3 o'clock to 1 o'clock issue

[JohnDoe.]

I am learning funnles an no matter if I try them CW or CCW I have an issue pushing the heli as it were around at this point of the maneuver. I am not sure how to get the heli all the way through. When I get to the 3 o'clock position going CCW the heli kinda slips out and drops down. When going CW same but starting at the 1 o'clock position. Any tips ?

[Steve Graham]

Funnels are a maneuver that uses very little to no control movement once properly established.

I would look at what is happening either right before or right at the moment that the heli "falls" out of the maneuver.

In the first case your heli may be describing an ARC that is not parallel to the horizon. If it is climbing or descending as it moves through the circle it will eventually fall out. This can be caused by the longitudinal axis being not pointed directly at the center of the circle or having too much or too little elevator, aileron or rudder to match the other inputs.

The second possibility is that as the heli hits the point where it "falls" out you are getting anxious thinking "I need to fly this thing" and changing one of inputs messing up a good setup. This may be unconscious but once again your controls should be largely fixed once the maneuver is established.

The REALLY hard part is getting to the point where you can make the subtle inputs necessary to keep the maneuver round over the ground when the maneuver is flown with a wind blowing. Before you can achieve this however you must get to the point where you can find the inputs necessary to hold the maneuver without wind corrections.

[clicky]

Originally Posted by W.W. Corrigan

Funnels are a maneuver that uses very little to no control movement once properly established.

Does the same apply for simple pirouettes?

[txheli15]

Funnels were one of the first things I tried to learn after learning basic forward flight. I failed miserably. After many awkward exits from failed attempted funnels, by accident I discovered that a funnel is just a circle. Except rather than the tail pointed backwards, the tail is pointed 90 degrees to the left or right, it's basically a sideways circle.

When I was learning to fly forward, I didn't learn to fly circles before I learned to turn, so why was I trying to learn to fly a sideways circle before I could do I sideways turn? It made sense to me, so I gave up on funnels and worked on learning to fly sideways in much the same way I learned to fly forward. Fly forward, slow flat turn in one direction or the other, followed by a little straight away, then another slow flat turn on the other end, then worked my way up to doing banked turns, figure 8's, then complete circles...tadaa, funnels!

[clicky]

I've learned them through learning slow pirouettes. Over time, I realised that I can easily do simple sideways circuits, keeping the nose and then tail towards the same point in the middle of the circle. Doing them faster and faster got to the point where I had to bank helicopter more and more and... that's how I got to funnels!

Also, unlike W.W. Corrigan I found out that I have to constantly correct them (funnels) as I let helicopter go around. That constant corrections to make made them much harder to what they looked initially like. All previous attempts to do it just by finding 'a sweet spot' where you don't need to correct it failed. Only when I was finally able to correct them all through the circle and correct them constantly I was able to speed them even more and now I can do them even with Protos in my garden (40 feet across) at angle over 45º . When given more space (i.e. not with Protos in the garden) I can do them inverted as well

But they do require you being very proficient in constantly correcting helicopter as it goes through the funnel. And as I already said - slow pirouettes did give me quite a good base to work on it!

[JohnDoe.]

All valid in inputs guys thanks . I will look into it but I tried also a hurricane and same thing right now I am thinking it's me and a vision issue more than anything. But with practice I think I can beat it I will post when I figure it out.