450 Forward Flight

Matt

Member
How do I get to a point where I can do forward flight? I can do forward flight with my Blade MSR but not with the Trex 450. Do I need to learn all the orientations first and be proficient with them? Thanks in advance..
 

D.O.G.

Goblin 380 Supporter
Hey there Matt. I'm sorry but I don't know what you mean by forward flight? Are you talking about nose in flying?
 

Matt

Member
I think it is doing circles. I’d like to have the heli fly to the right then left turn then fly past me going left then left turn again so now I’m nose in with the heli moving forward then left turn again until it is back in front of me, I guess. Either circles or figure 8’s. I can tail in hover pretty well. I can’t quite get side in hover and have a lot of trouble with nose in hover. I’m assuming it’s practice though.
 

D.O.G.

Goblin 380 Supporter
My opinion, practice is the only way but my question to you is, do you have a flight simulator? That's the easiest and cheapest way to learn without costing you a arm and a leg when you crash the 450.
 

Matt

Member
I do have Phoenix 5. I barely use it. My progression was thumbs then I’ve gotten into the habit of pinching the gimbals which is huge for me. I haven’t used the simulator since I’ve given up on the thumbs. Also I wasn’t clear as to what the throttle curve should be. I understand now that it’s is flying without the throttle and more based on the pitch of the blades. I’ll try the simulator again. I’m still unclear as to what the speed in the simulator should be. I’m guessing it should be 100% and can change based on how slow I want the response to be. I’m guessing if I’m trying to do a trick I can slow the speed down in the simulator until I’ve got it then speed it up to be more realistic.
 

murankar

Staff member
I would get a sim. If you can fly left to right and right to left on the MSR then you can doing on the 450. You have to get through the mind screw. I have been fightinh that for over 6 years now. I am finally getting into figure eights.

When I learned forward flight I would fly from left to right, stop, turn 180 degrees and then fly to the left, repeat. As your flying you'll find that the heli wont just fall out of the sky. My issues was correcting for drift. Tune your FBL the best you can so it has very little drift. then go fly.
 

Matt

Member
I did spend some time on the Sim today. I was practicing nose in hover and front and back flips. Did quite well with the front and back flips..
 

murankar

Staff member
For you in would practice nose left and nose right hover. Those will be key to forward flight. While flying out away from you tail in is forward flight, you need the skills to fly side in.

I know its cool to want to learn flips, I do the same thing in some; refrain till after your focused training. I would consider about 15 minutes of focused training to 10 minutes of goofing around. Treat the sim as real life. Every time you crash in the sim pay yourself 5 dollars into a heli found. That way there is a monetary attachment to crashing.

I personally started progressing more with a bigger bird . The goblin 570 has helped me get to nose in hover quicker than my Gaui X3. There is something about big birds that works.
 

Tony

Staff member
I will say this, I hovered around for a few years before I really got into forward flight. You need to know your tail and left and right in orientations at the bare minimum, but I would strongly suggest learning nose in as well and every other orientation in between. Slow pirouetting circles (rudder only) will teach you way more than just static hovering. It will require you to make adjustments to the helicopter as it is spinning in space. Definitely practice this on a sim before doing it in real life. Yes, the sim is boring after an hour or so, but trust me, it can and will save you a crash.
 

Eggy 71

Member
Tony is right on the money. To get the orientation locked in on a simulator, get in a hover and setup a couple clicks of rudder trim. It will start a slow pirouette and try to keep the heli in one spot. Once you get the hang of that try it inverted. That's damn near impossible to keep on top of.
 

Cyclone 7

Member
In short, learn to walk before you try to run!

One of the reasons that I am into scale flying is that it demands precision, thorough flight control and good orientation skills. A case of you flying the heli rather than letting it fly you :biggrin1:
 

Matt

Member
You guys are 1000% right. I've been spending about 45 mins a day since this post on the simulator, and I was able (for the very first time) to do forward flight. I'm, honestly, on cloud 9 right now. Been a long road with the heli's and finally it's starting to pay off :boldblue:
 

D.O.G.

Goblin 380 Supporter
There you go Matt. Practice will make perfect. After that, transfer you skills to the real bird. Good luck. Keep those skids down unless inverted :).
 

murankar

Staff member
keep at it. My fear was i thought it would fall out of control once I went side in. I am finally past that point.

Just make sure your heli is dialed in and rock solid. you want hands off hoovering. once thats doen you are on your way to hoovering side in. Practice as much as you can.
 

Matt

Member
That's exactly what I need to do to my 450. I need to go through the set up again. I need to set up the head, and tail again and go through the Microbeast setting again. My 450 has a mind of it's own when flying and I don't think it would be very stable for forward flight.

Also, I noticed when flying my 150x, a large parking lot was a little too small. I'm assuming if I do want to do forward flight with my 450, I will need at least a football field, or a baseball diamond.
 

murankar

Staff member
Actually you don't need a lot of room. You should be flying slow and deliberate. Do a full stop, rotate 180 degrees, fly forward slow and controlled, stop rotate 180 degrees.

Don't be trying to do crazy fast forward flight. Stay calm and controlled. You should be flying the heli, not the heli flying you.
 

Tony

Staff member
Congrats on the FF Matt! Once you push through that hurdle, things really start to open up. Just don't go too far like I usually do lol.
 

Matt

Member
I did get a little cocky but once I noticed I was getting a little cocky I packed everything up and went home lol
 
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