How do u guys learn auto rotate?

[Bee_Flower]

How do u guys learn auto rotate?

I read this thread, so besides starting from high level, can I start from 3 feets above ground?

http://203.124.102.59/forum/showthread.php?t=1115&page=2&pp=15&highlight=autorotate

Will appreciate if someone can give some tips on how high to start learning auto roate & stick movements. Assuming I setup -5 min at throttle hold.

Someone recommended hover at 3 feets then flip the Throttle Hold then add collective when necessary. But when do I know at which point to add collective?

[edmond22]

How do u guys learn auto rotate?

I read this thread, so besides starting from high level, can I start from 3 feets above ground?

http://203.124.102.59/forum/showthread.php?t=1115&page=2&pp=15&highlight=autorotate

Will appreciate if someone can give some tips on how high to start learning auto roate & stick movements. Assuming I setup -5 min at throttle hold.

Someone recommended hover at 3 feets then flip the Throttle Hold then add collective when necessary. But when do I know at which point to add collective?

hey Bee Flower, I never learn to do it but I was forced to do it a couple of times when glow plug come out, tail control rod broke etc.

All I can say is you can try from human height on normal mode, flip your throttle hold and use your pitch to put in a control descent (not too slow though), right at the end when Heli is near ground (near as in able to drop to ground and not sustain damage), you can control your pitch to maintain your heli at that point as much as you want to get a feel of how the blades will decay.

From people I know who does it on a regular basis or rather abuse their 50 size They usually say electric 450 size no chance, 50 size 1 chance, 90 size 2 or 3 maybe. I tried it on my 90 and noticed from a very high up height, I was able to auto rotate down fairly easily (no FF or anything fancy). In fact, I was able to hold the heli there till HS decay, put in negative pitch and let the heli drop in a hurry (pretty fast), let the blade gain speed and hold again for 2 -3 times depending on how high you are.

Practice with throttle hold and hold the heli at a higher height, just flip back power when needed. When auto rotating, you need to see the heli and use your collective, you did pretty well actually last weekend when you flamed out, the only thing I see wrong was that you hold the heli descent too slow and the HS decay too rapidly, rememeber, gravity is your friend, let the heli come down in a hurry by feeding in negative pitch, then hold positive pitch sorta at the last minute to get it to hover, you are essentially transfering all that gravity to spin your blade when going down, with that build up HS, you then have a 1-2 second hovering power to land the heli as gently as possible.

[Art]

I started with 3 ft....flipped throttle hold and then add collective....


Then my RX gave problems....and I was doing 30-40ft autos....

when to give collective...about 6 ft off ground if you have FFF speed....else...just feel it...

Auto crashes are usually minimal....blades...spindles....pop a few links...boom strike...

so dun worry....

Autos are done INTO wind...and usually will be easier with a little forward speed

[edmond22]

hey Art, you are in a better place to advise Bee Flower, were you there yet on Sun morning?

[Bee_Flower]

Edmond..... like what happened to me yesterday...forced to auto rotate...

Lucky only broke one rear landing ski....

So now better learn properly.....

[edmond22]

Edmond..... like what happened to me yesterday...forced to auto rotate...

Lucky only broke one rear landing ski....

So now better learn properly.....

Did you find out what made the engine cut?

[Bee_Flower]

Did you find out what made the engine cut?

I changed the Mixture level before that flight. When I tried to do a sudden increase in collective, the engine died

Still trying to find the comfortable setup.......

[JYZoom]

can scan and post?

Daddyhooby,

I have an article from Rotorworld where Nigel Fraser teach how to do auto in three pages. The question is can I scan and post here ?

Jonathan

[Art]

I changed the Mixture level before that flight. When I tried to do a sudden increase in collective, the engine died

Still trying to find the comfortable setup.......

hey...I really dun think your engine cut was due to the mixture....check your clunk line...I think when you punched up..the clunk line collasped...it sounded to me like fuel starvation....

My guess is..you richened engine?

[Bee_Flower]

hey...I really dun think your engine cut was due to the mixture....check your clunk line...I think when you punched up..the clunk line collasped...it sounded to me like fuel starvation....

My guess is..you richened engine?

yes.... I richened the engine..... I reset it back to the previous setting & I think its ok now....did hover it around gently after replacing the ski

[Art]

I think its the clunk line....replace it with something tougher...

If you are running OS50 hyper...it should be about 1 round plus 5-6 clicks....

[Bee_Flower]

I think its the clunk line....replace it with something tougher...

If you are running OS50 hyper...it should be about 1 round plus 5-6 clicks....

Yes, I using OS 50 hyper. Thanks Art, I will check it again tonite.

[CKS]

I actually started by learning them in the sim .. and found that its actually easier in reallife (depending on which model/sim)

so maybe try it in the sim first?
And also followered the finless (helifreak.com) flying tips on autorotation ...

[Bee_Flower]

Found this article from RC Heli website:

http://www.rchelimag.com/pages/howto.php?howto=13&page=1

It does explain the concept.

[Bee_Flower]

I read the following in the web:

Set Up for Autos
The throttle hold function should be enabled on your transmitter, and the engine should be setup for a reliable idle low enough that the clutch is no way engaged. At full down collective for your first autos, you should set the pitch curve to have no more than -4 degrees, any more than that and all it does is make it drop quicker and use up blade speed pulling the helicopter down. Not enough negative pitch and the helicopter will float down nice and slow but be losing head speed the whole time. For top end pitch you want to set it to pull all your helicopter can mechanically muster, because eery extra degree you can pull is a little extra lift at the bottom, and that is always a good thing.


Hovering Autos
A good practise for autos is the hovering auto. This is where, in a solid 3ft hover, the throttle hold switch should be hit, and the helicopter should settle to the ground with the inertia in the blades. The trick is to leave the helicopter alone for half a second after the power has gone, because lifting the collective too soon will do nothing but shoot the helicopter in the air and drain your headspeed, and then you are stuck 15ft in the air like a brick with the blades going slow enough to count. If you lower the collective it will surely just drop into the ground. So leave it alone until you see it fall slightly, then on the way down cushion it with the collective, it is all about the timing, you should aim to be hitting full collective as the skids touch the ground.

Power Approaches
Another good practise for autos is a power approach. This is a nice easy thing to do, basically get it into fast forward flight, heading into the wind, and about 100ft up. The aim of this little practise is to get the descent of the auto worked out, so the helicopter won't end up way past you of drop too far in front for you too see what it's doing (usually resulting in a tip over). So when you think the time is right, lower the collective all the way to the bottom, since the power is still applied the descent should be safer as a bail-out is an option at any time you think it isn't looking good. Keep working on it until you can get it to 5ft and hover right in front of you, without having to stretch or shorten it. After you've got that down it's time for the real thing!