Hi, I have a question regarding the usefulness of mastering sideway and nose in hover.

I understand it's definately required to be able to hover a heli nose in or from the side. But must we attain the same kind of proficiency as in regular nose out hover?

Nose out hover is the basic hover we all learn first. I pretty much mastered that.

Right now I'm practicing sideway hover and I thought I was pretty good already (on the sim) but when I took out the heli today for a try I broke the blade (no other damage, thankfully). I was being too close to the ground so it didn't give me enough chance to recover. I also got nervous and that's a factor behind the crash.

So my question is, is it really useful to hover a heli close to the ground from a nose in or side way perspective? This is because when we do autos or land, we can always change the heli into the nose out position. I see people at my field do autos and they always adjust the nose when they flair and land.

Obviously, we must learn to CONTROL the heli from a sideway or nose in perspective. But is it necessary to be able to HOVER it at a stand still?

Maybe usefull to do so...

Chances are the spindle is bent, you should take it out and roll it on something flat to check it out. It's not very often you break a set of blades and not bend the spindle.

Profiency level is different for each pilot. At what point do you say "I'm good enough"? If loosing control and crashing in that orientation is "good enough" for you then ... yes ... why practice at it any more. However, if you feel the desire to be able to not crash in that orientation then I'd say you need to practice more ... become a little more proficient
Necessary is a strong word. There are only two things necessary in the RC heli hobby ... enjoy yourself and don't get yourself or anybody else hurt.
The RC hobby is about being able to do something that most people can't do (yet). Being able to confidently control your heli in any orientation is a big confidency booster. Remember when you were able to hover a whole tank in the tail in orientation. Remember the sense of accomplishment. Every (successful) accomplishment of a new orientation or new maneuver should bring the same elation.

Just remember, the orientation that you decide that you don't have to be profient at is the orientation the heli will invariably end up in. You need to be at least a little proficient at that orientation or be very good at getting it to a more comfortable orientation before it crashes.

Good Luck,
d.tipton

I think it is a necessity that will save your helis more than once in their lives...

But like was said, its personal choice and goals really.

If you are learning though, i found nose in to be easier higher up (where you can see alot of the bottom of the heli, but still be far enough out away to be safe)

Not only was orientation easier for me at a higher altitude, but it give you more time to get the tail back around and get control of it when you do get out of shape a little bit.

If you have one (and you should, i think, but again, just preference), use a sim. Realflight has an awesome heli-hover trainer now. It gives you a circle to stay in when hovering, and if you leave that circle, you explode. You can set it to start you at random orientations so that its not always tail in...Im flying in forward flight doing basic stuff (figure eights, stall turns, ugly funnels) and i use the sim for learning new stuff, but i still use the hover trainer. For the sheer fact that you can set it to start you inverted (even randome between inverted and normal) so that its a surprise, set the circle to small (5 feet) and it becomes a challenge and a great learning tool for me, in inverted hover...

Saying that just made me think of something else as well. If you cant wrap your head around nose or side-in hover, you wont have a chance with inverted hovering. BUT -- learning nose in was the hardest, once you train your brain to think differently, the other orientations come natural...so its worth the effort.

Have fun!

Its easy to get a heli into an orientation you arent familiar with when you are learning. If you get familiar with all the orientations then you wont panic. A great tool on the sim is to set the rudder trim full right or left (do both) and try to keep it still as it piros, then try to fly it around, then reverse the rudder trim, this is good for learning inverted orientations as well. One of the reasons I havent crashed (yet) while learning piro flips is no matter what orientation the helicopter stops at, whether upright or inverted, nose in or tail in, I've practiced it and I dont panic, I dont have to think, my fingers take over, thats what you are after, control in any attitude without having to think.

I remember once when I was learning nose in, I put it in the ground. One of the more experienced guys at the field came over and said that he didn't understand why people are fussing over perfecting nose in before getting into fff. He said that when you start ff, you'll eventually gain more experience naturally in different orientations, and the heli will be high so you still have time to recover to tail in when you get all messed up. I kinda see his point on this........I guess everyone has their own learning curve.

Necessary? No. Good idea? You bet.