Don't forget Idle-up when going inverted!

[jolynsbass]

Just a reminder to all - don't forget to switch to idle up mode when you are going to do something that requires negative pitch!

Had my first moment of that "What the...?!?!" experience yesterday, when I went to do a rainbow-type move, and down she went! Hit throttle hold, scratched my head, and then looked at the TX and realized my mistake. Doh!

Only broke a little tail blade, so an easy fix. Went down right on the edge of the potato field behind my house - glad I didn't have to go traipsing through the farmer's field to get it. (I have had to do that for my airplane more times than I care to recall!)

[ArchmageAU]

We have all done it at some time (fortunately mine have only bee with nano and 130x, no damage).

First invert of flight always quick and at altitude. Gives time to save if still in normal.

Alternatively, you could remove normal mode. Just have an alternate way of getting to zero throttle if the hold switch should fail.

[gstoneberg]

I did it today, checking tail gyro settings on my 450x. Thankfully I didn't flip it but tried an aileron tick tock in normal mode. Surprised me quite a bit when the motor went to zero, but I had plenty of head speed to get back to level and the RPM came back up so there was no incident. Back when I flew the dx6i I did change all my models to have full pitch throw on both normal and IU. But now on the Taranis I have a normal mode which I normally switch out of the minute I break ground. Today though with the nasty tail wag I was fighting I got distracted. Might start taking off in IU1.

[Epoweredrc]

one more reason i flip to stunt mode soon as i am airborne

[ChasingTail]

I only use "idle up" modes....what most use as the "normal" position is my "stunt mode 1", followed by stunt mode 2 and finally stunt mode 3. My start up sequence is I select my model, enable throttle hold, ensure my collective stick is at center (zero pitch), then plug in battery. After initialization I perform a preflight then turn off the Hold switch. Once the Heli is up to speed I lift off.

[TTMR]

pulled this trick today, no issue with the nano, just wait out the fall

[JuhoV]

"normal mode" is relic from those days we does´t have electric helis. It is unnecessary with electric motors and good soft start. Just use throttle hold and thats it.

[jhamel]

I've also done away with normal flight mode. I went inverted low to the ground; I managed to save the heli, but could see me doing the same mistake again if I were to keep a normal flight mode.

I am not sure what is the purpose of normal flight mode on larger electric helis.

[nick4622]

I stopped using normal mode along time ago. Now I take off and land in idle up. I plug the battery in throttle down, and I flip the throttle hold then put it into idle up. Walk it to where I want to take off, center throttle stick and flip off throttle hold. She spins up with soft start and I take off. When it's time to land I bring it in to a nice stable low hover and mini auto down to the ground by flipping the hold back on. This has worked perfectly for me for the last couple years. Give my method a try, you will like it.

Nick

[FailureToFly]

The issue is what happens if your TH switch breaks or you bump off TH whilst carrying the heli to the flight line.

I've done it by accident and now hold my TH switch. I have a normal mode with zero throttle as a second TH.

We rely on the fact that these little cheap ESC's will always function as expected (soft start, safety cut outs etc) even when we repeatedly smash them into the ground and keep using them.

I err on the side of extra caution as I don't honestly need three different headspeeds to fly with.

I have had a TH switch snap off whilst using the TX.

[HarryR]

It's all about procedure.. everything works if you follow a procedure. However... a procedure is also meant to keep you safe and / or keep your equipment safe. Therefor a double safety of Normal + THold is what I prefer just in case I sneeze or hit a switch by accident.
Things happen in a hurry. I remember just doing a hop-up with a Blade 450X in the garage and setting the bird down again. Then, I flicked the TH and somehow, I flipped the Idle up and the heli shot to the ceiling and basically destroyed itself. Turned out that there is a time delay before it gets disarmed. I have been extremely careful ever since!!

[jhamel]

I actually have three "motor off" positions:

1) Normal FM switch position flat 0-0-0-0-0.
2) TH switch flat 40-40-40-40-40 (motor off in quick bail-out range)
3) Trainer switch set to Throttle cut at -130. I use this to turn off bail-out at the end of the flight and prevent possible quick spool-up.

[deanwesterburg]

I stuffed my Raptor 30 in trying to do a loop for the same reason about 7 years ago. It discouraged me so much that I've just been getting back to the hobby in the past year.

I agree with the get it into a hover and then Idle up the remainder of the flight habit. I've adopted it this time around and it has saved me from the mistake several times!

[clicky]

With appropriate pitch (and throttle) curves and strong enough helicopter (even nano with brushless upgrade counts as strong enough) you can easily flip to inverted and not even to notice that you're in 'normal' mode.

I started experimenting with my 130X and found that I can easily fly in normal mode as long as I don't need a 'pop' while in inverted: bump in collectives before some moves (flips for instance). If you do it you'll notice heli being sluggish and that will prompt you to go to idle up.

With weak helis (so far old mCP-X and non brushless nano for me) you can still do it but you have to be very, very careful with collectives in inverted. Not sure it would be relaxing to do it with my 250, but all other bigger helis I have without any issues (and have been doing it - by mistake, of course! )