General Struggle to control ?

[Marshall]

Hi all, Just wondering whether it's just me or not, I have been using a sim (phoenix) for a couple of months now and I think got pretty good at ordinary flying, I have even got very good at hovering in the same spot with high wind and gusts.
However when I try and move my heli through 360 deg laterally I unknowingly adjust the pitch (causing it to rise or fall).
I have managed to fly in a circle controlling various amounts of elevator and aileron in conjunction with rudder and I have got real good at orientation but find that I ruin a beautiful looking maneuver by slowly dropping or rising.
The thing is after all this time of practice, practice, practice with the sim I am worried that I am going to smash my brand new trex 500 in the dirt.
Just to explain, the reason I (as a newbie) have the 500 is under advice because I started out with a trex 250 dfc 3gx and was told it was not the thing to start with, so I went out and bought a second hand trex 450 xl which turned out to be very worn and a waste of £250 so then I thought well dammit I am 50 now I should be able to have a good one so I bought a brand new ready built 500. (and yes it is very worrying when it spools up!)
Any advice at all would be appreciated as I am starting to wonder if this is really the hobby for me ? especially as I don't even know what the settings should be for my 500 on the new DX7s that I bought new too!

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Oh and by the way, I should include a list of what I have purchased to enable me to get right into this hobby,
Walkera 22e, DH 9116, Trex 250 dfc 3gx, Trex 450 XL, Trex 500E.
And I still have them all! LOL.

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OOPS! and a Nine eagles solo pro 125, LMAO!.

 

[Tony]

Collective Management is one of the hardest, but most important things to learn in this hobby. And in all reality, there is no "trick" to doing it. Just fly all you can and try to get your muscle memory where you don't even think about it when flying.

Since you are just getting started, I would suggest flying 3 mistakes high. Doing so will allow you to learn how to fly. What you are practicing is Precision Flight, and that is WAY down the road when learning.

I have thought about getting one of those 250's just to toss around, just can't bring myself to pull that trigger.

 

[xokia]

Hi all, Just wondering whether it's just me or not, I have been using a sim (phoenix) for a couple of months now and I think got pretty good at ordinary flying, I have even got very good at hovering in the same spot with high wind and gusts.

Personally I wouldn't start out with the 500. I'd go buy a V2 mcpx and use that as your flight simulator. The simulator time is good but I know when I went from the simulator to real life it was difficult. Simulator is easier then real life. You are going to crash and why not crash a cheap helicopter like the mcpx that can withstand a pretty good beating.

I spend virtually no time on the simulator anymore I use my 130x and BL mcpx as my simulators.

I have thought about getting one of those 250's just to toss around, just can't bring myself to pull that trigger.

You will be happier with a 130x IMO. The 130x flies like a bigger helicopter and is more stable. I sold my 250 and was happy to see it go.

 

[Westy]

I think you have done the right thing..... the 500 is a nice stable bird in the right hands.....

Funny you talk about rising and falling .... I am currently putting a small set of very detailed videos on how to fly ... take off ... land .... hover and learn your orientations .... off Sim .....

One thing I talk a lot about is collective management .... Ground Effect and I should you (I did not plan to go over that ... it just kind of happened that way) AS I show and explain.... you see my sticks moving and I talk about how much movement I am moving them relative to how you are seeing the heli move. I also talk about Expo settings I have......

Also you can check out my DX7-Se heli set ups .... Tony has a bunch of them on the DX8 also that are awesome too!

 

[Derek]

...another possibility would be the wind. Something that I've noticed, with my 500, when I am working on a stationary hover, if the wind gusts a bit...my 500 will raise up....causing me to lower the stick a bit and then I'll raise the throttle stick again just to get my "stationary hover" back. I am certainly not a "pro", but I can tell you that there are many many things going on, all at the same time, when an rc heli is in the air and sometimes it's just hard to keep control over it all. It's just one of those things that we will practice practice practice and in time....we do get better.

 

[Westy]

when you get up out of the Ground effect (1/2 your total rotor diameter) it takes more power to hover 10-20% so you will notice the heli bobbing .... see my vids on this ... Coming Soon!

 

[pvolcko]

I have this problem too. I don't drop usually, but I will gain altitude over the course of flying. It usually, for me, happens when I'm turning (coming out of or going into), because I pull back to slow down or level out. If you don't adjust your collective down a bit while doing this then the heli will climb.


As Westy said, it takes practice. Fly high enough so you have time to catch any falls in altitude while learning. Try to be mindful of it on as part of your practice regimen and eventually, like hovering, it will become second nature.

 

[stokke]

If real life flying is hard, then the simulator is not set up correctly. The sim should be set up in such a way that while progressing, you gradually increase the difficulty level. When you get comfortable flying with the sim - make it harder. When you master basic flying in the sim (on difficult settings) - go out and fly.

In my opinion, the 500 is an excellent choice for a first helicopter - but it HAS to be set up correctly first. The 500 is more stable and docile than a 450, but more intimidating of course. I've been in this hobby for a year this month - and I've learnt that a good setup is critical for predictable flight.

Fly the sim. Get good. Learn to set up. Set up. Go fly.

 

[pvolcko]

I find the sim much more difficult to hover in than in real life. Don't know if it depth perception or I have to tweak my sim settings a bit on expo/dr but I find the helis in the phoenix sim to be more twitchy than in real life from the micros up to the big 600/700 class. This is good in that if you can do it in the sim you have a better than decent shot of pulling it off without issue in real life. But it can also be frustrating and make sim time more a chore than it should be, I think.

 

[xokia]

If real life flying is hard, then the simulator is not set up correctly. The sim should be set up in such a way that while progressing, you gradually increase the difficulty level. When you get comfortable flying with the sim - make it harder. When you master basic flying in the sim (on difficult settings) - go out and fly.

I found that not to be true some thing are really simple to do in the simulator. And some things the simulator just doesn't do accurately. Knowing how to do them correctly to begin with really helps in the simulator. You know when its not doing something right and you correct your stick movements. That is what I have found anyway, simulator is way more forgiving and doing things wrong still results in what you were trying working. However in real life if you dont do it correctly the helicopter smashes into the ground there is no inaccuracy. Just an example doing a flip in the simulator is stupid easy move collective to mid stick push all the way up on cyclic and it will rotate around the middle of the helicopter with ease. Do that in real lif and you dont get the same results the helicopter doesnt rotate so easily. Simulator is fine but knowing what's real and what's not helps a lot. And for that nothing beats real life. I hardly ever use the simulator. I'd rather not learn bad habits in the simulator. I'd rather try it in real life get an idea how it works then try and perfect it in the simulator.