500 Throttle Hold Pitch Curve

[Derek]

I think I'm starting to fully understand the combination of the Throttle Curve and Pitch Curve. Because of the cold weather lately, I've not actually flown my 500 in quite some time. However, I do remember that my heli was flying very well. Nothing extreme, just soft and slow circuits. I've been practicing auto-rotations alot on the sim lately and I have to say that I'm doing quite well. I will probably have 90% success. I have my Pitch Curve, on HOLD, set to 45,47.5,50,75,100 and no matter what heli, on the sim, that I attempt and auto with...I can bring the heli down very gently and under control.

Now...I've not attempted an auto with my 500 yet. I've only recently understood the process for a successful auto..hence the sim practice. I realize that there are so many differences between sim flight and real flight...nervousness being one main difference, lol. Do you think that the above stated Pitch Curve would be successful in an actual "real auto" attempt with my 500? Or should I lower the first two points a bit more to keep up head speed on the way down? I wanna be able to bring the heli down gently and under control but still keep up head speed...obviously.

 

[coolgabsi]

Its good to have about 3 degrees of pitch when "windmilling" your blades down in a decent while doing your auto (someone else correct me if this value is wrong.. )

SO see where that is on your 500 and set your lowest value there.. and then gradual increase to 50 at mid stick

 

[Derek]

I can do that. Thanks Gaba!

 

[Lee]

Its good to have about 3 degrees of pitch when "windmilling" your blades down in a decent while doing your auto (someone else correct me if this value is wrong.. )

SO see where that is on your 500 and set your lowest value there.. and then gradual increase to 50 at mid stick

I'm afraid thats wrong Gaba. You want negative pitch when descending in an Auto. If you had positive pitch the blades would stop. -6º is about right in an auto to keep the blade speed up, then as you approach the ground you increase to positive pitch to slow down.

 

[wolfman76]

correct me if i am wrong but is'nt anything under 50 on the pitch curve negative pitch i have to agree with derek on this 1 we were doing autos for about and hour and a half last night and those settings were working quite well if i might say so.... not sure what the pitch is but it did keep the head speed up and then had enough positive pitch to slow it down almost instantly and sit it down softly....

 

[coolgabsi]

Ohh Sorry I did mean -3 degrees/ Should have written that down carefully.. That was my bad.. Yes ofcourse you need negative pitch to windmill the blades coming down..

I was asking for the numeric value 3 or higher (lower in negative lol ) and that is now as you say lee needed is 6 degrees negative.

 

[murankar]

If you set the pitch curve to linear (0 25 50 75 100) anything under mid stick will be negative pitch.

Curtis youngblood explained how to set up throttle hold for autos. He recommended a linear curve.

As you descend you want negative pitch and maintain a leveled helicopter until around 5 feet in the air. At that point you will be adding positive pitch till about 3 feet off the ground, at this point you will start the flair by dropping the tail slightly until touch down.

That video I posted explains it a lot better than I can.

 

[Tony]

Yes, idle up and throttle hold should have the exact same curve and it should be linear.