AndrewMichaelZ

I have seen a couple of the posts that say taking the training gear off makes it easier to fly but I wanted to get a clarification. If I am still unable to hover with the gear on, should I still take it off. I think part of my problem may be not getting off the ground enough. It's just that as soon as it gets light it starts drifting to the left. Of course then I get nervous to go higher because I know I can't control it. I did Radd's and had no problem holding the box. Thoughts...

ImLearnin

The effects of the training gear are over stated. Leave them on until you are comfortable enough to get a few feet off the ground and then land it again without tipping over. Near the ground your ground effects have a much larger effect on stability than the training gear.

PS - The drift left problem is normal and the solution is to give a little right stick on take off. Once a couple of feet in the air then spend some time trimming the sticks for a decent hover. Of course you will not get a perfect hover from a bird as small as this one plus the CP is squrilly as all heck to boot.

Good luck!

AndrewMichaelZ

Thanks for the advice. I'm going to try to just take it up a bit higher first. I'll let you know how it goes.

a2j812

I know exactly what you're experiencing. I was in the same boat in January, but here it is Feb 6th and I'm managing to hover like a well trained novice. Yes, getting it off the ground helps and maybe adding a bit of right trim on there right stick would help as well. That whole drifting left thing is because of the force of the tail rotor. In a stable hover, the heli will be leaning to the right, so don't freak out when you see that. Also the heli may have a tendency to dip a bit when you're moving around (especially left or right) so having a bit of altitude is good, but it is possible to hover only 6 inches off the ground and learn as well. Plus at any height it is possible to panic or make a mistake so it's great to have the traingin gear on to help you from smashing into the ground too much. In the end, either way, you going to crash and break stuff, so you might as well have as much help as possible. Use the gear.

alienteabagger

To properly hover this little devil properly at any height, you have to learn to hover it at at least 5 feet off the ground. At that height there isn't any chance of ground effect affecting the heli and you have plenty of room to correct for any input errors. No heli sits perfectly straight in a hover (not even the full size ones), you will have to get used to seeing the heli tilted to one side.

As for the heli drifting off to the left during take off (tail rotor drift), the worse thing you can do is correct that by using trim. Train yourself to give some light right rudder during take off. Once in the air and hovering their is much less (if any) tail rotor drift. Trimming it out will only create tail rotor drift to the right once airborne.

Finally if you have followed RADDs, then take off the training gears.