RC Helicopter Flying Tips
    
    
    PART I: PROFILE
    Important suggestions in order to learn to fly model helicopters 
    fast, safe and without crashing every week: 
    
    
    1. Invite an experienced flyer to help you: 
    Setting up a helicopter for the first time is not very easy. It 
    is very unlikely that you will setup the helicopter correctly by 
    yourself. A helicopter that has been setup properly flies much 
    better and is more predictable! So it’s necessary for you to 
    have an experienced flyer help you. He may give you additional 
    hints and tips on learning and he may point you at certain 
    mistakes you make, which may be very helpful.
    2. Take small steps: 
    Always take very small steps on the learning curve. If you take 
    a big step, you may succeed, or you may crash. If you crash, you 
    may be de-motivated, it will cost you money, it will make you 
    less confident, you are grounded for some time and the worst it 
    is dangerous! Make sure that you learn a step thoroughly and in 
    all directions before you take the next step. In the end you 
    will learn faster if you take small steps because you know the 
    basics well and you will fly instead of repair. 
    3. Don't skip steps: 
    There are of course numerous ways to learn to fly a remotely 
    controlled helicopter. However, if you follow the steps listed 
    below, you will learn fast and with a minimum chance of 
    crashing. The steps are chosen such that you always have learned 
    the necessary steps before taking a new step. 
    4. Use a proper RC Helicopter fly 
    simulator: Having a proper simulator, which can 
    be controlled by your Tx ( transmitter is necessary). It allows 
    you to get acquainted to controlling an R/C helicopter and learn 
    the needed reflexes. 
    
    
    PART II: FUNCATION
    
    1) Learn about the basic theory of helicopter aerodynamics.
    This will help you to understand what is going on. Your 
    instructor can learn about the controls and their interactions 
    and the influence of wind on the model etc. Learn about when a 
    helicopter stalls etc, this is very different from a plane! 
    2) Have your helicopter checked over thoroughly by your 
    instructor for safety. 
    3) Use your simulator to train your reflexes required for 
    hovering the helicopter. 
    4) Setup a buddy lead between your TX and the TX of the 
    instructor and make sure that both transmitters are setup 
    properly. Here you can see the learning process 
    on the buddy lead in action. Both transmitters are connected, 
    and the instructor is ready to take over at any time.
    5) Learn about the safety procedures on RC helicopter fly and 
    the specific safety procedures at the field you are going to 
    fly.
    6) Make sure that you have your training gear connected 
    properly.
    
    
    PART III: PRACTICE & PROGRESS
    
    Make sure you practice until you are confident in a step before 
    you move on to the next step.
    Make sure that you have your training gear connected properly.
    Make sure that your instructorknows when you get in to trouble.
    
    
    
    Learning Cyclic Control:
    Step1) Your instructor will check the helicopter controls, he 
    will spool it up and check the controls with a spooled up 
    helicopter. If all is well, he will test fly the helicopter to 
    ensure that everything is operating as expected. Yes, this is 
    thrilling; you have just witnessed your helicopter actually fly.
    
    Step 2) Your instructor will demonstrate what a sliding 
    helicopter is. Using your training gear it will be possible to 
    slowly land the helicopter while it still has significant 
    forward, backward or sideways speed. 
    
    Step 3) Position the helicopter with the nose in the wind. You 
    should stand 5m away behind the helicopter, and 1m to the left 
    of it. Rehearse in your mind what you are going to do (try to 
    make the helicopter stay put at one position). Rehearse what the 
    controls and their interactions are going to be. 
    
    Step 4) Now you are in control of the cyclic and your instructor 
    will lift the helicopter to a save height of 0.1m. Exercise only 
    very small control inputs. While trying to make the helicopter 
    stay put, the landing gear will now and then touch the ground, 
    but this will be no problem. Once you can control the helicopter 
    so it stays in one place, it will no longer touch the ground. 
    Your instructor will lift the helicopter to a height of 1m. This 
    will need a bit of time to get used to. Yes, you are flying a 
    helicopter!
    
    Step 5) Practice to move the helicopter sideways 1m, stop in a 
    hover, and come back again. Practice this in both directions. 
    You will develop proper feel for controlling the cyclic.
    
