Maiden Flight(s) Log

[Betamax_Disco]

So I just thought I'd share my latest experience for a laugh.

So my first flight ended in disaster when I froze and dropped the collective to er, cut the throttle. I guess it did that - but also smashed my heli into the ground from 2m height. Had a boom strike and a fairly decent repair list out of that one.

Reconfigured everything after that, tuned everything down to stock and checked all my linkages etc.

So, second flight, heli takes off, starts drifting away and I kind of panic, again. Get it very close to the ground but can't correct the drift (it's already too far away and facing the wrong way). Switch TH and the heli lands but rolls on the landing because of the drift. No serious damage done though so I chalk it up as a win and go home.

When I got home I realised some of the linkages must have gotten messed up and completely re-configured everything per the manual.

Today I decided what I really needed was to commit earlier in the hover so it's closer and easier to er, control, or something...

Anyway, I get it about 3m up and then that jumps to 9m, I drop it down again and because it's drifting back I give it some stick forward. Uh oh, over committed, it's flying away and descending. So um, obviously needs more throttle to stay up and I should pull back to level her out. Oh cool, that worked! Oh wait, now it's done a 180 turn and is absolutely hooking it back towards me. I pull back again and it goes into loop (!!!!) makes it half way and starts diving towards the ground...I give it full throttle to try and get it to climb but know it's not going to make it. I get ready to hit TH and do, about 2m from the ground and.....the heli goes from like 80kmh to 5kmh and lands (hard) ON THE SKIDS!

God damn!!! Best luck I've had with this so far. I spun it up to check everything works and it does! I'll check the spindle just to be sure as it was still a hard landing.

Anyway, I'm waiting for my sim to arrive as I don't want to push my luck but at the same time I don't know that I can wait!! This thing is god damn awesome and terrifying at the same time.

[Toocool4]

Wait for the sim and save yourself some possible injury / headaches.

[Imzzaudae]

You are not the first person to learn this lesson.
At least you did not damage the helicopter the second time around. Good for you .

Give this a read.

Flight Simulator

https://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=450700

And if you want to have some fun.
After the simulator

https://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=596574

All the best.
Ron

[Betamax_Disco]

Ta, safety is important for sure and I'll admit I underestimated how quickly things happen. That said, where I fly is unused vacant land with a small hut I can use as a barrier. So risk of injury is adequately addressed. I certainly wouldn't fly this near anyone or thing I care about currently...



Sure I'm asking for trouble in terms of repairs but I'm also not adverse to the fun of trying to learn something the hard way. Plus repairing this thing is what really made it all make sense in the first place.

[Betamax_Disco]

Thanks Ron will do!

[Betamax_Disco]

Well, took it out for it's 3rd flight today and it went awesome!!! After flying a few hours in the sim with 20kmph wind gusts hovering the real thing was surprisingly straightforward.

I kept the flights short because I didn't want to push my luck but managed to get it up in the air for 2 minutes at a time 3 times.

More importantly I managed to land it without incident 3 times! Woo! I got it to a meter or two off the ground and cut throttle and it actually fared better than in the sim. I seemed to have more control in terms of pitch than I get in the sim at least. Roll and dip not so much but fortunately that wasn't an issue.

Anyway, good times!

[ArchmageAU]

Would also pay to have a look at rebel RC Flying Club (http://www.rebelflyingclub.com/).

Having someone help you learn how to fly makes it:
- more fun
- cheaper
- less error prone

If you were in Melbourne, I'd come fly with you.

[Betamax_Disco]

Thanks for that they are pretty close to work so will check them out. Hovering and landing fine now. Got to work on orientation in the sim some more before I step things up but slowly getting there step by step.

[toadiscoil]

Hi and welcome! Seems pretty good advice so far. I will put in my two cents:

https://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=720316

Good luck!

[Betamax_Disco]

So I've been flying for a while now and have a basic hover down in slightly windy conditions. Just wondering what to make of a few things with handling and how to fix them.

A little trail drift where the heli is wagging ever so slightly. My boom might be the slightest bit off true, could that be it?

If i let the heli fall slightly in a controlled decent but with a variable throttle curve, when ascend at the end the heli will rotate to the right, so ccwise.

