matador_24

Hi guys, I would like to know about your opinions of the altitude where I should keep the heli flying. I am a newbie, I can control the heli very well, FF, nose in, but, I have realized that when I crash it's because I am flying low, a bit of lost control, I try to land but most of the times it doesn't work (specially when it's on grass) and I finish up crashing. I was just thinking if instead trying to land, is it better to lift up higher and try to recover the control again?????? What do you do when you feel you loose control?????
I read in a forum long time ago that "altitude is our friend", what is true in that????? For me, personally I am afraid of going too high because I just think that a crash since that altitude (let's say 15mts) will finish up my heli, that is why I keep it low, maybe 5mts high, but last time I crashed, it was very low and it was seriously damaged, is there a big difference between flying high or low??? what do you prefer? Thanks.

W4RCF

I'm a newbie too but can do 3D on the sim and control my heli with no problems. Keeping it high is ok, but realize that you can easily lose orientation if too far out OR too high. My best advice to you is to keep it about waist high, land with the tail toward you, and land it with the front part of the skids touching down and then reduce throttle totally. I used to have trouble with the tail touching down first and cutting grass with the rotor, but since landing with the front of the skids touching first, no more problems! My worst crash (and only one) was sitting on the ground! I had my head speed up a little too high and looked down at my timer and then heard the main blades striking the ground. It was so light on the skids that a puff of wind was all it took to tip it over. Hope this is some help to you! Oh, by the way, if you have any trouble with "floaters" in your eyes, be very careful about looking at a bright background. I had a big floater move over the heli and could not make out what it was doing (up high again) and I had one of my buddies standing close by land it for me. Went to the doctor and my first eye operation is next Tuesday! Had another problem altogether that I didn't even know about.

TheBum

Another newbie here, and I like to keep mine probably 10-15 feet off the ground. Ironically, as in your experience, my Diablo's worst damage has been sustained from crashes while flying about 3 feet off the ground, including two bent booms. The one crash I had from about 12 feet up resulted in damage that took about 10 minutes to fix (broken blades and a bent spindle, IIRC).

cheuett

What is a floater? is it a bug? Or is it one of those kind of things that looks like you can see a vain in your eye that moves around? It makes it kind of fuzzy. But nothing big enough to cover an entire heli? So im no docter, but what is it?

W4RCF

Floaters are pieces of vitreous humor that have broken away from the retina as I remember. No cure for it and big ones can be a sign of bad things to come. I have some of those bad things coming. Tuesday of next week I get a partial cornea transplant and a cataract removed. after that one heals (if it does and doesn't reject) I get the other eye done. My floaters are sometimes a long thing like a worm, often coiled up like a snake (which is when it covered the heli) and sometimes it takes other shapes. I only see it looking at a bright background (like the sky with no clouds or a computer screen with a mostly white background.) Sunglasses have helped somewhat but it still makes me a little apprehensive when flying something that could cut your head almost off. Take care but have fun!

heartofmadnes

Flying higher is your friend, I learned this years ago as a newbie..Sometimes when you are lower, and control gets a little hectic...When you panic and try to correct itself when lower you end up having a blade strike. To be honest a crash is a crash, I know when Im doing 3d or FF real low and things may get a little nasty, I instantly give full thottle to get high and dry from the land real quick. And when you go higher it seems to give you the time to correct the heli then bring it in for a comfortable landing..It has been mentioned on this forum before that height can save..Im one to agree 100 percent.

thestratcat

My Feedback: (12)

I'm staying in the 10-20 foot range, a newbie like you guys.. I find that I get a bit disoriented still if I go much higher.. and lower don't give me the reaction time to cover my screw ups... like said above, I am very quick to nail the throttle if I have a problem to level it out... which usually works..

