I am still finding hovering difficult. I think maybe I am over correcting. I am getting it to kind stay in one spot, but it still wants to sway a lot. I mean kind of be swaying. Not really big but just a little. I think I am getting it down. Can anyone tell me how long you have trained for your hovering? I know I can get it but still I am just doing a lot of over correction.

hovering is not hard realy, by reading the posts i think we both started flying around the same time, it tool me about 8 packs with no sim or prior experience to hover it (for about 30 seconds and about 12 packs for a full pack. without the training gear
about 2 days

I think because i have a micro heli the fear factor is much less, theres not much to be scared of realy, im finding nose in realy difficult ATM i am manageing about 5 seconds before i have to spin around into side-in to recover.

Its not difficult, once you can fly for 20 seconds you have masterd it after that it becomes realy easy

i wish you good luck

Paris

Thanks man. I know I will get it but my problem is for some reason I mess with it for a few seconds, then I want to stop and put it away. I never mess with it for very long. Nor do I mess with it everyday. I will put it off for like 2 or 3 days before resuming. I mean I am excited about it but I think I need to kill my fear of crashing it. I mostly want to wait until I get the sim because I am discovering I can fly this thing worth a lick. But actually I can learn to hover it without a sim. I just need to narrow down my corrections to make it smoother. I think I still need to make more blade adjustments. I helicoptor does not seem balanced. I mean the blades are not off track but it still shakes. I am noticing that something is a little loose so I am going to fix that before I resume hovering.

well I guess I've spent around 20hrs on the sim total so far doing basic flight... hover,FF, and so on. after I had my heli checked out and test flown I put on the FMA co-pilot, waste of money IMHO. I TRIED to fly about 10 tanks worth of fuel with the co-pilot fighting me all the way in FF and helping me but at the same time hurting me in hover. when I ripped off the co-pilot and finally hovered on my own it just came easy... just like the sim only add LOT's of pucker factor after around 3 tanks it felt MUCH better and almost natural... a few more tanks I had tail in and side in feeling like I'd been doing it for years. the following weekend I started FF what a freaking BLAST, the first few flight's were a bit shaky getting back into hover but not to bad... I never felt out of control... just not in control as much as I would like... if that makes any sense. today I came close to finishing my second gallon of fuel... FF is getting much easier as is transition back into hover... and hover is just plain easy now. next is getting up the nerve for nose in hover[] I know the control movements by heart... that's not my problem... on the sim it's DAM hard for me to see the small movements of the heil when looking right at the nose... then it starts to get a little out of shape I bring it back and do the same thing again[:@] I just can't seem to "lock in" like I can tail in and side in... if I cheat a bit and get some angle on the heli I'm fine until I can get better nose in on the sim I'm leaving nose in alone in the real worldoh well... over all I'm THRILLED to have made it this far without any damage to my heli... I can't same the same when I started flying fixed wing years ago best advice I have for ya is try to relax and just CONTROL the heil, if you keep it in a 6 foot circle ALL the time your in control IMHO... steady "locked in" hover will come just take your time. one more thing... if your out of trim just a few clicks it makes it that much harder to keep the locked in hover... you have to work that much harder to keep the heli in one place, also you may be a bit sensitive on the sticks... you could try a little EXPO... I use 20% on ail and ele.


John

Thanks John. Another thing that scared me today which never happend before was the tail. I know you probably can't help me with it. I would need someing to look at it. Or probably figure it out myself, but want to see if you or anyone else had this problem, but my gyro is set up right, but the tail rotor would be ok but then I could rotate my heli one directiong, but it would not rotate the other direction. I know I need to balance the blades. That is one of the only things that makes me not want to take the trainers off because the thing wants to jump around on the skids. I know and can feel it is not balanced and I THINK I know whats wrong, but it is not out of track. I can feel part of the main rotor fixture is a little loose.

man vallon I'm so new it's hard for me to help trouble shoot... so if I understand you right you could pirouette to say the left but not right? sounds like a linkage problem... check the control rod for binding... if it was fine one min and not the next I would say you have a mechanical problem like some binding going on. your blades my very well be out of balance BUT that would not keep the tail from spinning one direction and not the other... if it's wagging then it could be balance, tuning or gyro gain/servo speed. on thing I've found is going over ALL the screws after each flying session helps keep things tight... if you have a screw that uses loc-tight loosen up remove it clean it and reapply the loc-tight. I'll tell ya PM'ing my heli after each trip out has saved me... not only finding loose screws... I found my tank stopper had loosened a bit, closer inspection showed an air leak if I wiggled the pickup line... pulled the stopper and had the pick up line fall apart in my hand!! it had cracked in the stopper... no way am I ready for a forced auto had I not been checking over my heli after each trip I'm sure it would have balled up by now.

