Can hover my Nano cpx but cant hover in sim

[Anubis]

I can keep my Nano cpx in a nice tail in hover for a whole 4 minute battery and was feeling a bit proud of myself, but I set up Phoenix flight sim on my computer and I now feel like im starting all over again, I am flying a trex 500 in the sim and am all over the place, Have had about a hour practice in the sim and slowly getting it better but its a lot harder then my Nano. I guess its just practice i need but needed a bit of a vent.

[NSFlyer12]

Just keep at it. The helis on Phoenix can move around quite a bit on ya at first. Just use small movements to hold the heli in place. One thing that helps me is to focus on the boom. Watching the boom will tell you which way the heli will move.

[Anubis]

Thanks for the tip - Ill give it a go. I can see many many hours of practice coming up. Just got a 300x, Might hold of on the maiden flight a little longer now, Will give me a chance to loctite the motor bearing.

[LN400]

Originally Posted by NSFlyer12

One thing that helps me is to focus on the boom. Watching the boom will tell you which way the heli will move.

The boom, or the main mast/shaft?

Anubis: Keep at it and it will surely come! Keeping a small heli like the nano in a steady hover for 4 minutes? That's pretty impressive

[helicub81]

I find it harder to hover in the sim too. For me, I think it's the depth perception. On a flat monitor, its a little harder to see when the helicopter is getting away from you, but its easier in real life. I think its absolutely normal.

[Anubis]

The sim seems to be helping, Just got a chance to fly the Nano for the first time in a few days, I've spent about a hour and a half on the sim in that time and my control of the Nano is defiantly better, Getting better in the sim very very slowly and watching the mast/shaft helps, but I do think the depth perception is a big part of my problem. Just going to keep on practicing - Man I love this hobby

[ruben.rc]

Just keep at it eventually you'll get it. And when you do it helps big time! Also focusing on the boom or shaft helps. A common mistake is focusing on the rotor disc because its slightly tilted to the right most beginners want to correct this and lose their hover.
Adding expo and dualrate did the trick for me.

Have a good flight

[LN400]

Not sure where "most beginners" comes from and certainly not "a common mistake", but first step is _knowing_ the disc is supposed to tilt and telling newcomers the disc will tilt ever so slightly allows them to know that.

I would say it's far from a mistake focusing on the disc. It is a less intuitive approach when we're so used to planes and full sizers but one well rewarding.

By focusing on the disc right away and let go of the fuselage as the main reference, one can get a leap start in seeing the heli as what it is, a flying disc with stuff attached to it and not anything else, like an airplane.

As an oddity: In an interview with the pilot of the Red Bull BO-105, he said he was indeed flying the disc, and that's from a full sizer pilot sitting inside the cockpit.

[ruben.rc]

Well its true that when a beginner learns how to focus on the disc it can give them a head start. But a lot of people on the club where i fly told me they found it easier to focus on the boom, shaft or canopy than on the disc. they did this because they either wanted to level the disc. I personally use whatever part i can see but that its mainly because i fly 450 and at distance the blades become pretty much invisible.

I think the best advise is do what feels comfortable and keeps you in the air.

Have a good flight!

[Anubis]

Well today I calibrated my dx8 then recalibrated Phoenix, Its made a world of difference, Cant hover as good in the sim as with my Nano but definitely on the right track now, I like the idea of watching the disc but am watching any part I can see. Feel a bit stupid as I thought I had it all set up properly when I installed it, Must have made a cock up somewhere along the line,
The main obstacle now is work, If I could put all the work hours into flying time It would be awesome, I manage a cinema, Thinking I should hook my laptop up to a projector and fly on the big screen after work at night, Might never sleep again (or see the wife and Kids)

[Like2fly]

Originally Posted by Anubis

Well today I calibrated my dx8 then recalibrated Phoenix, Its made a world of difference, Cant hover as good in the sim as with my Nano but definitely on the right track now, I like the idea of watching the disc but am watching any part I can see. Feel a bit stupid as I thought I had it all set up properly when I installed it, Must have made a cock up somewhere along the line,
The main obstacle now is work, If I could put all the work hours into flying time It would be awesome, I manage a cinema, Thinking I should hook my laptop up to a projector and fly on the big screen after work at night, Might never sleep again (or see the wife and Kids)

Maybe trivial but still: Make sure you have set up Phoenix to read the curves (tick off using preset in P) of your Tx (assuming you have used the same values in your Tx for your sim model as for yuor real model), set min, mid and max pitch values in the sim to match your real model adv edit / main rotor, if you use expo in your Tx set it to 0 in P, turn off governor in P.

Then the model should fly rather similar to your real one.

[Boinker]

Learn to keep the disc a target of your ehes at all times. This will help you alot wheb the heli is further away when it is the only think you can clearly identify. If you can see it close you can also pay attebtion to the main shaft and the swash plate area. That will be closer to the body so you can understand both.

[Anubis]

I sent my DX8 back today, after contacting HH I found it has gimbal issues. Now I have no Tx and am hanging out to fly my new 300x

[Laid back]

Anubis, sounds like we're at about the same point with the nano.

I find the nano squirrelly when taking off, much harder than Phoenix. But once I get it stable, it's becomes easier than the sim.

I tried manually setting the expo curve in Phoenix and realized only yesterday that I had set up negative expo by accident. Theres a button in the sim for 25% expo, that helped me a lot.

For some reason I can't get the lateral trim right. Right now it pulls to the right, but if I trim it one notch to the left its too much.

I find some of the flying fields in Phoenix are easier than others. There's a wide open one that looks like an Arizona desert, lots of room and the colors make the blades easier to see.

[E-biker]

Originally Posted by LN400

Not sure where "most beginners" comes from and certainly not "a common mistake", but first step is _knowing_ the disc is supposed to tilt and telling newcomers the disc will tilt ever so slightly allows them to know that.

I would say it's far from a mistake focusing on the disc. It is a less intuitive approach when we're so used to planes and full sizers but one well rewarding.

By focusing on the disc right away and let go of the fuselage as the main reference, one can get a leap start in seeing the heli as what it is, a flying disc with stuff attached to it and not anything else, like an airplane.

As an oddity: In an interview with the pilot of the Red Bull BO-105, he said he was indeed flying the disc, and that's from a full sizer pilot sitting inside the cockpit.

I'm a noob, but I have to agree with you based on my limited outdoor experience to date. I find that the oval of the blades is a darned useful indicator of attitude, as well as movement towards or away from the operator. It's a larger cross-sectional area than the canopy and skinny boom. If that oval starts growing rapidly at a given attitude it's time to take action. - J-R, One Happy Noob