HeliCommand from MS Composit is flight-tested
Mark Fadely [[email protected]]
Hi, everyone. The good news is that spring begins the month of this issue’s cover date. March traditionally kicks off the outdoor flying season here in the Midwest. Early-spring weather is unpredictable, and warmer temperatures are often accompanied by gusty winds.
Early in your flying career, wind tends to be bothersome. Later, after you mature as a pilot, you adjust your flying to maintain positioning while compensating for the effects of the wind.
Pod-and-boom helicopters are not affected as much by wind; their slimmer profiles help cut through the air. On the other hand, larger scale models are tricky to fly when the air is buffeting them about.
HeliCommand Stabilizer
Matt Brown joins us to share information about a fancy new stabilization unit that works for both Scale and 3-D helicopters. He worked with Kerry Muncy on the Indy Apache Scale project, and instability in windy conditions became a problem while testing the large model. Matt was looking for something that could electronically stabilize the machine.
During a trip to the E-Fest event in Champaign, Illinois, Matt met Henry Jezek and Brian Butts from MS Composit, who had just released a new gyro-based helicopter stabilizer called HeliCommand. Matt explains:
"My name is Matt Brown, and I have worked closely with Kerry Muncy over the last few years to bring the Apache to market. We both knew the large helicopter needed something to stabilize it during flight in windy conditions. I was excited to meet the guys from MS Composit and try out their HeliCommand stabilizer.
"Henry and Brian have been very helpful during the integration of the HeliCommand system. It is a fairly small, two-piece unit consisting of an interface board and the processor/camera/gyro module.
"The HeliCommand is available with four levels of programming. The first three are for the more conventional flybar-type helicopters, and the fourth mode is called Rigid. It is for flybarless, or 'rigid rotor,' helicopters.
"The HeliCommand is marketed as a flight stabilization system as well as a helicopter training aid. It consists of three heading-hold gyros and a camera, all feeding data to a flight control computer that controls the helicopter based on the feedback from the sensors, biased by the commands given by the transmitter and receiver.
"During setup, the flight computer 'learns' the correct responses for each flight control. This allows the system to adapt itself to virtually any type of collective/cyclic system. On the Apache, it uses standard 120° CCPM and it learned it very easily. It can just as easily be set up on helicopters with conventional mechanical mixing, or 140° CCPM, or even four-servo 90° CCPM.
"After purchasing the unit, Kerry went to visit expert Scale builder/pilot Darrel Sprayberry to work together on a setup for Kerry's test-bed Apache. Due to time and weather issues, they never got a chance to test fly it.
"A month or so later, Kerry and I attended the Huntsville Helicopter event. We had not yet flight-tested the HeliCommand, and Kerry was very anxious to see how it would do. We went through the setup procedure to make sure everything was responding properly and took a guess at where to set the gain of the system.
"Within a minute or so after lifting off, Kerry knew this was the way to go. He landed and we adjusted the gain down a few points to settle the helicopter down a little. Too much gain on the HeliCommand is much like too much gain on a tail gyro.
"He flew out the rest of the flight while observing the reactions of the HeliCommand. While we only had about 10 mph winds, the HeliCommand easily maintained a solid hands-off hover for as long as desired. The helicopter did have a different feel in flight, but it still did whatever Kerry told it to do. We later test-flew the helicopter with 15–20 mph winds and the HeliCommand shined through again. It made the helicopter as comfortable to fly in wind as if the conditions were calm."
The biggest hurdle they had to overcome revolved around using the unit in Rigid (flybarless) mode. Rigid mode could only be activated via software that had to be purchased separately. Kerry had bought it before he went to visit Darrel.
Darrel installed the software on his PC but ran into a minor problem. The software comes with a cable to communicate with the HeliCommand module, but it is a serial cable. Neither Darrel's PC nor any of mine are equipped with serial ports—most PCs these days are primarily USB. He and Kerry finally found a USB-to-serial adapter and got it hooked up and talking to the HeliCommand module.
The software provides many fine-tuning adjustments you can use to tailor the system to your specific helicopter. It also allows the user to save a setup for quick and easy reloading into the system, which comes in handy while fine-tuning.
Once we started flying the helicopter on a regular basis, we would make adjustments to the HeliCommand system from time to time. If Kerry didn't like the effect of the latest adjustment, it was a simple matter to revert back to the previously saved settings. It was not long before Kerry really liked the feel in flight, and it had excellent stabilizing influence over unwanted weather effects.
I recently installed and set up another HeliCommand system in another Apache. I copied Kerry's programming straight into the customer's helicopter, made a few adjustments for his mechanics (a four-servo CCPM setup), and he was ready to go. He reported back that his Apache was much smoother and easier to fly than ever before.
We still tinker from time to time on the fine-tuning, but it is working so close to perfect that we almost always go back to our main saved setup. We have not tried to use the system in a helicopter with a flybar, but I keep thinking one of these days I'll hang it on my T-Rex 450 just to see how it does in its other programming modes.
The HeliCommand is reported to be capable of righting a helicopter for a disoriented beginner pilot. It is also capable of inverted hovering. That could be a good assistant for the RC pilot trying to learn some of the more advanced aerobatics.
At a street price of $550, the HeliCommand is not going to be for everyone, but when it is part of the control system on a valuable machine it provides some priceless insurance. Scale pilots and beginners will benefit most by having peace of mind while flying a more comfortable, stable machine.
Thanks for the detailed explanation of the HeliCommand, Matt. That sounds like a piece of equipment that many pilots would love to own.
The Indoor Season Continues
I mentioned that spring is only a few weeks away, but right now the indoor season is going strong here in Indiana. Brian Butts of MS Composit set up the deal for us to use some soccer space; thanks, Brian!
The new facility is working great for our midwinter events. I included a few pictures to give you an idea of what our flying site is like. If you are still flying in a small gym or other cramped area, it might be worth searching for something similar to this soccer arena. I would imagine that most cities have something similar.
The building's owners are happy to have us because it means additional revenue for them. The only catch is that we have to start our sessions at 9 p.m. We are allowed to fly until 12 or 1 a.m.
That may sound late, but the time of day is meaningless when you have to fly.
It is like the famous commercial: Indoor 3-D electric helicopter, $500; all the other necessities to go with the helicopter, $2,000; being able to fly when it is 0° outside, priceless!
See you next month. —MA
Sources
- MS Composit
(317) 578-1955 www.mscompositusa.com
- E-Sky helicopters
(732) 287-3933 www.ehphobbies.com
- E-flite
(800) 338-4639 www.e-flite.com
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
