Stupid question - Does anyone ever do loops in normal mode? I can fly my rex like a maniac in normal mode but I still have not tried it in idle up.

Most loops done in normal mode are done by mistake, forgetting to flip the switch. Oddly enough, many say these loops look pretty good! That's because people usually start giving negative collective too early when they do it in idle up. Hey! Don't be afraid to try idle up. Its not weird, its not scary and its not hard. In fact, you'll have more control over descending and will feel instantly more confident. So just try it. Here's how: Make sure the upper half of your pitch curve in normal mode matches your upper half in idle up. That will keep the heli from jumping when you throw the switch. So having done that, bring it up into a hover and just fip the switch. It won't explode. Its gonna be ok. BTW, you really don't want to try loops in normal mode. You have every chance of crashing because you don't have enough pitch on tap to get out of trouble. Do you have a sim? Try a couple of loops on there and then just go for it. Its not going to be a problem. Let us know how it turns out.
Dave

I was pretty nervous to flip into idle up the first time too. I finally got up the courage ... flipped the switch ... Wow! Not that much different! Then I realized that idle up was inhibited on my radio so nothing was happening when I flipped the switch anyway! Ha ha. Well, long story short I do FFF and idle up is better because there's more neg pitch available to maintain the altitude I want.

I find that the switch on my Futaba 9CHP is sticky and sometimes doesn't get me into or out of idle up mode sometimes. I have to flip back and forth a couple times to make sure it switches. Anyone else find this?

Thanks for all the replies. I will be tryin out idle up this weekend. Yea I have FSONE that I fly in idle up all the time. I was just curious about the limits of normal mode, so do most people FF in idle up then?

If I want to save battery life, I'll work on pattern flight in normal mode, but I almost always switch to Idle 2. This helps discourage accidental "normal mode loops" (which I've seen result in 3 crashes, though not my own). It also makes it far easier (as poprocks said) to maintain altitude. Though I admit the sound from the blades can be a bit more intimidating.

Flips kept me at bay for months, but after I finally tried it, I couldn't believe I waited so long. Give yourself plenty of altitude and just go for it. Remember, we're all saying this from experience - and do let us know how it goes!

Good luck!
- Chaz

Yup. idle up all the time. Thrashing and bashing 3D. I usually take off in normal mode (but not always, you can soft start into idle up to do cool stuff on take off) do a few piros, hit the switch and get after it. I only come back to normal mode when I'm ready to land. Life begins in idle up. What are you waiting for?

WARNING!

Just a little tip before you try idle up while flying: With your heli off, switch between your flight modes, and make sure all your trims match. If you are in normal, with trims set, and switch to idle-up with neutral trims, your heli will start drifting and the gyro will not read neutral anymore. This could be disorienting if you're not expecting it.

TR,
That hasn't been my experience. I always trim my helis in normal mode and then switch to idle up. I've never known a discrepancy in trim between the two modes. I use a 9C, possibly your radio is different. What do you use? Side bar: If your swash plate is level you won't need any trim. If you set up your helicopter without leveling the swash, you're in trouble already. A properly setup helicopter shouldn't need any trim. From my experience, idle up effects throttle and pitch curves only. But there are a lot of new radios out there and I could be wrong.....

My JR XP7202 allows me to have individual trim settings for each flight mode. So for example (I don't) if I had 5 clicks of right cyclic to counteract the natural drift to the left, and I switched to idle up, it would be at 0 clicks, and start drifting. I know a properly setup heli should have a perfectly leveled swash and no trim, but just in case it doesn't, this is something to at least give a little thought to.

I usually trim my heli in normal mode, then copy the trim settings to my idle-ups, then if they need to be adjusted in flight I can at that point. I usually only need about 1 or 2 clicks in any direction. My forward/backward trim changes almost every flight though, b/c of different battery weights, and just never putting the batt in exactly the same spot.

Hear. Hear.

The DX6 also has individual trims for normal/ idle-up modes. Better to make sure you have the same trims dialled in (if you have some dialled in) Otherwise when you flip the switch youw heli will drift one way or the other. It's caught me out more than once.

Loops and several other 3d moves can be done in normal mode. But you need lots of altitude and very solid nerves. Alot of posts I have read in other forums tell of pilots doing things and then realizing that they hadn't switched into idle-up.

The best thing about idle-up is that it allows access to the negative pitch side of your main rotor blades. That way if your heli ends up upside down you can throw some negative pitch in there and save it.

Well what do you know..... I appreciate learning that. You are right, with that feature one could encounter a big problem really fast, especially the first time they went into idle up. The for/aft trim thing is a pain isn't it? Especially when correcting for a trim issue whicn is caused by CG just makes it worse when you go upsidedown. I've thought about marking a point on my lipos to match a point on the mounting plate but never got around to doing it. *sigh* sorry for being off topic....

Marking a point on Lipos' to get exact center of gravity. Now there's a smart ideas, especially as I have different batteries with different weghts. This will be done in the a.m.!!!! I've also never really bothered, but it's those little things with the setup that can make the difference, I suppose.

yes there is that feature of trim offsets in different modes, however, if you inhibit that feature, trims will affect all flight modes, same thing with my futaba 7chp.