Coming out of forward flight.

[72mhz]

I've basically known that with a heli, you start with a hover and end with a hover to land.... but what is the normal type of transition you are aiming for when coming out of forward flight? Seems on the sim, I come in too hot and over shoot my position or over correct things a bit from FF to hover and have reduced too much collective and come in hard. I've read where some come in and do a low auto-rotation by using their TH switch but I'd rather not go that route just yet. I kind of picture coming in like you would a fixed wing craft till the heli is right infront of you and transition into a hover, turn tail in and bring it back to yourself or even nose in as far as that matter goes and land.
I know this is probably a simple concept and I'm making it a bit harder than it should be.

Thanks for your suggestions.

[BaconRaygun]

Sounds like you are talking about approaches...

What you need to do is raise the nose and reduce collective... you will have to get a feel for it. It’s really almost the same inputs as an auto, but with power.

What you are doing here is:
A) Removing rotor thrust from the equation.
B) Using the air that is moving through the disk to slow you down.
C) Using collective to control altitude/rate of descent.

Don’t exaggerate the inputs, were talking a very small and gradual pitch up.

As you slow down, push the nose down a bit... you don’t want to get into a situation where your forward speed goes to 0 and you are nose high... Not really a sticky situation, but if you are learning it may freak you out a bit.

Yes, I guess you can say it is somewhat similar to slowing down a plank... except you cannot stall.

[Rªzª]

eventually you'll be able to "lean" away from the momentum and use positive pitch to slow your progress to a stop regardless of hos fast you are coming in.

[Avi_Y]

At the end of the approach, level the Heli some 1m high, and only then land.

[biffster]

Of you feel you are coming a little hot to land, don't be afraid to pull a tight turn in your favored direction. If in doubt, upon final approach , make sure you can climb to altitude while you maneuver into your flair and touch down. [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8X-cAfsQlE&feature=youtube_gdata_player[/ame]

Good luck. Biff

[Scott1115]

FWIW, I was told from day one to always land in TH. EVERONE at the club does this - EVERYONE. The reason is easy....if you loose it or it tips over, you do not do the chicken dance and pieces do not go flying and hurt someone, let alone destroy the helicopter. A tip over in TH a foot off the ground will do little/no harm, the chicken dance will cost $$.

Slow your momentum from forward flight and the when level, reduce collective to drop altitude. Turn the helicopter to the desired orientation, get about 1-2 feet off the deck, hit throttle hold and "play" with collective to try and keep the heli floating at that altitude. As head speed falls off the helicopter will slowly drop to the ground softly.

[BaconRaygun]

FAI requires powered landings... I have yet to tip any one of my helis landing under power. Only time I have ever tipped was with the 450 practicing autos.

You wont chicken dance if you are good with TH.

[Scott1115]

You're right, but the OP sounds like he is in the early stages of forward flight, not an accomplished FAI pilot. Over correction with ground effects causes a lot of near ground tip overs, especially if he's using a FBL system. I agree with you, if you're good with the TH, you might be okay...again panic produces problems.

[Avi_Y]

Alternatively, you can set "normal" flight mode to be ungoverened, and land with a curve where zero stick is motor idle. That's how it was done before the governor days.

[DethWshBkr]

Shoot, I just ram the cyclic the whole way back fast, jump in a good bite of the collective and slam it to a stop, then hover down to ground effect and either set it down or auto-in.

[gehrbox]

Originally Posted by Avi_Y

Alternatively, you can set "normal" flight mode to be ungoverened, and land with a curve where zero stick is motor idle. That's how it was done before the governor days.

That's the way I learned as well. The only gotcha is if it's electric and uses soft start when the esc sees zero throttle. Would be fine for learning to hover, but wouldn't want an esc to reset to soft start if you are already into forward flight.

If the pilot is into forward flight and using idleup, TH would be the way to go for landing once your back into a hover. However if you are not comfortable flipping the TH switch you are likely to unintentially bump either collective or cyclic. I know I used to do that until I got used to it. Guess it was fear that as soon as I hit hold it would drop like a stone.

If not comfortable with flipping TH then by all means have a normal mode with a throttle curve that drops to either zero throttle or 10% at low stick.

[Avi_Y]

Originally Posted by gehrbox

... or 10% at low stick.

5-10% will do the trick without resetting the ESC.