First flip

[Shark21]

Hi, i am looking for some advice on first time flips, i can make the heli upside down with backward stick and negative pitch, but when i try to make it straight it just dives down into the ground, i am looking some for advice on first time flips.

[Caveman5150]

when i try to make it straight it just dives down into the ground....

You mean once its inverted & you attempt to keep the Rotor / Heli level, the heli keeps tipping & goes into the ground???

If that's what you mean, its because the controls are now reversed, and the heli is pointed towards you & upside down, so right is left & left is right, same for the nose. Keeping it "Straight" requires you to take this into account & use your sticks backwards as well

If you meant after you return the Heli to normal after a brief flip it goes into the ground, you either need to punch more Positive Pitch into the recovery or you have a Flybarless Controller issue.

If there was something more complicated that I missed, sorry, but that's what your statement read like.

[Wargamer]

@ Caveman - I think what he means is that, when he tries to flip it with forward elevator rather than back, it just dives into the ground...

@Shark - With a decent heli that is correctly set up, it is often a little easier to flip it forward rather than back. (Easier in the sense of maintaining constant altitude without having to think about collective too much.) The fact that it's diving into the ground suggests that there are some issues with the heli or the set-up that we might be able to help you sort out.

A few questions:
1. Do you practice with a simulator?
2. What heli are you trying to flip?
3. What approximate altitude are you starting your flips from?
4. What are your DR and expo settings?
5. What pitch curve and throttle curve are you using. (What headspeed if you are governed?)
6. What is your current skill level in upright flight? Are you comfortable hovering in all orientations? Do you also fly circles or 8s?

[Imzzaudae]

You have to get at the negative pitch sooner, or more!

I'm not great at flips but get a few in from time to time. Look at how much positive pitch you need to hover say 75% that's how much negative it takes. You should be getting there with the collective when the helicopter passes nose straight up. Same goes for positive pitch coming out of the flip. You need to be coming threw zero pitch and applying positive pitch as the helicopter passes nose down.

Try and slow it way way down you don't need to slam it.

Get it up high in forward flight. give it 3/4 up as it comes nose up come threw zero pitch to 3/4 negative and watch it. as it comes around get off the negative, as it comes nose down you should be passing mid stick and beginning to apply hover pitch.

Slow down the flip and fly the helicopter threw it. If you flip fast, you likely still have negative on when the helicopter comes right side up

[Shark21]

Originally Posted by Wargamer

@ Caveman - I think what he means is that, when he tries to flip it with forward elevator rather than back, it just dives into the ground...

@Shark - With a decent heli that is correctly set up, it is often a little easier to flip it forward rather than back. (Easier in the sense of maintaining constant altitude without having to think about collective too much.) The fact that it's diving into the ground suggests that there are some issues with the heli or the set-up that we might be able to help you sort out.

A few questions:
1. Do you practice with a simulator?
2. What heli are you trying to flip?
3. What approximate altitude are you starting your flips from?
4. What are your DR and expo settings?
5. What pitch curve and throttle curve are you using. (What headspeed if you are governed?)
6. What is your current skill level in upright flight? Are you comfortable hovering in all orientations? Do you also fly circles or 8s?

Hi, I am using WL V977 helicopter. here's my answer:

1) No because local store went out of stock on simulator.
2)WL V977
3)A little higher than my head, like 15-20 feet.
4)no settings , it's a simple CP helicopter with no expo settings or throttle curves.
6)I can hover in all orientations with 6 axis gyro turned on, i haven't tried all orinetations in 3d mode. i haven't tried figure 8's also.

[peteski]

Try using a little positive pitch to toss it up in the air slightly before inverting with the elevator. It helps to minimise loss of altitude as you flip, especially with low powered micros. But it's really all about timing of collective, which is where the sim really helps. Also need to practice your inverted hovering in all orientations beforehand - again sim is king for this.

I found forward flips slightly harder than backflips at first as the forward elevator naturally puts the heli into a dive while back elevator tends to climb. Hence the little pitch pump when going into a forward flip to compensate.

[stevolution]

One of the best teaching tools for this is the "Freddy Can Fly" youtube videos. Helped me a lot when i was first starting out.

Rc-heli flight lesson 1...learning the basics (freddycanflyrc.com) (13 min 35 sec)

Starting with number one and work your way through the videos.

[Wargamer]

Hi Shark - I somehow missed your response.

I think the other guys pretty much hit it. Collective timing is really important, and especially on micros, where collective management is rather different from larger helis.

Let us know if you've sorted this out. If you're still having problems, I can play around with my K110 (same heli) and see if any tips come to mind. Unlike the larger helis, forward flips on the 110 are a little harder than back.