John

Vallon, your goin great guns seeings how u haven;t touched a sim .. keep it up ,, the penny will drop and u will just keep it where u want it. the sim will help u master nose in and side in.. then the obvoius cuircuts and ff and everything else. ..
once u master nose in on the sim its a joke easy on the real deal.. just confidence..

keep up the good work

Thanks so much for the encouragement Pilot77. That really means a lot to me. Even though I am scared to death, it makes me feel I am making progress which I do feel I am. Yes John, I am going to continue to check all of my parts. I just want to kill the rock on the skids. Its like at a certain speed the helicoptor rocks on the skids really bad, but that is at one of the lower speeds before it gets to lifting off. I know its not supposed to do that is it? Maybe its like how race cars such at Indy cars don't run good going slow. The run smoother at higher speeds. I don't know. But I will take the blades off and tighten things and put them back on. Yeah Pilot77, I feel I can get the hovering down without a sim. I feel a more comfy each time I take it out, but I KNOW I will NOT fly it with out the sim. I messed with one at a hobby shop this past Friday for the first time in a long time. I know I know I should have tried hovering on the sim they had there, but they had the pitch and throttle settings more on a forward flight setting than a hover and could not find out the change it so I just tried flying it, and could not fly worth a lick. I would go into a turn and then down she went. Thankfully it was the sim. Not my own.

The rocking is prolly from the blades not being centered yet....as the head speed picks up the spinning force of the blades will center them.

BTW...your doing great...I think I hovered for a year before trying FF.

Now when you say blades not centered, are you saying I should not have the blades screwed on too tight that the can't move? What do you mean exactly? This may help me out!

vallon take a look in your manual... it SHOULD be able to describe how tight the main rotor blades need to be better than I can basically you want the blades tight enough so that in order to make them move in the grip you have to pick up the heli hold it on it's side and give it a shake before the blades drop/move... if they move/drop when the heli is on it's side without a shake there to loose... it they won't move without shaking the hell out of the heli there to tight. the only thing my book said about tail rotor blades is that they do not need to be as tight[] I set mine about the same as the mains.

if your seeing some wobble as the engine spools up that's normal... mine shakes a bit at around 1/4 stick... by the time I've made it 3/8 stick the wobble is gone... at 1/2 stick I'm real light on the skids no wobble at all... a hair more stick I'm in hover


John

I think I may have the main rotor blades too tight because I thought they have to be as tight as possible so they don't move at all in the grips. My manual does not say anything about the tightness. hmmm. Maybe I need to do some reasurch. It doesn't really tell me anything on raptortechnique web site either. I will loosen them and try it. But as you said not so loose that they drop, but loose enough that they will drop with a shake. Is that right? I read and noticed another thing that might cause my heli to rock bad. I think I need to pull the tail boom out a bit so that the belt connecting the main blades to the tail blades is tighter. I think the belt is a bit loose.

take a look vallon...

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_17...tm.htm#1785036


odd the raptor book does not mention this... nor does raptortechnique... at least not that I could find. the book that came with my cheap Hawk sport did


John

maybe get some training gear, your problems do sound a little unusual, usually learning to fly is making a few hops untill you can controll it in the air.. sounds like your heli is incorrecly set up.

Dont give up

Thanks Sabot! But I think John just helped my answer my question. I will try it out but I bet my vibrations will be going even when I tighten my the belt for my tail blades. Them my setup will be better. Yes my setup was not right. You are correct Sabot. I think this is going to work. We will see.

hiya Vallon, U do not want loose blades in the grips thats a no no ,just like too tight is.. run them up with them fairly loose in the grips (not too loose though) then spool down without moving the blades and tighten the blade bolts. this is essential for later on when u begin autos and other stuff.. as loose blades will boomstrike.. believe me ,ive done it.. its not fun.
otheriwse forget about rock and shakes in spool up, its normal. as mentioned its very probably just the blades centering themselves. only worry if u have settled into a nice hover and the shake or wobble is still apparent. . otherwise just enjoy the feeling of knowing u r mastering one of the more difficult rc hobbies there is yeps too low a headpeed will make the heli shake, as will flybar off centre and out of balance along with main blades ,shot main shaft bearings and also the head dampers not lubed up enuff. and of course other reaosn too. also training gear will accentuate any vibes at all.. specially if its flexi fiberglass type. when i was at the traoning gear stage , i once had the heli shake so bad i had to land quick as it looked liek it was gonna explode.

Also Vallon, with the tail boom if u find the belt is continually coming loose drill i tiny pilot hole in from the top and put a tiny screw into the boom through the main frame to stop it loosening . i had to do that works a treat. just make sure u dun make the screw too long as to come anyweher near the belt.

laterss
james

Thanks a bunch Pilot77. The belt in the boom was not coming off, but just thought maybe it was too loose because I just now read my instructions on putting the tail boom on and they said to pull the boom out a little bit to tighten the belt after putting it on and I didn't do that. I just put the boom on and screwed it in. Ok I will try that. I just have the main rotors loose enough so that they can center themselves as the spin fast, then I will tighten them after centering. I saw different places that that centers the blades if you have them loose enough that they will move by the force of the spin, but no so loose that they flop around. But I will try these things and let you guys know how it goes. Otherwise I am still hover training. It is coming along very slowly, but it is coming. I can feel it!

No probs Vallon,
Keep practising and be patient and above all don;t give up!!. even with the hard days, all the good ones u;ll have will make the frustrating ones worthwhile.