My First Loop
12-19-2003, 03:55 PM
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My First Loop
It was another cold day here, but I thought if I wrapped-up warm I'd be ok - so off I went. The wind was around 15mph and I thought it might be too much for the LMH, but with the engine fired-up, I opened the throttle, and up she went. I did a little trimming, and then moved from hovering into FFF, getting higher and higher with each circuit
When I judged the LMH was around 100 feet I pulled up into a loop . . . . wow! It went over much easier and smoothly than I thought it would, and it didn't pitch up when it had exited the loop either (unlike the RealFlight Finch does). No, it just flew straight and level when I pulled out. In fact I hardly noticed any pitching up at all today, I thought it was "balooning" in the wind a little at times though
Second flight: More fast forward flight, in fact "very" fast forward flight, and another loop. This time at around 60 feet, 'cause I didn't think the heli lost very much altitude during the first loop . . . . but I could have been wrong! It certainly lost height this time and the bottom of the loop was less than 20 feet above the ground. My heart stopped for a few seconds when I realised how much it was dropping, but it turned-out ok (and I muttered a grateful "Thanks" to Darth for warning this would happen)
Third flight: Faster and faster forward flight (I'm getting to like this). Then up high for another loop . . . . then two consecutive loops. The LMH loops really well (considering!) and I was really anticipating the height-loss now, so no more heart problems. Back up and another couple of loops followed by a reversal, a wing-over (didn't know a heli could do a wing-over - but I'm sure you know what I mean) and then some more of the same!
I'm still on a high. Best afternoon's LMH flying I've had so far!
Tony
When I judged the LMH was around 100 feet I pulled up into a loop . . . . wow! It went over much easier and smoothly than I thought it would, and it didn't pitch up when it had exited the loop either (unlike the RealFlight Finch does). No, it just flew straight and level when I pulled out. In fact I hardly noticed any pitching up at all today, I thought it was "balooning" in the wind a little at times though
Second flight: More fast forward flight, in fact "very" fast forward flight, and another loop. This time at around 60 feet, 'cause I didn't think the heli lost very much altitude during the first loop . . . . but I could have been wrong! It certainly lost height this time and the bottom of the loop was less than 20 feet above the ground. My heart stopped for a few seconds when I realised how much it was dropping, but it turned-out ok (and I muttered a grateful "Thanks" to Darth for warning this would happen)
Third flight: Faster and faster forward flight (I'm getting to like this). Then up high for another loop . . . . then two consecutive loops. The LMH loops really well (considering!) and I was really anticipating the height-loss now, so no more heart problems. Back up and another couple of loops followed by a reversal, a wing-over (didn't know a heli could do a wing-over - but I'm sure you know what I mean) and then some more of the same!
I'm still on a high. Best afternoon's LMH flying I've had so far!
Tony
12-19-2003, 06:47 PM
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RE: My First Loop
Congrats Tony! Welcome to the "looped my LMH club". I did one of those low level loops but a stupid shrub like tree reached out an grabbed my Heli. No damage. Thats how I know you have to have plenty of altitude when doing a loop. I know what you mean about the wing overs, they are pretty neat, arent they?. Yep, its fun to whip these around like there is no tomorrow and if you crash dont have to worry about expensive repairs. Ive done stupid things like flying through and under trees (some of it intended the other times it was the "OH NO!!!" factor). One time I was seeing how low I can get to the ground in fast forward flight. i was comming in screaming fast. guess what..... The engine died. I never seen so many loops and flips. You'd thought it was an olympic event. I didnt even suffer any damage that would keep me from flying. Now, I plan on suiting up my heli in my bodies and getting some flying videos. One of these days Im gonna get a camera that will shoot video clips longer than 15 seconds at a time and record sounds.
12-19-2003, 07:15 PM
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RE: My First Loop
Thanks for this Darth. I'd sure like to see some vids of your kind of LMH flying! I'm set on getting a digital camcorder in the January sales (just call me Scrooge!) so with a bit of luck I'll get someone to film my LMH's loops and things, in the not too distant future
As you say, it's a lot of fun - especially since there's no "fear of expensive repairs" to curb one's enthusiasm for trying silly manoeuvres. Great to have "joined the club!"
Tony
As you say, it's a lot of fun - especially since there's no "fear of expensive repairs" to curb one's enthusiasm for trying silly manoeuvres. Great to have "joined the club!"
Tony
12-20-2003, 12:26 AM
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RE: My First Loop
Tony, just flying in 15 mph winds would be stunt enough for me. Congrats on the loops. You and darth have got to post some pics. The weather here has been windy, grey, cold and snowy. I haven't flown in about 3 weeks......I hope I haven't lost what little flying skills I had.
