One of the most frequent comments I hear about 3-D helicopters is, “I’ll never be able to fly like that,” which is usually followed by “How long did it take you to learn how to do that?” When watching pro pilots or any pilot who puts on a good show, it’s sometimes hard to believe that they too started out by learning how to hover.
They’ve all crashed, they’ve all been frustrated, and they’ve all learned how to work on their machines. Ask any accomplished pilot, and he or she will tell you the same thing. It is a gradual process that did not happen overnight. This is what I tell newer pilots who are awed and somewhat intimidated by the flying they see. You may not believe it, but with practice and perseverance, you, can master 3-D.
Where do you start? Whether you are using a simulator or learning on the real thing, there are fundamentals that you can practice. As boring as it might sound, mastering hovering will tremendously help your 3-D training. Trying out a new 3-D maneuver can be tricky, and more often than not, your heli will end up in an unexpected orientation until you get the hang of things.
Knowing how to hover in any orientation will help save you from those unplanned exits because you won’t have to struggle as much to regain control. Even if you have been flying for a while, ask yourself if you truly are comfortable hovering in all orientations, upright and inverted.
Most of us begin learning to hover with the tail in toward us (except for one pilot I know who learned nose in before anything else). In the beginning, this is your comfort zone. This is the orientation you want to return to when all else goes wrong.
You can build on that experience by gradually nudging the nose until you are hovering sideways. It is important not to get too comfortable hovering sideways in only one direction, so you should practice it in both directions. It will feel awkward at first, but perseverance will pay off.
If you feel yourself getting into trouble, simply rotate the nose back away from you, back to your tail-in hovering comfort zone. When you are comfortable hovering sideways, gradually begin rotating the nose around toward you, until you are hovering nose in. This is typically the hardest hovering maneuver to initially master, and patience is the key. Remember, you can always rotate back around to a tail-in or sideways position (now that you are comfortable in that orientation).
When you have accomplished this goal, the next step is to practice controlled pirouettes. I don’t mean pushing the rudder stick all the way over and holding on for the ride! Start out slowly, making deliberate corrections as necessary to hold the heli in a stationary hover as it pirouettes. Practice in both directions so you don’t become comfortable performing a maneuver in only one direction.
You should be able to hold the helicopter in a stationary hover and pirouette in either direction at varying speeds. This may sound difficult to beginners, but it is achievable with practice. This type of practice is similar to Mr. Miyagi’s “paint the fence” technique (from “The Karate Kid”). It may not look like you are learning 3-D, but you are building the groundwork for the advanced maneuvers that lay ahead.
When you have reached this point, you should feel proud of how far you have come since lifting off into that first hover. By being able to hover nose in and control your pirouettes, you are a step closer to flying 3-D.
The next step toward that goal is to do exactly what you have just done, but with the helicopter inverted. There are a number of ways to become comfortable flying inverted. One way is to fly a loop and gradually let the helicopter hang upside down longer and longer each time you loop until you are comfortable with it in that orientation.
Another way is to start in stationary hover in a comfortable orientation (tail in is a good starting point), and to pull back on the elevator stick and perform a stationary flip (at sufficient altitude). As long as you hold onto that elevator stick, your heli will end up where it started, so this is a good way to break into inverted flight.
You can briefly pause at the point when the helicopter is inverted and gradually drag out that pause until you are comfortable hovering upside down in that orientation. Then rinse and repeat!
Practice your hovering orientations the same way you did when learning them upright. If at any point you feel as if you are starting to lose it, roll or flip to upright. This is where all of that upright hovering will pay off. No matter which way the nose is pointing when you get there, you will know how to handle it.
Why all the hovering? It’s all about orientation and muscle memory. You want to get to a point where you don’t have to think about how to fly the heli in a particular orientation, and be able to concentrate more on what you want to do. 3-D flying is all about orientation, and when you have these fundamentals down, you can begin developing ways to change orientation from one moment to the next—all while being in complete control of your model.
I don’t suggest that you practice like this nonstop until you have it mastered. You would quickly get bored! The more you practice, the quicker you will advance, but you should have fun doing it. Break up the practice with some regular sport flying.
Remember, we all started at the same beginning point. If we can do it, you can too.
