380/420 D-Day!!! Update ;-)

[Blade 400]

OMG! Quite a calm day here till I took off that was! When she got light on the skids, I gave a little right cyclic and went for it, she went straight up! I flew her for about a minute just getting a feel for her - much more sensitive without the training gear but more responsive which was good as a sudden gust of wind took her backwards and diagonally right. I recovered her as I have recovered the Blade 400 lots of times in the Sim, it was more instinctive than having to think too much and I got her back to centre As the wind continued, after a successful 4th landing (I used throttle hold for the last one) I decided to fly the much heavier Tarot 450 and it was great - she`s so locked in and stable for practising co-ordination.
Being honest, I think I am going to put a light set of training gear on the Blade 400 until I build a spare (If the wind was gentle here, I would continue without, but I know that I will crash sometime and don`t want to lose her) I will go bareback again when the spare is ready. A big thanks to everyone who has helped me get this far

Edit: Forgot to say, whilst the Blade 400 was spooling up and in the air, I noticed a lot of vibration in the tail! The training gear I took off was fairly heavy which I think must have been masking the vibration, as she seemed almost vibration free with it on??? Thanks

 

[Admiral]

Congratulations on getting rid of the training gear off, keep it off.
With the 400 tail check that the drive shaft is not bend and that neither on the blades are damaged.

Get the idea out of your head "but I know that I will crash" I have been told if you think that when you take off you will.

 

[Blade 400]

Congratulations on getting rid of the training gear off, keep it off.
With the 400 tail check that the drive shaft is not bend and that neither on the blades are damaged.

Get the idea out of your head "but I know that I will crash" I have been told if you think that when you take off you will.

Thanks Admiral!
The blades are new woodies, I will look at the drive shaft
I know it sounds defeatist to say that I know I`m going to crash sometime, but I`ve heard everyone does don`t they? I do have a taste for flying without the training gear now, so I`m going to get another Blade 400 ready asap and will continue with TG off

 

[D.O.G.]

Nice going Blade 400 I agree with Admiral breaking that mental block of crashing. Once you get pass that, you'll be fine. It's when you start to get cocky, when learning new maneuvers, the possibility of a crash will increased. Comes with having fun .

 

[Blade 400]

Nice going Blade 400 I agree with Admiral breaking that mental block of crashing. Once you get pass that, you'll be fine. It's when you start to get cocky, when learning new maneuvers, the possibility of a crash will increased. Comes with having fun .

Thanks too D.O.G.
I did really enjoy my first unrestricted flight and will definitely be back for more, when I have sorted the vibration issue out and when I have another spare B400 (I only have to install the electronics so should be ready next week)

 

[RandyDSok]

Get the idea out of your head "but I know that I will crash" I have been told if you think that when you take off you will.

There is a saying I heard sometime back that is analogous to this...

If you are riding a bike and see a big rock in the road ahead... and keep staring at the rock, you are going to run into it. Take note of where the rock is and look and steer somewhere else.

In other words, acknowledge that crashes can and will happen but don't make that your focus. Keep your focus on your flying.

 

[D.O.G.]

In other words, acknowledge that crashes can and will happen but don't make that your focus. Keep your focus on your flying.

Randy is correct. Stay focus while flying. know your orientation too. Do what they said like Randy, Admiral ect... and don't do what I did this morning. I Lost orientation of the Heli and it was to late to recover I wasn't going to post the pics but what the hell, We're all human and we all make mistakes

 

[Admiral]

Don't worry D.O.G. it's only a flesh wound.

 

[D.O.G.]

Don't worry D.O.G. it's only a flesh wound.

Parts are ordered. Hope to be flying this weekend .

 

[Rackman]

OMG I hate to see pics like that, know the feeling for sure.. Can't say oh it's an easy fix !!! but for sure it can be done glad to see it wasn't any worse than it turned out.. Glad to see you pulled the gear Blade and got to feel your birds real ability's without the gear. also you might want to check you weight difference between one blade verse's the other, i have found that to happen after a ground scrape just a nick can make a big diff. in how that vibration can come on ,,,so many factors to your setup each time you Fly.. but glad to hear you had some good flight's ...

