Dr.Ben
Elite Veteran
Location: Richmond, VA, USA
| In certain applications, servo delay is a splendid feature. The place that I most commonly use it is in rolls. Today's eCCPM models with strong and fast servos tied to a fast radio like the MZ really respond too quickly to a roll command if that command is not smoothly input. If you slmm the stick over, the model will corkscrew even if trimmed well. Many of us flying F3C use multipoint pmixes to set the model's nose at the start of the rolls and which demand that the rate at which the stick is deflected be the same EVERY SINGLE TIME. Try that sometime if you think it's easy. It ain't. By using the speed feature in the MZ which slows the servos down as desired, I can pace the roll rate of the model so that the roll entry is VERY consistent. I came up with this trick after listening to Wayne Mann explain how critical it was to maintain consitency in stick movement. I also know that the alternate pilot on the current USA F3C team, Dwight Shilling, is using the feature. I don't use it everywhere or even in most places, but where its indicated, it can really make you fly better.
RE the AFR/Dual rates, the majority of the US F3C pilots that I know of and myself DO use AFR to set the max control rate needed for a maneuver and then EXPO to reduce any PIO while flying into, through, or out of said maneuver. Curtis, Scott, and maybe Len might approach this differently because their head set ups are a bit different from the more classic lower hovering headspeed and higher bell hiller ratios. The liability with using expo alone to modify control authority is that at some point an expo curve must catch up to reach the total throw that is set. If you happen to get forced into the steep part of the expo curve by something like a stiff wind gust, you will undoubtedly see an abrupt change in the "set" of the model, speaking here especially about hovering in heavy winds.
Ben Minor |