I think now, most of the mistakes are pilot error with me (either mechanical ones that I should've caught or just me)

BryFlyGuy67

Wow! Good thing you went to see the doc! I hope everything goes well for you.

matador_24

Quote:

"Flying higher is your friend, I learned this years ago as a newbie..Sometimes when you are lower, and control gets a little hectic...When you panic and try to correct itself when lower you end up having a blade strike. To be honest a crash is a crash, I know when Im doing 3d or FF real low and things may get a little nasty, I instantly give full thottle to get high and dry from the land real quick. "

Yes, I am sure I read that in another forum months ago, but I can't still get it!!!!! I know that panic sensation, hehe, it comes and it's just on you! shaky thumbs! and heart rate high. I always prefer to try to land (and I crash 100% sure!!!) rather than gaining height!. I am gonna try to switch to your technique. I am just really afraid of bringing the heli down out of control from 15mts high and make it pieces. I don't know how strong a t-rex is and I am afraid of trying it. I don't really want to crack my carbon frame or damaging my gyro or bending the metal head or grips!!! I guess it will happen one day. When I panic the most is when it's windy and there is some breeze blowing up the heli and I can't bring it down when I want, I try to stay calm but I finish up reducing the throttle and I loose a bit of stability and sometimes I crash. I wonder if it's better to have more negative pitch in those windy days, does anyone know?????

TheBum

It's really not that hard to get used to. It's a matter of developing the instinct to keep the heli in the air rather than giving up on it. I think what really helped me was flying in my constrained backyard, which has a lot of foliage around the edges. If I start drifting toward the edges of the yard, I know that I need to try to recover it by giving it collective because if I give up on it, it will crash into the shrubs and do some real damage.

heartofmadnes

Think of it this way matador...But first off I know how you feel, you get instant butterflies in your stomach and panic sets in...But this is what I have learned, As stated above..If I give up on my heli and bring her in, knowing its gonna crash but not so hard, but still crash and take you hours to repair it..I took the risk and said PUNCH IT get it the hell out of that mess its in..and with all that height I have now the time to relax and bring it down..And here is some advise on getting the rex back down if its too high. go into idle up/2 you can control your altitude with no problem.

matador_24

I have never tried IDLE 2 (you mean -10,0,10 in pitch, right???? in the SIM doesn't look that hard and yes, I guess that is one of my worse fears. Sometimes I have had some windy days and I hate when there is wind blowing up the t-rex, bringing it higher and I can't bring it down easily when I want with normal mode (due to the -1 pitch I guess), I have to reduce the throttle and therefore I loose some stability and power. Is it there where I can use the IDLE2????

heartofmadnes

Im an old school flyier so I always refer to it as stunt mode...Dont be afraid to flip the switch, It is intimidating at first when you hear that head speed kick in but, it really is more stable..Just make sure if things still go ape sh&t to kill the motor. I use a dx6 so thottle cut is my best friend incase things happen.

rlsloan

Psychologically, 4 to 6 feet is good for a beginner. 10 to 20 feet ahead of you. It is the sweet spot for carefully watching what the machine is doing. Once you stop doing circles and are able to hover, start practicing pitch movements. Forward, back to hover, etc.

matador_24

A total new experience, I did it, I flew high, about 50 feet high, no crash after 15 flights, nice 15 flights, (until today ) I am good at the FF, nose in, flips and circuits, . Flying high has helped me a lot to improve my skills and it's way more fun, and as you guys said, that gives you more time to react in case of loosing control and you fly faster!!!! really cool. But yes, crash is stronger, it was pretty windy and due my inexperience and high forward speed, it went off the park where I usually go and the heli started to be close to an avenue I was pretty nervious thinking on crashing against a car and I tried to stop and turn fast but I just lost control (it didn't reach the avenue) and it went straight to the paviment: main shaft, shafering shaft, main blades, tail blades, tail boom, landing skid, elevator's servo gears, fly bar, pretty bad. It was expensive but really fun, I think I prefer it this way. I am not too sad of crashing, it was fun and now I know what to buy to have in stock in case of another crash [8D] but I am sure I'll be better faster this way. Thanks for the comments guys!!! A disadvantage though is that flying high and far doesn't let you distinguish sometimes the heli's position and it's more confusing to know exactly the angle of the heli, inexperience I guess.

TheBum

Congrats, matador! It's good to know that it worked for someone else as well as it worked for me.

rc-jj

i took the good advice from you all and got a little adventurous yesterday and took it a little high - you are correct - much better flight - i was only about 6feet off ground but much higher than my usual 1 foot....

thanks

TheBum

Flying at 1 foot is a whole different matter. When the heli is that low, it's still in ground effect, so it's no wonder you were having problems. Before I decided to get adventurous with the altitude, I was hovering around eye level or a little higher, which gets the heli completely clear of ground effect.

heartofmadnes

Till this date when I go sooo high it is hard to tell direction because trex looks more like a salamander that far up. I painted my canopy a hot pink color so its easier to see. I have another canopy painted this awesome black tigerstrip..But you cant see the damn thing when its sooo high...