 

[Geena]

Randy is correct. Stay focus while flying. know your orientation too. Do what they said like Randy, Admiral ect... and don't do what I did this morning. I Lost orientation of the Heli and it was to late to recover I wasn't going to post the pics but what the hell, We're all human and we all make mistakes

Pppffffftttt! you call that a crash? That`s barely a boo-boo.

 

[D.O.G.]

All Boo-Boo hurts. It cost $$$$ to heal

 

[Geena]

All Boo-Boo hurts. It cost $$$$ to heal

Try rekitting two 700s in one weekend. Lol

 

[D.O.G.]

All in good fun

 

[Blade 400]

There is a saying I heard sometime back that is analogous to this...

If you are riding a bike and see a big rock in the road ahead... and keep staring at the rock, you are going to run into it. Take note of where the rock is and look and steer somewhere else.

In other words, acknowledge that crashes can and will happen but don't make that your focus. Keep your focus on your flying

Thanks Randy, I`ll have this in mind next time I take her up

 

[Blade 400]

Randy is correct. Stay focus while flying. know your orientation too. Do what they said like Randy, Admiral ect... and don't do what I did this morning. I Lost orientation of the Heli and it was to late to recover I wasn't going to post the pics but what the hell, We're all human and we all make mistakes

I`m so sorry this happened D.O.G. - especially after all of the help and support you`ve given me, which definitely helped my confidence with my first natural flight We`ve both got build and setup to do, lets get these birds up again next week and I`ll post a video too

 

[Blade 400]

OMG I hate to see pics like that, know the feeling for sure.. Can't say oh it's an easy fix !!! but for sure it can be done glad to see it wasn't any worse than it turned out.. Glad to see you pulled the gear Blade and got to feel your birds real ability's without the gear. also you might want to check you weight difference between one blade verse's the other, i have found that to happen after a ground scrape just a nick can make a big diff. in how that vibration can come on ,,,so many factors to your setup each time you Fly.. but glad to hear you had some good flight's ...

Thanks Rackman,
I think it may be a main blade problem as I put wooden blades on before the flight (didn`t want to damage my CF`s) It could be balance (I did check tracking) Admiral advised me to look at drive shaft too.
She sure felt good all the same

 

[Blade 400]

Congratulations on getting rid of the training gear off, keep it off.
With the 400 tail check that the drive shaft is not bend and that neither on the blades are damaged.

Get the idea out of your head "but I know that I will crash" I have been told if you think that when you take off you will.

Thanks Admiral,
The drive shaft wasn`t bent, Rackman was spot on, the main blades were way out of balance - I`ve just balanced them and had a quick spool up and most of the vibration has gone (on the ground anyway) Flying tomorrow so will soon know for sure! I found this helifreak.com page helpful too

Tail vibe diagnosis - HeliFreak

This follows on from https://www.helifreak.com/showthread...=313419&page=4 but is a sufficiently fresh question I think. I've got a vibration at

www.helifreak.com

 

[James M. Lewis]

Good Show!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What helps me is to pretend I'm actually in the cockpit of my heli. For some reason I have a better feel for muscle/memory control. Don't know why but it seems to work for me. It's like what everyone say's, stay focus on your flying. The more you practice basic flight patterns, the sharper you become. I'm a hover, figure 8 and circle type of guy and contend with that. Follow my own advice with both scale (CH53 & Augusta 109) and Pod & Boom birds. Wouldn't be where I am today if it wasn't for this forum.

 

[Rackman]

yeah me to on the flying, I would like to do more in real life with them but I'm on a budget LOL and being I retired probably earlier than i should have not of my own choice but. glad to be here as well. these are some great people here. and by the way Mr. James M. Lewis it's an Honor to have the chance to speck with you.. this place is so full with Knowledge that it's overwhelming Really. I know it was just a bell Alert but Just had to say Hello...