Flight School

[Barry Tilson]

I've heard hat also. Kind if a bummer when you trying to fly with friends and not being compatable.

Thanks...
I'm looking to buy RealFlight 7 to participate in some on-line training with you, seems all you Synergy guys are using that Sim.
I currently only have Phoenix.

I have RF 6.5.  I thought I saw that RF7 will not link up online with previous versions.  Maybe I am wrong.

Barry

[kuss.72]

I don't remember what hobby store on line it was but u can update to 7 if you have 6.5 for a lesser cost. Than buying the how thing.

[Jon Mills]

I purchased mine at the hobby store for 50 dollars.  The upgrade that is.  The software is much smoother and physics are surprisingly much better.  I didn't really notice at first but its a must have if you have $50  burning holes.

[Greg Jackson]

Finding Zero Pitch:  The Candle

What's up everyone and Happy New Year!  Hope everyone had a great Christmas and returned safely from traveling.  I just got back a couple of days ago and then spent most of New Year's eve tuning my vbar for the heli that had an ikon I had to replace.  Did a maiden and all went well.  I did some 4 point flips today just to check more settings.  I then remembered some issues I had back in October with finding zero pitch so thought it might be a good topic. 
I was not aware that I was not finding zero pitch until Matt pointed it out.  After that I did some exercises to make sure I would always find it.  First thing I wanted to do is physically memorize where that was on my transmitter.  So I would randomly pick it up from time to time and try to move the stick to the middle without looking.  Once that got better with the notches I would do this with the transmitter powered on so I could see it on the pitch graph.  I did that for a couple of weeks and also applied this while flying and on the sim.  I brought up the window on the sim so I could check my position while flying. 
Once I gained confidence in this I worked on finding zero pitch during stall turns.  I would bring the helicopter straight up and make sure it was as perfectly straight as possible without it moving fore or aft.  By doing this I also learned how to make adjustments while flying so things are cleaner. 
Another good exercise is a move called the Candle.  I had issues with this for a couple of weeks but I feel it is better now.  It is like your approach for a stall turn, but you will come across the flight line and make the ascent at center stage.  Make sure as the nose is pointing straight up you are at zero pitch to eliminate any unwanted travel.  When you get to the top, level back out, the heli should be sideways.  Then do a 360 SLOW piro, stop, come straight back down with a very clean dive.  I have added some variations such as doing a roll or a flip at the top of the candle and different piros at various speeds and doing the dive tail first.  I think one time I did a piro flip at the top but I wasn't happy with it because the helicopter moved from the one spot so I have to work on that.  Hope to add more tips once things settle down from the holiday break.  The weather will be messy for the next week but that doesn't mean we can't all get some sim time in.  Again, if you aren't having fun then it's wrong!

[Greg Jackson]

I have lost a ton of flying time dealing with set-up, repairs, set-up.  I hopefully have things working now, we shall see in the morning.  I will be in the office a lot tomorrow since it is the first day of classes and students will swing by for their drum lesson times... well they are supposed to.  So I plan to get a couple of hours in on the sim and hopefully do another post tomorrow.  Not that any of you are anxiously awaiting, but didn't want it to seem like I have abandoned this.  Did I mention how much I loathe set-up?!

[Greg Jackson]

