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Vintage RC Helicopters - Phil
Phil sent the following article and though as yet not a
'proper' heli person it appears that he might have been caught !!!!
HELICOPTERS
An unbiased view about the evil things;
Flying a model helicopter
has been likened to balancing a ball bearing on a sheet of glass. If the
mechanics of the chopper have been adjusted and aligned very well, it is similar
to having a flat piece of glass. If the helicopter is not set up properly, it is
like having a convex piece of glass where the bearing wants to keep rolling off
to one side.
It is actually harder than that, you need to add someone with a hair dryer
trying to blow it around, plus the problem of trying to control the height with
the 'throttle' stick, the one bit of good news is that modern gyro's locks the
tail and makes a good job of yaw control.
From from
Cervantes Don Quixote "I intend to do battle
with them and slay them. With their spoils we shall begin to be rich for this is
a righteous war and the removal of so foul a brood from off the face of the
earth is a service God will bless."
Although I have never
tilted at helicopters, yet, I did and still have a slanted view of them, so it
was a surprise to many and myself when I bought a Shogun 400; flying has always
seemed magical to me, to see something float silently though the air, it doesn't
matter whether it's an AirBus A 380 a or a paper dart. A helicopter though
does not have this magic using a huge amount of power and noise just to stay in
the same place. So why have I bought one? Perhaps it's comment from the
elderly when I try prop hanging " he shouldn't be doing that, if he wants to
hover he should buy a helicopter" - No - I think it was to find out if I could
fly one.
Phil (Jan 2009)
PERSONAL COMMENT - Phil has chosen a 'Shogun'
to start with; not a 'common' helicopter these days and quite a few years old
however, good choice as I had one of these to complement my Zoom when I was
learning. Once set up correctly they are quite stable and can be used both
indoors and out. In fact the Shogun was the helicopter with which I
successfully completed my first 'proper' circuits (by this I mean circuits I
intended to do, not just stopping one 'flying' away on its own). It could
also take quite blustery conditions though the collective control was seriously
hard work to keep it still.
My Shogun in a low hover.
To Phil, all the best and by the way a T-rex 500 is the next helicopter to
get........................
Helicopters part 2. An unbiased view about
the evil things,
Leaning the hover, week 2
It is the hover that put me off helicopters, everyone says the hover is the
most important part and spend hours practicing it, tank after tank of fuel
and going nowhere. Paul Gurr is probably the only person who went straight
to flying round and doing aerobatics.
The first thing is to
get it set up, this is very easy for a beginner, you just let a heli guy do
it for you. Taking off most of the down pitch is helpful if it is going to
be used indoors, then if you shut the throttle it will not accelerate
downwards. |
Mark trimmed mine out, I watched as he slowly opened the throttle, the
little heli eased a little from the ground the training frame still
touching, but it leaned to the right, Mark adjusted the trim and eased into
the air, adjusted the rudder, moved around a little then hovered stationary
and settled it back down.
Then it was my turn, I took off wobbled a few times and landed, I did get to
hover for a while but it went charging across the field. Then I had radio
problems and had to give up.
Indoors at Bentham
The weather has been awful during the week so I was looking forward to
flying at the indoor session.
My first attempts were really bad, as soon as I got near to hovering it
skidded across the floor very fast with the training frame still touching
the floor and that's the way it went for the first 2 batteries, just
skidding sideways, retrieving and trying again. On the third battery I had
the courage to get it two feet in the air and hovered for a few seconds,
but as I was holding my breath it was not for long, I managed to do some
more hovers on this battery getting |
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slightly longer
flights, I was very lucky that I got the hover quickly, some times it can
take many hours to get to this stage, being able to prop hang helps but I
can not get the rhythm right and over compensate too late causing the
oscillations and wobbles. I made no improvement with the next 4 batteries.
The training frame saved it a few times when I lost control and it went
sliding across the floor
I now need to get on with hovering tail in until it's steady, I will try to
configure the free flight sim to behave the same as my shogun. For some
reason I do not like the flight sim and can only do a few minutes on it.
Phil |
PERSONAL COMMENT - Whilst learning to hover
can be time consuming for a helicopter it is the most important manoeuvre.
The majority of flights start and end with the hover and it can be likened to
the take-off and landing of a fixed wing aircraft. Anybody can 'yank' a
plane into the air and 'splat' back to earth however done correctly and in a
manner fitting the aircraft itself it is a joy to behold; likewise a good
hover.
Helicopters. An unbiased view about the evil
things,
Getting a steady hover, week 3
The difference in stability between a helicopter and a fixed-wing aircraft is
often compared to a child's swing which is hung by steel rods. If it is pushed
from its normal motionless position and then left alone, the swing will sooner
or later of its own accord stop exactly where it was originally. The stability
of a fixed wing is similar. A helicopter, however, is like the same swing, only
this time balanced upside down. If disturbed it will fall away from where it was
with ever increasing speed and will never attempt to return to its original
position.
To me it seems worse than that, add in what one flight simulator calls cyclic
instability, the heli does not want to keep still.
Due to poor weather and the wind I had not flown my little Shogun until
Saturday's evening session, this started badly with some very wobbly hovering
and lots of advice not to move the sticks so much. I made some improvement,
enough for the heli crowd to recommend removing the training undercarriage, this
will stay for a while. I can now hover but only tail in and needing 100%
concentration.
Phil
Helicopters . An unbiased view about the evil
things, 
Moving it round, week 4
one of the first things I noticed about helicopters was how stable they are in
Yaw, what I did not know is the fly bar stabilises the heli in roll and pitch
resisting any changes. The complexity of the paddles, weights and mixing is far
too complicated for me. If I nudge my little E-flight mCX in flight I can see
the fly bar move and the little heli stabilises itself. If you want to know how
it works type "Bell-Hiller System" into Google
I had a couple flights outside, this did not go well, I was very careful flying
indoors, not going above shoulder height and keeping it close. Outside I relaxed
a little and before I could get my act together it was 15 feet high down wind
and nose in. Panic and desperation took over and I stuck the nose down and
reverted to fixed wing mode flying back to me rather fast. Unfortunately I swung
the tail round too fast and cut the throttle too much resulting in a blade
strike in spite of the training frame, I got away with this time.
During the next flights I took more care but struggled with the wind having a
lot of problems with height control
That's the last from
Phil for a while as through summer he intends to concentrate on his thermal
gliding.....
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(VRHC - Vintage
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