Airdonkey

"Tower, this is Ghost Rider requesting a flyby..."

My birthday came and went, thanks for all your messages. My lovely wife gave me a video camera which means I can provide better quality footage than I've been able to previously.  Shame that the flying hasn't improved as much.  In any event, here's the mSR in a little flyby:

Simulator work

The Dominion 3D 90 is proving to be one of my favourite simulator helicopters.  It's a shame that it's a fictional model, created by artists at Knife Edge. In idle up mode it happily flies inverted as you can see here.

Blade mSR

This is the latest addition to the stable, E-flite's Blade mSR. She's a single rotor, ultra-micro helicopter weighing in at less than one ounce and fitting perfectly between the traditional beginner's level co-axial helis (twin-rotor), like my Blade CX2 and the significantly more advanced and difficult to fly CCPM helis, like my Cypher.  A unique rotor head design provides the same inherent stability of co-axial  helicopters, but thanks to a fixed-pitch bell-hiller design the mSR delivers a much more responsive and spirited performance. Put simply she's ultra stable if you let go of the sticks, but very feisty in response to throttle and cyclic inputs.  The mSR is capable of doing loops and flying in a light breeze, but the small size and low weight make it ideal for flying indoors.

My aim is for the mSR to assist with my nose-in hovering skills, which as far as the Cypher goes is proving difficult, requiring lots of confidence and a regular pay cheque.

First impressions are brilliant.  This is a fantastic fun helicopter, which delivers on performance and is robust enough to survive repeated crashes into doors and walls.  And so far I've not managed to break anything, which is very refreshing and pushes the enjoyment/cost ratio firmly into credit. The flight tests are here:

Shot of the day

This is me hovering side-in, in the Alpine meadow photofield.

The Dominion 3D  90 offers the maximum in 3D potential.  Powered by a 90-sized engine, the Dominion 3D 90 is the right choice for practicing intense unlimited 3D aerobatics.

The Alpine Meadow is a study in contrasts, with the flat grassy green of a wide-open meadow framed by the towering stone majesty of the Alps. At their feet, you’ll find rural roads, glistening white chalets and of course, woodland that ranges from single trees to entire forests.

Outdoor fun

Some footage of me flying the Blade CX2 on a very calm day. The video quality isn't great, although I am assured that an HD camera is in the offing for my birthday in a couple of weeks....

Training day

My helicopter training gear has now been removed in line with recent progress. The four quite battered orange ping-pong balls on sticks will now be consigned to gather dust on the top shelf, so confident am I that I can now routinely land gently enough and sufficiently horizontal to avoid catching a main blade on the deck.

Side-in hovering is now quite comfortable.  Although I can do it on the simulator, nose-in hovering in real life still proves to be quite taxing and far from comfortable. More work and discipline is required. And possibly a bigger garden.

But today, it's a minor victory.  The training gear is gone.

Note to self....

The latest crash was horrible. It was a beautiful day and the winds were manageable, or so I thought. The sun was shining brightly and as I approached the helipad I mulled over putting on my sunglasses.  I rejected the idea, figuring that I could keep my back to the sun and avoid any mishap. Somewhat typically, the winds had picked up by the time I was ready to spin-up, and it was marginal whether I should fly or not. I favoured optimism after my latest run of good fortune so I went for it. A huge gust immediately lifted her up to about twenty five feet right over my head, forcing me to spin around, straight into the glare of the sun.  I was blinded immediately, and fearing a crash into the trees, I took evasive action.  My cyclic inputs were too heavy-handed, she pitched violently backwards and swan-dived quickly and upsettingly to the ground, landing directly on the rotor head assembly with a catastrophic explosion of parts.  The entire flight lasted about 5 seconds.

The rotor head assembly was utterly destroyed.  The flybar was so bent it was wrapped around the main hub in a complete circle. The impact was clearly very heavy because the autorotation sleeve (at the opposite end of the main shaft) was cracked down its entire length. One of the servo arms had snapped and another servo had the ball joint forced out of the servo arm. The main gear had around three cm of chewed-up teeth. I've had to replace two main blades, the feathering spindle, spacers and O-rings, flybar control arms, the main shaft, the main gear, the flybar, the centre hub, the flybar carrier, two servo arms, the autorotation sleeve and several bearings.  The motor may have a problem and may have to be replaced. Remarkably, the tail was untouched.

What did I learn?  If there's any perceived danger prior to take-off, stop, and either remove the risk, or cancel the flight. In this case sunglasses might just have saved the day.

