Tuesday 21 August 2007
Tuesday 14 August 2007
Second Crash, More Repairs
After changing the rotor blades I decided to give it another go. This time the plan was to get the heli to atleast 2 feet as quickly as possible.
After initial trim adjustments I flew the heli. It got upto 3 feet and then suddenly tilted towards right. I tried to compensate but crashed the helicopter.
Damaged parts included skids, training kit and rotor head.
I ordered the parts on Friday and received them on Monday. This time I went for the extreme skids, hopefully they are strong enough to sustain the crashes.
I installed the skids last night and and will replace the rotor head tonight.
I have also ordered RealFlight G3 simulator. Apparently this is the most realistic simulator in the market. Will tell you more about it after I have tried it.
The plan now is to spend the next week following Radds manual of rotary flight. Then spend some time on the simulator before trying the helicopter.
After initial trim adjustments I flew the heli. It got upto 3 feet and then suddenly tilted towards right. I tried to compensate but crashed the helicopter.
Damaged parts included skids, training kit and rotor head.
I ordered the parts on Friday and received them on Monday. This time I went for the extreme skids, hopefully they are strong enough to sustain the crashes.
I installed the skids last night and and will replace the rotor head tonight.
I have also ordered RealFlight G3 simulator. Apparently this is the most realistic simulator in the market. Will tell you more about it after I have tried it.
The plan now is to spend the next week following Radds manual of rotary flight. Then spend some time on the simulator before trying the helicopter.
Friday 10 August 2007
Crash Investigation and Repairs
Yesterday I discussed the crash with some experts (or more experienced) pilots on Heliguy. It seems that the main cause of the accident was ground turbulence. Advise for next time is to lift the heli to at least 2 feet as quick as possible.
Repairs
Replaced the damaged rotor blade and tested the heli to check if anything else was damaged. Luckily the rotor blade was the only damage.
I have ordered spare blades and also ordered some extra parts for the rotor head in case it was damaged.
Repairs
Replaced the damaged rotor blade and tested the heli to check if anything else was damaged. Luckily the rotor blade was the only damage.
I have ordered spare blades and also ordered some extra parts for the rotor head in case it was damaged.
Thursday 9 August 2007
First Flight, First Crash
After setting up the heli, tracking the blades and doing the switch and fuse mod. I decided to give my heli a go today. (at least I hoped that its all setup and tracked).
As you might have guessed from the title it crashed. Not exactly a crash as I was not hovering higher than a foot but more of a hard landing where the edge of main blade brushed against the kerb and got damaged. I guess I need to order more blades.
Anyways before the crash I observed a few things.
1. Tail turning to left.
When I increased the throttle, just enough to make the heli light on its skids but not in air. The tail would start turning towards left.
I suspect it could be the ground turbulence or the gyro gains but during my test I adjusted the rudder trim to compensate.
2. Heli moving backward and sideways
When I would slightly increase the throttle to try hopping, the heli always tried to move backwards (nose up) and side ways (towards right). I tried to compensate for that using trims but never got it right and that what actually caused it to tilt and hit the kerb.
Picture of damaged rotor
As you might have guessed from the title it crashed. Not exactly a crash as I was not hovering higher than a foot but more of a hard landing where the edge of main blade brushed against the kerb and got damaged. I guess I need to order more blades.
Anyways before the crash I observed a few things.
1. Tail turning to left.
When I increased the throttle, just enough to make the heli light on its skids but not in air. The tail would start turning towards left.
I suspect it could be the ground turbulence or the gyro gains but during my test I adjusted the rudder trim to compensate.
2. Heli moving backward and sideways
When I would slightly increase the throttle to try hopping, the heli always tried to move backwards (nose up) and side ways (towards right). I tried to compensate for that using trims but never got it right and that what actually caused it to tilt and hit the kerb.
Picture of damaged rotor
Mods
So far I have done two Mods to my CP2
Power Switch
The RX (receiver) on the helicopter does not have a power switch. So added a switch to switch it on or off.
Fuses
Its another popular mod. I have added a fuse (7A resettable) to protect the motors in case of a crash.
Power Switch
The RX (receiver) on the helicopter does not have a power switch. So added a switch to switch it on or off.
Fuses
Its another popular mod. I have added a fuse (7A resettable) to protect the motors in case of a crash.
Heliguy
Whats Heliguy?
Well its a online store that sells RC helicopters. I discovered them by chance. In fact I was looking for information regarding what heli to buy when I discovered their forum.
They have got loads on information on any thing related to your helicopters and are extremely helpful. The best thing about them is that they are based in UK so no need to deal with dodgy offshore companies.
Infact it was the information I found on their forum that gave me the confidence to get into "proper" RC flying.
Well its a online store that sells RC helicopters. I discovered them by chance. In fact I was looking for information regarding what heli to buy when I discovered their forum.
They have got loads on information on any thing related to your helicopters and are extremely helpful. The best thing about them is that they are based in UK so no need to deal with dodgy offshore companies.
Infact it was the information I found on their forum that gave me the confidence to get into "proper" RC flying.
So I bought one
In the beginning.....
A few weeks ago I saw a friend of mine flying a two channel twin rotor helicopter. Upon inquiring he told me that he got it from a website for only 20 quid. I rushed back to my PC and ordered one straight away.
The idea was to try out RC helis and check if I get a hang of it.
I loved that heli, it was very stable and flew very nice for the first few flights. The only issue was lack of control. It was a 2 CH helicopter and its capabilities were limited. Later on the performance degraded as I crashed it a couple of times. The most annoying bit was the battery. The charging time was 4 hours but you only get 5-8 minutes of flight time from that battery. Eventually after flying it for a week I retired it.
Next step was to buy a proper RC Helicopter which can fly "in all directions".
4CH or 6CH
One of the toughest choices I have made. I narrowed my search to an ESky Honey Bee helicopter but was not sure if I should go for a 4CH fixed Pitch Honey Bee or the more advanced 6CH CP2. After a lot of thinking and reading hundreds of posts on the heliguy forum (www.heliguy.com/forum), I decided to go for the difficult route and bought a Hobey Bee CP2 6CH helicopter.
A few weeks ago I saw a friend of mine flying a two channel twin rotor helicopter. Upon inquiring he told me that he got it from a website for only 20 quid. I rushed back to my PC and ordered one straight away.
The idea was to try out RC helis and check if I get a hang of it.
I loved that heli, it was very stable and flew very nice for the first few flights. The only issue was lack of control. It was a 2 CH helicopter and its capabilities were limited. Later on the performance degraded as I crashed it a couple of times. The most annoying bit was the battery. The charging time was 4 hours but you only get 5-8 minutes of flight time from that battery. Eventually after flying it for a week I retired it.
Next step was to buy a proper RC Helicopter which can fly "in all directions".
4CH or 6CH
One of the toughest choices I have made. I narrowed my search to an ESky Honey Bee helicopter but was not sure if I should go for a 4CH fixed Pitch Honey Bee or the more advanced 6CH CP2. After a lot of thinking and reading hundreds of posts on the heliguy forum (www.heliguy.com/forum), I decided to go for the difficult route and bought a Hobey Bee CP2 6CH helicopter.
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