Hi all,

I have been practicing flying the heli on a sim for a month or two now. I am slowly building my heli.

To maximise time away from the sim, I would like to use visualization techniques.

I have used these before to improve my guitar playing, so figured it could work with a heli.

Has anyone dabbled in this...?

I am having problems visualizing stick movements and heli movements in combination.

I think this is because a heli is in constant movement, it is hard to put a scenario together in my mind. And my stick movements and their effect on the heli are a still reactive more then automated.

I guess it comes down to experience...I can't visualize what i havn't seen before...I am not sure what to study (except for my own trial and error) to create this knowledge.

Any comments ?
Thanks
Alf

Hey Alf,

I have had a tx in my hands for many years flying planks. It has become completely automated to me. Now I been flying helis since May of this year. The main difference, IMHO, between the heli and the plank is the heli MUST be flown at ALL TIMES. Good/Bad things can happen to a heli very very quickly and if you have to THINK what stick does what to make the heli react then most of the time.... it's too late. (unless you're way up.. up in the air )

Just like playing the guitar (I'm a bassist) it's practice, practice, practice more practice etc and so on. I am very at ease flying my helis at this time with my present ability but I had to work hard at getting there. I do know my limitations but I can whip a heli about the air (no 3D) without thinking what stick does what, when and where. That came from practice, practice and more practice. I'm a firm believer in using my flight sim to make me a better pilot. I can pretty much do whatever I can do on the sim in the real world, but I must do it on the sim many many times without a 'mishap' before I would try it on one of my beauties!!

It's practice, practice, practice and more practice and you must push the envelope a 'little' to progress to your next level of heart pounding heli flying.

Cheers & good luck

Rich

Just remember the basic stick movements for your different orientations....

Forward flight.... Tail rotor (T/R) and Aileron side to side together
Backwards flight T/R and Aileron spread apart or pushed together
Forwards inverted Same as backwards upright
Backwards inverted... Same as normal forward flight.

Keep those in mind and the rest will help you.....and then as you've already figured out....practice practice practice...

--Paul

Hi all,

Thanks for the discussion...

I have been thinking about it more and realised that I needed scenario's to visualize and solve.

I have attached a drawing of a heli with arrows to indicate what has occured.

In this scenario, the heli is going backwards at an angle towards the ground. While this is happening, the tail is rotating to the right...

What stick movements will correct this situation...? Aileron left, nose forward and add a little throttle...

I then visualize this whole scenario, including stick movements and see the heli correct. The heli would then move to another scenario that needs to be solved...(unpredictable, so I would probably just estimate how the heli would react...and develop a new scenario.)

While I am on public transport travelling to work, these little excercises could go a long way towards improving my flying...

My next step will be to develop a few more scenarios and also figure out how to create rotated 3d pictures that remove the need for arrows...

any comments?

Originally Posted by alfabeta

In this scenario, the heli is going backwards at an angle towards the ground. While this is happening, the tail is rotating to the right...
What stick movements will correct this situation...? Aileron left, nose forward and add a little throttle...

If I understand this correctly, you do not need ailerons here, but rudder.
If the tail is rotating counter clock wise (seen from above) and the heli is setup like the big majority (to fly the nose not the tail) you should add right rudder, down elevator and positive collective/throttle.

Sorry I just re-read the scenario and caught on the "on an angle" part.
Then yes you could use the ail to correct the angle and then depending on the position you are when you stop the banking, you add elevator up or down (all this depends how fast the tail is drifting). Plus collective/throttle
According to the drawing it seems to me that it would be aileron right (not left)

So if you are facing forward and the heli starts to go left and backwards right? And the nose is going left. When you use rudder, think of controlling the nose. NOT the tail. It will only confuse you. Because that way, right rudder makes the tail go left and the NOSE RIGHT. So...

If your nose is going left and your helis is falling the same way, in my opinion. I would actually KEEP going left with the nose and then that way you can get the heli going forward in the direction you are falling and you then pull back on the elv. and it will level you out. You will be like 145 degrees from where you started, but it works.

Just remember the nose vs. rudder though.

Originally Posted by ferincr

... If the tail is rotating counter clock wise (seen from above)

If the tail is YAWing counter clockwise ... then ALL of the heli is YAWing counter clockwise ... including the nose.
Nose left and right is the preferred method of describing YAW. Left and right YAW is always in reference to the HELI's left and right.

So ... no matter which way you are "seeing" the heli (tail in, tail out, inverted tail out, from the left side or right) ... a right rudder stick will always turn the nose of the heli to the helis right.

"... tail is rotating counter clock wise (seen from above) ... is much simpler when said ... " if the heli is YAWing left ... "

Originally Posted by tippy

If the tail is YAWing counter clockwise ... then ALL of the heli is YAWing counter clockwise ... including the nose.
Nose left and right is the preferred method of describing YAW. Left and right YAW is always in reference to the HELI's left and right.

So ... no matter which way you are "seeing" the heli (tail in, tail out, inverted tail out, from the left side or right) ... a right rudder stick will always turn the nose of the heli to the helis right.

"... tail is rotating counter clock wise (seen from above) ... is much simpler when said ... " if the heli is YAWing left ... "

Well, excuse my poor English...
That's what I meant.
As far as "right rudder stick will always turn the heli's nose to right" let me correct you there, but I read in few places that some people setup the heli to fly the tail (so right rudder stick would turn the tail to the right).
That's the reason why I tried to make it clear when I said "if your heli is setup like the big majority"
Fernando

Originally Posted by ferincr

Well, excuse my poor English...
That's what I meant.
As far as "right rudder stick will always turn the heli's nose to right" let me correct you there, but I read in few places that some people setup the heli to fly the tail (so right rudder stick would turn the tail to the right).
That's the reason why I tried to make it clear when I said "if your heli is setup like the big majority"
Fernando

I wasn't dinging you on your English ... just the fixation on observing the tail.

My statement of "... right rudder stick will always turn the heli's nose to right ... " was qualified to be correct with your previous statement of " ... if your heli is setup like the big majority ...".

So my statement is correct ... as long as your statement is correct.

Why was the "correction" needed???

As far as the English, I didn't mean it in a bad way
I just tried to stick with the way the description was exposed, I don't fixate on the tail.
Sorry I didn't get that part (the rudder stick part)
My apologies, let's continue with the original subject otherwise we will end up drifting away...
Fernando

If your gyro was working correctly, your tail wouldn't be pivoting to the right