driftrider
Veteran
Location: Cedar Rapids, IA. (In my own little world)
| Stick with it! It'll come eventually..I learned on G2 just like you are. When I started I knew how the controls for a heli worked (collective, cyclic, rudder and throttle) and I knew basic helicopter aerodynamics, but that was it. Practicing regularly (an hour or more every day) for about two weeks I went from being unable to keep the heli airborn for more than a few seconds to hovering at will, circuits, and some forward flight. The first time I hovered my real heli I had no problems at all.
The most important thing when learning to hover is proper setup. When I first started I had a bear of a time controlling the collective because my throttle curve was way off and the rotor speed was fluctuating a lot with small movements of the collective. This made the heli bob and weave like Mohammed Ali. Using the Impala 30 Trainer, bring up the Advanced Nav Guide and have it display main rotor RPM and collective pitch, then program your radio for a linear pitch curve (I used -4, -4, 0, +5, +10). Some people recommend that you set your minimum collective to 0 to +2 degrees to prevent you from driving the heli into the ground if you "chop stick," or bottom the collective suddenly when the heli starts to get away from you. In my opinion, if you train like you'll fly, you'll fly like you trained. This way you'll see what happens if you "chop stick" and break the habit quickly. Anyway, to set the pitch it's easiest to kill the engine (hit the "k" key).
Next, with the engine running, the engine should idle with the blades stationary at bottom stick or turning very slowly. Then advance the collective to 1/4 stick. The engine should rev up enough to fully engage the clutch and spool up the blades. Once the blades are spooled up, check the RPM in the Advanced Nav Guide box and adjust point 2 on your throttle curve so it's at about 1500rpm. Move the collective to 1/2 stick and set point 3 on the throttle curve for 1500 RPM. Go to 3/4 stick and set point 4 as best you can. The idea is to have the heli hover at about 3/4 collective (you learn this way because this sets you up for switchless inverted later), but it's far more important to have a linear pitch curve and constant rotor speed than to have the heli hover right at 3/4 (the Raptor 60 will hover at just 2-3 degrees of pitch when run at 1650 rpm, or about halfway between 1/2 and 3/4 stick).
Once you get the heli set up properly it's all a matter of practice, practice, and more practice. Try advancing the collective slowly until the heli just breaks contact with the ground. The heli should tend to skid to the left because of the tail rotor thrust, try putting in just a touch of right cyclic as the heli leaves the ground to keep it steady. When the heli starts getting away from you, hit the spacebar and try again. Eventually you'll hone your "jedi reflexes" so you can stay ahead of the heli and keep it steady.
Also, treat the sim like it was the real thing. Always try to land the heli in one piece every time because you won't have the spacebar for the real thing. Once you can hover over one spot continuously and consistantly through an entire tank of fuel, you're ready to fly the real thing with training gear attached.
Oh, and once you are able to hover the sim, don't forget to turn on the wind. The heli will fly differently with the wind on with some light gusts.
Good luck, have fun, and don't give up,
Mike |