Mark
Mark
12-20-2003, 04:54 AM
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RE: My First Loop
Thanks Mark. Sorry to hear about your weather. We're having a mixed-bag right now (but all of it around the 0 to +5 mark). I took advantage of yesterday's slightly milder conditions, but was still frozen stuff at the end of the afternoon
Where I live it was flat calm when I set-off for yesterday's flying session, but I was surprised at the 15mph wind at the strip (it's on top of the highest hill in the county so there's always some wind though). I don't normally "go" flying if there's a 15mph wind, but once at the strip I fly "whatever" the wind. I take the view that if I wait for perfect conditions I'll never fly at all!
I wouldn't be worried about "losing what you had," 'cause strange though it may sound, I find that a "lay-off" actually pays dividends (for me at least). I don't know why it works this way, but I've often been surprised at how much better my flying seems after being grounded for a few weeks. This isn't a recent phenomenon either, 'cause when I was learning to fly I remember being afraid I'd forgotten all I'd learned, but after my knees stopped knocking I've always realised I'd actually improved. Maybe I'm just more careful after a lay-off?
Hope conditions allow a flying for you session soon. It's raining here - and cold. Snow is forecast for tomorrow too
Tony
Where I live it was flat calm when I set-off for yesterday's flying session, but I was surprised at the 15mph wind at the strip (it's on top of the highest hill in the county so there's always some wind though). I don't normally "go" flying if there's a 15mph wind, but once at the strip I fly "whatever" the wind. I take the view that if I wait for perfect conditions I'll never fly at all!
I wouldn't be worried about "losing what you had," 'cause strange though it may sound, I find that a "lay-off" actually pays dividends (for me at least). I don't know why it works this way, but I've often been surprised at how much better my flying seems after being grounded for a few weeks. This isn't a recent phenomenon either, 'cause when I was learning to fly I remember being afraid I'd forgotten all I'd learned, but after my knees stopped knocking I've always realised I'd actually improved. Maybe I'm just more careful after a lay-off?
Hope conditions allow a flying for you session soon. It's raining here - and cold. Snow is forecast for tomorrow too
Tony
12-20-2003, 08:55 PM
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RE: My First Loop
Tony, thanks for the encouragement. I'm starting to feel "good" again. My aluminum frame kit arrived today! Can't wait to mount everything on it and try it out. The sun shown brightly today but the temps were still in the 28-30 degree F range.......the wind was fierce. About the aluminum crutch......the wife has claimed it as one of my Christmas presents so I guess I'll have to wait till Thursday to open it. I've waited since Sept...... so what's a few more days?
Merry Christmas,
Mark
Merry Christmas,
Mark
12-21-2003, 09:36 AM
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RE: My First Loop
Nice Christmas present Alan. My kids will be surprised to learn they got me an ASP .61 4-stroke for my Flair Cub this year! (the OS .52 that's fitted at the moment doesn't have quite enough power to pull-off a knife-edge loop!)
I'll be really interested to hear how your new alloy crutch performs
Best Wishes,
Tony
I'll be really interested to hear how your new alloy crutch performs
Best Wishes,
Tony
12-21-2003, 04:05 PM
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RE: My First Loop
40 degrees F........calm winds.......I couldn't resist. Loaded up the heli and headed for the field. It was great! No stunts, nothing fancy.....just plain flying.....circles, figure 8s, hovering.....it all seemed OK. I can still fly! I had worn the eyelet on the tail rotor out and guess what? A pop rivet and washer work just fine. I also installed a new gear box since the old one had cracked. This time I followed advice from this forum and mounted the tail fin to the tail boom using a LMH tail boom mount......just in front of the gear box.......these repairs flight tested just fine. I'll post what I think about the metal frame conversion when I try it out. I'm still using the wood crutch now.
Mark
Mark
12-21-2003, 06:44 PM
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RE: My First Loop
Sounds as though you had a great flying session - I'm envious! The weather wasn't good enough for flying here today. We had rain, sleet, a little snow and far too much wind - and it was cold too. Oh well, maybe another day
I also did the boom/fin mod - great idea to prevent damaging the gearbox. Glad things went well for you
Tony
I also did the boom/fin mod - great idea to prevent damaging the gearbox. Glad things went well for you
Tony
12-28-2003, 08:23 PM
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RE: My First Loop
TW,,,,, I have been tinkering with video capturing for 3 years now, heli's is one of my newest hobbys, next to paintball, anyways, I just picked up a Haugapauge PVR350, this thing is the best thing I have ever had for video capture, I can capture DVD without dropping frames. It also does TIVO, I just got a wireless keyboard and mouse, soon It will be hooked up to my livingroom tv. you won't have to do any encoding to make it capatible for VCD,SVCD, or DVD creations, check it out, cost me 175 US..$ USB or PCI. can record from any source, RCA jack or S-video ......... sorry to get off the subject,,, oh yea, It has a built in FM tuner, so surfing the net with radio too....