Bell H-13 Float Heli

Managed to get 4 batteries in yesterday, without incident, in what may prove to be the last really hot day of the year.  The weather was perfect, with little wind and progress was made with circles and side-in hovering.  Having broken two sets of main blades the day before, I didn't want to push my luck with more nose-in hovering, so I had some fun.  I'm getting there and it's becoming less of an exercise in controlled panic, and more about where I want to put the heli, and how quickly. My recent simulator work is paying off.

This is me flying at Lake Douglas - the H-13 is not too frisky and is good for working on basic manouevres.

Competition time

This is an irritatingly difficult game, but see how far you can fly the helicopter.  My best is a pretty amazing 2168, which clearly reflects my awesome heli flying skills.  The other high scores in the table despite being poor likely reflect excellent photoshop skills rather than any aptitude for flying. See what you can do. There's a prize for the winner.

High score table

1.    2168    Airdonkey

2.    1943    Tim Toon

3.    1738    Dave   

4.    1481    Paul

5.    342      Jo (!)

Paul anecdotally reports a score of over 2000, but the lack of evidence means it cannot be counted. Sorry.

Airdonkey is back....

My spare parts arrived, late, again. The ground crew worked solidly overnight to restore her to full glory. The swash set-up is perfect. The new servo sits like a jewel in the airframe. There are no parts with any damage to them, she is quite literally pristine.  A model maker's ultimate goal achieved.

Which will make it even more upsetting the next time she gets dumped, by me.

More discipline is required. Or it really hurts.

Downtime

I was hovering about 6 inches off the ground the other day and ended up catching a rotor blade, which resulted in an upsettingly spectacular crash and an explosion of parts.  Given that I've crashed into trees and fallen from much greater heights previously, the list of broken components is surprisingly extensive, and expensive.  I've had to replace the following:  a cyclic servo (£20), a seriously bent main shaft (£2.50), the tail boom (£1.99), the horizontal stabiliser mount (£1.99), the main blades (£9.99), the flybar (£0.99), one of the boom supports (£1.99), and one of the boom support ends (£0.50). I also broke the receiver aerial, but this can be fixed with a twist of the wires and some tape. 

Those blades must have some energy in them - the tail boom was absolutely fucked - it was bent nearly 90 degrees and had pulled the tail servo about an inch along the boom!  Ouch.

I wonder if I'll ever get to 3D flight....

"It's not a toy mate..."

Toy helicopters are any helicopter that does not have full directional control, which for all intents and purposes means it does not have a swashplate. Toy helicopters and often quite robust and easy for the beginner to fly, but time spent learning to fly them will not translate well to any more advanced helicopters. Spare parts are often not readily available, meaning that when the helicopter is damaged in a crash, it may be impossible to get it up and running again. Examples of toy helicopters are the PiccoZ.

In collective pitch ("CP") helicopters, the rotor speed ideally remains constant, and lift is varied by changing the pitch of the main blades throughout their entire rotation using a swash plate. This has a number of advantages over fixed pitch helicopters, including better control response, the ability to autorotate, and the ability to fly inverted. The price is a much more complicated mechanical design that is much more fragile than a fixed pitch helicopter. Electric collective pitch helicopters generally start at about 450g (1lb), and the smaller models are perfect for flying in large empty parks. The low mass also reduces the amount of damage done in crashes, and the helicopter can often be back up and running again quickly. The disadvantage of small collective pitch helicopters is that they are strongly affected by wind, limiting the wind they can be comfortably flown in to around 10-15mph. They also tend to have much more sensitive controls than larger helicopters, making them harder to learn to fly. Larger electric helicopters should not in general be flown in public places because, like nitro helicopters, they can be extremely dangerous. Source: RC Helicopter Wiki

Put simply, they're not toys.

British summertime

Summer is disappearing fast and the weather has been terrible lately.  Flying in heavy winds is not advised, as I found out last Saturday, when a sudden gust instilled a quite upsetting panic, resulting in a nose-first dumping from about 15 feet.  The fly bar bore the brunt of the shock but I've got plenty of those in my increasingly large box of spare parts. I otherwise got away with it, but I did note that the lack of decent flying opportunities lately has caused me to regress to hapless rookie again.  The wind aside, I was all over the shop, with everything being very forced and sudden. I need to be out there every day to keep my skills up.

Roll on some calm weather.

