Thanks for the response. I'm guessing as a pattern guy, you are a precision helicopter pilot and that you use Vbar to improve your skills or you wouldn't use them? Or perhaps they make a poor flying helicopter a better flying helicopter? Or they save time and money, or...????
Airplanes are inherently stable. Helicopters are not. FBL gyros are not used to improve one's flying, but to make the models actually flyable. We used paddles or heavily weighted blades in the past to do this, but it was never as good as the full three axis gyro. It's not about precision for 99% of people (F3C just allowed them this cycle), it's about being able to fly them.
I'm pretty sure if I had a smaller plane that would fly the pattern with no mixes and not get tossed around by the wind, I could concentrate on doing the maneuvers and not worry about making corrections a well trimmed 2 meter airplane doesn't need.
I've flown a few of the BNF micro planes with the gyros, UMX I think Spektrum calls them. Can be a lot of fun, the gyro makes the little buggers flyable and flyable in winds that would not be possible otherwise, so you are right in the first part of your statement. But flying a three axis gyro will also make you not have to worry about making corrections that your 2 meter DOES need. It gives a whole different feel.
I believe stabilization systems could do all the things I listed above and that they will become very popular in fixed wing airplanes just as they have become in helicopters.
They will become popular in planes once the manufacturers figure out how best to employ them. But the reason they will catch on is that once used, it makes the actually flying so easy that anybody can do it without much effort. Who will need to learn to trim? Who will need to learn to apply mixing? Who will need to learn to use rudder in a slow roll? Not many will, the gyros will do it all. Will be good for the hobby in general, for a while, more accessible to more people, but the challenge will be gone. Pattern will be gone too, or radically different.
Couple years ago I put an Eagle Tree gyro on a cheapo EPP foamy. This thing was crooked and poorly designed. But, it was cheap and fun because of that. Without the gyro, it flew like most of those planes do... unpredictable, in normal flight. Could be hovered, but you really had to be on it, so it was a good trainer for that.
With the gyro on, I could do horizon to horizon knife edge passes with only throttle and rudder. Knife edge loop? No problem, just add more rudder. Hovering, was hands off... showing off, I actually set it up and set the transmitter down. The plane stayed there (climbing, but that was on purpose)
If they were useless I doubt we would have rules against them.
I must not have been clear what I meant here. For somebody who is trying to improve their skills in flying pattern, these gyros are useless as they will mask issues that you will have to deal with without them. There are rules against them because somebody using them will fly in competition beyond their ability.
And no, I don't fly helicopters in any type of a precision way.
Tom M