Confused and worried.

[Jonnyheli]

Hello:P. Had a crash today:( I am hoping the crash could have something to do with my heli because if its my flying then I am worried.

Heres the story. Woke up, looked out of bedroom window. Saw that the trees were completly still. Unfortunatly I hadn't charged my battery the night before so I had to charge it.
Got to the feild after the battery had charged to find that it was windy. I decided to keep the heli at about 15ft max hight because I don't want to loose this little thing in the wind.
Ok heres where I get confused. I was doing figure 8's. When I was heading into the wind I was fine but when I was turning around (Going away from the wind) the heli was loosing hight. This made me crash because it was going too low. If I increased the throttle it would help but then it was a messy figure 8 and it was quite anoying doing that.
So, why does it do this? I have watched a video about dampeners and I wondered if I needed new ones?

So my question is, will getting new (Better) dampners reduce the drop? And also, if I increase the headspeed a little bit more will this help stop this from happening?

ps. My headspeed is already quite high.

Cheers,
Jonny

[another_finn]

Translational lift, pure and simple. Nothing wrong with the helicopter, it's just aerodynamics in action. Imagine flying at 5 m/s ground speed in a moderate 5 m/s wind. During your upwind leg, your effective airspeed is now 10 m/s. As you transition to your downwind leg, your airspeed is zero - even if you're still doing 5 m/s in relation to the ground. That's the difference between dead calm and a very strong gust of wind. It's natural for the helicopter to lose lift and pitch down (or rather lose the tendency to pitch up, which you would have been compensating for during your upwind flight).

Remember the wind isn't in scale for our RC birds, so even a relatively light wind will give you the full force of translational lift effects. Your rotor will work much more efficiently when it gets undisturbed air to work with - this page (http://www.cybercom.net/~copters/aero/translational.html) has a nice diagram of what's going on with the airflow through your rotor disc.

Nothing you can do but learn to anticipate and manage your collective through those turns. It's just one of the joys of rotary wing aviation ;)

[Ian 777]

Yeah Jonny you need to work the collective pretty constantly in the wind, learning to anticipate what the heli is going to do is the thing so the head has time to react and the flying stayes smooth

I did the same thing a few months back....

Hope your heli isnt too bad

[Jonnyheli]

So your saying there is nothing at all that can even improve it a tiny bit?

I guess I will just have to learn to throttle up more when I turn away from the wind :(

I looked at that website. I knew it was something to do with that but I thought maybe there would be something that could help it stop a little bit. I guess when I fly higher it wont be so bad. Today I stayed low because it was a bit too windy.

On a less windy day will I suffer from this as much? Im thinking no?

-Jonny

[Ian 777]

Thats it bro, you have to move the stick much more than when it's calm

[sutty]

Hello Jonny, Sorry to hear about your crash. Just like Mika and Ian say it is all about managing your collective. Treat it like any other control requiring constant input and modification. You would expect to have to be dynamically modifying your elevator, aileron and rudder as you turned in gusty winds, the collective is no different, it is just another complexity that needs to be added into the mix.

I have been practising in quite windy conditions now and I can tell you that this soon becomes almost second nature. It is quite a challenge at first, it is definitely good fun and it really sharpens your skills in general, but even so initially I spent ages waiting for almost flat calm to learn to fly around normally before I started flying in windy conditions.

I know you have been getting bored of waiting for those windless days but maybe you went a little too far in one step. Maybe not, I guess it is no big deal, I'm sure you will re-build it in no time, just like I have countless times before. Just don't do it on your new heli on the day it arrives or it will be a very sad day for us all.;)

[Jonnyheli]

Thanks for the info and support guys :hug:. Maybe it was abit too windy for me, I don't know. All I know is that I have to boost my confidence lol.

Ian, how was your holiday? Im glad im not the only one that has crashed because of this:P I feel a little bit stupid lol. But at least now I know I wont have to work on the collective as much on less windy days:D

Sutty, I guess I can spend the time waiting for parts on the sim wind the wind settings higher. Im sure I will get used to it quite soon. Just gutted that there is something else I have to manage to keep it up lol. But like you said, it will become second nature to me after a while.

My damage was: A bent boom, striped main gear, broken boom struts, broken blades and bent feathering shaft. And speaking of my new heli Sutty. I really couldn't afford to crash this belt cp. Now I have to pay for parts for this whilst trying to save for the t500! So anoying! But oh well.

