divepilot
06-05-2008, 09:44 AM
I have been on a G4 sim for about a month. Doing OK. Just picked up a Falcon 40, one of the fly out of the box type, low cost. The thing is all over the place and nothing like the sim. Is this normal or is something wrong? I can hover pretty good on the training mode but not at all on the real thing.
The machinery is different from the sim. Pay close attention to the main rotor disk, the blur of the blades. Think of this as a plate. Keep that "plate" pretty close to level. Right after takeoff you will have to tilt the plate slightly towards the right side of the heli to keep it from drifting to the left, which the blast of air from the tail rotor would otherwise cause. The main thing is to keep the tilt of the plate small, or else the heli will be all over the place. For starters, just try to get it stopped, hovering, anywhere. If it gets too far from your operating area just set it down and pick it up by hand and put it back into your operating area. Once you can hold a somewhat steady hover, move it around a little by keeping the tilt on the plate small. To stop you will naturally have to tilt away from the direction you're moving, but be ready to level the plate as you approach your target position. Keep the tilt small. While moving at slow speed you will need a pretty constant dab of tilt to the right of the heli to prevent drift. The main thing is to keep the plate close to level. That will keep the movement of the heli slow. If you get panicked and tilt it way over then the heli is gonna shoot off like a rocket and compound the panic factor. Keep the heli close enough that you can see it well. If you get near anything that you might crash into, resist the urge to fly away from it cuz that just adds stress. Just set it down and hand-carry it back to a safe area. A good hover takes a whole gob of practice, and it's harder with small helis cuz they're more fighty and more subject to wind and their own turbulence.