as someone who is new to the heli world ...is there an exercise or trick that one can do to help with the over-correcting problem that is common with new pilots . thanks[&:]

You can move the servo links in one hole on the servo arms, that will shortent travel, but it will also decrease pitch range.

The only other way to do it is to have a computer radio.

pitch,

Over-correcting is very common in the newbie heli world. I like to call it the 'panic factor'.

There is no exercise or tricks to over come this. It's kind of a mind over matter thing. Or simply put, practice, practice practice.

Always go slow and don't fly beyond you capabilities for awhile.

Most importantly, make sure the the heli is mechanically set up right, it's imperative and that makes all the difference in the world.

More help, just ask,

Dave / Choppersrule

lol i think the panic factor is a good name...some days it is afoot of the ground and looks good and then there are days where it do not look good at all...and you know you are gonna be replacing blades...good thing my wife loves me with the amount of blades i have gone through

so what is better trying to learn in a smaller area where you learn to hover in that area or go to a larger area where you have more room to correct your over-corrections?

Pitch,

I'm lucky too, have an understanding wife..

Just go through all the mechanical things on the heli and make sure everything is correct. Swash plate level in all directions, blade pitch is set up correctly. Those are porbably the two most inportant things.


Dave / Choppersrule

i am getting pretty good with the mechanical...when you keep crashing and you have to keep fixing you learn pretty quick i am almost a heli mech so look out bell gonna apply for a job soon

1 way to help overcorrecting is to keep your fingertips closest to the bottom of the stick as possible.Right against the TX. That really limits how far you can move the stick.Also use only your fingers. Try not to move the stick using your whole hand. That seems to help me a bit.

Pitch,
Actually, it's easier to learn in a bigger area, it gives you so much more time, for the panic factor. However, try to keep it in a tight area. Hovering in one spot all day long is impossible with the size of the helis we are flying. Hovering is an art and takes a zillion hours of practice. Don't fret and keep it flying.

Dave / Choppersrule

thanks for the info and the help i will put it all to good use

Use RADD's technique ( http://www.dream-models.com/eco/pre-Flight.html )....it is killer...and thats what I learned on....what I did was I used radd's technique (although I was on battery 9 and battery 10 for like 3 batteries each, just to be sure).....and then when I was hovering just fine in my driveway I moved inside. It was a pretty big space inside, but a lot smaller than what I had before. I also kept it low to force myself to stay in the ground effect. I found that by starting small, going big, and then going small again it has really helped me. I am quite good in the ground effect now, after dealing with it in such a small space. Of course now I have gone big again so I can go to nose in.

radds school helped me alot, also i moved the paddle weights in toward the center, this helped me a bit cause the delay from input on the tx to the result on the heli was the biggest reason for my over correcting, next day i bought a bell mixer upgrage. wow input to result is instant. i can hover more stable and i can make more delibrate flights. its becoming point and shoot. now if i could learn nose in flight..... good luck

i did go through the school of RADD and it did help alot... just having a hard time getting used to it i guess. as far as things go i think it is just a time issue now. has anyone ever heard of tethering(string) the heli so it can not go any higher than the tether, i had someone tell me this was a good traing aid but i never heard of it?

Practice practice practice. A lot of time in the air and on the sim helps a lot. Basically you have to train your fingers rather than push until it responds, since as someone pointed out there is a slight delay. Pulling the flybar weights inward will make it much more responsive, but reduces the stability so you NEED more control inputs. That's a two edged sword so you can try it and see if it helps you. I prefer it a bit slower still but I'm pretty experienced with micro-control as I call it. I raced rc cars, lightweights and touring cars, on tight little indoor carpet tracks. You twitched wrong and you hit a wall at 40mph, so you learned very quickly to judge control inputs and I've found that it translates right across to helis once I ingrained the particular input/results into my brain.

I am a fan of the big area at first school of thought, but still try to stay in a small area. I'd rather fly in a small box inside a much larger box of available space than goof and fly out of the small box in a still small box.

I wouldn't tether, I haven't had any issues with going too high, but I guess you could use a bit of extra throttle so you're pulling upwards on the string. That would also try to pull it straight up from where the string is grounded, keeping you a bit more stable.

You should follow RADDS method for however long it takes until you can hold it in the box easily for a long time while very light on the skids. If you can do that, you will find hovering to be easy

Can't hurt. I couldn't really do it myself because the best surface i had was a sheet of plywood that was still rough enough for the tail to catch on, light on the skids was actually more dangerous than a couple inches up, but I did a LOT of practice in the sim doing the same thing. In FMS I'd hover in the little box markings on the runway. In G3 I use the indoor gym and hover in the center of the basketball court. I try to keep it in the center circle and I practice point landings as close to the center as I can. Back in the real world it really helps. I can generally hold a two foot square hover despite minor breezes.

I can also attest that the Radds rule of landing if you goof at all and resetting is a good one. I did that over my plywood over and over. I couldn't do light on the skids but otherwise followed the same rules. Any time I was drifting too far I set it down and moved it back to my center point and started over. It was tiresome and repetitive but it did help because it made me focus more and kept me from who knows how many potential crashes.

Keep in mind, if you can hold it nice and steady down low you'll have a much easier time higher up. Out of ground effect is more stable than in when it comes to sliding around.

I can't stress enough how much the sims helped me though, and continue to help. I've only been doing this about a month and am moving into basic forward flight and nose in. I can do side in already, though I'm not as good looking at the right side of the heli as the left. The sim lacks true depth perception, which makes hovering a bit tougher if you don't stay low or near other reference objects, but it's time on the sticks.

I've always found it easier to just use my thumbs on the tops of the sticks, I even have pretty little circles in my thumb after . Are you using a neckstrap Psikelly?

does a neck strap help that much?

I only use it when flying airplanes.

Personally I love a neck strap....I don't own a transmiter without one.. I started using it really early when I was in planes so I don't even rember what it is like without one. But I will say just holding the transmiter is a lot more conftrible.

cool maybe i will have to look at getting one...would think that you would have to concetrate less on the holding and get to concetrate more on the flying[8D]

I do have a neckstrap setup. I used a wide strap from my camera and hooked up a quicksnap. I use it when I remember it. I fly so close in with the heli that Im always moving the TX back and forth. Id love to get a short antenna like the 1 on my Spektrum. Im actually thinking about hooking up my Spek to the CP becuz it has such an awesome grip. My hands seem to mold into it. Ill probably find the neckstrap better then.

Faster cyclic response will help allot. If your heli lags behind your stick input you end up "chasing" it and over correcting. The stock BCP has a fair amount of lag (very slow cyclic response). If you can't get the bell hiller head than at least move the flybar weights all the way in (better yet....remove them).

An RC heli should repond to your stick input relitively. You should barely have to move the sticks to keep it hovering inside a 3 foot cube.

A big area is better for starting because it reduces your worries and lets you think about control....not walls. Training gear and a smooth surface is best so you can hover around close to the floor (touching occasionally) without worry. Use the extra room at first and slowly make your flying space smaller as you get the hang of it. Stay close to the floor...its a bit harder with ground effect but its safer for your new heli. Take your time and burn batteries....don't get balsy with it. pleanty of time as long as your heli stays flyable. The main goal is to always have the heli in one piece when the battery is done.

Just emagine that your mother is on board....

if my mother was on board she would have been gone long ago![&:] but i do lick the idea of more room. taking off the weights will do what? i do have the bell hiller head and i find that there is an awfull lot of play in the head for what it is. i wonder if all the bang ups learning have loosened it up at some of the linkages and now maybe needs to be re-buillt? how much play is too much and how much should it have?