Landings had been working well....so of course I changed something

[irob]

I read a thread in the main forum about what the OP called a "baby auto". I understand it's not a true auto or that seemed to be the consensus.
I had been landing that way with one exception. I was just hovering max about 1 ft. off the ground and hitting TH but not adding any collective after that. It has worked fine without the collective input, no tip overs, good landings. But the suggestions were to add some collective after flipping TH. The logic sounded solid so I thought I'd try it.
I hovered at about 1 foot, flipped the TH on and then added collective. No forthought about the how much collective. So way too much. The 450 popped up about 3 feet. That surprised me and I quit flying it and watched it bounce on the skids and slowly tilt till the main blades hit, not very hard.
So $4.99 locally for a new skid and the lesson in how much collective is optimal for this landing technique. Cheap crash but irritating because a little forthought and I would have gone home happier.
Live, learn and pay for the lessons.

[BonesR1]

I have had my 450x about a year,but as for flying time I am still a total newb. When I come into land,about ten feet up I flip off the idle up switch. Then slowly land and as soon as my skids touch then I flip the throttle hold on. I would rather have some control even at one or two feet off the ground.

[PaoloFCantoni]

Originally Posted by BonesR1

I have had my 450x about a year,but as for flying time I am still a total newb. When I come into land,about ten feet up I flip off the idle up switch. Then slowly land and as soon as my skids touch then I flip the throttle hold on. I would rather have some control even at one or two feet off the ground.

I've always come in under full power in IU - sometimes I put in a tiny bit of negative pitch to bring it in from about 30cm (1ft) up. If the heli starts to tip (rare - if I've come in horizontal), I give it some negative pitch and it seems to settle well. THEN I hit TH.

Like BonesR1, I want control till I'm ready to give it up. I figure the amount of momentum lost in those couple of seconds (and the possible impact - pun intended - of lower forces on componentry) should I actually crash isn't worth the loss of control.

It doesn't take long to not panic when the heli tips a bit and just drop the pitch. Happened to me on Sunday, it gently started to tip to the right after a bit of a bounce, so a bit of negative pitch and it settled. This is because the right hand skid is on the ground so the only way for the force generated by the negative pitch to act is to bring the left skid down - righting the heli.

I'd appreciate comments on the technique as "I made it up as I went along".

Paolo

[irob]

Thanks Paolo and Bones. I land everything else under power. Just got early advice from a friend to do the TH thing. Then HF posts for adding positive collective. Still working this whole thing out not just landings. So I'll keep working on it.

[bundydeity]

its really how you prefer to land. i land under power every time, even with my logo 500. once i'm on the ground i hit throttle hold.
there is no right or wrong way.

if you werent crashing during landings prior to trying 'baby autos' then go back to what you were doing.

[Coco66]

Originally Posted by bundydeity

its really how you prefer to land. i land under power every time, even with my logo 500. once i'm on the ground i hit throttle hold.
there is no right or wrong way.

if you werent crashing during landings prior to trying 'baby autos' then go back to what you were doing.

... or just keep doing it so at the end you will have both skills

[ArchmageAU]

Originally Posted by irob

...
I hovered at about 1 foot, flipped the TH on and then added collective. No forthought about the how much collective. So way too much. The 450 popped up about 3 feet. That surprised me and I quit flying it and watched it bounce on the skids and slowly tilt till the main blades hit, not very hard.....

The addition of collective is only to counteract the slowing of the blades. It should be added only as required.

Unless I am doing full autos, my normal land for the 450X is to hit TH about 1ft off the ground. Only once on the ground do I add negative collective to pin it till the blades have slowed to no longer allow tip over.

Hope your 450 is back up in the air again soon.