How "good" is your control in all orientations?

[P@reez]

How 'precisely' are you able to control your heli in all orientations? What I mean by this is as follows:

Case 1 (precise corrections):
In a tail in hover, if my heli starts drifting forward and right (in a diagonal), then the correction I apply is backwards and left (apply both corrections simultaneously) so that the heli corrects itself also in a diagonal. I call this very precise correction because the corrections are being applied perfectly oppostive to way the heli is drifting.


Case 2 (sloppy corrections):
In a tail in hover, if my heli starts drifting forward and right (in a diagonal), then the correction I apply is backwards and left (but I don't do this simultaneously. I first apply backwards correction and then left correction) So that the heli corrects itself not by diagonally moving back to center, but rather first moving backwards and then moving left. I call this very sloppy correction because any corrections that need diagonal stick input (a mix of elevator and aileron) are being done by breaking the correction down into a "forward-backward" correction and a "left-right" correction and applying them one after another.

I find my upright corrections are a bit more 'precise' but my inverted corrections always get broken down into the two components (forward-backward and left-right) and thus are a bit sloppy.

[ArchmageAU]

Originally Posted by P@reez

How 'precisely' are you able to control your heli in all orientations? What I mean by this is as follows:

Case 1 (precise corrections)...(apply both corrections simultaneously) ...

Case 2 (sloppy corrections)... (... first apply .. correction and then .. correction)

Depends on how tired / distracted I am.

Good day. All orientations case 1.
Average day. All side orientations case 2.
Bad day. All but tail in upright and nose in inverted case 2.
"Better not fly" day. All case 2.

Oddly enough, this is something I don't think about. I just "do". The corrections are automatic (this is what I originally strived for). I occasionally get a correction wrong, but this is happening less frequently. Have 100s of hours of sim time to thank for this.

Now if I can just stop over-correcting

[P@reez]

For my upright orientations I didn't really have to consciously work towards making all my corrections 'case 1'. It just happened over time. I think the slow piros really helped.

But inverted is always 'case 2' for me. I think I just need to be more diligent about the practice regimen. Maybe also throw in a 'compass with diagonal movement' exercise.

1) Hover in the center of the compass in nose in, inverted
2) Move heli to some compass point (say NW) (Keep the same orientation as step1 thru the move)
3) Hold for few seconds and then bring heli back to center of the compass
4) Repeat steps 2 and 3 for next compass point.

Repeat above exercise for side-in and tail-in orientations.

[clicky]

Let me be even more cheeky than other two:

Yesterday I found out that while pirouetting upright CCW 9 to 6 o'clock I do very little corrections unless they are really slow pirouettes - I just wait for it to come to nose in before correcting. Inverted pirouettes are slightly better - but even then CW inverted (equivalent to CCW upright) I struggle a bit around 3 to 6 o'clock.

I am much better with CW upright and CCW inverted (but as I said both inverted are quite closer to each other).

Anyway if I slow them down a bit I can pirouette helis quite precisely...

PS feel free to pick even cheekier example! :p

[RogerRabit]

Put up a practise flag and hover slowly arround , nose in, side in, tail in

Cw and CCw

Everytime on a little windy day you are more than half a helis size away from the position you should be, you have a weak spot.
Be careful especially in inverted, corrections might drive the rotor into the flag.

[Russell Harding]

Pirouetting is when this really becomes apparent. It is really tough to correct precisely the right direction as the heli spins.

In a slow piro, proper use of diagonals is essential. In a fast piro, timing/anticipation is most important.