VIDEO - My 40th flight on the Blade 400

[mikepmurf]

Just finished editing the video I took this morning of my 40th flight/pack of the 400.

My first flight is already posted. It was in the garage (yeah, with the pink corvette in the background!)

The next 14 packs I flew in the garage as well to really establish a decent hover. Everything else has been outside. On flight/pack 35 I had a FATAL crash and had to replace the feathering shaft, main shaft, blades, 3 servo gearsets, and tweaked the rudder. I'm still running STOCK everything and will continue to until I'm a LOT better.

Any suggestions of what my next step in learning how to fly this bird better would be GREATLY appreciated!

Enjoy!

J-KHos5y9vQ

[Heli Jim]

hey....great job, Murf.

Was that Leo Kotke playing in the background?

I thought I was the only one using a manhole cover for a heli pad. I also walk my heli up the driveway like you did up your front walk.

Great job. Keep up the good work.

[sparx-]

Any suggestions of what my next step in learning how to fly this bird better would be GREATLY appreciated!



Nose-in?

Next step.......... find a big field and spread the B400s wings and fly.

SPaRX

[jimzpsd]

I think your doing just fine, keep at it. I'm at about the same level as you, only I fly mine at about ten feet off the ground. I'm also doing some FF, and doing some minor punch outs, just to get a feel of how to make a fast recovery,................... these things come down awfully fast.

[HeliMix]

:clappp

I'm jealous. :drool: I wish I could do that, all of it. Enjoyed it Murf. Great flying, camera work, music and production. I take back what I said about the vette. :roll: Thanks for taking the time to do it all. It helps me learn as I was you progress. To me, your stick control was great. I am having a hard time advancing right now for my heli is still not 100% there after the last crash. It is 93 - 97% there. Hopefully this weekend I get it all taken care of. Keep the vids coming. :thumbup:

[mikepmurf]

Heli Jim: Leo Kotke was close....it was a group composed of Don Ross, Tony McMannus and two other guys called the "Men of Steel". First time I've ever heard a Don Ross recording combined with someone else.

Sparx and jimzpsd: So now some nose-in, bigger field, and some "punch outs". So....what's a punch out? I took the heli to a field in our neighborhood about an hour ago and didn't realize the freedom it gave me. Talk about recovery room...now just to not get cocky!

HeliMix....I've been watching your vids for a while as well....we're in the same boat, pal! The learning curve on these things is a lot tougher than I expected....as well as the addiction!

[Xyster101]

Excellent job! You are ready for the big field. It will allow you to go up 50 feet so you have room in case you error. You should always be 2 mistakes up! "Punch It" means when you are hovering about 5 feet up to push the throttle up to 80%+ fast and the heli will launch straight up. Quiet a sight!

[HeliMix]

Hey Murf. Your heli seemed to fly real smooth and not overly responsive. What are your throttle and pitch curves like? Any other tweaks you did to your Tx settings?

[otto975d]

Hi murf great flying :thumbup:.Love the video , Music was real cool .. at the end I wouldn't have carried the heli up to the house either LOL:rolling

[mikepmurf]

HeliMix: My throttle and pitch curves are the factory settings. I have been looking in to possibly changing them, but so many people have so many different opinions. I might post a thread asking for throttle/pitch curve settings for beginners, then intermediate, then advanced pilots....

[HeliMix]

Ok, now you stink. That smooth with it and factory. I am not talking to you or watching your videos anymore. And don't look at mine either! :mad:

Ok, I feel better now. Sorry for that out burst. :oops:

I played around with them on the sim some. Have yet to tweak my factory set up yet either. Let's see what you dig up. ;)

[mikepmurf]

HeliMix: I'm still jealous that you can do a full circle, so I don't want to hear it from you!:) I tried one again tonight and my sphincter just about squeezed shut! I don't know what it is about that inward turn that I just can't get my head around the heli's point of view. I'm not much better at the circles on G4 either.

