Scott in SoCal
Dec 10, 2006, 01:11 PM
I bought a Walkera #60 a few weeks ago at Dymond Motorsports in San
Diego. The speed controller was bad out of the box, so I had to return
it (thanks Nigel for the suggestion). They were very helpful and
installed a new controller. The technician tested it out and trimmed it
for me.
The plan was simple. Take the helicopter to a big empty parking lot,
install training gear, and try to hover 1 foot off the ground. I set it
up and was working the controls a little just to get the feel. I got
caught up in what I was doing and started playing with the trim
controls too. Then I suddenly realized that I had no idea what the
settings were from when that the tech had trimmed the helicopter. That
was the first mistake, not counting of course buying a collective pitch
helicopter trying to fly it on my own without any experience.
Next, the second mistake. I spun up the rotors a few times and cut the
throttle just as it was leaving the ground just to get my feet wet. So
far, so good. Time to try to hover. I increased the throttle until I
was 1 foot off the ground. Then a split second later 1 foot became 3. I
freaked out a little and tried to reduce the throttle. Instead of
slowly decreasing the left stick, I slammed the right stick all the way
down. The helicopter rared up at a 45-degree angle and stalled. The
tips of the rotor blades were chewed up. I looked it over and decided
the blades were okay enough to fly (we'll call that mistake 2b). I've
since learned not to fly with anything less than perfect blades since I
could get impaled if they fly apart at ridiculous speeds. Anyways...
The third mistake was the one that hit me in the wallet. I was able to
consistently get 1 foot off the ground without overdoing the throttle.
I was even able to make it hover for a few seconds a couple of times.
Mostly, though, it was drifting wildly to the side. Luckily, I had
plenty of room, so I would just cut the throttle before it went too
far. No problem except that I was slowly making my way toward the curb
at the edge of the parking lot. The sun was starting to go down and and
I figured that I had enough room for 1 more hover before I called it a
day. I figured wrong. The helicopter drifted faster than I anticipated
and smacked into the curb. It didn't look like it hit very hard at all,
but I ended up with a cracked rotor blade, bent rotor shaft, and broken
landing gear. Only about $25 to replace everything, so not too bad I
guess.
So, where do I go from here? My plan is to get a sim that will work
with my controller (I've looked at Pre-Flight because it's inexpensive
and Reaflight because it seems to be the best one from what I've read).
Until I can hover with the sim, I'm effectively grounded, I don't care
if it takes 6 months. In the meantime, I'll repair the helicopter and
check the LiPo from time to time to make sure the charge is maintained.
Once I can at least hover with the sim, I'm going to get some help
before trying to fly again. I'm sure I can find some place to get
lessons or someone who would be willing to spend an hour or two
babysitting while I give it another go.
Hopefully, another newbie will read my sob story and pay attention to
the warnings that I ignored...
Diego. The speed controller was bad out of the box, so I had to return
it (thanks Nigel for the suggestion). They were very helpful and
installed a new controller. The technician tested it out and trimmed it
for me.
The plan was simple. Take the helicopter to a big empty parking lot,
install training gear, and try to hover 1 foot off the ground. I set it
up and was working the controls a little just to get the feel. I got
caught up in what I was doing and started playing with the trim
controls too. Then I suddenly realized that I had no idea what the
settings were from when that the tech had trimmed the helicopter. That
was the first mistake, not counting of course buying a collective pitch
helicopter trying to fly it on my own without any experience.
Next, the second mistake. I spun up the rotors a few times and cut the
throttle just as it was leaving the ground just to get my feet wet. So
far, so good. Time to try to hover. I increased the throttle until I
was 1 foot off the ground. Then a split second later 1 foot became 3. I
freaked out a little and tried to reduce the throttle. Instead of
slowly decreasing the left stick, I slammed the right stick all the way
down. The helicopter rared up at a 45-degree angle and stalled. The
tips of the rotor blades were chewed up. I looked it over and decided
the blades were okay enough to fly (we'll call that mistake 2b). I've
since learned not to fly with anything less than perfect blades since I
could get impaled if they fly apart at ridiculous speeds. Anyways...
The third mistake was the one that hit me in the wallet. I was able to
consistently get 1 foot off the ground without overdoing the throttle.
I was even able to make it hover for a few seconds a couple of times.
Mostly, though, it was drifting wildly to the side. Luckily, I had
plenty of room, so I would just cut the throttle before it went too
far. No problem except that I was slowly making my way toward the curb
at the edge of the parking lot. The sun was starting to go down and and
I figured that I had enough room for 1 more hover before I called it a
day. I figured wrong. The helicopter drifted faster than I anticipated
and smacked into the curb. It didn't look like it hit very hard at all,
but I ended up with a cracked rotor blade, bent rotor shaft, and broken
landing gear. Only about $25 to replace everything, so not too bad I
guess.
So, where do I go from here? My plan is to get a sim that will work
with my controller (I've looked at Pre-Flight because it's inexpensive
and Reaflight because it seems to be the best one from what I've read).
Until I can hover with the sim, I'm effectively grounded, I don't care
if it takes 6 months. In the meantime, I'll repair the helicopter and
check the LiPo from time to time to make sure the charge is maintained.
Once I can at least hover with the sim, I'm going to get some help
before trying to fly again. I'm sure I can find some place to get
lessons or someone who would be willing to spend an hour or two
babysitting while I give it another go.
Hopefully, another newbie will read my sob story and pay attention to
the warnings that I ignored...