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Learning how to Fly a Helicopter
Important suggestions in order to learn to fly model helicopters fast, safely and without crashing every week:
1. Invite an experienced flyer to help you:
Setting up a helicopter for the first time is not very easy. It is very unlikely that you will setup the helicopter correctly by yourself. A helicopter that has been setup properly flies much better and is more predictable! So it’s necessary for you to have an experienced flyer help you. He may give you additional hints and tips on learning and he may point out at certain mistakes you make, which may be very helpful.
2. Take small steps:
Always take very small steps on the learning curve. If you take a big step, you may succeed, or you may crash. If you crash, you may be disappointed, it will cost you money, it will make you less confident, you are grounded for some time and at worst it is dangerous! Make sure that you learn a step thoroughly and read all of the directions before you take the next step. In the end you will learn faster if you take small steps because you know the basics well and you will be flying instead of fixing.
3. Don't skip steps:
There are of course numerous ways to learn to fly a remotely controlled helicopter. However, if you follow the steps listed below, you will learn fast and with a minimum chance of crashing. The steps are chosen such that you always have learned the necessary steps before taking a new step.
4. Use a proper RC Helicopter fly simulator:
Having a proper simulator, which can be controlled by your Tx ( transmitter) is necessary. It allows you to get acquainted with controlling an R/C helicopter and to learn the needed reflexes.
PART II: FUNCTION
1) Learn about the basic theory of helicopter aerodynamics. This will help you to understand what is going on. Your instructor can tell you about the controls and their interactions and the influence of wind on the model etc. and about when a helicopter stalls etc, this is very different from a plane!
2) Have your helicopter checked over thoroughly by your instructor for safety.
3) Use your simulator to train your reflexes; this is required for hovering the helicopter.
4) Setup a buddy lead between your TX and the TX of the instructor and make sure that both transmitters are setup properly. Here you can see the learning process on the buddy lead in action. Both transmitters are connected, and the instructor is ready to take over at any time.
5) Learn about the safety procedures involved in RC helicopter flight and the specific safety procedures at the field you are going to fly over.
6) Make sure that you have your training gear connected properly.
PART III: PRACTICE & PROGRESS
Make sure you practice until you are confident in a step before you move on to the next step.
Make sure that you have your training gear connected properly.
Make sure that your instructor knows when you get in to trouble.
Learning Cyclic Control:
Step1) Your instructor will check the helicopter controls, he will spool it up and check the controls with a spooled up helicopter. If all is well, he will test fly the helicopter to ensure that everything is operating as expected. Yes, this is thrilling; you have just witnessed your helicopter actually fly.
Step 2) Your instructor will demonstrate what a sliding helicopter is. Using your training gear it will be possible to slowly land the helicopter while it still has significant forward, backward or sideways speed.
Step 3) Position the helicopter with the nose in the wind. You should stand 5m away behind the helicopter, and 1m to the left of it. Rehearse in your mind what you are going to do (try to make the helicopter stay put at one position). Rehearse what the controls and their interactions are going to be.
Step 4) Now you are in control of the cyclic, and your instructor will lift the helicopter to a safe height of 0.1m. Exercise only very small control inputs. While trying to make the helicopter stay put, the landing gear will now and then touch the ground, but this will be no problem. Once you can control the helicopter so it stays in one place, it will no longer touch the ground. Your instructor will lift the helicopter to a height of 1m. This will take a bit of time to get used to. Yes, you are flying a helicopter!
Step 5) Practice moving the helicopter sideways 1m, stop in a hover, and come back again. Practice this in both directions. You will develop proper feel for controlling the cyclic.
Step 6) Practice moving the helicopter forwards 1m, stop in a hover, and come back again.
Then, you mastered the basic controls on the right stick.
Learning Collective and Rudder Control:
Step 1) Position the helicopter with the nose in the wind. You should stand 5m away behind the helicopter, and 1m to the left of it. Rehearse in your mind what you are going to do (try to gently lift the helicopter 10cm of the ground and put it down again). Rehearse what the controls and their interactions are going to be. Remember that you must keep calm when you slam down the helicopter and do not slam it down in a hurry.
Step 2) Lift the helicopter slowly of the ground up to 10cm. Hold the pitch control for a couple of seconds. Decrease pitch slowly and set it down again. You will create confidence in your instructor by keeping the helicopter at one spot. Try to be very precise on the stick so that you do not touch the rudder. The helicopter will not stay at one height due to the wind’s effects.