4 Point Tic-Tocs

Lost a lot of flying time dealing with a new heli I got; needless to say that heli is being sold now.  Plus, before I post tips I want to make sure I am performing the maneuver well enough.  So for the 4-point tic toc there are some things you should be able to do initially.  First, you must be comfortable with regular tic tocs.  It would also be great if you can keep the tic toc in one place as well as have the same angle on both sides of the move.  I highly recommend working on rainbows first.  I learned tic tocs before rainbows, but when I went back to rainbows and cleaned them up pretty well I noticed my tic tocs were under control.
After I had tail down tic tocs under control and aileron (tail blades facing the ground), I decided to clean up the other variations.  I could do nose down tic tocs facing sideways, but never tried them where the rotor disc would face me.  This took some getting used to, so first I got used to doing tail down tic tocs with the rotor disc facing me.  Once that felt pretty good, I worked on aileron tic tocs with the tail blades facing up.  Then the final portion to work on were the nose down tic tocs. 
After working on the individual portions of this move, start piecing things together.  Yaw 90 degrees after a tic toc using a small amount of rudder input so the heli is in the next tic toc.  So if you started with a tail down tic toc you would give a right rudder input to be aligned in an aileron tic toc.  This would continue until you hit all points.  Just think about this like the face of a clock so you initially want to do a tic toc (nose of the heli will act as the clock hand for this analogy) at the 12 o'clock, 3 o'clock, 6 o'clock, 9 o'clock and then back to 12.  I will get to other variations in a moment. 
Collective management is key with this maneuver.  You must also enter the correct amount of rudder to get the heli in the correct position.  If the tic toc becomes misaligned try to fix this with small stick movements.  I like starting my tic tocs in the 6 o'clock position nose down, then moving to the 9 o'clock position, 12 o'clock, then 3 o'clock.  Just a personal preference of doing the tic tocs that are difficult for me first.  But for some people those might be easier or if they are more difficult people would rather save them for last.  Once you find your favorite, work on the other ways just to strengthen your weaker areas.
Other variations include moving counterclockwise instead of clockwise, so each tic toc would move from 12 to 9 to 6 to 3, so you could call them reverse 4 point tic tocs.  Another would be to do the entire maneuver with the skids facing you.  I have only done this a couple of times and you just have to get used to doing everything backwards of what you would normally do.  You can also do the tic toc hitting all points of the clock.  I believe for XFC this was a known maneuver with the skids in.  One cool variation is to start your tic toc with the skids facing you and move from 6 to 12, then do a have roll and finish the tic toc with the rotor disc facing you. 
It is important to remember that you need to use more of the cyclic stick movement then your collective movement.  The collective, in my opinion, should just be thought of as a way of keeping the heli at the height you would like.  Doing the tic toc keeps it in the air.  You have to give the right amount of cyclic stick movement for this to work.  Too much or too little and the heli will not stay up.  Be sure to practice these on the sim first and then on the real heli at a good distance and a few mistakes high.
This is such a fun maneuver and pretty easy to learn.  If it isn't fun for you then you are doing it wrong!

* I hope to get piro funnels/hurricanes down pretty well by Feb. so that is what I am planning to contribute next.  I will get to piroflips soon, but I have to think about a really good way to explain them and it will take a lot of time to put it into words.

[Greg Jackson]

Cuban 8
Finally finished a ton of gigs.  I'm not going to complain because I enjoy performing, but things have been very hectic lately, not to mention a pretty bad winter for flying.  Either way, before I possibly head to the field I thought I would share some tips for this trick that is pretty fun.
This is a basic 3D maneuver.  It is pretty much a figure eight, but lying on its side.  Your approach (coming in upright) should be straight and level across the flight line.  Pull into a loop, but about 5/8ths of the way through you will go down into a 45 degree inverted descent.  Fly a half roll and then do another loop, then down again into a 45 degree inclined inverted descent, and finish with another half roll.
One variation is to fly the 8 with out any rolls.  So each side, or loop, of the eight will be opposite, i.e., one side of the 8 is upright, the other side is inverted.
Another variation is to add more rolls.  Begin the maneuver by pulling in to a 45 degree ascent right in front of you followed by a half roll so that you are inverted.  Then fly 3/4's of a loop and when the helicopter is in front of you again do another half roll in the opposite direction for the next 45 degree ascent. 
Also try to fly this backwards, start inverted and even backwards inverted.  You could even fly this from the top down.  Be careful that you don't make the loops look lazy, the ascent has to be at a 45 degree angle to look good.  Also be careful to not have any sort of bank during this as it will move the 8 out of line.  If you do not roll exactly 180 degrees you will move to one side. 
I planned to put vertical 8's in this section but I will use a different post just to keep it short.  First I need to fly it a few times on the sim so I know what to say.

[Greg Jackson]

Vertical 8
The vertical 8 is another basic maneuver.  It is like flying a figure 8 but you are moving upwards; the move consists of one inside loop and one outside loop above the other.  You should have a moderate amount of airspeed as you travel straight and level.  For your first attempts I recommend learning the move upright initially.  Pull into the first loop using full collective and not very many elevator inputs.  After the completion of one half loop you will be inverted.  At this point, fully reverse collective and push the heli using elevator so you can perform an outward loop above the first loop.  As you begin to come down, find the intersecting point used previously for the second loop so that the entire move is symmetrical.  Also try to have all of the loops equal in size. 
For some variations of the move try it backwards or begin inverted and inverted backwards.  Also do the entire move sideways.  You can also do the entire move while pirouetting but I have not tried that yet and I am only recommending things that I have actually accomplished on real helis and not just the sim. 
You can do many impressive things during the point of intersection such as a roll or a piro.  Visually think of the top of the figure 8:  when you get to that point do a piroflip in the middle top portion of the 8 and then come down the loop either in the same orientation or maybe even different if you just do half of a piro flip.  Also try stacking vertical 8's on top of each other.  You can use that extra height to come down fast in a tail slide, death spiral, or wall of death, even a pirouetting knife edge.  Have fun with this, and I recommend doing this on a clear day with sunlight.