"STEP 5–HOVERING AND MANOEUVRES"

Always be ready to correct the drift by using opposite roll. If you get into trouble at any stage, reduce the throttle, land, change your trousers and try again.
Twister CP manual.

Aggers do stop it!

Voted the greatest commentary ever, during the  5th Test, England v West Indies at The Oval on 9 August 1991. Jonathan Agnew describes Ian Botham's freak dismissal where he fell over his own stumps, with the immortal "just couldn't quite get his leg over".

The late, great Brian Johnston desperately tries to maintain control of his hysteria while attempting to sum up the day's play, while Agnew sinks further and further into helpless laughter.

It always raises a smile.

Progress

Having identified that a framework of respect and discipline was necessary for enjoyment of my hobby, I set about learning to fly again. No videos, no photos, no well-wishers, no audience.  Just me and my dumb thumbs, working through battery after battery. It's been steady progress. There's been a couple of minor incidents, some trashed rotor blades and a broken landing skid, but nothing serious. I'm pleased to report that I've bonded with the helicopter. I now know every part of it and it doesn't scare me at all. Flying has become fun. No longer a tense stand-off, I've learned to relax and enjoy the moment.  It's still pretty basic - mostly tail-in hovering and forward flight with training gear - but it's flying and I'm slowly building my confidence. The crashes are becoming few and far between and so much less severe. I've had an entire week without breaking anything. I'm now progressing to nose-in hovering and circles. There's even a couple of videos, here and here, which show my progress.

I'm enjoying my hobby. It's all good.

Introspection

The maiden outdoor flight didn't go to plan. Since then there's been a protracted period of radio silence, the first few weeks being a dark period in which I doubted my ability to re-build and fly the helicopter and actually enjoy my hobby. The initial inspection after the tree incident revealed only "minor cosmetic damage", however closer scrutiny revealed more significant injuries which necessitated completely rebuilding the tail rotor assembly and replacing the main rotor shaft, which was bent. Getting the parts took long enough and I compounded the misery by initially failing to identify everything that was broken, resulting in more orders for spares and more delay. Airdonkey sat on my table, looking forlorn and broken for about 4 weeks. Even when the ground crew were in a position to complete the repairs and get her airborne again, I didn't exactly rush to it. I had also realised that having spent many hours hunched over a table with the build, the 2 minutes of nervous anticipation and the ensuing crushing disappointment upon crashing into a tree didn't represent a good trade-off in the enjoyment stakes. Put simply, I hadn't enjoyed the flying bit yet because it was too difficult and crashes were inevitable. I wasn't exactly enthusing the prospect of an endless cycle of building for hours and crashing in seconds. I also concluded that my fight simulation work hadn't been disciplined enough. Loops and rolls were all well and good on the computer, but the basics were not sufficiently in place when the stakes were high with my real world helicopter. I've learned the following:

• Building the helicopter is time-consuming and demanding.
  
• Crashing the helicopter is all too easy and highly upsetting.
• Diagnosing all the broken parts after a crash is vital.
  
• Repairing the helicopter is expensive and time-consuming.
  
• Simulator work needs to emulate real life flying.
  
• Flying requires a mastery of the basics and total discipline.

I need a new approach.

Beatboxing

One of the highlights of last year was the trip to Boxcon, a convention for beatboxers at London's Southbank Centre. What really blew us away was the obvious raw talent combined with technology, which made the whole thing much more acessible to people such as myself, who are old enough to know better. We particularly loved the workshop which taught us the basics. From little acorns sprout mighty oaks and on that day the act now known as "MC Wood-zee and Deadly Dave" was born.  Check us (and others) out at Boxcon '09, Southbank Centre, April 11th-12th, 2009.

Aside from Deadly Dave showing us how to scratch, the act that made the lasting impression was The PeteBox. The beats and vocals are layered using a loop pedal, which allows whole songs to be built up over time, to impressive effect.  For a good example of the technique, check out this.  For sheer versatility, check out this.  It's clear the boy can sing too. And who needs DJs or bands anymore, when he can do this? Basement Jaxx are finished!

"All in all, it's reasonably cosmetic....."

Today the wind was calm. After some minor repairs earlier this week, it seemed like the perfect day for some outdoor flying. The aim was to  translate the simulator work into practice.  Ideally, the flight should be disciplined, more along the lines of a few tightly controlled hops, each about 12 inches off the ground. Get the hover right, and the rest will follow.  Then we can look at forward flight, then circles, then eights, and onwards and upwards, maybe even inverted. Today was more about the pilot than the heli. Could I send her out and bring her back in one piece?  The short answer is no. She got high on me too quickly, and by the time I got around to putting in the turn, the momentum carried her into the branches of a tree.

