Learning how to hover 

What happens on a typical 
1on1 hover training day

CHOPPERADDICT SPECIALISES IN THE BUILDING, REPAIRING & 
SETTING UP OF R/C HELICOPTERS AND RADIOS

   

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CAUTION - Due to my location, about 1/2 mile from the coast of the Irish Sea, the weather can sometimes be less than wonderful, as I usually expect some form of Sea Breeze to form during the day.   I do NOT have an indoor flying location, but I have several good flying areas that offer varying degrees of protection from the wind.

Check out what the weather looks like for here for the next 5 days...

The first thing when most visitors arrive is an introductory chat over a cup of tea or coffee.  I need to know a bit about you, and need to know what stage of hovering you feel you are at.

If you are totally new to it all, I may spend 30 minutes or so having you fly using my Phoenix helicopter flight simulator to introduce you to terms etc.

If you are intending to use my helicopters, I will show you each of them, and explain what the important differences are between them.  I will also outline what the first flying session is going to be all about.

STEP 1

Read this if you are going to use my own training helicopters

The first helicopter you will get to fly will be "RedBird" or "BlueBird". Both are Interceptor 400's and have Alien Command auto stabilisation systems fitted to them.  This system allows you to take the controls over immediately and start to fly normally because I will put you on my Hover-EZE hover training rig initially to let you get the feel for the cyclic control (swash plate) in an "almost" totally safe environment

"Blue Bird" is a very gently setup Interceptor 400 that only has a small Esky motor, so it does not have a lot of power, but that power is quite enough for her to hover happily for about 9 minutes on a Lipo.  "Red Bird" has a larger motor and therefore more power, and will be used if your confidence seems to indicate that you are ready to try her out.

These helicopters use the well known (and loved) Spektrum DX6i Radio system, which allows me to set it up on the fly to correct any problems you may be having with the helicopter.

General

The main aim of this Step is to get you bringing the helicopter off the ground to a height of around 2 feet or so at most.  Once it is in the air, you will be learning (pretty rapidly) what sort of cyclic controls are needed to maintain a steady hover, while the training rig will help you by keeping the helicopter in or around the same position.  You will also start to learn about collective management, which is how you control height through motor speed and collective pitch, and to a lesser extent, how to control the rudder, although the gyro will do most of that work for you initially.

It is possible, depending on your level of hovering ability, that we may go through several lipos during Step 1, with around 15 minutes break between session to let you relax and recover your composure, and to let the aircraft's electronics cool down as well.

I am aiming at this point to have you demonstrating to me that you are starting to understand the amount of cyclic control needed to maintain a sensible hover. The target is that you should be able to hover reasonably stably for 10-20 seconds by the end of your STEP 1 session(s)

STEP 2

This may well be after lunch, but we will either take your own helicopter, or else either "Red bird" or "Blue Bird" to the chosen flying area and let you loose on a tarmac surface with training legs on the helicopter.  

NB - NEITHER OF MY (Stage 2) HELICOPTERS HAVE DUAL CONTROLS, so once you take off, you WILL BE ON YOUR OWN TOTALLY, (apart from me talking with/shouting at you of course).

BUT both of my trainer helicopters are fitted with the well proven Alien Command Stabilisation system, which means that as soon as you centre (or let go) of the cyclic stick, the helicopter will return to a reasonable hover ALL BY ITSELF.  You still need to control the left stick for throttle and rudder, but all you need to to do is "nudge" the cyclic in whatever direction is necessary to stop the helicopter drifting off in different directions.

This means that you should be able to recover from most little problems by letting AC handle it for you, and bring it back onto the ground "Shiny side up" and undamaged.  If you don't feel able to take back control of the helicopter, you will be able to hand the Tx to me to perform the recovery, as AC will keep it hovering sensibly while we exchange the Tx.

The essence of these sessions will be to get you be able to take off and land with the rotor disk perfectly horizontal with the horizon, and hopefully to be able to maintain a relatively stable hover for longer and longer periods of time

Again, we will probably use several lipos during Step 2, with a break in between flight sessions to discuss progress, critique your handling, and let your concentration rebuild.

STEP 3

If you have not brought your own helicopter to try to hover, then we will do another session, this time usually with "Red Bird" anyway, but I will start to reduce the amount of input that AC will provide, making you do MOST of the flying.

CONCLUSION

By the end of the day, most students should be able to hover these helicopters confidently, and able to both maintain a controlled hover for at least 2 minutes or more, and hopefully demonstrate that you can make it fly away from you about 20 yards, and then bring it back, under full control.

I cannot guarantee you will be doing what the picture above shows 
by the end of the day, but then - who knows how well you may get on...

Of course the day includes Tea/Coffee throughout the day as needed, plus a pretty good sandwich lunch, and usually runs from 10:15 am thru till 4pm.  Believe me when I tell you that long before 4pm you will be really glad to stop and relax, although we do of course have some relaxation periods during the day as well.

HOW DO YOU GET BOOKED UP - to learn to hover correctly and quickly

Just contact me to book your day to learn to hover a helicopter - Yours or MINE.   just Email Me for further details or to book your training day

THIS SITE IS MOSTLY NON COMMERCIAL AND IS FUNDED BY DONATIONS OF ALL TYPES FROM OTHERS IN THE RC HELICOPTER FRATERNITY.  MY THANKS GO OUT TO ALL WHO CONTRIBUTE WITH IDEAS, INFORMATION, HELI PARTS OR EVEN CASH DONATIONS TO HELP WITH THE COSTS OF HOSTING & MAINTAINING THE SITE