Step 3) Lift the helicopter slowly to a height of 1m. Get comfortable with this height, and practice setting it down slowly and gently. Try to learn how to keep the helicopter at a constant height of 1m. If you feel uncomfortable landing the helicopter, let the instructor land the helicopter until you are ready for it.
Step 4) Lift the helicopter to a height of 1m. Keep it steady. Now slowly rotate the nose of the helicopter left, back again, right, and back again. The maximum rotation is about 20 degrees. Get comfortable in controlling the rudder.
Step 5) Lift the helicopter slowly to an height of 1m. How does a controlled ascent to 2m, back to 1m etc? Practice getting a very controlled height.
Step 6) Lift the helicopter to a height of 1m. Your instructor will move the helicopter sideways, forwards and backwards (1m). Try to keep the helicopter at a constant height of 1m.
Step 7) Same as above, now the instructor moves the helicopter in all directions up to a distance of 5m.
After these steps, you have mastered the basic control of the pitch/throttle and the rudder.
Learning to Control Both Sticks:
Step 1) Position the helicopter with the nose in the wind. You should stand 5m away behind the helicopter, and 1m to the left of it. Rehearse in your mind what you are going to do (try to make the helicopter stay at a minimal height of 1m). Rehearse what the controls and their interactions are going to be.
Step 2) Be prepared for the helicopter to drift to the left (with a right hand rotating main rotor). It will do that! Promptly lift the helicopter to a height of 1m. Don't try to control the cyclic until it is of the ground! Don't hover below 1m, make sure that the liftoff is swiftly. Catch the left drift of the helicopter. Practice until the helicopter stays put at one place and you are in full control.
Step 3) Practice a gentle decent from 1m and a gentle touch down. Practice this until you can land the helicopter with little to no sideways movement and a gentle descent. From here on, you always try to land the helicopter as if there is no training gear attached (gently with no sideways movement).
Step 4) Practice to move the helicopter sideways 1m, stop in a hover, and come back again. Practice this in both directions. Take care of the control interaction, be aware of the wind effects. You will develop proper feel for controlling the cyclic and the pitch combination. Extend this slowly to a sideways movement of 5m.
Step 5) Practice to move the helicopter forwards 1m, stop in a hover, and come back again. Extend this slowly to a forward and backward movement of 5m. Take care of the control interaction; be aware of the wind effects. Practice this until you can make forward, backward and sideways movement at a constant height.
Step 6) Lift the helicopter to a height of 1m. Keep it steady. Now slowly rotate the nose of the helicopter left, back again, right, and back again. The maximum rotation is about 20 degrees. Get comfortable in controlling the rudder and keeping the helicopter at one spot with a constant altitude.
After finished these steps, you have managed the first hovering steps.
The Hovering trail like "M":
Step 1) Position the helicopter with the nose in the wind. You should stand 5m away behind the helicopter, and 1m to the left of it. Rehearse in your mind what you are going to do (try diagonal movements and finally make the "M" maneuver at a constant height of 1m). Rehearse what the controls and their interactions are going to be.
Step 2) Bring the helicopter in a stable hover. Move the helicopter 5m to the right of you and make it stop. From this point, move the helicopter 5 m forwards and make it stop. You are looking at the helicopter with a familiar angle, just a bit further away. Make sure you can hold it there in a stable hover.
Step 3) Diagonally move the helicopter backwards and to the left until it is again in front of you (5m in front of you, 1m to the right). Practice this triangle until you feel comfortable.
Step 4) Now we are going to practice the left-hand side. Again, start in front of you. Move the helicopter 5m to the left and make it stop (near left corner). Move the helicopter 5m forward and get it in a stable hover. Diagonally move the helicopter backwards and to the right until it is again in front of you (5m in front of you, 1m to the right). Practice this triangle until you feel comfortable.
Step 5) Now repeat the steps above, but this time you extend the diagonal sections. So you are going to move the helicopter diagonally from the far right corner directly to the near left corner. From here move the helicopter to the far left corner, and then diagonally to the near right corner. From here to the far right corner etc. Always hover at the corners first so that errors do not get accumulated.
Step 6) Now we are going to practice the triangle in the other direction. Start with the helicopter in front of you move diagonally to the far right corner, back again to the near right corner and back again in front of you. Also practice this on the left hand side, with the diagonal movement away from you to the far left corner.
Step 7) Extend the diagonal movements. Start in front of you, move the helicopter to the near right corner, from here move the helicopter to the far left corner and back to the near left corner. From there move it in one diagonal to the far right corner and back to the near right corner.