My wife filmed the flight, which I'm sure "well-wishers" will find highly amusing.  The damage isn't so bad - two broken main blades (£10), a bent fly bar (already got one), a dented orange ping-pong ball and some broken linkage arms. I'll rebuild her this week and meanwhile consider that I got everything wrong. The discipline went out of the window immediately.  There is a reason for that however. Earlier in the week I'd mucked about at ground level and the tail rotor caught in the grass.  Managed to break the main blades and a tail rotor holder, and as much as I should keep the hover low, I actually want to get upto about 6 feet, which also removes the so-called "ground effect", i.e. all the turbulent air bouncing back up into the rotors. There's a lot going on with this heli and it really doesn't want to stay in the air. There's also a lot going on in my head, and I need to be less nervous, more confident and more controlled.

This is a setback. But I can rise above it.  But no more than 6 feet.

"I name this helicopter Airdonkey..."

Launch day.

My RC heli guy came round tonight to check the build and the transmitter programming. The Cypher was deemed ready within a few minutes, and it was time for her maiden flight. It was too windy and dark for anything outside, so we spooled up in the kitchen. What a racket!

It's short and sweet but the first tentative flight can be seen here. The gyro has been set and the heli trimmed. I'm ready.

A massive thanks to Kriss Goody, who can be seen working his magic here.

Simulator work

This is me, flying a Thunder Tiger Raptor 60 on my flight sim. Have spent many hours mastering the hover, tail in and nose in.  Can pretty much cope with forward flight and banked turns, circles, eights and the basics.  Can't cope with anything 3D apart from the odd suicidal loop and some inverted chaos. Have crashed many many times, which doesn't bode well for flying with the real thing. Should take it more seriously, but can't resist the temptation to flip to idle up and go mental.

T minus 5 days

The Cypher is built. The airframe is solid.  My screws are glued. The servos are working nicely.  The linkages are perpendicular. The tail rotor pitch range looks appropriate. The gyro looks like it should do something. There's a green light that flashes when I plug the battery in. The ESC has been programmed. It beeps encouragingly. The swash is level. We have swash mixing. The gyro gain is sitting at 60%.  No revo mixing required. The motor works and it's scarily fast.

 I can use the transmitter now. I've programmed normal and idle up throttle curves. Throttle hold is enabled. I've programmed normal and idle up pitch curves by eye. The only outstanding job is to accurately assess the pitch of the blades as they move through each throttle curve.  So far, I've reckoned it by eye but it needs to be done properly.  The model shop has taken ten days to sort me out with a pitch gauge, and still no sign of it. So, in light of the short launch window, I've cancelled the order and have ordered from another supplier. It's coming tomorrow by special delivery. She could be ready tomorrow night. Just need to factor in the weather. As it stands we are go for launch.

Everything I've read recommends getting the set-up approved by an experienced heli pilot. I pointed this out when cancelling my pitch gauge order, fearing that I'd be back in the shop next Monday, looking for a load of spares. Mike, my main man, countered with the suggestion that even if the set-up is approved, I'd still likely be back in the shop on Monday. Most guys are he reckons.  My confidence has taken a bit of a knock.  Is this a done deal?  Is my destiny pre-determined?  Have I got more money than sense? Will I quite literally be picking up the pieces on Sunday? Won't my tens of hours of simulator work count for anything?

The stakes are rising and I'm shitting it....

Blade CX2

This is the first bird, where it all started.

Note the two pairs of rotor blades, coaxially mounted. One set rotates clockwise, the other countercockwise, thereby overcoming the torque produced by one set of blades. No torque means that no tail rotor is required. The result is exceptional stability in the hover, with no yaw and "easy" controls.

Beyond that, it's difficult to make it do much. Forward flight is sedate and there's no question of any inverted stuff. The slightest breeze tends to halt all forward progress and can cause an alarming gain in altitude with down wind drift.

It's a beginner's heli, ready to fly straight out of the box. Good fun it is too.

Killer apps

Some interesting and dangerous ways to use an RC heli:

RC heli armed with rockets

RC heli  shoots man with rockets

RC heli with jet motor

Heli fishing

The next heli, part 2

As I alluded to previously, this is a serious decision with far-reaching consequences. I've considered many options for the next bird, and I've had some recommendations which have really helped me shape the decision making process. Special thanks to Fletch, your insight has been unsurpassed.

