the throttle about 1/2 way will take the Lama quickly off the ground. Once at 3-4 feet of altitude, hold the throttle steady and let the Lama stabilize. Don't worry about anything but the throttle and keeping the right altitude. This is where having enough room is important. Let the Lama drift around while you concentrate on holding a steady altitude with the throttle.
If the Lama drifts too far or starts moving forward or backward, gently ease off the throttle and set the heli down.
Once on the ground, reposition the Lama in front of you and start again.
It won't take very long and you will be able to climb to 3-4 feet and hold that altitude.
Once you can do that, come back here to the forum for futher instructions.
Here's a short vid of one my "students" using this method. A little bounce at the end, but no damage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G99fku_C5kY