Anywhere I s hould start looking?

[crashjack]

Tail wag (if that is what you are describing), is typically caused by tail gain set too high in your transmitter or FBL, or too much mechanical gain, which is usually caused by the ball being too far out on the arm of your tail servo.

With a linear throttle curve, your tail speed will vary with your headspeed so the heli could definitely rotate. Personally, I would never use a linear throttle curve with a CP heli, especially as a newbie. Use a flat curve or "V" curve, or even better use a governor.

That said, I'm not sure what you are flying. I'm assuming a 450 or larger CP heli. If you are flying something else, this might or might not make sense.

[Betamax_Disco]

Thanks, my curve is 0 to 80% headspeed at 50% throttle. The curve for 3D is 80% constant. It's a blade 450x, would you change those settings?



I understand what you're saying though as in a quick descent the blades would spool down rapidly.



Would you increase the min curve or just fly a constant curve?

[crashjack]

I don't understand, "0 to 80% headspeed at 50% throttle." Regardless, I would fly a flat or "V-curve", even in IU0. If you want, you can make IU0 something like 0-70-70-70-70. This will allow you a start/stop with the throttle stick but you will have a flat curve past that. Some folks don't like doing this fearing they might forget they are in IU0 and if they go inverted, they kill the motor. I just remember to flip to IU1 quickly after take-off.

It has never made sense to me to have a linear throttle curve tied to a linear pitch curve on a CP heli. I've never flown a linear pitch curve with a linear throttle curve and can't imagine how it would be easier. You have two variables, pitch and headspeed, to overcome gravity instead of just one variable, pitch. If one wants to create a FP heli, use a flat pitch curve and a linear throttle curve.

[Betamax_Disco]

Thanks, what's a v curve?



Mine goes 0-40-80-80-80. The pitch doesn't have as much negative as it does positive.



In 3D its a straight pitch curve and 80% constant. The handling is markedly different because of that but I kind of like it as it feels more forgiving out of 3D, I guess because it's like a FP heli.



So far I've found it harder to move the heli in 3D than IU0.

[crashjack]

An example of a throttle "V-curve" would be 85-80-70-80-85. A v-curve somewhat mimics a governor in that as you increase the load, you also increase throttle.

I wouldn't recommend the pitch curve you've listed. You go from full-negative to 80% between full-down and mid-stick and then your pitch stays the same. Since you are learning, you might want to limit negative pitch by using something like 34-42-50-75-100. Limiting negative pitch keeps you from accidently pulling the heli toward the ground at full-negative collective while you're spooling-up, which isn't a good thing, while still giving you enough negative collective to combat wind and to pull the heli downward when you need to. This isn't a good curve for flying inverted so you might want to use in IU0. You can also back-off a little if you want to limit your positive collective. I would just try to keep it as linear as possible past mid-stick, for example 34-42-50-70-90.

[Betamax_Disco]

Sorry crash that's my throttle curve I was talking about being 0-40-80-80-80 in IU0. In IU1 it's 80-80-80-80-80.



My pitch curve is close to what you listed in IU0 and 0-25-50-75-100 in IU1.



That said I like the idea of a V curve and may try that out.



Thank you!

[jc318]

You can set d/r around 60-70 and expo to 20-30 depending on what radio you have and it will tame it down quite a bit. I learned with no Sim. Coming from planes. In 5 months I can fly off,loops,rolls,hoover inverted close to the ground. Still not really any 3d but it will come. I'm flying a Trex 450l 6s. Just remember small movements and breath. Once it clicks with you its really not as scary or hard as it seems.

[crashjack]

Originally Posted by Betamax_Disco

Sorry crash that's my throttle curve I was talking about being 0-40-80-80-80 in IU0. In IU1 it's 80-80-80-80-80.

Oops, sorry I misunderstood. Regarding your IU0 throttle curve, why not go with 0-80-80-80-80? With your current throttle curve, when you need some negative pitch you are also reducing your throttle once you go below mid-stick. Even though you aren't yet flying inverted, you need to learn to use negative pitch to pull the heli downward. Reducing throttle while increasing negative pitch reduces the force of the pull, but also requires ramping back up to speed when you need to go back to positive pitch.