WWW.RTF-HELI.COM R/C-- HELI GUIDE ADVANCED

Lesson 1:
Stall Turns

The Stall Turn is probably the first 'Real' maneuver that should be learned. (Autos will be argued by some but hey, this is my page)

You should be

comfortable with flipping to Idle Up to maintain a good head speed. If not, go directly to Jail, do Not pass Go, and

do Not collect $200.

The first stall turns should be down wind. Fly by at full or near full throttle, first time nice and high, pull back the elevator (aft cyclic)

nice and slow

and release when the heli is pointing Almost Vertical. (Even 45 degrees is a good starting point)

You may now wish you had paid more attention to tail rotor, gyro, and Revo setup. Its too late now so just hang on, heli will

probably rotate on its

own before it starts to descend and/or return, help it around with rudder but do NOT try to push it the other

way, that could be a big mistake.

The Shuttle doesn't like flying backwards too much so chances are real good, before it gets too close to the ground, it will be flying

back at you

going nose first, albeit towards the ground. Just add the rest of your Collective, and slowly pull back the elevator until

almost level and release.

Do this over and over again, reducing the collective during vertical so it goes straight up and down and timing your rudder for nice

slow turns at the

top. Do these in both upwind and downwind directions, and turn rudder in both directions.

After a couple of tanks of fuel you will want to fine tune the revo mix.

Fine tune REVO...

If heli is trying to rotate at the top of the stall when collective stick is set for zero degrees, you will have to correct.

If Rotating Clockwise at the top of stall turn ADD a bit of tail rotor 'REVO' Pitch when Main Blades are at '0' degrees, Subtract a bit if

rotating

counterclockwise. These changes should only be done to the 'Idle Up Revo' settings.

Now go out and practice some more. When ready to try first 540, start applying the rudder just a little earlier. Under-rotating or over-

rotating will give

you a rush that will take a while to forget.

The following article was obtain from The Shuttle Page

RTF-HELI.COM
"The place to shop for modifications to your electric helicopter"

Lesson Two:
Loops

The Stall Turn was good practice for using both thumbs and getting a feel for the heli in abnormal flying positions.

Your head speed should now be well adjusted for idle up and the tail rotor revo mixing has no surprizes. The heli should be close

to being able to

fly hands off at fast forward flight, in idle up, without climbing, diving, or rolling. If adjustments are needed they will

be small, but will make a

difference.

Most radios will have a stunt trim adjustment. Usually a little down (forward cyclic), left cyclic, and left tail rotor will be needed.

Only

3 to 5 percent

should be needed for cyclic. (trim heli with 3/4 tank of fuel - when full heli will dive a bit, empty it will zoom)

Your

control setup should start

approaching maximim throws, using some expo (especially on fore/aft cyclic), and your normal flying

only requires minimal stick movement. No

more hauling the sticks around from corner to corner for normal flight.

Head speed is

more critical, 1500-1600, to ensure quick response if you

screw up.

NOTE*** Head Speed is more critical than lots of Pitch. No matter how much pitch you have, if the head speed decays, you will be

in a lot of

trouble. A head speed of around 1700+ will prove optimum once the collective/throttle curves are set for more advanced

flying.

Your Stall turns have taught you that it takes little Aft cyclic to get the nose pointing up and heli will carry some speed vertically for a

while. At least I

hope so.

Loops can be done many different ways. Your first will be surprizingly easy.

First Loop Attempt

You are

flying by (Fast), about 50-60 feet

up (300 if your eyesight is good), INTO the wind, (if any), and at 3/4 to full collective.

Start to pull Aft cyclic Slowly, leave everything else alone, as the heli goes past verticle continue pulling a little more Aft. Once the

heli is at the top of

the loop and fully inverted, you can pull the rest of the cyclic and release to normal just BEFORE the heli

appears to be upright and level.

Releasing

to 'neutral' late will cause the heli to zoom back up and kill what little forward speed you

have left. (You could then do one of your stall turns which is

now down pat ??)

Your first loops will resemble the small letter e to begin with and you will have gained altitude but at reduced forward speed. The

'head' may gain a

fair amount of speed during the down leg (pulling positive pitch while inverted), or bog a little due to additional

cyclic pitch. (Idleup curves now

become more important)

Just keep practicing to get the feel of the loop. After a while you can start varying the collective settings, on entry, at the top, and on

the down leg of

the loop to get them nice and round. By varying the Collective and Aft cyclic you will learn what is most effective and

desirable.

Extreemly large loops are possible with high entry speeds and very small loops are better performed with reduced forward speed.

By lowering the collective pitch a bit as you go over the top and then decreasing pitch even more during the downward leg, the loop

will be much

rounder and exit height will be much closer to entry height with much more forward speed built back up. Just

remember to read collective at the

very bottom of the loop.

Your two thumbs will be going in different directions at times so think it

through BEFORE you do it.

After a short time you

could try a variation of the loop, a traveling forward tumble.

Actually real easy.

At a moderate forward speed just pull full 'aft' cyclic, followed almost immediately with full 'negative' collective, once the tail has

rotated past the

forward position just reapply full 'positive' collective and release 'aft' cyclic when heli is flying forward normally

again. Its over before you have time

to panic.

Now burn another gallon or two of fuel and ROLLS will be next.

The following article was obtain from The Shuttle Page

Lesson Three:
Rolls

If you are still a little shakey doing loops and stall turns, GOOD. If this was 'easy' more people would be flying Helicopters.