Step 8) Lift the helicopter in front of you. Move the helicopter to the far right corner. From there move it diagonally back in front of you, but now at a distance of 7.5M in front of you (half way or middle point of the "M"). From that position move the helicopter to the far left corner and back to the middle point.
Step 9) Connect the exercises above until you make a nice "M" with stopping at each corner. Practice the "M" in both directions. Now reduce the stop time until you have a nice and smooth continuous "M". Practice them in both directions.
After tried the steps above, you managed an essential hovering skill that will help you through your future leaning steps.
Landing and Takeoff
Step 1) Position the helicopter with the nose in the wind. You should stand 5m away behind the helicopter, and 1m to the left of it. Rehearse in your mind what you are going to do (try to make the helicopter land as if there is no training gear). Rehearse what the controls and their interactions are going to be.
Step 2) Lift the helicopter to a height of 1m. Now land the helicopter with absolute no sideways movement. Furthermore, the landing should be very soft. Notice that without a training gear the helicopter tips over very easy, and a rough landing will break the landing gear.
Step 3) Put a marker in front of you and practice perfect landings with no sideways movement and a very gentle descent over and over again on top of the marker. Having the "landing gear square" over the marker is good enough. Don't focus on the landing gear or the marker; try to look at the overall picture.
Step 4) Move the helicopter to the far right corner, and practice a gentle and stable landing.
Step 5) Move the helicopter to the far left corner, and practice a gentle and stable landing.
Step 6) Take off the training gear. The longer the training gear stays on, the more difficult it will be to remove it. Furthermore, you might be using the training gear for deducting the attitude of the helicopter. This is not a good thing, as it is not going to be there in the future. A Raptor 30 with the training gear still attached.
Step 7) Lift the helicopter promptly to a height of 1m. Don't touch the cyclic before the helicopter is actually airborne! Get comfortable hovering the helicopter without the training gear. If you control the cyclic before the helicopter is actually airborne, the helicopter is likely to tip over.
Step 8) Move the helicopter sideways 5m, stop, and back again in both directions. You now get used to the controls of the helicopter without the training gear. Move the helicopter forwards 5m, stop, and back again. You now get used to the controls of the helicopter in the forward direction without the training gear.
Step 9) Descent the helicopter to 0.1m and back again to 1m. Get comfortable of the semi landing of your helicopter without the landing gear. Now you are going to do your first actual landing without the training gear. Rehearse your escape first! Now while landing the helicopter, keep reminding yourself to push the left stick if you are not comfortable. Don't land the helicopter if it moves sideways, abort the landing in that case. Remind yourself that you can do this since you can make a perfect landing with the training gear attached.
Step 9) You did your first landing without a training gear! Lift the helicopter to a height of 1m and land the helicopter. Keep practicing this until you can swiftly and confidently land your helicopter.
Step 10) Practice to land the helicopter at the far right and the near right corners. Keep practicing this until you can swiftly and confidently land your helicopter. Now practice both the far left and the near left corners.
Step 11) Practice a perfect landing in front of you "on top" of the marker. Landing within 0.3m is good enough for now.
After finished the steps above, you managed to take off, hover, move around and land your helicopter safely.
PART IV: SKILLS & DEVELOPMENT
Make sure you practice until you are confident in a step before you move on to the next step.
Make sure that you have your training gear connected properly.
Make sure your instructor knows when you get in to trouble.
The wind must be gentle.
Tail in the Wind:
Step 1) This is an easy one with nowadays gyro's. Rehearse what the wind effects on the tail will be in the hover in relation with the pitch control. Put the helicopter in front of you with the nose in the wind. Lift of the helicopter and practice a comfortable hover and landing with the give wind. Make sure you get used to the changed pitch range! The landings should be precise and comfortable with the new pitch range and the wind.
Step 2) Put the helicopter in front of you, but this time with the tail in the wind. Lift of the helicopter and practice a comfortable hover and landing with the tail in the wind.
Step 3) Practice moving the helicopter to the near right and near left corners and hovering at those corners. Practice to hover the helicopter at the far right and far left corners.
Step 4) Practice the hovering "M" in both directions with the tail in the wind.
Step 5) Hover the helicopter in front of you, and rotate the nose to the left, back again, to the right and back again. The rotation of the nose should not exceed 20 degrees or so.
Then, you managed an essential hovering skill with some wind.
