spinin

I have FMS flight sim and i built a cable to hook up my TX and i'm trying to learn how to fly a heli
now if you move your left stick left does the tail rotor move left or does it move right ? me and my uncle have been debate about this for about an hour we need to know this answer so we can learn how to fly right

ChopperMike

Left stick is your yaw control, equivalent of rudder in fixed wing. Left stick moved left means NOSE goes left and vice versa. Right stick is cyclic control, right stick moved left means heli moves to the left, right stick moved forward means heli moves forward, etc. The Right stick movements are dependant on the heli being oriented tail towards you, nose away from you.

Mike

Charlie

If you move the left stick left the tail goes right (the nose of the heli goes left). When flying helis, you fly the nose, not the tail.

Direwolf

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altacom

My Feedback: (3)

That sure helps me as well. I have been trying the RADD training program, and using my G2 Simulator, and he bears down on watching the tail in the training. It took me quite some time to get the idea that it's just like flying a plane. "get in the pilots seat" Then right became right and left became left. Till then I was also confused as I was watching the tail of the craft not the NOSE.

Now I have to figure out the rest of the thousand things it seems you have to get familiar with

ChopperMike

Good luck with it. Helicopters certainly demand your utmost attention! I know a lot of experienced airplane pilots who would have a tough time of it since they fly with their right hand. The left stick is for steering on the ground and to make the engine go from idle to full power! That's it! Heli flying requires a lot if finesse. But don't worry, you'll catch on sooner than you think.


Mike

spinin

thanks for your input i was wondering how accurate a flight sim or if any flight sim can come close to what i will be up against when i get a real one thanks again

rusirius

Well, let me put it to you this way... I spent about 3 weeks on a sim before ever attempting to fly my ship. The very first day of my first flight I strapped the training gear on... After about 30 seconds of hovering, one of the sticks came out of the block and was hanging off the skid... I managed to set it down without jamming it through the rotor (touched the stick and then set the heli down diagonally to "lay" the stick down.... Re-attached the stick, made sure all was well, and went up for another flight... This time it took about a minute of hovering before all FOUR sticks came undone and were dangling down.... I finally managed to set it down okay and figured if I didn't get rid of that training gear it was gonna CAUSE me to crash... So I ripped it off and went for it... Had no problems at all... I've had 20+ flights now, I'm flying inverted, nose in landings, loops, rolls, etc...

I couldn't have BEGAN to be at the level I'm at now if it hadn't been for the simulator. You can learn VERY fast because you aren't "afraid" of busting the ship... You can push yourself harder and quicker. The biggest part of learning to fly a heli in my opinion is learning the muscle memories for given situations... The simulator does an excellent job of teaching you that.

The WORST part about learning on a simulator is that it IS a simulator... In other words, the FIRST time you do any manuver, no matter how many times you've practiced it on the sim, it will ALWAYS send your heart through your chest and get your adrenaline flowing. Course this would be the same case even without the simulator, perhaps more so... The reason is, you don't KNOW for sure it's going to handle exactly like the sim... The first time is an "unknown"... After the first one though, you see it's no biggie, and does handle just like the sim, and you can relax and go on just like you would on the sim...

As for which sim, I learned on G2... I like G2 and it works well, so does the helis... I have since "graduated" to Aerofly Pro Deluxe... It puts G2 to shame.. The physics are incrediable, the graphics are insane, and all around it's a great package. Reflex XTR, while I haven't tried it, is also supposed to be an excellent package... Again I don't own it myself, but I have heard from a couple people that do own it, that the airplane physics are not quite as good as they could be... heli physics are superb... If your interested in both helis and planes, and especially 3D flying, AFPD may be the better way to go... If your only interested in helis, then Reflex XTR may be a better option. What ever you do, stay away from G3 though... It's riddled with bugs, the graphics aren't that great (compared to the others), and in my opinion the physics are HORRIBLE.... (and yes, i have used all of them except for Reflex XTR)...

Good luck!

gjeffers

ok here i go, another newbie that just got my afpd going and flew my planes and guess what i found????????? A HELICOPTER!!!!!!! well i have it pretty much right but i have one more question and thet is on the collective pitch (up down) is forward (up) on the left stick up or down???

gonna have to get a heli now.
thanks gary

ChopperMike

I couldn't agree more. I started with heli's about 1987. No sim and no help. I had very few crashes while learning to fly but then I was taking it very easy. I didn't even attempt forward flight for several years. If I had used a sim it certainly would have been a shorter learning curve.

