Curtis Youngblood autorotation class

[Imzzaudae]

This is a great video guys! Well worth watching.

Curtis Youngblood autorotation class (27 min 8 sec)

[burgboyz]

I agree 100%!
Watched it earlier this past week but I didn't think about posting it.
Thanks for sharing it.

[ArchmageAU]

Originally Posted by Imzzaudae

This is a great video guys! Well worth watching.
Curtis Youngblood autorotation class - YouTube

Originally Posted by burgboyz

I agree 100%!
Watched it earlier this past week but I didn't think about posting it.
Thanks for sharing it.

If learning auto's I cannot recommend highly enough reading the "RC Flight School" forum, there is lots of information on autos there. (simple search).

Next is get a good sim. Auto' happen fast enough that you need to know what is happening before it happens. Lots of info available on tuning sims for autos. You want to make sim auto's HARD. Add lots of blade and drive train resistance you you have to work at keeping head speed high and have it bleed off quickly). Sims with best physics for auto practice I have found are RealFlight 6.5(or better), Heli-X, neXt then Phoenix (in that order).

One tip I had this weekend was:

In practicing auto's, practice the approach on normal power and listen. You should be able to get the rotor spinning faster than the motor is pushing it (it's called overspeeding). When you flare you will hear the motor pick up load again. If you can consistently get this overspeeding sound in the blades with the motor on. Landing with the motor off will be easy.

The Curtis Youngblood class video is excellent (worth the re-post).

I posted this in one of the threads a while ago.

Originally Posted by ArchmageAU

Cyclics is a combination of elevator and aileron. Mode 2, cyclics are on the right sitck, mode 1, elevator on left stick (forward/back), aileron on right stick (left/right). Throttle and collective are on the same stick (Mode 2, left. Mode 1, right).

So more Mode 2 (what I and most others here fly). Collective left, elevator right. Left stick slightly below mid point (-1 or -2 degrees collective) on descent, balance the disc with the right stick (ensure the heli has forward momentum). To flare, pull back on the right stick (elevator), nose goes up, DO NOT CHANGE COLLECTIVE YET (heli may even gain height as the forward momentum slows and rotor speed increases). Once all forward momentum gone (stationary in relation to ground), push right stick (elevator) forward to level heli again. Once heli level, then apply collective (push forward left stick) to float the last bit of descent (last couple of feet). Keep the heli balanced with cyclics (right stick).

Same again, but mode 1. Collective right, elevator left. Right stick slightly below mid point (-1 or -2 degrees collective) on descent, balance the disc with the left and right sticks (ensure the heli has forward momentum - elevator, left stick and rotor left/right balance - aileron, right stick). To flare, pull back on the left stick (elevator), nose goes up, DO NOT CHANGE COLLECTIVE YET (heli may even gain height as the forward momentum slows and rotor speed increases). Once all forward momentum gone (stationary in relation to ground), push left stick (elevator) forward to level heli again. Once heli level, then apply collective (push forward right stick) to float the last bit of descent (last couple of feet). Keep the heli balanced with cyclics (left stick forward back - elevator. right stick left/right - aileron).

Remember, all this happens very quickly faster than you can read either of the above scenarios aloud.

The real "tricks" to a good auto are:

• Listen to blades to gauge rotor speed. This is the best guide you have.
• Maintain head speed (forward speed, into wind, quick, but not too quick, even descent, leveled rotor disc). The smaller the heli, the faster the descent. (700's putter in, 450's look like a suicide run). Lose too much rotor speed close enough to the ground and it will be a crash, not an auto.
• Control descent to where you want to land (sounds obvious, but the part I find most challenging during a quick descent - X5 is a small 550 class so it comes in a little hot).
• Good flare to turn forward speed into rotor speed and stop heli relative to the ground (no sliding to prevent tipovers - unless deliberately trying to ski the heli to a stop). Remember, DO NOT ADD COLLECTIVE DURING FLARE. Flare should start at around 6 feet and may be quite abrupt (45 degrees or more for smaller helis is not uncommon). The smaler the heli, the more critical the timing due to speed and angle. This is the most nerve racking part of learning autos. Too late, you plow in. Too early, and you may not maintain enough rotor speed to float the landing. If you are early, sometimes maintaining (or slightly increasing) the negative collective till the last second may keep enough blade speed even in an extended vertical descent to allow a safe landing (try avoid this though). Too much negative collective can reduce head speed, so listen carefully for the rotor speed.
• Only applying positive collective when almost on the ground (float the last few inches before running out of head speed (and lift)).

Hope this helps and makes it clearer.
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