Druss

another trick you can try is to paint the left and right side of the canopy different colors, this way when it's hard to figure out the orientation of the heli because it's too far you can at least tell what side is to you and can make appropriate turns to bring it back.

rcpilot1976

My Feedback: (11)

my trick is to keep it 14 mistakes high

matador_24

my number of crashes has decresed A LOT since I fly 40 - 50feet high

strat1960s

Matador,

Another thing to consider when landing is the surface you want to land on. If you have problems landing on grass or dirt use a sheet of plywood. 1/2 inch thick or larger should be fine. Thinner plywood has a tendancy to bend and bow over time. A good thick sheet of plywood will give you a hard flat surface to land on. If you're flying a TREX 450 size heli or smaller a 3 ft by 3 foot squar should be a good size. If your flying a larger heli or if you heli is kind of "all over the place" as you're landing it, go with a larger square of plywood. I've seen folks get all fancy with their plywood and paint it up to look like a heli-pad (large circle with a H in the middle).

Hope this helps some.

Ted

theDonDon

There are a few things all newbies should know that are rarely mentioned so here are a few of my tricks that may help.

1. Get some bright (Hot pink, neon orange or neon green) adhesive covering and cover your tail surfaces, vertical and horizontal stabilizers. Then put a strip on the bottom of your canopy and you will never lose orientation. you can always take the covering off later with a heat gun .

2. As others have mentioned, altitude is your friend, once you can hover good you should start running the heli at 20 feet or more so you have time to correct mistakes. I have crashed from every altitude and I can't say there is any more damage by being higher, I have had more damage from tipping it over on the ground in idle up than from 80 feet for example.

3. Wind is bad, if your learning just wait for a nice calm day, I cannot tell you how many times I have said "dammit I should have known better" after trying to fly or rather crash on a windy day I knew was going to cause trouble.As they say "my hindsight is 20/20"

4. The high pitch ratios (+10,0,-10) are for 3D pilots not beginners, when I started I tuned the pitch down to (+8,0,-8) and set all the CCCP percentages to 70% to limit collective and cyclic pitch. When your learning you want control which means slow movements until you get the feeling for what you need to do. I also set the throttle curve to (0,50,80), it shouldn't feel mushy on the throttle but you don't want it too jump in the air either, you want smooth presice throttle response, if you ESC supports throttle response set it to low.

5. use exponetial rates, some experts say no- but maybe they have always been experts in there mind, I am not. I used 20% expo on my cyclic the first year and am happy I did, many people I know commented on how stable my Trex was and the fact I could hover rock solid in a two foot square with no movement. When I told them I used expo they tried it and never looked back, It helps more than any other adjustment you can make when learning.

6. Fly the damn thing! don't let it fly where it wants to go, your in control or should be so take control. I have found being confident and focused is 90% of flying well, don't get me wrong you are going to crash over and over due to stupid mistakes we all have made but you shouldn't let it get to you, its all part of a very steep learning curve. As well your never done flying until the blades have stopped, some of you may have learned this the hard way I know I did.

7. Know where throttle hold is (set it to 0)and if you know your going to crash, I mean "know" your going to crash make sure you hit the switch "before" the heli hits the ground. The Trex is one tough bird and you can prevent a major amount of damage by cutting power so the drive train is free wheeling before you hit the dirt otherwise your doing the chicken dance and this is all bad.

8. Setup is everything, if you half-ass the setup it makes flying so much harder than it needs to be. My heli can fly hands off for 10 seconds or more, Yes 10 seconds or more. If the setup and balancing is bang on and the heli is trimmed out right the trex almost flies itself. So if your fighting the controls and always correcting something is wrong and its going to get you sooner or later.

This covers most of the stuff I had to learn the hard way, the trex is a very stable and tough heli which I abuse on a regular basis and Im sure once you get the basics down you guys are going to have a blast.

W4RCF

Some of the best advice I ever read! Thanks for taking the time to type it all up for the benefit of new fliers who are starving for information! I have the T-Rex 600 electric and it is one fine machine. Thank god I've never done anything more than a new set of blades when the wind tipped it over on the ground while I was looking at my timer (not done flying until the blades have stopped, like you said!) Very good stuff.