Cuban 8's / half Cubans

[flyingquisinart]

Hi just thought I'd post something because the forum is too quiet. I'm working on Cuban 8's, trying to learn something I've always liked because I think they look graceful. I'm telling you, they are harder than I thought on a heli. I get too nervous to do them big with a lot of speed so I'm tending to go too tight and do the half roll too fast, so I wind up losing speed, or what looks like the equivalent of a heli belly flop instead of coming out of the half loop inverted, say 30 degrees toward the ground. This one really is an art. My other problem, stupid as it is, is my brain is so used to doing a stall turn at the end of the leg, I automatically input rudder, which of course throws the whole thing off, and causes some browning of the shorts.

Any maneuvers you guys are working on? Or just vent because you are doing the equivalent of balancing a marble on a piece of glass while riding a unicycle?

[jbeech]

My favorite turnaround maneuver is the split-S coming out of a climb. E.g. pull up to about 45 degrees, half-roll, pull for exit (back half of a loop).

The maneuver, which gives me the most trouble is a pull up, like for a stall turn, a full roll while in the nose up vertical position, and a tail first exit. I'm still working on this one.

What do I practice most regularly? Nose-in hover. I do some work on this at some point of nearly every flight principally to keep me sharp-ish and comfortable. I don't really have any problems with the model coming at me but once it slows to a hover it's harder for me for some reason. While I don't know why, I do know what staves off disaster . . . a little bit of practice!

[jiminator]

I've really been practicing doing loops. Power loops are pretty easy just hit the gas pull up and hang on. Its the nice big graceful ones that are a challenge for me. Been trying to stop it at the top and hold it inverted for a few seconds then continue thru.

I'm with you on the cuban 8 thing. I had a flying buddy who could do the smoothest ones I've ever seen. His half roll coming over the top was just perfectly axial. Always wanted to learn this too but my rolls are more of the barrel kind.

[richmurphy83]

I'm finally starting to get the hang of the inverted nose in hover. Pantera with beastx is soo stable I was about 4 feet of the deck the other day and I didn't even stain my shorts.

The next thing I want to dabble in is a full blown auto, but am very timid as I can't afford repairs if I botch it.

[flyingquisinart]

Originally Posted by richmurphy83

I'm finally starting to get the hang of the inverted nose in hover. Pantera with beastx is soo stable I was about 4 feet of the deck the other day and I didn't even stain my shorts.

The next thing I want to dabble in is a full blown auto, but am very timid as I can't afford repairs if I botch it.

I love the way it gets quiet with the exhaust deflector kinda pointing up and away when hovering inverted nose in.
Autos are a blast with the Pantera, and a little head wind will help avoid the soiled shorts. I used to do many baby autos, then one day just went for it. Baby ones will give you the feel for what it does at the end. My first big ones I just brought it down fast, for fear of losing head speed, then started to get the feel for the right decent speed to magically keep the blade speed up. I was surprised at how unfussy it is and I've had one or two where I have pretty much bled the speed too much (really kinda experimenting at the end) and flopped over with no damage whatsoever. Just keep the blades fairly tight in the grips and you're fine.
If you have done baby autos from say 6 feet successfully, you are actually 90 % there in my opinion.

[Drivelayer]

I too do a split 'S' to turn around, when done right it looks great and build a ton of speed for a large loop.

I have been working on doing a verticle 8. Not sure if there is a real name for it but start by doing a standard half loop. At the top of the loop, and without bleeding off too much momentum, transition into a outside loop to take it higher. complete the outside loop and when the heli comes back around to the starting position of the outside loop pull it back in to finish the first loop... hard to keep speed up at the transition from loop to outside loop and the speed under control at the transition from outside loop back to inside loop.