my new SK720 just paid for itself

[gitcho]

I'm new to heli's - I was ready to move to a CP heli from my 120 SR and started shopping for a 450, but came across someone getting out of RC in a hurry and got a flown-6-times 550E FBL + new DX8 + sim + parts etc. for less than I would have paid for a 450. Realizing pretty quick that it was a bigger upgrade than I was ready for, my 550 sat in the basement for almost 2 months while I spent time figuring out what I had, how it was put together, and how I could fly it safely. I asked more than a few questions about stabilization and a bailout function that could potentially save me from an accident, and eventually get into 3D.

I ended up choosing a skookum 720 after getting some questions answered directly from skookum (thanks guys). Because I'm new to this, the SK720 setup wasn't easy for me to follow. The skookum team was generous enough to personally walk me through the install and optimum settings (i had to make a trip). They also connected me with a local pro (flying for another company) who helped me further tune my heli (and SK720) in the air. With all the knowledge gaps I still have, it was a big deal for me to have the confidence that my heli was setup by the best - i'm very grateful for the time they've donated to help a new guy get set up safely.

I finally got to a field with enough room to fly last week, and after a minute or 2 of getting my bearings, I started doing circuits. The 550E is much faster than I expected and I think the SIM had me used to flying more aggressive than I would in real life. I'm using 30% expo on AIL/ELE and an adjusted throttle curve (on the advice of the pro who helped) and it feels just right (for me). It's actually easier to fly on the field than in the phoenix SIM, probably because it's not as difficult to determine orientation outdoors.

Sure enough, I let my confidence get the better of me and got going too fast too close to a road with power lines ... I corrected the wrong way, rolling my heli further towards an early concrete grave ... I still had enough altitude to flip my bailout switch (flap2 sets stabilization to always-on) and it rolled back to level in a little less than a second, allowing me to recover ... this is specifically what I was hoping for when I picked up the SK720, and it hasn't disappointed.

Thanks to all who helped get me in the air .... I'll post my config / settings / pics / whatever - if anyone thinks it would help ...

[NRPY]

Awesome! My 720 too has paid for itself about 3.5 times already. The "0.5 times" is because I forgot to fully charge a pack and lost power mid flight. It still went down, but the SK-720 SL allowed it to auto level and land without damage.

[Tomstoy2]

Good deal! Always good to read success stories. I'm impressed that you just showed up at their door and they took time out to help you! It just don't get any better than that.

Mine has saved me so much cash I just blew all the savngs on a 330x with fpv!

[Luvmyhelis]

What an absolutely great post. Today I was also out flying. I had just come back from getting some bad news from the Doc, and had been spending endless hours doing some stressful hardcore volunteer work while slowly rebuilding my heli from a 300ft fall earlier (batt failure). I decided to blow off some stress and take my heli out for a spin.

I had it up less than half a minute and was doing a full speed bank back towards myself when suddenly in mid bank I lost thrust, I am pretty sure I stripped my main gear. Within an instant my mains slowed down and the heli was plummeting mid bank. It was going 40mph and only maybe 40 ft up and it was coming right at me. I instinctively dumped my pitch slightly, no time for an auto, and it landed 15 ft right in front of me full force in less than a second or two later.. Sk had kept it upright with the SL feature and it had landed on the forward skids. The blades shattered, shafts noodled, Main stripped (of coarse) skids where bent. But the heli survived intact with only minor tweaks needed.

Another thanks to Skookum here also.

[gitcho]

about 10 solid big-open-space flights in now, and still no crashes. It's saved me twice more since last week. I'm not sure if it's the extra confidence I have to try things I wouldn't without it, or if I'm just not very good at flying heli's - whatever the case, the SK720 has accelerated my learning curve. The other big help is the Trex550 on phoenix sim. With a bit of tweaking it behaves closely enough that I have really noticed my practice making a difference in the air.

I still haven't had a chance to fly together with anyone experience (observed + admired only), so not sure if this is typical, but all my crashes on other heli's pretty much go like this:
go too fast ---> lose orientation ---> oh-CRAP! + panic + brain-lock-up ---> dirt/concrete/kitchen-cabinets eats heli ( ---> wife gets mad [optional] )

To be fair, I decided to dismiss some qualified advice and took the canopy off to mount my go-pro on my battery. "Dont mount the gopro on your battery" he said ... "If you take your canopy off, it will be harder for you to maintain orientation" he said ... pfffft - whatever ... it made sense to me about the same time I slammed the bail-out switch to avoid losing my head to a screaming heli I thought was going the other way (/bow Alvin) ... didn't even get the video of my near-death b/c I discovered after that the gopro battery died before my heli even lifted off.

Not trying to claim the sk720 saves my heli all by itself with the flip of a switch (still easy to wipe on full auto) - it's simply given me the time I needed to correct. Hoping this helps someone new looking at the options in the same position I was a 2 months ago ...

[jgalen0025]

The self level has really been a blessing, but not many talk about the flybarless system by itself. I have used many fbl systems and the sk720 has the best tail out of all of them. The sk720 is an amazing fbl system with unlimited tuning potential and has really been easy on my wallet.
I dont know if i would have been able to progress as fast i have been without the best fbl system on the market