    Step 6) Practice to move the helicopter forwards 1m, stop in a 
    hover, and come back again.
    Then, you mastered the basic controls on the right 
    stick. 
    
    
    Learning Collective and Rudder Control:
    
    Step 1) Position the helicopter with the nose in the wind. You 
    should stand 5m away behind the helicopter, and 1m to the left 
    of it. Rehearse in your mind what you are going to do (try to 
    gently lift the helicopter 10cm of the ground and put it down 
    again). Rehearse what the controls and their interactions are 
    going to be. Remember that you must keep 
    calm when you slam down the helicopter and donot slam it down in 
    a hurry.
    
    Step 2) Lift the helicopter slowly of the ground up to 10cm. 
    Hold the pitch control for a couple of seconds. Decrease pitch 
    slowly and set it down again. You will get confident in your 
    instructor in keeping the helicopter at one spot. Try to be very 
    precise on the stick so that you do not touch the rudder. The 
    helicopter will not stay at one height due to the wind effects.
    
    Step 3) Lift the helicopter slowly to an height of 1m. Get 
    comfortable with this height, and practice to set it down slowly 
    and gently. Try to learn to keep the helicopter at a constant 
    height of 1m. If you feel uncomfortable landing the helicopter, 
    let the instructor land the helicopter until you are ready for 
    it.
    
    Step 4) Lift the helicopter to a height of 1m. Keep it steady. 
    Now slowly rotate the nose of the helicopter left, back again, 
    right, and back again. The maximum rotation is about 20 degrees. 
    Get comfortable in controlling the rudder.
    
    Step 5) Lift the helicopter slowly to an height of 1m. How does 
    a controlled ascent to 2m, back to 1m etc? Practice to get a 
    very controlled height.
    
    Step 6) Lift the helicopter to a height of 1m. Your instructor 
    will move the helicopter sideways, forwards and backwards (1m). 
    Try to keep the helicopter at a constant height of 1m.
    
    Step 7) Same as above, now the instructor moves the helicopter 
    in all directions up to a distance of 5m.
    After these steps, you mastered the basic control of the 
    pitch/throttle and the rudder.
    
    
    Learning to Control Both Sticks:
    Step 1) Position the helicopter with the nose in the wind. You 
    should stand 5m away behind the helicopter, and 1m to the left 
    of it. Rehearse in your mind what you are going to do (try to 
    make the helicopter stay at a minimal height of 1m). Rehearse 
    what the controls and their interactions are going to be.
    
    Step 2) Be prepared for the helicopter to drift to the left 
    (with a right hand rotating main rotor). It will do that! 
    Promptly lift the helicopter to a height of 1m. Don't try to 
    control the cyclic until it is of the ground! Don't hover below 
    1m, make sure that the liftoff is swiftly. Catch the left drift 
    of the helicopter. Practice until the helicopter stays put at 
    one place and you are in full control. 
    
    Step 3) Practice a gentle decent from 1m and a gentle touch 
    down. Practice this until you can land the helicopter with 
    little to no sideways movement and a gentle descent. From here 
    on, you always try to land the helicopter as if there is no 
    training gear attached (gently with no sideways movement).
    
    Step 4) Practice to move the helicopter sideways 1m, stop in a 
    hover, and come back again. Practice this in both directions. 
    Take care of the control interaction, be aware of the wind 
    effects. You will develop proper feel for controlling the cyclic 
    and the pitch combination. Extend this slowly to a sideways 
    movement of 5m.
    
    Step 5) Practice to move the helicopter forwards 1m, stop in a 
    hover, and come back again. Extend this slowly to a forward and 
    backward movement of 5m. Take care of the control interaction; 
    be aware of the wind effects. Practice this until you can make 
    forward, backward and sideways movement at a constant height.
    
    Step 6) Lift the helicopter to a height of 1m. Keep it steady. 
    Now slowly rotate the nose of the helicopter left, back again, 
    right, and back again. The maximum rotation is about 20 degrees. 
    Get comfortable in controlling the rudder and keeping the 
    helicopter at one spot with a constant altitude.
    After finished these steps, you have managed the first 
    hovering steps.
    