This is the state of play. I need to move up from coaxial, side-step fixed pitch and stick with the latest 3D collective pitch helis. I'm slightly reticent to head into the world of nitro because it's hassle, noisy and I'd have to join a club. I need to balance 3D agility with robustness and availability of spare parts. I've looked at Raptors, T-Rex, Thunder Titans, Honey Bees, Dragonflys, you name it. I've narrowed down the list and given this a lot of thought.  Cue fanfare. Here she is:


Peppa Pig Miss Rabbits Helicopter
Age suitability: 3 years+.

"Have hours of fun flying up in the sky in Miss Rabbit’s Helicopter! This fun playset includes 2 figures (Miss rabbit and Peppa Pig), and Miss Rabbit’s red helicopter which has real spinning rotor blades, and a retractable rope! Includes the Peppa Pig theme tune and many phrases from Peppa Pig including Flying High in the Sky!"

It may be slightly beyond me at this stage....

Gyro talk

Just going to put my anorak on.

The reactive torque produced in response to rotor movement is constantly changing. Changes in engine speed or pitch of the main rotor blades results in a corresponding change in torque, and these can be sudden and violent. These changes are happening constantly and are always trying to spin the helicopter. The wind is simultaneously interfering with the yaw control and if not adjusted for, will whip the tail of the helicopter around.

The gyro is a small electronic device which detects unwanted yaw and automatically controls the tail rotor servo to correct and control the yaw movement.  It's an essential bit of kit which basically allows RC helis to fly. It plugs into the tail rotor channel of the receiver and the tail rotor servo then plugs into the gyro. The gyro is in full control of the tail rotor and interprets tail rotor commands from the receiver. Only when the pilot sends a tail rotor command to the helicopter does the gyro allow the helicopter to turn.

Gyros are based on piezo crystal technology, and they come in two main flavours - heading hold and yaw rate (non-heading hold).

A heading hold gyro works by keeping the helicopter pointed in the direction the pilot last pointed it no matter what's going on. The wind can blow all it wants but the helicopter will stay pointing in the chosen direction. On the ground this can cause a problem, for example if you pick up the tail of the heli and rotate it 180 degrees (with no stick input), upon take-off the gyro will correct for the "unwanted" 180 degree course change by giving full rudder input until the heli faces the right direction.

A yaw rate gyro only slows or dampens the amount of yaw movement from any source to a controllable level. These sources include torque variation as the main rotor speed, pitch, and cyclic are adjusted, a gust of wind blowing the tail around (weathervane effect) or a command from the pilot via the transmitter. The problem with yaw rate gyros is that the gyro-produced counter movement may be insufficient to completely correct for the unwanted yaw change.

I bought a yaw rate gyro because it was cheaper. It will clearly do the job, but now I'm begining to understand all the advantages associated with heading hold gyros I realise I may have made the wrong choice. Another mistake to add to the list.

The sensitivity of response/correction of the gyro can be adjusted (gyro gain) and it's very much a case of testing the heli and making adjustments.  Too little gain and the yaw control becomes sluggish, too much and the gyro can over-control things and  making the heli  very sensitive with the tail oscillating from side to side ("hunting"). Although one gain value can be used for all aspects of flight, different gain settings can be used in flight to cope with different tail rotor speeds. Bear in mind that the tail rotor rpm is linked to the main rotor rpm, thus, the sensitivity of the tail rotor is lower at a lower rpm (for example during a hover where the main rotor rpm is lower), and higher at a higher rpm (for example during fast forward flight where the main rotor is at its highest rpm). With remote gain, a channel on the transmitter can be used to switch between two gain/sensitivity settings, i.e. more gain during lower rotor rpm, and less gain during high speed rotor rpm. This way you will still have good RC helicopter gyro performance during a hover at a lower rpm and can simply switch to less gain when flying with high head speeds.

The next heli, part 1

The Cypher 3D is nearly built and the maiden flight is looming large.  Assuming everything goes to plan, I now have to consider what comes next. Do I move to a larger airframe or stick with mid-range?  Do I move from an electric to a petrol engine? This opens the batteries versus nitro debate. For loops, rolls, inverted flight and other intricate stunts, I'm going to need a much more powerful model, with a better build quality. I'll need more channels with more programming functionality.  A programmable ESC.  A heading hold gyro.  Better servos.  Carbon fibre blades. A better pilot.

So much to consider...

"MEDIC..."

A double arm amputation..?

Is this real?! 

