I fly rc planes, but Ive started to play around with the helis in G2, but am having difficulty. My questions are really stupid, but here goes...

You know you can essentially steer a plane around the sky using only the ailerons and elevator. Im understanding helis dont work this way, as you have to steer the tail to follow the nose of the heli, is this right?

Ive been trying to do this, and slowly Im getting a little better, but its only gone from "uncontrollably flying in a general direction" to "kinda controled in a general direction and altitude". it seems the cyclic (the disk) is really slow to respond but the tail will whip right around, and a lot of my turns end up looking like garbage, with the tail not really in its correct spot and the heli at an odd angle exiting the turn.

What is the best way to learn to fly a heli in a circle or pattern?

Thanks!

Best way to learn to fly a heli is start with just hovering... first tail-in, nose-in, side-in (left/right side).

If you have the hyro set up in rate mode then the tail will follow the flightpath a lot better. You can set up the gyros in G2 just as you can on a real model.

Maybe this will help you understand, I Fly Both. 1) Left and right Cyclic on Heli is your Airplanes Alerion function
2) Forward and Back Cyclic on Heli is Your Airplanes Elevator
2a) Forward Cyclic = Forward Flight / Rearward Cyclic Backwards flight.
2b) Slight rearward Cyclic during forward flight will allow you to climb.
2c) Slight climbs turning turns help maintain altitude (Like an Airplane)
3) Tail Rotor Pitch on Heli is Your Airplanes Rudder

Thanks for your replies...

in 3) you say the rotor pitch is the airplanes rudder, I understand that, but unlike an airplane, is it typical that you HAVE to use the rotor pitch to move swing the tail in the direction you are turning so the heli's "fusalage" line is parallel with the direction of travel?

In other words, if Im in forward flight and want to turn right, I give right cyclic, and give slight back cyclic to get it through the turn, but the tail is still pointing in the general direction of the original flight path so I also steer the tail to the right to swing it into the new direction vector.

Can the heli turn without having to use rudder pitch, like an airplane where I can simply roll right, give elevator, and level out once the turn is complete and continue in forward flight?

Is my sim set up improperly?

See my earlier comment about the gyro. If it is in Heading Hold mode it will try and mainting the original heading throughout the turn. (that is it's job).

A rate gyro will dampen the oscillations but will still allow the tail to weathercock through the turn. You wil still probably have to add a bit of 'rudder' but it should be nowhere near as difficult.

See siclick33's post... if you have the gyro type set to HH or heading holding, it will keep the tail locked in the same orientation unless you turn it with your stick. If you switch to rate mode, it will "weathervane" a little and track your direction of motion better.

You have to remember that, unlike a plane rudder, the tail rotor must always have some pitch to counter the main rotors torque. The gyro helps adjust the pitch automatically to compensate for this, and the HH setting/mose keeps it locked onto one direction very well (as you can see).

EDIT: haha, siclick33 beat me to it...

Yes you should Turn the tail boom to follow thru on the turn to have a properly cordinated turn, If you just give it, say right cyclic to turn right while flying forward you may then find yourself flying more sideways than forward......[X(]

Airplanes Have a Tendency to Follow through a turn more gracfully, Where as Helicopters can sometimes act like a stuborn little *****...[>:]

Thanks, folks, that makes sense.

Do people usually fly with a heading hold or a rate hold gyro setting?

It is personal preference really. Once you start getting into aeros most people will only use rate mode to set up the linkages on the tail rotor pushrod. After this heading hold is the norm.

I think that using rate mode for learning has it's place. As mentioned earlier for a real model you would need to learn to hover first. I would suggest doing this in heading hold mode first. After you can do this go back to rate mode. It is slightly more tricky to hover and you will get used to moving all the sticks. After this start forward flight, still in rate mode as this is easier. Then go back to heading hold for forward flight.

Now there is no need to ever go back to rate mode really.

Thats the lazy way to do it. Learn to use the rudder on your planes too and it will make a better heli pilot out of you.