3 bladed head

[Gordon Dunn]

Just got my first 3 blade (Lama)- I will be putting the Shuttle aside and
taking her out this weekend hopfully. What differences can I expect having
3 blades and no flybar? hovering and FFF?


GD

[Rhodesst]

>Just got my first 3 blade (Lama)- I will be putting the Shuttle aside and
>taking her out this weekend hopfully. What differences can I expect having
>3 blades and no flybar? hovering and FFF?
>
>
>GD

Hi GD,

From my admittedly limited experience with flybarless heads, this is what I've
noticed as often as not.

Hover is pretty much normal although you'll probably have to tone down your
cyclic throws a bit. With all the cyclic command going straight to the rotor
blades and not having the flybar in there to moderate things, it doesn't take
as much swashplate movement to get the same response.

FF is also conventional but I found that I had to hold a little more forward
cyclic in fast FF. The flybarless models I've flown wanted to pull the nose up
in fast FF more forcefully than most flybar equipped birds do. Again, we don't
realize how much the flybar stabilizes things until it's not there anymore.

One other trait that comes to mind occures when entering an autorotation. Some
flybarless birds will try to drop the nose abruptly if the collective is
lowered too quickly while entering an auto. It's nothing you can't compensate
for and once the transition into an autorotative state is achieved, everything
works as usual. It's just something to be on the look out for until you learn
the idiosyncrasies of your particular bird.

Please note that these things are just general observations. They may or may
not apply depending on your model and how it's setup. It will have a little
different feel that you'll have to get used to but I think you'll enjoy it.

Good luck & Fly Safe,
Steve R.