Edition: Model Aviation - 2014/05
Page Numbers: 111,112,113
Edition: Model Aviation - 2014/05
Page Numbers: 111,112,113
One of the most frequent comments I hear about 3-D helicopters is, “I’ll never be able to fly like that,” which is usually followed by “How long did it take you to learn how to do that?” When watching pro pilots or any pilot who puts on a good show, it’s sometimes hard to believe that they too started out by learning how to hover.
They’ve all crashed, they’ve all been frustrated, and they’ve all learned how to work on their machines. Ask any accomplished pilot, and he or she will tell you the same thing. It is a gradual process that did not happen overnight. This is what I tell newer pilots who are awed and somewhat intimidated by the flying they see. You may not believe it, but with practice and perseverance, you, can master 3-D.
Where do you start? Whether you are using a simulator or learning on the real thing, there are fundamentals that you can practice. As boring as it might sound, mastering hovering will tremendously help your 3-D training. Trying out a new 3-D maneuver can be tricky, and more often than not, your heli will end up in an unexpected orientation until you get the hang of things.
Knowing how to hover in any orientation will help save you from those unplanned exits because you won’t have to struggle as much to regain control. Even if you have been flying for a while, ask yourself if you truly are comfortable hovering in all orientations, upright and inverted.
Most of us begin learning to hover with the tail in toward us (except for one pilot I know who learned nose in before anything else). In the beginning, this is your comfort zone. This is the orientation you want to return to when all else goes wrong.
You can build on that experience by gradually nudging the nose until you are hovering sideways. It is important not to get too comfortable hovering sideways in only one direction, so you should practice it in both directions. It will feel awkward at first, but perseverance will pay off.
If you feel yourself getting into trouble, simply rotate the nose back away from you, back to your tail-in hovering comfort zone. When you are comfortable hovering sideways, gradually begin rotating the nose around toward you, until you are hovering nose in. This is typically the hardest hovering maneuver to initially master, and patience is the key. Remember, you can always rotate back around to a tail-in or sideways position (now that you are comfortable in that orientation).
When you have accomplished this goal, the next step is to practice controlled pirouettes. I don’t mean pushing the rudder stick all the way over and holding on for the ride! Start out slowly, making deliberate corrections as necessary to hold the heli in a stationary hover as it pirouettes. Practice in both directions so you don’t become comfortable performing a maneuver in only one direction.
You should be able to hold the helicopter in a stationary hover and pirouette in either direction at varying speeds. This may sound difficult to beginners, but it is achievable with practice. This type of practice is similar to Mr. Miyagi’s “paint the fence” technique (from “The Karate Kid”). It may not look like you are learning 3-D, but you are building the groundwork for the advanced maneuvers that lay ahead.
When you have reached this point, you should feel proud of how far you have come since lifting off into that first hover. By being able to hover nose in and control your pirouettes, you are a step closer to flying 3-D.
The next step toward that goal is to do exactly what you have just done, but with the helicopter inverted. There are a number of ways to become comfortable flying inverted. One way is to fly a loop and gradually let the helicopter hang upside down longer and longer each time you loop until you are comfortable with it in that orientation.
Another way is to start in stationary hover in a comfortable orientation (tail in is a good starting point), and to pull back on the elevator stick and perform a stationary flip (at sufficient altitude). As long as you hold onto that elevator stick, your heli will end up where it started, so this is a good way to break into inverted flight.
You can briefly pause at the point when the helicopter is inverted and gradually drag out that pause until you are comfortable hovering upside down in that orientation. Then rinse and repeat!
Practice your hovering orientations the same way you did when learning them upright. If at any point you feel as if you are starting to lose it, roll or flip to upright. This is where all of that upright hovering will pay off. No matter which way the nose is pointing when you get there, you will know how to handle it.
Why all the hovering? It’s all about orientation and muscle memory. You want to get to a point where you don’t have to think about how to fly the heli in a particular orientation, and be able to concentrate more on what you want to do. 3-D flying is all about orientation, and when you have these fundamentals down, you can begin developing ways to change orientation from one moment to the next—all while being in complete control of your model.
I don’t suggest that you practice like this nonstop until you have it mastered. You would quickly get bored! The more you practice, the quicker you will advance, but you should have fun doing it. Break up the practice with some regular sport flying.
Remember, we all started at the same beginning point. If we can do it, you can too.