    
    The Hovering trail like "M":
    Step 1) Position the helicopter with the nose in the wind. You 
    should stand 5m away behind the helicopter, and 1m to the left 
    of it. Rehearse in your mind what you are going to do (try 
    diagonal movements and finally make the "M" maneuver at a 
    constant height of 1m). Rehearse what the controls and their 
    interactions are going to be.
    
    Step 2) Bring the helicopter in a stable hover. Move the 
    helicopter 5m to the right of you and make it stop. From this 
    point, move the helicopter 5 m forwards and make it stop. You 
    are looking at the helicopter with a familiar angle, just a bit 
    further away. Make sure you can hold it there in a stable hover.
    
    Step 3) Diagonally move the helicopter backwards and to the left 
    until it is again in front of you (5m in front of you, 1m to the 
    right). Practice this triangle until you feel comfortable.
    
    Step 4) Now we are going to practice the left-hand side. Again, 
    start in front of you. Move the helicopter 5m to the left and 
    make it stop (near left corner). Move the helicopter 5m forward 
    and get it in a stable hover. Diagonally move the helicopter 
    backwards and to the right until it is again in front of you (5m 
    in front of you, 1m to the right). Practice this triangle until 
    you feel comfortable.
    
    Step 5) Now repeat the steps above, but this time you extend the 
    diagonal sections. So you are going to move the helicopter 
    diagonally from the far right corner directly to the near left 
    corner. From here move the helicopter to the far left corner, 
    and then diagonally to the near right corner. From here to the 
    far right corner etc. Always hover at the corners first so that 
    errors do not get accumulated.
    
    Step 6) Now we are going to practice the triangle in the other 
    direction. Start with the helicopter in front of you move 
    diagonally to the far right corner, back again to the near right 
    corner and back again in front of you. Also practice this on the 
    left hand side, with the diagonal movement away from you to the 
    far left corner.
    
    Step 7) Extend the diagonal movements. Start in front of you, 
    move the helicopter to the near right corner, from here move the 
    helicopter to the far left corner and back to the near left 
    corner. From there move it in one diagonal to the far right 
    corner and back to the near right corner.
    
    Step 8) Lift the helicopter in front of you. Move the helicopter 
    to the far right corner. From there move it diagonally back in 
    front of you, but now at a distance of 7.5M in front of you 
    (half way or middle point of the "M"). From that position move 
    the helicopter to the far left corner and back to the middle 
    point. 
    
    Step 9) Connect the exercises above until you make a nice "M" 
    with stopping at each corner. Practice the "M" in both 
    directions. Now reduce the stop time until you have a nice and 
    smooth continuous "M". Practice them in both directions.
    After tried the steps above, you managed an essential 
    hovering skill that will help you through your future leaning 
    steps. 
    
    
    Landing and Takeoff
    Step 1) Position the helicopter with the nose in the wind. You 
    should stand 5m away behind the helicopter, and 1m to the left 
    of it. Rehearse in your mind what you are going to do (try to 
    make the helicopter land as if there is no training gear). 
    Rehearse what the controls and their interactions are going to 
    be.
    
    Step 2) Lift the helicopter to a height of 1m. Now land the 
    helicopter with absolute no sideways movement. Furthermore, the 
    landing should be very soft. Notice that without a training gear 
    the helicopter tips over very easy, and a rough landing will 
    break the landing gear.
    
    Step 3) Put a marker in front of you and practice perfect 
    landings with no sideways movement and a very gentle descent 
    over and over again on top of the marker. Having the "landing 
    gear square" over the marker is good enough. Don't focus on the 
    landing gear or the marker; try to look at the overall picture.
    
    Step 4) Move the helicopter to the far right corner, and 
    practice a gentle and stable landing.
    
    Step 5) Move the helicopter to the far left corner, and practice 
    a gentle and stable landing.
    
    Step 6) Take off the training gear. The longer the training gear 
    stays on, the more difficult it will be to remove it. 
    Furthermore, you might be using the training gear for deducting 
    the attitude of the helicopter. This is not a good thing, as it 
    is not going to be there in the future. A Raptor 30 with the 
    training gear still attached.
    
