Well, Sat. Afternoon was the day - having done Fwd. flight 15 yrs ago, I decided I was ready. Got about 20+ hovering rounds down - so off to the flightline.

Well, it really goes - mine is stock except for a custom made dual tail motor mount, stock tailboom length - stock TX.

1st circuit was hot and beautiful, but on the second there was a tree - the circuit got wider than I expected. Well, hit the tree, bounced off of my 50' Cadillac, and into a chair. No big damage - stripped main gear and that was it.

Question for the experts - do you do your circuits in Idle Up? - the way I was set up I wouldn't have negative pitch (at low stick) to help decrease altitude like a Nitro bird. Wondering if the negative would have helped me control the altitude better - as with any Heli - it gained altitude even decreasing cyclic, so I expected that.

It was exciting though -

Dennis

Dennis,

with a Pro, it should have -1 deg. pitch at low throttle, if set up according to the manual. Just a word of caution, tho', if you have been flying with 0 or any + pitch at low throttle, be careful you don't slam it into the ground.

Idle up is not neccessary for FF.

orlbuzz

Great - thanks -

Deal is I'm running my linkages on the inside to make it hover with the stock TX until I get another one, so I'll reset the pitch

anyone else, chime in - I'm not an expert (experts don't hit trees?)

Dennis

Dennis,
i'd definitely tell you to do ff in idle up, remember, if your not in idle up, then the problem is that you won't be able to come down, and when it finally does come down, you'll find that you've lowered your throttle stick so much that the motor almost stopped, and with the little power of the cpp, you'll be lucky if it doesn't crash. i'm by no mean an expert, i'm only 15 (just turned 15 on rememberance day) and i'm only doing loops and rolls. and in idle up, it'll really help you in windy conditions, (i fly even with 10~15mph winds). without idle up, when a gust of wind comes by, you'll find yourself going up and up, and you lower the collective, still going up, lower it somemore, then you'll find yourself starting to go down, but within a sec or so, you'll find your heli dropping like a rock.

You should be in idle up as soon as you take off in my mind, and only turn it off when its time to land. Otherwise your headspeed will keep changing with your pitch and that is going to bog out your motor and x---\M/ (thats a crashed helicopter). Get used to flying in idle up, you wont go back. Teach yourself to switch out quick after a crash though.

O.k, I'll try it too. Head speed was my concern. Seemed to fly nice though, wish I had it in video so I could do an autopsy on the whole deal.

Dennis