Can anyone give me any tips on how to do rolling harriers. I have been practicing for heaven knows how long and I still cant get it. There is no one in my club to teach me and its really getting to me that I still cant do it. Im practicing on the sim (aerofly) but dare not try it for real. I seem to get it for a few second then everything goes wrong. If you have any tips please help.

yes practice slow rolls with out loosing height that will train your brain to do what the planes needs to stay afloat

I have Realflight G3.5. I turned down the Physics speed to about 30% and practiced there over and over. Once I got those down, I sped it up in 10% increments until I got about 120% physics speed and could keep up. Then I turned it back down to 100% and practiced them with just about every 3D-capable plane on the sim. I then went on to doing slow rolls and rolling circles and stuff. Everyone told me I learned in the wrong order...but rolling harriers just look so much cooler than a slow roll, I had to learn to do them first! The only other tip I can suggest is the one you'll never not hear: practice 'till your thumbs hurt.

FS-1 flight sim is the best. Had others

Takes MUCH practice and patience with the right airplane and throws/expos. Read all you can get your hands on. Visit Utube and input search.

Copy and Paste http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine/article_display.cfm?article_id=304

Good luck, its a gas

I second the "practice the slow rolls" idea. You need to be able to hold the planes attitude consistent no matter if it is on it's right side, left side, upside down, or rightside up. It needs to happen with little to no conscious effort because you don't have time to think about where to put the controls in a rolling harrier. It all just happens too fast to think about it.

Practice rolling circles and three rolls in a straight line without loosing altitude. It is a timing thing. You have to get a feel for the timing of the rudder and the elevator.

After you get good going one direction, try the other roll direction. It is like starting all over
I can roll pretty good going left and look like an absolute beginner going right [:@]

Thanks guys
From what you have said I seem to be doing the right thing. I think the most apt phrase is practice till your thumbs hurt.

Hi

1st you need a well set up model, for example one that doesn't dive like a kamikaze pilot while inverted, it needs to be "neutral" in both prone and inverted flight.
Learn sloooooowwwwwww rolls and slow transitons from prone to KE to Invert to KE back to prone flight
once you can take 10 seconds+ to do a slooooooww roll, then progress onto trying it at height in a harrier, ie very little forward ground speed, remeber to use correct inputs of rudder, elevator and power.
Are yo sure no one in your club can help?

best regards

Hissing Sid

I have been practicing rolling circles now for about 3 weeks in Realflight. I'm using the extra 260 40% extreme-composite, the one with the Bill Hempel scheme. This plane is GREAT for this as everything happens slow and is easy to learn on. I can now do 3 consecutive circles without loosing altitude. Learning slow rolls is the ticket. I can even do them with a hary plane like a twist 40 (in the sim...) Using the right plane for you is 90% of the path.

I also found that hovering helps me control the sticks more. Hover lots. I also don't do the same trick over and over. I switch between 2 or 3 with hovering in between. It seems to help me accelerate the learning curve.

I’m not up to rolling harriers yet but soon…

Thanks Guys,
Since the last post I have been practicing slow rolls as instructed. It appears to be doing the trick, I can now hold a fairly fast roll rate for about 10 seconds without loosing much height. Ive found that rhythm is the key. As long as can keep the rhythm constant I can just time it with the elevator stick up when the plane is inverted, this saves having to think to much.
Keep practicing,
Glenn

That's great Glenn. After practiceing with the "rhythm method" for a while you can count on two things:

1) you will be able to fly the rollers in your sleep
2) you'll get thick callouses on your thumbs

The rhythm method as you're finding is good in that your thumbs start to realize on their own the 90 degree "out of phase" action which they need to perform to keep the roller going. For mode II, the sticks "chase each other" in circular motions 90 degrees out of phase.

With practice, I think you'll find this WILL translate into real life, HOWEVER, you may tend to get "locked" into one speed or direction with real planes, and if you hit a wind gust or other "Real life" situation the rhythim will need to change, so you'll have to delay or quicken the timing of some motions to keep pace with what you're seeing (rather than just let the constant rhythm keep things going)

I like to fly the sim to Music, and I find some songs really lend themselves to roller practice.

Also, I'd like to add another item which may help you when transitioning to outside. If you have an unobstructed flying area that gets smooth air on a breezy day, WIND is excellent for roller practice! It keeps the plane in one spot and you can really see what the plane needs to do cause it stays in front of you if you stand downwind.

Check out this video as it illustrates what I mean. Skip to the end to see the rollers there are some in windy conditions (check out the white/orange plane as it does rollers into a wind which comes from the left as the plane stays relatively stationary in space).

http://www.tufflight.com/tufyak2.wmv

Have fun!
Joe

u da Man!

The secret is to put the minimum command ... try without dual rate with exponential at 70% and do not allow the elevator much salts from the center line
The secret is to put the minimum command ... try without dual rate with exponential at 70% and do not allow the elevator much salts from the center line