Looking for some input on how to help with the transition to nose in. I have been flying for a while now, but can't seem to get too comfortable on transitioning to nose in.

I can hover tail in, side in (both sides) while maintaining constant altitudes and do that in a t-shape where the heli is out in front hovering about 5 feet and go 30-40 feet left or right and turn around to come back.

Basically flying small circuits and at the end of the distance turning the heli so that the nose doesn't face me. Its a left turn when the heli is out to my right and a right turn when its off to my left. I can make those turns nice and coordinated without loosing altitude.

I don't feel comfy turning nose in that close to the ground because I know I will wad it up that low. I have been practicing nose in by getting the heli up about 50 feet or so and getting a stable hover then swinging it around and trying to keep it steady but it usually ends up peeling off in one direction or the other before I say whooooooa! and swing the tail around and get it back in control.

Thats working a bit but I don't feel too good about that either, chances are that when it goes wrong one of these times and I can't get it back the resulting crash ought to be pretty spectacular.

Has anyone learned to do some nose in by throwing the training gear on and setting the heli down in an area it can slide in and then using radds method with the nose facing you instead of tail in?

I know the sim would probably solve these issues for me but I don't have a laptop capable of running it where I spend my weeks and when the weekend runs around I usually spend most of my time with the actual heli that I just haven't justified the purchase yet. That and the fact that "She" will probably go Lorena Bobbit on me if that UPS guy shows up one more time. Come to think of it, I gotta be careful with that UPS guy spending so much time at my house when I'm out of town!

When the wife starts calling the delivery guys buy their first names, then its time to worry.

Another option if find usefull is to order a token something for her to be delivered before or during your deliery.

Or, send her shopping when you're waiting for the delivery.

Or tell her its a warranty item

Or tell her you traded for it.

The list goes on and on.



Back to the point,

I have the same issue with nose in. Sounds like we are about the same skill level. I get real anxious when the nose is facing me and quickly peel out back to tail in.

Michael

lol, ive been having the same problem with nose in....kinda tricky, i just have to keep reminding myself that which ever way its starting to go, to the stick in that direction....funny how easy it is to fly tail in, then switch over to nose in and its a different fight.

When you turn side in and get settled down slowly walk a step at a time in front of it. dont hurry it but as you slowly change your perspective youll soon be getting the hang of it. Also from side in you could go another 45* nose to you for a short time. Not fully nose in but the idea is to take small bites at this while your mind has a chance to learn to react instantly and get used to thinking of getting "conected" with what your trying to do.

Best way I have found without a sim is to fly a figure 8 then slow down the nose in leg a little slower each time spending more time nose in each circuit.

Always have a bail out plan, if you get disoriented give power to get it moving up, and some rudder to get it tail in so you have time and room to get it under control. Practice the bail out once in a while so its automatic. Eventually you will slow the nose in legs to a crawl and before you know it you will be hovering.

I have been wanting to get the figure 8 thing working but something to do with how I do the turns on the outside has me screwed up. When I start from a hover (tail in) in front of myself and go off to my left, I will automatically make that turn to the right (which keeps the tail in basically) as opposed to turning to the left which means I would have to be nose in for way too long. It switches on the other end, basically flying in a manner that minimizes that time.

I have gotten the brain connection down by saying to myself heli going right - push right and that seems to work but still in that area of confusion. I know what needs to be done, its getting the signal from the brain to the hand...

I ended up skirting the top of a tree yesterday and really have no idea how I got it back on the ground in one piece.

Lots of good helicopter noises! generous amounts of positive collective and throttle saved it and the fact that the tail is so excellent I suppose.

I will try the walking along with it and see how that helps. I have been told to face away and look over my shoulder though I think that might defeat the purpose.

I'm still a newbie and I have been using BH's method. Fly the figure eights slowly and pull back slightly on the elevator when it's nose in.

My orientation secret, which is working very well for me, is:

Imagine the right stick is an extension of the mainshaft rising above the main rotor and flybar. Then always (imagine, pretend, believe) that you are always standing behind the heli. Then just push the main shaft to where you want it to be. Play with that a little and see how it feels. If you can keep your mind behind the heli and your hand on the extended main shaft you'll always move it the right way.

Concentrate! If you let your mind get back to the flight station it's bail out time.

Autos or next.

Hope this helps,

If you're just concerned right now with being able to keep it in a nose-in hover the simpliest way is to remember when tail in , move the stick the direction you want to go as if you are sitting in the pilots seat and when nose-in move the stick in the direction the heli is drifting . Trying to remember you are in the pilots seat in both orientations will get confusing . Get it up to about 30 feet and swing the tail around until nose-in . If you get confused simply swing the tail back to tail-in orientation and start over .