    Step 7) Lift the helicopter promptly to a height of 1m. Don't 
    touch the cyclic before the helicopter is actually airborne! Get 
    comfortable hovering the helicopter without the training gear. 
    If you control the cyclic before the helicopter is actually 
    airborne, the helicopter is likely to tip over.
    
    Step 8) Move the helicopter sideways 5m, stop, and back again in 
    both directions. You now get used to the controls of the 
    helicopter without the training gear. Move the helicopter 
    forwards 5m, stop, and back again. You now get used to the 
    controls of the helicopter in the forward direction without the 
    training gear. 
    
    Step 9) Descent the helicopter to 0.1m and back again to 1m. Get 
    comfortable of the semi landing of your helicopter without the 
    landing gear. Now you are going to do your first actual landing 
    without the training gear. Rehearse your escape first! Now while 
    landing the helicopter, keep reminding yourself to push the left 
    stick if you are not comfortable. Don't land the helicopter if 
    it moves sideways, abort the landing in that case. Remind 
    yourself that you can do this since you can make a perfect 
    landing with the training gear attached.
    
    Step 9) You did your first landing without a training gear! Lift 
    the helicopter to a height of 1m and land the helicopter. Keep 
    practicing this until you can swiftly and confidently land your 
    helicopter. 
    
    Step 10) Practice to land the helicopter at the far right and 
    the near right corners. Keep practicing this until you can 
    swiftly and confidently land your helicopter. Now practice both 
    the far left and the near left corners. 
    
    Step 11) Practice a perfect landing in front of you "on top" of 
    the marker. Landing within 0.3m is good enough for now.
    After finished the steps above, you managed to take off, 
    hover, move around and land your helicopter safely.
    
    
    PART IV: SKILLS & DEVELOPMENT
    
    
    Make sure you practice until you are confident in a step before 
    you move on to the next step.
    Make sure that you have your training gear connected properly.
    Make sure your instructor knows when you get in to trouble.
    The wind must be gentle. 
    
    Tail in the Wind:
    Step 1) This is an easy one with nowadays gyro's. Rehearse what 
    the wind effects on the tail will be in the hover in relation 
    with the pitch control. Put the helicopter in front of you with 
    the nose in the wind. Lift of the helicopter and practice a 
    comfortable hover and landing with the give wind. Make sure you 
    get used to the changed pitch range! The landings should be 
    precise and comfortable with the new pitch range and the wind.
    
    Step 2) Put the helicopter in front of you, but this time with 
    the tail in the wind. Lift of the helicopter and practice a 
    comfortable hover and landing with the tail in the wind.
    
    Step 3) Practice moving the helicopter to the near right and 
    near left corners and hovering at those corners. Practice to 
    hover the helicopter at the far right and far left corners.
    
    Step 4) Practice the hovering "M" in both directions with the 
    tail in the wind.
    
    Step 5) Hover the helicopter in front of you, and rotate the 
    nose to the left, back again, to the right and back again. The 
    rotation of the nose should not exceed 20 degrees or so.
    Then, you managed an essential hovering skill with some 
    wind. 
    
    Learning Sideways Wind:
    Step 1) This is an easy one with nowadays gyro's. Rehearse what 
    the wind effects on the tail will be in the hover in relation 
    with the pitch control. Rehearse what the sideways wind will do 
    with the attitude of the helicopter in a hover. Put the 
    helicopter in front of you with the nose in the wind. Lift of 
    the helicopter and practice a comfortable hover and landing with 
    the give wind. Get used to the wind of today.
    
    Step 2) Put the helicopter in front of you, but this time with 
    the wind coming in at the left side of the helicopter (with 
    right hand rotating main blades). If your helicopter is rotating 
    counter clockwise, you should start with the wind on the right 
    side of the helicopter. Rehearse what the wind is going to do, 
    and what you are going to do to counter the wind effect. Be 
    aware of the effects of the wind on your pitch.
    
    Step 3) Promptly lift the helicopter to a height of 1m, and try 
    to catch the drift. If you don't succeed, your instructor will 
    take over. Don't let the helicopter drop below 1m. Practice this 
    until you can make the helicopter stay put in one position at 
    one altitude. Note that you can always rotate the tail towards 
    you and in the wind if the helicopter keeps drifting. You are 
    then again hovering with the tail in the wind, which you already 
    mastered.
    
