New to Helis -- Hovering

[tonhe]

So, I'm brand new to all of this, and I just bought a Trex 450 se v2, with a DX7, now, this bird is going to stay in the case until I get the sim decently under control. (And then Radd, and then some hovering practice...) anyway...

I've put about 6 hrs into the sim so far, should've probably spent all of that just practicing hovering and landing, But you know how it is.

When I attempt to hover in Phoenix with the 450se, I drift, a lot. I've watched videos of others and dont see that much drifting going on. If I attempt to trim out any of this drift, it seems to drift the other way.. Basicily what I'm looking for is a beginners course on hovering that I can go through in the sim. I've tried the sim's hover training, but it really doesnt give any feedback...

Thanks,

-Tony

[TheBum]

When I attempt to hover in Phoenix with the 450se, I drift, a lot. I've watched videos of others and dont see that much drifting going on. If I attempt to trim out any of this drift, it seems to drift the other way.. Basicily what I'm looking for is a beginners course on hovering that I can go through in the sim. I've tried the sim's hover training, but it really doesnt give any feedback...
Welcome to our world. The heli will always have a tendency to drift. You just need to get the feel for when it's starting to drift and compensate before it builds up momentum. It's a skill that must be learned through lots of practice. Do not attempt to trim out drift; the only time you should trim a heli is if it has a tendency to constantly tilt a particular direction when the cyclic controls are at their neutral positions.

BTW, the heli will always want to move to the left due to the tail rotor thrust. When you're in a stable hover with no wind, the main rotor will be tilting slightly to the right.

One recommendation I would make would be to start out with a 50 or larger nitro model or a T-Rex 600 electric. They're less twitchy than a 450.

[tonhe]

in other words, practice practice practice practice practice ? :)

How stable can you actually hover a 450? I've had a couple instances where it was pretty stable, but then I started to drift again..

My biggest issue seems to be the controls are way to sensitive in the middle of the stick (I know expo can help this, but I'm waiting on a reply in the Spektrum 2.4 thread) I start to drift, and i try to correct for it, but it always seems like its too much even so I've barely touched the stick...

any suggestions?

[TheBum]

in other words, practice practice practice practice practice ? :)

How stable can you actually hover a 450? I've had a couple instances where it was pretty stable, but then I started to drift again..

My biggest issue seems to be the controls are way to sensitive in the middle of the stick (I know expo can help this, but I'm waiting on a reply in the Spektrum 2.4 thread) I start to drift, and i try to correct for it, but it always seems like its too much even so I've barely touched the stick...

any suggestions?
The only thing other than expo you can try is decreasing the cyclic pitch range. I don't remember how that's controlled in Phoenix. You could use dual rates, but you're doing the same thing as "mechanically" reducing the pitch range, just in a transmitter-switchable manner.

[tonhe]

Ok -- If you (or anyone) happens to know their stuff when it comes to the DX7 -- I have a bunch of questions in the Spektrum 2.4 area under a thread called DX7 expo and gyro help needed.

Thanks

-T

[WattTheHeli]

Getting back to the exponential idea you had… edit your control profile and give 100 percent exponential to your cyclic pitch and cyclic roll. This will make mid stick almost non responsive. When you get a feel for it like that you can work your way back to more sensitivity in the middle as you gain more control.

Chris

[TheBum]

Getting back to the exponential idea you had… edit your control profile and give 100 percent exponential to your cyclic pitch and cyclic roll. This will make mid stick almost non responsive. When you get a feel for it like that you can work your way back to more sensitivity in the middle as you gain more control.
I disagree. The problem with too much expo is once the heli starts straying, it's almost impossible to bring it back under control before crashing. There is definitely a happy medium, but it varies by pilot.

[WattTheHeli]

When you get a feel for it like that you can work your way back to more sensitivity in the middle as you gain more control.

Chris

That is why I continued with the last sentence.

Chris

[TheBum]

I just think 100% expo is too much to use, period.

[rftusa2008]

I'm flying with settings right out of the box with my dx7 except i removed the expo values and changed them to 0. It will be a better transittion when you try to hover with your real one.

[JEB123]

Absolutely, don't use expo, just lower the pitch rates a bit. Expo creates bad habits.