Thanks for helping me.:hug: And thanks for encouraging me to keep trying.

-Jonny

[Real_Sparky]

Looking back at my flying and that video of the 500 I think that the reason I nearly planted it was for exactly the same reason, but I got lucky.
Sorry to hear about the crash Jonny, but we learn something every time we fly.


Darin

[Jonnyheli]

I supose your right Darin. :hug:

-Jonny

[Ian 777]

Thanks for the info and support guys :hug:. Maybe it was abit too windy for me, I don't know. All I know is that I have to boost my confidence lol.

Ian, how was your holiday? Im glad im not the only one that has crashed because of this:P I feel a little bit stupid lol. But at least now I know I wont have to work on the collective as much on less windy days:D

Sutty, I guess I can spend the time waiting for parts on the sim wind the wind settings higher. Im sure I will get used to it quite soon. Just gutted that there is something else I have to manage to keep it up lol. But like you said, it will become second nature to me after a while.

My damage was: A bent boom, striped main gear, broken boom struts, broken blades and bent feathering shaft. And speaking of my new heli Sutty. I really couldn't afford to crash this belt cp. Now I have to pay for parts for this whilst trying to save for the t500! So anoying! But oh well.

Thanks for helping me.:hug: And thanks for encouraging me to keep trying.

-Jonny

When cash is tight the fear of crashing can really hold you back, you need to be relaxed to progress. If your thinking 'one mistake and I'm grounded ' it really doesn't help.

The holiday was brilliant thanks Jonny, beautiful place, beautiful weather,:):)
Not flying for 2 weeks hasn't done me any good though.
I really feel for Andy who hasn't flown fro ages:confused:

All the best

Ian

[Jonnyheli]

Yea, I wish I was rich. Then crashing wouldn't worry me. I suppose your right Ian and next time I go to the field I will remember what you said.

Glad you enjoyed your holiday. And glad your back safe.

Cheers, Jonny

[Real_Sparky]

Believe it or not Jonny when you have 2 helis to fly you feel more relaxed with either of them in the sky because you will know you have another if you crash one. This gets you more relaxed and you will fell yourself progressing and gain more confidence.
With confidence you will become a better flyer and the cycle goes on, but be careful you dont want to become over confident.:YeaBaby:

Darin

[DierWolf]

Translational lift, pure and simple. Nothing wrong with the helicopter, it's just aerodynamics in action. Imagine flying at 5 m/s ground speed in a moderate 5 m/s wind. During your upwind leg, your effective airspeed is now 10 m/s.
;)

Only on the advancing blade ;) But thats another story :)

[Jonnyheli]

Darin, thats another reason why I want another helicopter. I will be using my belt cp as a practise helicopter:P My t500 will be the precious helicopter then:P

Ps. Guys im becoming so desperite to get this heli I am starting to have dreams about it lol...

-Jonny

[Real_Sparky]

Well I wont tell you what I was doing today then.......Ok I will.
Took the helis down to the local park again today.
My 8s are gietting better but am still havin problem with left hand turns they look a bit untidy.Right turns look great though. Tested the new Kong powers in the 500 and they fly great, plenty of power and came off barely warm.
To top it all off came home with 2 helis. All in all a good day.
Looking forward to tomorrow now, forecast is for sunny and no wind.:happyd

Darin

[another_finn]

Only on the advancing blade ;)
That would be a damn slow blade ;)

Airspeed of the rotor disc as a system is what affects airflow behavior, and therefore translational lift - but I see your point, and it's actually one where dampers do make a difference. As the advancing blade gets more lift, the rotor needs to flap to avoid going into a starboard roll. For all their great qualities, really hard dampers might actually work against you in this case.

[DierWolf]

Correct, dampers and flapping :)

There was a really good article on this, i have to find it and make a sticky.

But this is the limiting factor in forward flight speed for heli's which is why they go into multi-blade like 3 and 4 or even 5 blade heli's for faster airspeeds.

But like i said thats a whole other story :) I myself am super happy i HAD TO learn in high winds, made me that more of a better flyer... winds dont bother me, i automatically compensate for the sudden lift or drop depending on the current attitude of my heli at the time the gusts hit.

[Jonnyheli]

Glad to here your flights went well Darin, good luck for tomorrow.

-Jonny