Everytime I try to lift off the ground the helicopter seems to get very violent. How can I tell if everything is balanced and the trims are where they should be. Also how do I know when the gyro is at the right level?

What helicopter? And are you using training gear?

1. Use a Koll or other type of balancer to make sure the blades are balanced and have matchingh CGs

2. Have you balanced the flybar?

3. Have you checked the main blade tracking?

4. Is your head speed too low (you should be hovering at about 4.5 - 5.5 degrees of pitch)

5. High gyro gain will cause the tail to wag but it shouldn't cause a violent vibration.

6. Are all of your servos (esp. the collective) nice and tight in their mounts?

7. What kind of training gear and how heavy is it?

8. The trims are right if the heli has no consistent tendency to drift in any particular direction from a stable hover in no wind. The only way to know is to fly it and take note of what it's doing. If the heli stays put for a moment when you take your hands off of the sticks from a nice flat hover, then begins to drift in different directions each time you try it, then you are ok. If it always drifts forward, then you need some aft cyclic trim, etc.

If you are flying a Raptor with training gear they have been know to shake violently in a hover, the fix seems to be shortening the rods on the training gear and make sure they are securely attached to the gear.

I have two helis - a MS Composit Hornet and a LiteMachines Corona - I can never seem to get the gyro set to where it seems like it should be and as soon as they lift off the ground they go racing off in a random direction!

I don't know what to tell ya, I taught my-self to fly with the LMH100 and all I can say is they fly well when trimmed out but they are small and just take a lot of practice, Same goes for the Hornet. It's really just the nature of the beast, helicopters are at best neutrally balanced which means left on their own they will wonder off in any direction, it just takes lot's of practice to anticipate what they are going to do next. Is there someone in your area that can help you out, both of those helicopters need to be setup properly to fly well and if you could get some one to give you a hand it would be much easier than trying to walk you through it all here.

yeah there are people in my area - I think the problem may just be my overcorrections and improper setup - I think I have the Corona set up ok now but the MS I can't get right to save my life!

I have a piccolo which is similar and it is very touchy to set up, a little change in one area can make a big difference in another, it flies pretty good inside but is a waste of time outside if there is any wind. What I recommend is working with the Corna and when you can fly it then get out the Hornet. Good luck!

Yeah I hear alot of people say that you should 'master' other heli's and then come back to the micros