[Greg Jackson]

Funnels and Hurricanes
I spent some time searching for the name of a move to make sure it was the correct name:  tic toc funnels.  I decided to start writing some tips for this move, but then realized I have not explained how to perform funnels so I will do that now.  I did not bring my laptop charger today so I won't be able to refer to the sim like I usually do so, if need be, I will edit this tonight after the gig. 
Hurricanes
Make sure you are very comfortable with circles/circuits in all directions and orientations.  Once you can do a circuit, try to perform this at a decent speed depending on your comfort level.  After picking up some speed, put more of a bank into the circuit.  Now you are doing hurricanes.  Even though some may not consider an upright, nose first hurricane a true hurricane, it still is.  But most of the popular versions are inverted forwards, inverted backwards, or upright backwards.  The best way to get comfortable with doing a hurricane is to practice circles and figure eights.  Then as you gain more confidence and build up speed, you will start banking the helicopter more.  Try your best to make the circle even, as in try to keep the edge of the circle at the same distance from center line on both sides. To picture this, look up Inscribed Angle so you can see where the points lie in the circle.  If you think of yourself as point B, the best viewing angles will be point A and C because you will see the rotor disc a little clearer in judging the distance.  For some this may not work but it is something I think about. 
Now, try doing a backwards circuit and as you gain speed, think about your rudder adjustments so the tail does not dip or raise which would produce an uneven circle.  The next step would be to work on forwards and backwards inverted.  If you decide to try this on the real heli first, make sure you have plenty of altitude in case you make a mistake.  But it is best to perfect these on the sim first.
Funnels
Once you can do a hurricane you should be able to perform funnels.  A funnel is like doing a circuit, but sideways.  For car people, think of a drift competition.  For an example, I will describe an upright tail in funnel.  For your first attempts, begin in backwards flight, as if you are going to do a backwards hurricane.  Use a slight rudder input to bring the tail into the center of the circle.  For instance, if you are performing a clockwise funnel, the right side (passenger side) of the helicopter is leading the helicopter around the circle.  The tail is constantly pointing towards the center of the circle.  So you should give a right aileron input to get the helicopter to move to the right, but add some rudder input to keep the tail into the center of the circle.  Pull back on the elevator stick to adjust the angle and add more positive pitch to keep the helicopter from descending. 
Practice this without any sort of angle initially.  Once this becomes easy, gradually increase the angle's degree.  Depending on how steep the angle is and the speed you are travelling a large funnel or small funnel will be the result.  This maneuver takes some time to get very smooth and even.  Practice with more altitude then you might think you need.  I noticed today that to keep the heli in a good line, I kept giving very very small positive and negative inputs.  If I saw the helicopter lose altitude, I would add more positive pitch, but then go back to zero so the heli did not rise out of the circle's "line", and this continued during the funnel until it felt like I wasn't giving any inputs, but still probably moving maybe 1/2 a mm. 
Next, try them inverted, as well as nose-in and nose-in inverted.  If you can picture yourself moving the helicopter in a circle, only sideways, funnels will eventually be easy.  There are lots of videos online if you need to see what a funnel looks like. 
Make sure you have fun with this, otherwise its not right!

[Mike King]

Nice write ups Greg.  Thanks for sharing!

[flyalan]

Keep Em coming Greg.

Cheers
Alan

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

[dpelletier]

Really appreciate these detailed explanations. Thanks.

[Greg Jackson]

Thanks for the support guys!  I have one or two more to write before I do a "series" on maneuvers that require you to stir the sticks.  But I want to make sure I cover tricks that should be in your hands first.   Feel free to add to the thread!

[Airbass]

Hi Greg waiting for new tricks.
Yesterday I spent four flights with just candles. It is hard when you realise that you can't find zero pitch . It was a lot of fun

Inviato dal mio GT-I9195 utilizzando Tapatalk

[Greg Jackson]

More to come! Just taught my last class for the semester and only have a final to give and then turn in grades next week.  I have about 3 more articles coming. 
In the forecast for next week: 
Rolling circles
Pirouette metronome
Backwards snake

Later in May:
Focus on moves that require stirring the sticks such as Piro Flips