keeping the heli in 1 line

[mr. mark]

Hi guys,

silly problem to which you might have tips

I seem to have some trouble keeping the heli in 1 line. For instance, when I do a move from left to right (or right to left) like a looping, roll, candle, whatever, i tend to drift away from me.
Somehow i find it hard to see if the heli is drifting away from me. When i see it, it is usually too late to correct it and the move becomes messy

Maybe i'm too careful / too afraid to let the heli come towards me and I overcorrect to the other side, but apart from that I can't really think of the reason.

Some friends have the same problem.
Any tips on this are welcome

[Chieftan69]

Yeah, I have this same problem. My description would be something like the heli seems to be "sliding" around, almost as if it is on ice. I think this is something that improves and goes away with more time and practice. I have been practicing the slow upright piros that are Lesson 1 of the "From tail-in to all 8s and funnels in 6 months" thread.

This has been helping me. Once you get comfortable with orientation and cyclic control, so much so that it's second nature, I believe this problem will go away.

The reason for the drift, or sliding, appears to be from not applying the correct amount of aileron and/or elevator in the appropriate direction (obvious?). The slow upright piros will combat this, AND the over-correcting.

Disclaimer: I'm a newb too, only slightly ahead of you from what I can tell. However, this is what I have gathered from my own experience, practice, and reading. Perhaps someone with more experience will provide some insight. Just trying to be nice.

[Russell Harding]

Side on moves are VERY hard. There are very few queues to pick out the orientation and drift of the helicopter. Also, the tail rotor trust is variable able blows the machine towards you when tail right and away when tail left.

Time and practice and you'll learn to pick up the queues and corrections.

[ArchmageAU]

Originally Posted by Chieftan69

Yeah, I have this same problem. My description would be something like the heli seems to be "sliding" around, almost as if it is on ice. I think this is something that improves and goes away with more time and practice. I have been practicing the slow upright piros that are Lesson 1 of the "From tail-in to all 8s and funnels in 6 months" thread.

This has been helping me. Once you get comfortable with orientation and cyclic control, so much so that it's second nature, I believe this problem will go away.

The reason for the drift, or sliding, appears to be from not applying the correct amount of aileron and/or elevator in the appropriate direction (obvious?). The slow upright piros will combat this, AND the over-correcting.

Disclaimer: I'm a newb too, only slightly ahead of you from what I can tell. However, this is what I have gathered from my own experience, practice, and reading. Perhaps someone with more experience will provide some insight. Just trying to be nice.

Comfortable with orientations does make it MUCH easier, but there is no substitute for field practice.

Took me what seemed like ages of flying at the field to get comfortable with left/right passes. Working on placing 8's where I want them, 8's from sideways passes, side on loops, rolling passes, etc.. all help.

As Code3Medic said, side on moves are VERY hard as there are very few queues to pick out the orientation and drift.

Oddly enough, I think flying a plane would also help (so you are used to the trajectory of sideways movement). Some of the better precision heli pilots I know of locally also fly (or flew) competition planks.

Comfortable with orientations also means you are more likely to fly out of problems than into them. Makes the practice a lot cheaper .

(Flew 7 batts on X5 and 700 this morning - gorgeous weather here 22C (72F), sunny, <8km/h (5mph) wind - Tail end of Melbourne Winter - Fun and relaxing working on precision instead of 3D - advantage on working offset hours with OS clients)

[mr. mark]

thanks guys, good to hear it's not just me

i think i will invest some time in perfecting slow side in maneuvres. The very slow piro is a good exercise, maybe i should practice those for a while