RunRyder - flying in strong side wind (F3C)?

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Aerobatic FAI F3C Contest > flying in strong side wind (F3C)?

happyfly
Senior Heliman
Location: HK

Would any F3C experts help to tell how to fly aerobatics in very strong side wind condition? How to maintain the heli flying without drifting away from the flight line? It is very difficult for me to fly in such condition especailly with those aerobatics with striaght vertical upline such as rolling stall turn. It is fine in headwind but it is blowed out in strong side wind. Thank you for your input

Cheers, Happyfly

06-19-2005 Over year old.

Jarno
Veteran
Location: Finland

Yes it's the same with all of us mortals. I was practising last weekend and moaned about the very same thing

It's pretty much stick input that makes the difference. High head speed helps a bit though, at least in my case. You just have to keep repeating manouvers from day to day and spend a lot of fuel. In my opinion that's the only way.

It helps if you are not scared to fly your heli far away to make stall turns between the manouvers. By then you'll have enough time to put your heli on right flight line and can notice that the tail is pointing straight back and not leaning to either way some degrees.

Cheers

06-20-2005 Over year old.

HOMEPAGE

Rogue123
Key Veteran
Location: Phoenix AZ

Stick controll? I have talked to CY about this issue. He said the wind is something you have to learn also in youre flying? Its hard but he is right, on windy days think about what would make youre manuver straight.

06-20-2005 Over year old.

Jarno
Veteran
Location: Finland

Rogue,

Yes you're right on that. Sorry for my bad english I wasn't accurate enough. You said what I meant. If you practise alot then you'll most likely learn to understand wind gradually

I don't care if it's windy or not if I have to practise. Actually I don't care about the weather att all. If I decide to practise then I will do so no matter it's cold or warm, windy or not, summer or winter. The only thing that keeps my helis on the ground is rain or stormy weather

06-20-2005 Over year old.

HOMEPAGE

happyfly
Senior Heliman
Location: HK

Thank you for your input. Certainly the quality / quantity of practice is the key success factor for F3C. What I hope to learn here is the correct method to fight against cross wind, do you really keep your heli rotor tit up to counter the side wind during the whole execution of a upstair aerobatic? Any other input would be important as well such as controlling the heli nose heading throughout a loop or rolling stall turn?

Cheers, Happyfly

06-20-2005 Over year old.

w.pasman
Elite Veteran
Location: Netherlands

Quote
such as rolling stall turn. It is fine in headwind but it is blowed out in strong side wind.

From your comments I think with side wind you mean sidewind for the heli, not for the pilot.
The only thing you can do with sidewind is to start the maneuver out-of-straight such that the net effect is straight. But that's hard because you have only one chance to set the right out-of-straightness (while pitch can be corrected during the stall turn with head-on wind). Especially wind towards the pilot is hard, as the heli is blown towards you which is much more visible on the heli than wind on your back.

06-20-2005 Over year old.

HOMEPAGE

happyfly
Senior Heliman
Location: HK

Yes Sir, what I mean the side wind is with respected to the heli iteself.
In the F3C competition, entering manuver with out of striaght line will not be downgraded?
I am not sure since it has not been mentioned in detail in the FAI sport code booklet. But in F3A, a well defined flight path is extrememly important and it supposes the aeroplane should be always on track regardless the wind condition, otherwise heavy downgrade is applied.

Cheers, Happyfly

06-20-2005 Over year old.

w.pasman
Elite Veteran
Location: Netherlands

Quote
In the F3C competition, entering manuver with out of striaght line will not be downgraded?

First, this 'out of straight' is a matter of a few degrees and sshould not affect scoring.
What counts is how the figure looks, not how you have to pull the sticks and tweak to get it fly that way.

[I don't suggest to make a slanted 'flight line'. I mean that you put the machine in the air slanted to make a straight flight line. So it would fly a slanted slightline if there were no wind]

06-20-2005 Over year old.

HOMEPAGE

Yug
rrProfessor
Location: UK. Herts

I can't think of a flying session this year that hasn't been windy or blustery. I think England is just like that. Don't worry, just get used to it.
I find it's more of a mental approach - treat the wind as your friend and work with it rather than fight it. All said and done, I am really looking forward to a still day. Being realistic, that's probably relagated to the sim.

Vegetable rights and Peace

06-21-2005 Over year old.

happyfly
Senior Heliman
Location: HK

Hi Pasman, thank you for your advice. I want to make sure I can follow you so let's suppose the flight path is along the line between 12 and 6 o'clock, strong wind blows from 3 and pilot stands at 9. Now the heli flyes from 6 to 12 and perpare to do the centre manuver, what you mean is that the heli should be slightly flown away a bit out of line, say pointing to 1 o'clock direction before entering the manuver? or.....?

Hi Martin, the mental idea is useful. thank you. I actally do like flying in windy days.

Cheers, Happyfly

06-21-2005 Over year old.

w.pasman
Elite Veteran
Location: Netherlands

happyfly,

That would be one way to tweak it.
It distorts your incoming flight path (not perfectly perpendicular) but if done with care and not too nearby it won't hurt the score.

But it can be done more subtile. You can come in straight and pick up the necessary sideways speed just before you start the stallturn or during the stall turn itself.
I prefer the last approach: you put the machine not straight vertical, but pull it somewhat into the wind. This is done by rolling the machine a little into the wind (to the right in your example) just before pulling up.

In fact the same technique also works for me during loops where you have the same problem.

Corrected this way, the main problem with sidewind becomes the reduced lift. Sidewind is pushing the machine down and you want to get up instead of down, where frontal wind makes trenemdous lift and big loops. This makes the figure look much less nice (smaller, so errors look relatively larger and you have less time to correct them) with side wind...

06-21-2005 Over year old.

HOMEPAGE

happyfly
Senior Heliman
Location: HK

I got it. thanks a lot. it is time to practice with corrected approach. really thanks.

Cheers, Happyfly

06-21-2005 Over year old.

w.pasman
Elite Veteran
Location: Netherlands

And, does it work for you?

06-24-2005 Over year old.

HOMEPAGE

happyfly
Senior Heliman
Location: HK

Hi pasman, thanks for asking.
I have not flown yet coz it keeps raining out there everydays for almost a month. So much water upstair

anyway, I am preparing it mentally