I've practiced nose in on G4 with a lot of success, but as soon as I do it on the B-400, I loose confidence after about 15 seconds and flip it back to tail in.

Again, I think we've got HOURS of practice to get our hands doing exactly what our minds are wanting them to do!

Well...back to the trainer!

[HeliMix]

Again, I think we've got HOURS of practice to get our hands doing exactly what our minds are wanting them to do!

Well...back to the trainer!

Agreed! And that was only one cirlce. Crashed the next time I tried it. :lol:

[jondabear]

Nice flying bro. Your next step should be a little forward flight. from what I saw you got the basics down for some figure 8's, just need to be bigger and higher. Big difference from the cx2 huh? Im not that great but I learned on a cp pro and am decent at forward flight. Its not as scarry as it looks after you open it up a little and have the whole sky to play with.Keep it up bro. its nice to see a hometown flyer do a vid. I might eventually do one once I get these loops an inverted stuff down a little more . Peace , joy and smooth gimbal movements to ya'.

[LEADWORKS]

nice flying dude. I see you walk awefully close behind that thing too, and cars driving by. Does anybody know what would happen if that heli hit us? Do you think it would F us up bad? I been trying to stand back farther from it cause reading stuff in the safety forum got me kinda scared.

[HeliMix]

Oh yeah, it will hurt you. Did you see Murf's war wounds yet? I forget where the photo is but it is up here some where. And I do not think that was at a screaming throttle when it happened. If I recall corretly, he was landing. Yes, I am giving the blades on the blade 100% respect. If it comes down to the heli hitting me/someone else or the ground, the B4 will be a lawn dart. It feels no pain unlike I do. ;)

[jimzpsd]

Hey Murf, heres some fun for you, while at a hover switch on the stunt mode (F.MODE), and do a couple of yo-yo's, just make sure your at 15'-20', and when you want to land it, go slowly, or just switch back to normal mode.

[SeanOC]

Hey Mike, nice job!

I'm not too much ahead of you and I found that FFF can be easier than hovering and SFF because you dont have to be making constant tiny corrections. It feels more like flying a plane and more stable.

So just get yourself to a ball field or a school and open her up!:thumbup:

[mikepmurf]

jimzpsd: So, I found a good field and have been flying the crap out of it! I tried to "throttle up" yesterday night....Went into a stable hover about 10 ft off the ground and then flipped the switch and the bird just shot straight up. I know that was around mid stick, so why would it have done that? Scared me enough that I didn't try it again.

Shouldn't mid stick on "Throttle up" be around a hover?

[Ti RX-8]

jimzpsd: So, I found a good field and have been flying the crap out of it! I tried to "throttle up" yesterday night....Went into a stable hover about 10 ft off the ground and then flipped the switch and the bird just shot straight up. I know that was around mid stick, so why would it have done that? Scared me enough that I didn't try it again.

Shouldn't mid stick on "Throttle up" be around a hover?

No. Hover should be around 2/3, with inverted hover around 1/3.
If you were at mid-stick, flipping Idle-up should have sent you into the dirt.
It sounds like you may have your pitch curves somewhat non-standard.

the mid-stick pitch should be 50 for both normal and idle-up.
For "tame" idle-up, you could have the 3, 4 and 5 settings on both pitch and throttle curves the same (just duplicate from normal to stunt/idle-up). Then make the 1 and 2 pitch settings the opposite of the 5 and 4 pitch settings for idle-up (if 4 is 70, make 2 30, etc). Make the 1 and 2 throttle settings the same as the 5 and 4 throttle settings.

For example:
Throttle:
Normal: 0-50-70-80-90
Idle-up: 90-80-70-80-90
Pitch:
Normal: 40-45-50-70-100
Idle-up: 0-30-50-70-100

And, of course, you should make your Throttle Hold pitch curve match (either Normal or Idle-up) as well so it doesn't shoot up or down if you flip the Hold switch.

[LEADWORKS]

I was also thinking maybe you should check your actual blade pitch to make sure that it is zero at mid-stick.