Afraid of Maiden Flight?

[Robertwav1]

I remeber the first time, but spooled my first 500 up several times in the house in a small room watching how it acted as I ever so slowly pushed the throttle. Finally after several attempts, maybe a dozen or so without ever getting off the ground, it lifted 30" up in the air and I was amazed how controllable it was. I don't think I will ever spool up a 500 in the house again for liftoff, I've seen what can happen with a mechanical malfunction in the field. Take it slow, enjoy the beginning of it all and then when everything looks like it ready, take er up!

[Varc]

Originally Posted by ridesmith

Crashing is a part of progression in this sport, if you don't try to fly you won't get better at it!

That's not the point of my story. I've crashed my KDS 450 a while back cause I was pushing myself into forward flight.
This is different. This is the first flight for a helicopter I built from a kit and it was my first fuselage installment. I love the fuselage and I'm afraid to risk it, but at the same time, it can't just sit there, it's gotta fly eventually. I'm just afraid of the first maiden flight of the fuselage.

[JasonJ]

I don't get nervous maidening helicopters but I get nervous maidening airplanes. There are all sorts of things that can be wrong that you won't know until you get in the air. I have done well so far though with the planes. CG is the most important. As far as FBL helicopters, I am hoping to try that out in the next few months. That will make me a bit nervous with what I have read about what it does on the ground.

[Bigcal45]

I am nervous on every maiden, heli or plank. Even a scratch built foam park flyer makes me nervous until it is in the air, after that, I am fine. I think it is a good thing. Maybe if I had unlimited $ I would not care.

[P.I.Engineer]

first plank landing usually rarely goes well for me

[lazor 22]

Yea, it's not the maiden flight you should worry about (heli or plane) it's the landing

[SteelPE]

I keep it on the ground for a battery or two with a set of training gear on. This is just in case I forgot to lock tight something. I did have a link back out once during a maiden but since it was on the ground it didn't matter.

I will also use the training gear for the first few flights to make sure everything is OK. Of course I am far from an expert so I would not take my advice.

When I first spooled up my TRex 500 I was a bit scared because of the sound it made during spool up. I was used to tiny indoor heli's and that sound of death made me step back a few feet.

[Arclight338]

Just give yourself enough room. If a hover is going bad-TAKE OFF and get away from the ground. I bought my Trex 250 already built.... and not very well. Now its carefully set-up but its still very twitchy and although small-not alot of fun to fly in a limited space.

Fear-none whatsover. Back in the early 80's I built a REAL Pitt's Special Aerobatic biplane from a "kit". Being your own Experimental Aircraft test pilot was truly a scary experience. If you aren't sitting IN IT there is no reason to fear it.

Worst case scenario-you smash it to bits. They go back together easier,the more you do it.

[heathy]

If you ain't crashing, you ain't trying hard enough

Well at least for me anyway You sure a 250 was the right choice for a sweet fuse?

Why don't you dial in a load of dual rates to calm that little sucker down too

BTW, where's the pics ????

[alex_bbb]

I am afraid to maiden my 700E, it`s my first FBL heli,
and it`s my first 700-size.
When I look at 700 with 450 standing nearby, I am just scared.
450,500,and 600 are tiny bits compared with this beast.

[tyrick69]

Speaking of Maiden flight.

[airjawed]

Originally Posted by tyrick69

Speaking of Maiden flight.

Now that is a maiden flight!

I just did a maiden hover on FBL. It is nerve racking because I had lots of time to read about all the things to watch out for! Servo failure... tipping on the ground... incorrect settings... vibes doing crazy things...twitching....

So I spooled it up with not blades first... see if things twitch or get warm. Then with tail blades and see if anything shows. Then with main blades but with only a little throttle just to make sure ..shut it down ....then a little more throttle... shut it down... then go for it! By go for it I mean hover tail in for a minute!!! Once in the air all the nerves go away. Now if the weather agrees I can tune all the parameters for flight.

[Sonny]

I went through the jitters early on. Still get some adrenalin rushes from time to time. My Girlfriend said after a rebuild "It's beautifull. You're not going to take it out and fly it again are you? You'll just crash it again." I said "Probably. But I didn't buy it to just look at it on the mantle piece!"

Respect it, yes. Fear it, no. Get out there and fly the thing.

[amcutem]

What I usually do when im scared to maiden fly my helicopter is I try and build another better second backup helicopter. It doesnt have to be the same size, it can be bigger
If u want. That way if u crash, u can look at the other one while u rebuild the other one. Then u dont feel so bad.

Or if u dont crash, hey you have two helicopters. Thats cool.

[lazor 22]

Originally Posted by Sonny

Respect it, yes. Fear it, no. Get out there and fly the thing.

Words of wisdom!

[npomeroy]

Originally Posted by Pretorian435

Marcwolf, have you flown a 250? If not I recommend maidening it with a stock canopy rather than your fuse... The 250 is twitchy.
.

+1
I'd NEVER advise anyone to fly a scale fuse until they can fly the pod-and-boom version properly. I's just too heartbreaking repairing the scale body shell. And it will break.
Get rid of the scale shell. Then fly. There will be crashes but the good thing is all the parts are replacable!

Nelson P

[mariuszs]

Before I maidened my T700 I was confident... too confidend. 450 and with FB were soo easy to me.

700 is FBL. After 1 month of buidling i setting it up: first time didnt't set up correct reverses for 3G elevator - crash 100$ blades, next I was trying to test it next to my garage... was alright until I thought "Lift it Mariusz it will be beautiful view" - next pair of blades. Next time I succeeded - flying was terrifying and excting. But next time tipped over during start... and blades...

So my hard lessons with 700 FBL - wait till it has enough head speed and WHATEVER YOU SEE DO NOT touch cyclic until it is one meter off the ground. Or switch off engine

[Superbike1]

I just re-maidened my Fury extreme today after a 300+dollar crash a while ago. I was nervouse because I kept seeing dollar signs going up in smoke. All for naught! I got it up and trimmed and tuned. No 3d mind you but I really like just sport flying anyway. I guess the warm up on the mcx2 in the living room did the trick. LOL! Any way I am always nervous on maiden or remaiden but I have learned over the years to ge some altitude and trim or problem solve from there. Never sit a foot or 2 off the deck when maidening!

[solidhelix]

I just built my first real heli, a 450 sport v2. I am terrified to maiden it... I had a bad experience with a belt cpx a while back when it tipped over on spoolup. Since then I have been flying the mCPX and can now fly circles around my yard and catch and control even after being blinded from the sun most times so I feel I'm getting it down pretty good. Its just that I've spent so much time and money into building this thing, I am afraid something's going to go wrong

[Gawl]

Originally Posted by solidhelix

I just built my first real heli, a 450 sport v2. I am terrified to maiden it... I had a bad experience with a belt cpx a while back when it tipped over on spoolup. Since then I have been flying the mCPX and can now fly circles around my yard and catch and control even after being blinded from the sun most times so I feel I'm getting it down pretty good. Its just that I've spent so much time and money into building this thing, I am afraid something's going to go wrong

Double check the tail bearings, 90% of the time they are bad from the factory.