Learning Sideways Wind:
Step 1) This is an easy one with nowadays gyro's. Rehearse what the wind effects on the tail will be in the hover in relation with the pitch control. Rehearse what the sideways wind will do with the attitude of the helicopter in a hover. Put the helicopter in front of you with the nose in the wind. Lift of the helicopter and practice a comfortable hover and landing with the give wind. Get used to the wind of today.
Step 2) Put the helicopter in front of you, but this time with the wind coming in at the left side of the helicopter (with right hand rotating main blades). If your helicopter is rotating counter clockwise, you should start with the wind on the right side of the helicopter. Rehearse what the wind is going to do, and what you are going to do to counter the wind effect. Be aware of the effects of the wind on your pitch.
Step 3) Promptly lift the helicopter to a height of 1m, and try to catch the drift. If you don't succeed, your instructor will take over. Don't let the helicopter drop below 1m. Practice this until you can make the helicopter stay put in one position at one altitude. Note that you can always rotate the tail towards you and in the wind if the helicopter keeps drifting. You are then again hovering with the tail in the wind, which you already mastered.
Step 4) Slowly land the helicopter without any sideways movement. The left skid is likely going to touch the ground first, which is absolutely no issue! Practice this until you can comfortably takeoff and land the helicopter with the sideways wind.
Step 5) Now position the helicopter in front of you with the tail towards you, but with the wind coming in at the right side of the helicopter (clockwise rotation of main blades). Rehearse what will happen. The helicopter will tilt much more now. Practice Step 3 and Step 4 with the wind coming from the right.
Finished the steps above you learned to handle sideways wind without a problem.
Hovering Solo:
Step 1) Position the helicopter with the nose in the wind. Your instructor will stand next to you to give confidence and useful (vocal) help if necessary. Lift of the helicopter and hover it in front of you. Practice until you feel comfortable. Land the helicopter in a precise and gentle way.
Step 2) Practice all the Hovering "M" steps.
Step 3) Practice the Tail in the Wind steps.
Step 4) Practice the Sideways Wind steps.
Step 5) Your instructor will let you alone, he will put the nice bottle of wine he finally got from you in his car.
Step 6) Practice Step 2 to Step 4 while you are completely on your own.
Now, you really mastered the basic skills to hover a helicopter.
Tail-in Circle:
Step 1) Put the helicopter in front of you and hover for a second so you get used to the wind. Rotate the nose 20 degrees to the left and hover for some time like that. Rotate the nose 20 degrees to the right and hover for some time like that. This way you get comfortable again with the wind on the side of the helicopter.
Step 2) Position the helicopter with the tail in the wind, and put it in a stable hover. Now let the helicopter make the first 90 degrees of a counter clockwise tail in circle with a radius of 5m (with clockwise rotating main blades). The helicopter is hovering with the wind coming in on the left side of the helicopter. Slowly let the helicopter move back again to the starting position (90 degrees clockwise) until the wind is on the tail again.
Step 3) Position the helicopter with the tail in the wind, and put it in a stable hover. Now let the helicopter make the first 90 degrees of a clockwise tail in circle with a radius of 5m (with clockwise rotating main blades). The helicopter is hovering with the wind coming in on the right side of the helicopter. Slowly let the helicopter move back again to the starting position (90 degrees clockwise) until the wind is on the tail again. Note that the helicopter will need to bank a bit more now, get comfortable with this banking angle.
Step 4) Position the helicopter with the tail in the wind, and put it in a stable hover. Now let the helicopter make the first 180 degrees of a counter clockwise tail in circle with a radius of 5m (with clockwise rotating main blades). The helicopter is hovering with the nose in the wind. Slowly let the helicopter move back again to the starting position (180 degrees clockwise) until the wind is on the tail again.
Step 5) Position the helicopter with the tail in the wind, and put it in a stable hover. Now let the helicopter make the first 180 degrees of a clockwise tail in circle with a radius of 5m (with clockwise rotating main blades). The helicopter is hovering with the nose in the wind. Slowly let the helicopter move back again to the starting position (180 degrees clockwise) until the wind is on the tail again.
Step 6) Just put the steps above together, and you are doing a tail-in circle!
Step 7) Increase the radius of the circle to e.g. 10m. Practice the circles in both directions until they are circular with a constant speed and a constant height. Work up the speed of the circles so that a complete circle with a radius of 10 takes about 8 seconds or so on both directions.
Finished all the steps above and now you really mastered flying a helicopter with a gentle wind. Hope you enjoy yourself with your beloved helicopter!
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