Yeah some good advice there. I too am a realtive newb to all this but I will suggest that if you are at all serious about conquering nose-in hovering then I couldn;t recommend a flight sim like realflight more than enough! In less than a month on the sim I have got the all hovering aspects sorted out, forward flight, rolls and loops. Now of course this is all on the sim and I too gutless at this point to try it for real but I am still gobsmacked at how fast I have advanced just from the sim alone.
Everyone will tell you that nose-in hover is probably the hardest of the basics to master but all I can suggest is persist, persist, persist! Try and really push yourself out of your boundries. I basically started forward flight as soon as I could reasonably hold a tail-in hover and whilst it was dam hard and very frustrating, practising figure 8's constantly pretty much trains your brain to the ever changing orientation of the heli. I just kept doing it & doing it and before long you will be nose-in hovering and not even realise you're actually doing it. The other thing that helped was once in control of a tail-in hover I started practising piroettes and this too will make you adjust to the orientation pretty quick smart. It will all eventually come naturally as your brain becomes a customed to the different orientations of the heli and the way the controls change. That fact that you are capable of FF and firgure 8s means that you are not far off mastering nose-in hovering. It takes time but you need extreme patience thats all.

"Everyone will tell you that nose-in hover is probably the hardest of the basics to master but all I can suggest is persist, persist, persist!"-mozzzy 2000

You know, I hear lots of people say that to. I guess that's just one more thing that says I am not like the average bear. I found tail in and nose in to be much easier than side in.

Yeah I didnt want to say but I really didn;t have an issue with nose-in hover but I didnt' really want to come across as "show boating" lol
For me I was nose-in hovering before I even realised that it was "meant" to difficult. Now I do sound like a complete prat!

I suppose I didn't have much trouble with nose-in because I am used to swapping inputs to orientation from driving rc cars for so long. Same with you maybe?

I've had a few cars in my time but it isn't helping me much, just turning the wheel is pretty easy for me when compared to trying to give the right input on the sticks.

Much smaller inputs are required on the heli IMO and I think thats part of my problem. Not so much the left and right of it but adding that in with the elevator movements. My brain just hasn't clicked yet. Patience will be of no problem, I think I have plenty of that lying around.

I want to snag the sim, and probably will sooner or later, just wouldn't do me much good at the time being because of my living situations. This week has been rainy (Of course we need it so I'm not complaining) so its not too productive for flying.

Maybe between showers today

That was my thought/suggestion. I don't have much problem with nose-in but I still drift a little with nose-left. For reversing controls, I've noticed that I 'snap' into an unconscious "I AM the plane/boat/car" when running a plane/boat/car but I've been nervous with the heli so I was too conscious of trying to keep track of orientation and couldn't relax enough to make the perspective shift. (doing much better in the last few weeks) I was going to suggest trying an inexpensive r/c car and run circuits in the driveway/kitchen, etc. Learn how to drive at yourself as if YOU were the car, then try to shift that feeling to your heli. FYI, try parallel parking a RC car facing you. bigger challenge than just driving a track! just my 2 cents.

I'm in the same boat as all of you but instead of purchasing the actual heli as yet, I get Real Flight 3.5 to get familiar with the basics. I've learned the hard way from flying my plane that sim time is valuable and now having limited time on the heli sim, I can say it's definitely a good investment. After almost a week of tail in hovering practice for maybe 30 minutes each day, I can hover ok but still have trouble keeping it in one spot. I guess this will come with time. I just hope the transition from sim to actual heli is somewhat similar as I don't want to be surprised.

Planning to purchase a Trex 450se v2 in the next month or so and build it up. Also planning on a new radio and I've heard good things about the DX7. Any opinions are always welcome.

Browsing around on the forums today I see that G4 (realflight) is coming out soon. Unless I see some big discount at the LHS I will wait for g4.

The DX7 is a nice radio if you ask me, you can't go wrong with it. May cost a little more than the futaba but I like the look and larger screen.

As far as the heli goes, The rex is a good option and with so much support out there for it you should be all set if you have a question. Get a gy401 and futaba 9650 for the tail, holds very well.

Might check out the mini-titan, I bought one and love it.

at our lhs they had realflightv3.5 with the up grade kit on salr for $159.00, he said the v.4 will be around $200.00.. i dont know how much better the v.4 can be. i imagine you will need a good pc to run it properly. i am using a fms right now. it is helping with the orientation.

if i decide to swing for real flight i probably will just buy the v.3.5 with upgrade. the 40-50 bucks you save will buy a few parts you know your going to need... my 2 pennys anyway... jake

Made some good progress yesterday. A few more days like that and I should have it down.

Flew at the local baseball fields, there was a nice breeze coming straight and steady over the field and it really seemed to increase lift substantially. I was able to use a much lower throttle setting than normal and still hover.

Got the bail out plan figured out well and am after 4 batteries I was much less nerve up about it. Been practicing with the nose in about 40 feet up and out in front of me. When I get to the point where its like second nature, I guess I will bring it back closer to earth.