First Auto with 600N Pro

[jverre]

Well I had my first Auto with my 600N. Now thats exciting!!! I was out flying and I set the timer on the bench and was just playing arround getting use to figure 8s and I wasn't paying attention to the time when the engine leaned out and the engine RPM's went up about 400 and it quit.

Shear panic instantly comes over you with the sound of silence. I practiced auto's on the sim but it gets real exciting when it quits for real. Luckly I remembered what to do and it just settled down and I flaired and landed uneventfully. I am getting about 8 minutes to a tank of fuel. I need a louder alarm LOL:banana

[BarracudaHockey]

Once you start flying around, its time to get proficent with autos. Its the one thing in this hobby that will actually save you money.

Good job on getting it down in one piece, but autos are a lot easier to learn when you plan for it, and a lot less exciting if something happens when you're good at them.

[TheBum]

I started doing end-of-flight mini autos with my 600N and Diablo yesterday, the kind where you hover at 3-4 feet and then kill power. The 600N ones were a lot prettier than the one Diablo one I tried, although the fact that both helis each remained in one piece made it a successful day.

[jverre]

I'm just thrilled that I got it down and didn't damage it. Talk about one second of real excitement. I need to practice them for real just to handle an emergency. I like the 3 to 4 foot option....:thumbup:

[brgsstm]

I started doing end-of-flight mini autos with my 600N and Diablo yesterday, the kind where you hover at 3-4 feet and then kill power. The 600N ones were a lot prettier than the one Diablo one I tried, although the fact that both helis each remained in one piece made it a successful day.

yes doing them at a few feet is good practice for the flair but the real skill in an auto comes when you are able to maintain the headspeed during a high descent, its a good idea to get them sorted as soon as you start to fly around. A tank spent on nothing but auto practice is a tank well spent :thumbup:

[TheBum]

yes doing them at a few feet is good practice for the flair but the real skill in an auto comes when you are able to maintain the headspeed during a high descent, its a good idea to get them sorted as soon as you start to fly around. A tank spent on nothing but auto practice is a tank well spent :thumbup:
Understand, but I figured I had to start somewhere. You have to figure out how to finish an auto before figuring out how to maintain head speed on a long auto.

[jverre]

I will be working on them in the the next couple of flights just to make sure I can get myself out of trouble. I think I will start slow at 4 feet and than work my up to different altitudes.:drool:

[enahs]

I started small and would hit throttle hold from a 5 foot hover to get used to the flair. Then I was flying around and stripped a main gear and had to hit hold and brought it down. Way more exciting than I would have liked. Was a successful auto though. Next time I go out, I will spend a lot of time doing "normal" autos so I don't get so surprised again. Luckily I only have a 20 dollar part to fix and not a 150 dollar crash. Made me learn the hard way at how important autos are.

[TheBum]

I actually did a couple of unplanned autos shortly after I maidened my 600N, when I was having engine problems and subsequently had to rebuild the engine. I stripped a set of TT gears on one of them and tore up a set of tail blades on the other. Luckily, that was the extent of the damage.

[mikebilyk]

you need a radio with an alarm bulit in!

good job on saving it:)

[brgsstm]

Understand, but I figured I had to start somewhere. You have to figure out how to finish an auto before figuring out how to maintain head speed on a long auto.

yeah your right, i have however seen people fly who thought they could auto because they could do it from 6ft only to find that when they needed to auto for real they could not hold a headspeed for the flair :DOH

[jverre]

On the Sim its pretty important to hold head speed. Flair to high and you run out of head spead and crash anyway. I'm going to start autos slowly and work my way up for now. It should be easier on my cash flow...
:clappp

[aussiemick]

The hardest part about transitioning between autoing the sim and the real thing is flicking into throttle hold the first few times. I fyou are getting them under control in the sim go for it for real!!

mick

[lovespicyfood]

I was told by a pro to set throttle hold relatively high (~15-35%) to practice autos. Makes sense to me! I've only really done baby autos, but real practice autos are in my near future...

[brgsstm]

I was told by a pro to set throttle hold relatively high (~15-35%) to practice autos. Makes sense to me! I've only really done baby autos, but real practice autos are in my near future...

yes that works well to start off with too, just be careful it doesnt lead you into a false sense of security :thumbup:

[mccrind]

The best part of high idle auto's is you can bring down the hold value 1 % at a time as you get better untill you are at a low idle or do what I do every flight and shut the engine off for your finish. Only trouble is flying in a flight mode without a govenor as the high idle will trick the govenor into staying engaged.

