i noticed on my (and 4 others) caliber 30 it tends to enter vortex ringstate aka settling with power quite easy. all of us operate with wooden blades, some use enya 35, others OS32.

would operating with a higher rotor rpm combat this, and enable us to pull out of sideways quick stops without sinking too much. ive currently been pumping the collective to get the rpm (engine and head) back up to speed and the chopper off the dirt.

maybe FRP blades? semi-symmetrical?

or, is this normal for the cal, it does seem a little on the heavy side. also, my pitch/throttle curves are fine for all other conditions so far (basic circuits, hover, full power climbs). i never see the others guys do autos, the machine is new to me and i've put 2Litres through it so far. Ive done a few hovering autos but have scared myself with its sink rate.

i'm on assignment in japan, the language barrier is nearly impossible to talk to the others on matters as tech is this, i dont particularly want to go down the trial and error path if someone out there can help.....

thanks for your time.

Vortex,

Not sure what you mean by ringstate, but I keep my headspeed quite high at all but very low pitch. It also prevents the low frequency wobble that sometimes accompanies low headspeed. Is that what we're talking about?

basically it is when the helicopter descends into its own downwash, as the downwash is quite turbulent, the blades lose the ability to bite clean air and the chopper continues to sink into the "bad air". normal procedure is to pitch the nose down and fly out of the bad air into clean air ( a problem if low to the ground) or alternatively use left or right cyclic to slip into some cleaner air.

i notice my cal 30, appears to sink quite a lot into its own wash, and wonder if anyone out there suffers the same.

try pulling out of a quick stop with power and see how responsive the cal is?

( i.e fly straight and level at a medium speed for 10 meters, then pull back slightly and kick the tail through 180deg to head back the way you came, apply power and enter a hover at as close as possible to the point where you kicked the tail around. This is done without climbing or descending, so when pulling aft cyclic, you have to also lower the collective slightly, then raise collective to prevent the sinking. give yourself some height, only about 3-5 meters is okay) i dont think this will work on the sim, as sims probably dont cover this effect.

i also understand that the maneuver mentioned can actually deliberately cause entering vortex ringstate, but my other models dont suffer anywhere near as bad as the Cal 30, hence my original question.

Haven't notice much, I'll try the sequence out

Put your head speed to 1850 and try again. I find the CCPM collective very precise. The C30 is a little heavy but that is not the cause. Your wood blades may be some of the problem. Is the covering on the blades tight? If it is loose you need to heat it and reshrink it. When it is loose the top of the covering can lift off the top of the blade which causes loss of lift and increased drag. Rub your finger on the covering and see if it wrinkles a little and if so reshrink it.

I too had this.... Was going to type problem, but it's more like a characteristic. The stock woodies are ****e & cause a lot of turbulence. Slap on a pair of glass or carbon fully symetricals and up the head to about 1700. I also use 15% ProSynth & a hotter plug. I never got the low speed wobble.... Probably because I never do anything at low speed

Regards. Ian F.