Edition: Model Aviation - 2014/05
Page Numbers: 111,112,113
One of the most frequent comments I hear about 3-D helicopters is, “I’ll never be able to fly like that,” which is usually followed by “How long did it take you to learn how to do that?” When watching pro pilots or any pilot who puts on a good show, it’s sometimes hard to believe that they too started out by learning how to hover.
They’ve all crashed, they’ve all been frustrated, and they’ve all learned how to work on their machines. Ask any accomplished pilot, and he or she will tell you the same thing. It is a gradual process that did not happen overnight. This is what I tell newer pilots who are awed and somewhat intimidated by the flying they see. You may not believe it, but with practice and perseverance, you, can master 3-D.
Where do you start? Whether you are using a simulator or learning on the real thing, there are fundamentals that you can practice. As boring as it might sound, mastering hovering will tremendously help your 3-D training. Trying out a new 3-D maneuver can be tricky, and more often than not, your heli will end up in an unexpected orientation until you get the hang of things.
Knowing how to hover in any orientation will help save you from those unplanned exits because you won’t have to struggle as much to regain control. Even if you have been flying for a while, ask yourself if you truly are comfortable hovering in all orientations, upright and inverted.
Most of us begin learning to hover with the tail in toward us (except for one pilot I know who learned nose in before anything else). In the beginning, this is your comfort zone. This is the orientation you want to return to when all else goes wrong.
You can build on that experience by gradually nudging the nose until you are hovering sideways. It is important not to get too comfortable hovering sideways in only one direction, so you should practice it in both directions. It will feel awkward at first, but perseverance will pay off.
If you feel yourself getting into trouble, simply rotate the nose back away from you, back to your tail-in hovering comfort zone. When you are comfortable hovering sideways, gradually begin rotating the nose around toward you, until you are hovering nose in. This is typically the hardest hovering maneuver to initially master, and patience is the key. Remember, you can always rotate back around to a tail-in or sideways position (now that you are comfortable in that orientation).
When you have accomplished this goal, the next step is to practice controlled pirouettes. I don’t mean pushing the rudder stick all the way over and holding on for the ride! Start out slowly, making deliberate corrections as necessary to hold the heli in a stationary hover as it pirouettes. Practice in both directions so you don’t become comfortable performing a maneuver in only one direction.
You should be able to hold the helicopter in a stationary hover and pirouette in either direction at varying speeds. This may sound difficult to beginners, but it is achievable with practice. This type of practice is similar to Mr. Miyagi’s “paint the fence” technique (from “The Karate Kid”). It may not look like you are learning 3-D, but you are building the groundwork for the advanced maneuvers that lay ahead.
When you have reached this point, you should feel proud of how far you have come since lifting off into that first hover. By being able to hover nose in and control your pirouettes, you are a step closer to flying 3-D.
The next step toward that goal is to do exactly what you have just done, but with the helicopter inverted. There are a number of ways to become comfortable flying inverted. One way is to fly a loop and gradually let the helicopter hang upside down longer and longer each time you loop until you are comfortable with it in that orientation.
Another way is to start in stationary hover in a comfortable orientation (tail in is a good starting point), and to pull back on the elevator stick and perform a stationary flip (at sufficient altitude). As long as you hold onto that elevator stick, your heli will end up where it started, so this is a good way to break into inverted flight.
You can briefly pause at the point when the helicopter is inverted and gradually drag out that pause until you are comfortable hovering upside down in that orientation. Then rinse and repeat!
Practice your hovering orientations the same way you did when learning them upright. If at any point you feel as if you are starting to lose it, roll or flip to upright. This is where all of that upright hovering will pay off. No matter which way the nose is pointing when you get there, you will know how to handle it.
Why all the hovering? It’s all about orientation and muscle memory. You want to get to a point where you don’t have to think about how to fly the heli in a particular orientation, and be able to concentrate more on what you want to do. 3-D flying is all about orientation, and when you have these fundamentals down, you can begin developing ways to change orientation from one moment to the next—all while being in complete control of your model.
I don’t suggest that you practice like this nonstop until you have it mastered. You would quickly get bored! The more you practice, the quicker you will advance, but you should have fun doing it. Break up the practice with some regular sport flying.
Remember, we all started at the same beginning point. If we can do it, you can too.