[TheBum]

Only trouble is flying in a flight mode without a govenor as the high idle will trick the govenor into staying engaged.
Is there any way to set up a programmable mix to force the governor control channel to a non-governed mode when throttle hold is hit?

[HEIM JOINT]

I am a newbie but I think I have a technique that takes most of the skill out of doing autos. I have only done this on the Phoenix simulator. but I can auto from any height consistently.
1. On your sim with your heli, turn on the variometer (vertical velocity indicator) and rotor rpm and blade pitch indicator visible
2. have your throttle hold pitch curve open on your radio
3. use your sim auto training to put you at some high altitude
4. turn on throttle hold and move to full neg pitch when the auto starts
5. While decending adjust your low stick pitch value on the throttle hold pitch curve to set the blade pitch at full low stick.
6. adjust this until you find the optimum pitch for your heli that gives you the lowest decent rate with highest rotor speed.

now when you auto throw throttle hold and full low collective then you instantly have the perfect pitch that gives you the slowest decent and good headspeed. so you can relax and concentrate on the timing of adding pitch to flare.

ps. you may want to inhibit the other middle pitch points on the thottle hold pitch curve so you get a linear response.

now you can take whatever the throttle hold pitch setting was on the sim and use that as a starting point on your real heli.

[HEIM JOINT]

I am a newbie but I think I have a technique that takes most of the skill out of doing autos. I have only done this on the Phoenix simulator. but I can auto from any height consistently.
1. On your sim with your heli, turn on the variometer (vertical velocity indicator) and rotor rpm and blade pitch indicator visible
2. have your throttle hold pitch curve open on your radio
3. use your sim auto training to put you at some high altitude
4. turn on throttle hold and move to full neg pitch when the auto starts
5. While decending adjust your low stick pitch value on the throttle hold pitch curve to set the blade pitch at full low stick.
6. adjust this until you find the optimum pitch for your heli that gives you the lowest decent rate with highest rotor speed.

now when you auto throw throttle hold and full low collective then you instantly have the perfect pitch that gives you the slowest decent and good headspeed. so you can relax and concentrate on the timing of adding pitch to flare.

ps. you may want to inhibit the other middle pitch points on the thottle hold pitch curve so you get a linear response.

now you can take whatever the throttle hold pitch setting was on the sim and use that as a starting point on your real heli.

[Hotwings]

i must have done thirty or forty auto's sat and sun, the more you do, the better you get.Go to Ron Lund heliproz south and read his take on autos' , he and nathan are the best i've seen with autos'. doing it on a sim is good training but not nearly the same pucker factor. when you can hit the space bar there's no challenge. The only advise i can give anyone is to practice and keep the damn tail out of the ground, level the heli BEFORE you land. if you touch the tail, you WILL get a boom strike, ask me how i know, Many Times!!!!!!

[jverre]

The sim is what saved me on this auto and I will continue to use the sim and practice for real with my 600N. I have to say the real one really gets your heart pumping and gets my direct attention.

I watched Finless do auto's on the video and he looks pretty comfortable doing them. I hope the old addage practice makes perfect works for Autos.

Thanks for all the advise and I will be working on my autos. :cheers

[aussiemick]

Is there any way to set up a programmable mix to force the governor control channel to a non-governed mode when throttle hold is hit?
If you have a radio with enough channels then you can assign a channel to the TH switch that is the governor on/off switch THon=Gov off THoff= Gov on.

mick

[aussiemick]

4. turn on throttle hold and move to full neg pitch when the auto starts
5. While decending adjust your low stick pitch value on the throttle hold pitch curve to set the blade pitch at full low stick.
6. adjust this until you find the optimum pitch for your heli that gives you the lowest decent rate with highest rotor speed.

now when you auto throw throttle hold and full low collective then you instantly have the perfect pitch that gives you the slowest decent and good headspeed. so you can relax and concentrate on the timing of adding pitch to flare.

now you can take whatever the throttle hold pitch setting was on the sim and use that as a starting point on your real heli.

If you limit the blade pitch for optimal glide in you will leave yourself short if you happen to be overshooting the landing spot. Sometimes to adjust the final glide it is necessary to go to more than the optimal -ve pitch setting.
I think you would be better off just learning where the throttle stick has to be to get the -ve pitch right, leaving yourself room on the bottom end to be able to adjust your final glide.

Mick

[rymps]

Practice will save you some day. It did for me. I am just learing autos and hitting the mark. I can do them low and high and fly them in. But the other day a was flying my Raptor 50 for the first time in 8 months and i was inverted about 40 feet up and the engine quit. I would of bee a bad crash, but went to zero pitch and rolled it over and landed safely on the run way.