Rolls are probably the most intimidating of the basic manouvers. Questions about roll rate, revo settings, and sustaining head

speed at

negative

pitch settings SHOULD be on your mind. If you have come 'this far' it is time to just GO FOR IT. Your basic setup

should now be

pretty close to ideal

for the 'Idle Up 1' mode. Fine tuning will NEVER end, and finding a new twist on setup is the

name of the game.

When doing your first roll, the Key is keeping FORWARD speed up. Keeping head speed high when going to negative pitch has

been

taken care of

with your setup by now.

Unlike an Airplane, you do not have the luxury of having a constant source of power pulling you forward. The Heli depends on

INITIAL

forward

speed to complete a roll. So we CHEAT a little bit. Just go into a shallow dive. First time it will be scary, but started

high enough,

you will survive.

Just DO NOT do what the Aircraft guys do and start the roll climbing even a little. As long as you

maintain forward speed,

all the little fears about

Revo mixing, roll rate, etc. will disappear.

Note*** A heli's forward speed is a function of "verticle lift" and "disk angle", sort of like constantly sliding 'down hill'. When entering

a roll,

the heli

should be in a 'Nose down' attitude, generating verticle lift and forward speed, as the heli rolls to inverted, the

applied negative

pitch and

"maintained" Nose down attitude will make consecutive rolls possible with a little practice.

The tails attitude (slightly high) will be maintained throughout the rolls without any control input to the T/R. (assuming a half decent

revo

setup).

Plank flyers will find doing consecutive rolls almost as easy with helis, only difference is pumping collective instead of

elevator.

Rolls can be done 'with the wind' or 'into the wind'. With the wind they will look smoother but started late, the heli may be a long

way out

before

completion. Done into the wind, the roll will look 'pitchy' and erratic but will not travel as far. Having said that, I don't

think it matters

much.

Lets Get Started....

Just sit down and think about the sequence of controls for a bit and do some dry runs with your thumbs BEFORE attempting the

roll in the

air. As

long as you do not panic you will pull this off with no sweat. For the faint of heart, start as high as you can and as

fast as you can.

The rest of you

just follow these simple directions. Make a big sweeping turn at the end of the field to conserve

forward speed. Settle into

a fast level pass at full

throttle/collective, making sure you are NOT climbing. The faint of heart should

actually be decending very slightly

to come back into sight.

Your level, your fast, the heli is right in front of you, your heart is pounding, Give it full aileron...Jeez, it seems slow doesn't it?...Can't

fold

now, in for

a dime, in for a dollar.

As it starts to roll, you should remember to give it full 'negative' collective (all minus 2 or 3

degrees), you

can slam it this

time, and work on technique in the future. It WILL come around, and it will NOT loose much, if any,

altitude. As it starts to

return to right side up, give

it positive collective again and release the aileron when level. The roll probably

looked better than most aircraft

rolls. With a bit of practice they will.

It won't be long now before you are trying consecutive rolls, split 'S's, Cuban '8's, reverse inside loops.

The following article was obtain from The Shuttle Page

Lesson Four:
Inverted Flying

Do not stress out over inverted flying. Now with simulators, learning inverted hovering and flight is easier than ever before. It is just

a matter of

going out to the field and doing it. Also, a heading hold gyro will make inverted flying a lot simpler because you don't

have to worry about the tail

drifting.

Some prerequisites are required to "safely" hover inverted. You should have mastered nose-in

by now. I have heard about people who

have learned inverted flight not knowing nose-in, but if they ever got in trouble they might

make a bad situation worse.

Also, nose-in is fun! ;o)

Also, maybe some rolls, loops and stall turns should probably be in your

arsenal.( This only my opinion) You should be able to fly the helicopter all

over the sky in forward flight comfortably.

It will make

you more confident in your skills to tackle the demon that is inverted flying.

Setup

The helicopter should be setup 3D. This means that at half stick on throttle/collective, pitch is 0 degrees and 50% throttle. At 3/4

stick is hovering

pitch(+5 or +6) throttle should be about 55% to 60%. At full stick the pitch should be + 9 or +10 and full throttle. At

1/4 stick should be your inverted

hovering pitch( -5 or -6) and 55% or 60% throttle.

At full bottom stick the pitch should be at -9 or -10 and full throttle. Now the pitch and throttle curve looks like a "V". This should be

setup on an Idle

up 1 or 2 switch on the transmitter.

Now, there are two different techniques to getting into inverted flight. One technique is to do a loop and "hang" it at the top.

Gradually, you can hold it

up there longer and longer. This method seems better if you don't have a simulator.

Otherwise, you can

practice hovering inverted on the simulator

and you will be able to hover inverted on your real helicopter very easily.

I learned tail-in

inverted hovering on the simulator and then I went out to

the field and got some altitude and took a deep breath and flipped the

heli over.

In a matter of three flights I was tail-in hovering inverted 5 feet off the ground in front of me.

Controls for inverted hovering.

Tail-in inverted hovering

Left and right cyclic is normal.

Forward and aft cyclic is reversed.

Collective is reversed ( moving throttle/collective stick down, the helicopter climbs)

Rudder is reversed (move the rudder to the left, the nose goes right.)

Nose-in inverted hovering

Left and right cyclic is reversed.

Forward and aft cyclic is normal.

Collective is still reversed.

Rudder is normal ( move the rudder to the left, the nose goes left.)

To this date there is no sure way how to learn inverted hovering and flight, but these are the two best methods.

Also, always have an escape plan. My escape plan was to give full throttle inverted and pull back on the cyclic. It is an easy escape

route because

you don't loose much altitude and timing of cyclic to roll rate is less critical.

Remember altitude is your friend, but

don't go so high that the

helicopter looks like a dot in the sky.

Do it at a comfortable altitude and Have fun.

The following article was obtain from The Shuttle Page

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