However, I have to completely disagree with you on G3. I just purchased G3 a few days ago and am very satified with it. I have used every sim currently available to some extent and was prepared to get Reflex once I got a better computer capable of running it. I was not at all impressed with G2, the physics just weren't there. I thought the physics on my DB RCFS 2001, as bad as they were compared to the current crop of sims, were better. Reflex was much, much better than either of these and from what I've read the physics on G3 are a vast improvement over G2. Better/worse than Reflex, who knows. I've flown many of the FW A/C on G3 and they seem to be right on. I owned an Ultraspsort 40 and it flew just like the US on G3. The heli's seem to emulate very closely the type of model they represent. I spent many hours researching sims prior to getting the G3 sim and the general consensus was leaning towards G3. This may just be because most hobby shops carry RF, only a relatively few will carry Reflex, Aerofly, CSM etc. Bottom line is: Any sim will help minimize the damage to your model and no sim is going to be identical to your actual heli. Use whatever you want.


Mike

gjeffers

my question to hard mike?

ChopperMike

Oh, sorry about that. Left stick (collective pitch/throttle) moved up, or forward, is increased pitch, heli goes up. Collective stick down means less pitch, heli descends. The collective pitch and throttle are both controlled by the left stick and is dependant on the settings of the pitch and throttle curves. These curves are selected by the idle-up and throttle hold switches on the radio. Two schemes are used depending on the individual setup. One has the heli hovering at half stick, the other has the heli hovering upright at 3/4 stick and inverted at 1/4 stick. In the latter, the heli has 0 degrees pitch at mid stick and when the stick is moved up, the throttle increases and the pitch goes positive. When the stick is moved down from mid stick, the throttle again increases but the pitch goes negative, which if the heli is inverted, makes it go up.



Mike

gjeffers

just razzin ya mike, i appriciate the laymans info. do ya know if i can set up the throttle curve on a jr xf631 or not. what i have now is a constant throttle setting it just pitches up and down evenly whether upright or inverted.

thanks Gary

rusirius

Interesting! Let me rephrase what I said just a little more... The physics as far as airplanes in G2 seemed pretty bad.. ESPECIALLY for 3D manuevers, etc... The heli's however I felt were fairly close.. For the G3 physics, I think the airplane physics are MUCH better than G2.. Heli's seem about the same to me. The 3D physics are MUCH better in g3 than g2, but I still think they need some work. My BIGGEST complaint with G3 are some of the various bugs I ran across.. There were lots of times I'd be flying say 20 feet away from a tree and SMASH... Times I would taxi down the runway and it would just bounce way up in the air, or crash, or whatever.... I also felt it missed some of the important features from G2... For example, I couldn't find any way at all to adjust expo on the various channels when using the controller... It's funny you mention the ultrasport... I had just the opposite experience... I also previously owned (and flew for about 5 years) and Ultra Sport 40... I also for the past 2+ years now own an Ultra Sport 40+.... I felt like the Ultra Sport 40 in G2 was almost dead on... Very realisitic... I even modified the specs to match the US 40+, and again it was almost dead on to the plus... However G3 had a "wrong" feel to me for some reason.... I could never quite place my finger on what it was, but there was just "something" that didn't feel right about it. If I had to describe it the best way I could, it's not exactly right, but it almost seemed like it was flying through "really thick air".... I'm not exactly sure how else to describe what i felt.. If you ever get a chance, try out a copy of Aerofly Pro Deluxe... (the deluxe has improved physics) I'd be interested to hear your comparison on it compared to the G3... Regardless, I agree completly, almost any sim out there is going to serve it's purpose... Hell even FMS works, it just hovers WAY to easy and transitions back into a hover WAY to easy... Still you'll be training your muscle memories and learning what inputs are required for given situations...

ChopperMike

Yes, I believe the 631 has 3 point throttle and pitch curves. The default settings will be 0-100% for both the throttle and pitch servos.

gjeffers

thanks mike ill give it a try!!!

ChopperMike

I have noticed this. Several times my AC crashed when it was CLOSE to a tree. Sometimes if you nose the plane over it will "melt" into the asphalt and disappear!

Most of the time it works OK. I'm sure that all the sims out there have their share of prolems. Overall I'm happy with G3. As you say even FMS will give you some benefit. With FMS (or DB RCFS 2001) though, it's a little too easy. Loops, man are they easy on FMS! Don't even need to manipulate the collective. First time I did a loop with my actual Evo 50 it was a little intense. Good thing I was plenty high.


Mike

spinin

thank for the input all i have right now if FMS and i thought it was to easy to fly a heli,i'm trying to save up for a good sim but i guess anything will help.

Charlie

After only 20 flights on the real thing you doing all that? I think the Szabo's brothers better watch out .

Radd

I know someone who did it 19 flights......while eating a sloppy joe...

danielnibo

Hello guys,
I want to fly my heli inverted, with Aerofly PD but I don´t find the way to get inverted pitch with it (Futaba 7 CAP). Throttle chanel moves also pitch, I set curves (pitch and throttle) for idle up, but... nothing, I can´t.
Could you help me?

Daniel
Bariloche
Patagonia
Argentina
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