    Step 4) Slowly land the helicopter without any sideways 
    movement. The left skid is likely going to touch the ground 
    first, which is absolutely no issue! Practice this until you can 
    comfortably takeoff and land the helicopter with the sideways 
    wind.
    
    Step 5) Now position the helicopter in front of you with the 
    tail towards you, but with the wind coming in at the right side 
    of the helicopter (clockwise rotation of main blades). Rehearse 
    what will happen. The helicopter will tilt much more now. 
    Practice Step 3 and Step 4 with the wind coming from the right.
    Finished the steps above you learned to handle sideways 
    wind without a problem. 
    
    
    Hovering Solo:
    Step 1) Position the helicopter with the nose in the wind. Your 
    instructor will stand next to you to give confidence and useful 
    (vocal) help if necessary. Lift of the helicopter and hover it 
    in front of you. Practice until you feel comfortable. Land the 
    helicopter in a precise and gentle way.
    
    Step 2) Practice all the Hovering "M" steps.
    
    Step 3) Practice the Tail in the Wind steps.
    
    Step 4) Practice the Sideways Wind steps.
    
    Step 5) Your instructor will let you alone, he will put the nice 
    bottle 
     
    
    of wine he finally got from you in his car.
    
    Step 6) Practice Step 2 to Step 4 while you are completely on 
    your own.
    Now, you really mastered the basic skills to hover a 
    helicopter. 
    
    
    Tail-in Circle:
    Step 1) Put the helicopter in front of you and hover for a 
    second so you get used to the wind. Rotate the nose 20 degrees 
    to the left and hover for some time like that. Rotate the nose 
    20 degrees to the right and hover for some time like that. This 
    way you get comfortable again with the wind on the side of the 
    helicopter.
    
    Step 2) Position the helicopter with the tail in the wind, and 
    put it in a stable hover. Now let the helicopter make the first 
    90 degrees of a counter clockwise tail in circle with a radius 
    of 5m (with clockwise rotating main blades). The helicopter is 
    hovering with the wind coming in on the left side of the 
    helicopter. Slowly let the helicopter move back again to the 
    starting position (90 degrees clockwise) until the wind is on 
    the tail again. 
    
    Step 3) Position the helicopter with the tail in the wind, and 
    put it in a stable hover. Now let the helicopter make the first 
    90 degrees of a clockwise tail in circle with a radius of 5m 
    (with clockwise rotating main blades). The helicopter is 
    hovering with the wind coming in on the right side of the 
    helicopter. Slowly let the helicopter move back again to the 
    starting position (90 degrees clockwise) until the wind is on 
    the tail again. Note that the helicopter will need to bank a bit 
    more now, get comfortable with this banking angle.
    
    Step 4) Position the helicopter with the tail in the wind, and 
    put it in a stable hover. Now let the helicopter make the first 
    180 degrees of a counter clockwise tail in circle with a radius 
    of 5m (with clockwise rotating main blades). The helicopter is 
    hovering with the nose in the wind. Slowly let the helicopter 
    move back again to the starting position (180 degrees clockwise) 
    until the wind is on the tail again. 
    
    Step 5) Position the helicopter with the tail in the wind, and 
    put it in a stable hover. Now let the helicopter make the first 
    180 degrees of a clockwise tail in circle with a radius of 5m 
    (with clockwise rotating main blades). The helicopter is 
    hovering with the nose in the wind. Slowly let the helicopter 
    move back again to the starting position (180 degrees clockwise) 
    until the wind is on the tail again. 
    
    Step 6) Just put the steps above together, and you are doing a 
    tail-in circle!
    
    Step 7) Increase the radius of the circle to e.g. 10m. Practice 
    the circles in both directions until they are circular with a 
    constant speed and a constant height. Work up the speed of the 
    circles so that a complete circle with a radius of 10 takes 
    about 8 seconds or so on both directions.
    Finished all the steps above and now you really mastered 
    flying a helicopter with a gentle wind. Hope you enjoy yourself 
    with your beloved helicopter!