It looks and sounds horrible. You have been warned.

"Charlie don't surf..."

The Patrol Boat arrives at a landing zone where Willard and the crew meet up with Lt. Colonel Bill Kilgore, the commander of 1/9cav AirCav. Kilgore, a keen surfer, recognizes and befriends Johnson. Later, he learns from one of his men, Mike, that the beach down the coast which marks the opening to the river is perfect for surfing, a factor which persuades him to capture it. The problem is, his troops explain, it's "Charlie's point" and heavily fortified. Dismissing this complaint with the explanation that "Charlie don't surf," Kilgore orders his men to saddle up in the morning to capture the town and the beach.

Riding high above the coast in a fleet of Hueys accompanied by H-6s, Kilgore launches an attack on the beach. The scene, famous for its use of Richard Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries," ends with the soldiers surfing the barely claimed beach amidst skirmishes between infantry and VC.

After helicopters swoop over the village and demolish all visible signs of resistance, a giant napalm strike in the nearby jungle dramatically marks the climax of the battle. Kilgore exults to Willard, "I love the smell of napalm in the morning", which he says smells "like...victory" as he recalls a battle in which a hill was bombarded with napalm for over twelve hours.

More confused than usual...

If I'm using a non-heading hold gyro what gain values do I go for..?

Do I need revo mixing?  What is revo mixing?

The Cypher 3D

This is not my helicopter, nor me flying it . Looks sweet though!

We can compare and contrast when I get mine in the air.

Cool crashes

The first in a series.

Disastrous landing
The pilot gets it very wrong!  One guy falls out as the tail spins faster. Impressive ground strike.

Swedish crash
Although this heli comes gently down, it didn't look right from the off.

Russian water landing
Looking OK until the blades hit the water.  Then, mayhem.

No idea!
This guy has just bought a helicopter and decides to give it a go. A less than great outcome.

Fleeing spectators
Slightly heavy landing.

Two helis touch
Utter carnage.

Rotary flight basics

Helicopters require a completely different method of control than airplanes and are much harder to master. Flying a helicopter requires constant concentration by the pilot and a near-continuous flow of control corrections.

A conventional helicopter has a main rotor above the fuselage which consists of two or more rotor blades extending out from a central rotor head assembly. The rotor blades are moved by the pilot to control the movement of the helicopter. This is achieved using a "swash plate", which is mounted on the main rotor shaft below the rotor head.

Each rotor blade has a cross-section similar to that of an airplane wing and generates lift as the blade is rotated through the air. The amount of lift produced is determined by the pitch angle (and speed) of each rotor blade as it moves through the air. The pitch angle of the blades is controlled by the pilot in two ways, using collective pitch ("collective") and cyclic pitch.

Collective pitch control either raises or lowers the swash plate without tilting it. As the swash plate rises or falls, the pitch of all rotor blades is changed at the same time and to the same degree. Because all blades are changing pitch together, or 'collectively', the change in lift remains constant throughout every full rotation of the blades. Therefore, there is no tendency for the helicopter to move in any direction other than straight up or down.

Cyclic pitch control can be used to move the helicopter in all directions other than up and down. This is achieved by tilting the angle of the swash plate. As the swash plate is tilted the pitch angle of a rotor blade is increased at a given point in the rotation, and decreased when the blade has spun through 180 degrees. As the pitch angle changes, the lift generated by each blade changes as it sweeps through it's rotation. As a result the helicopter tips towards whichever side is experiencing the lesser amount of lift. Moving the cyclic stick forward makes the helicopter fly forwards while bringing the stick back slows the helicopter and even makes it fly backwards. Moving the stick to the left or right makes the helicopter roll in these directions.

So now we have up and down, using the collective control, and pitch (forward/backward) and roll (left/right) using the cyclic control. Using these controls we can do everything apart from turn the nose of the heli around, i.e. control the yaw angle.   This is achieved using the tail rotor - a vertically mounted blade positioned at the very rear of the helicopter's tail boom. This rotor counteracts the  tendency of the fuselage to rotate in the opposite direction to that of the rotors (so-called "torque reaction"). If this torque isn't controlled, the helicopter would just spin hopelessly. As the tail rotor spins it generates thrust, analogous to an airplane propeller, the sideways thrust negating the torque reaction.  The pitch angle of the tail rotor blades can be changed by the pilot to control the amount of thrust produced, thereby allowing the nose of the heli to be turned in the air.

"You don't fly a helicopter, you just stop it from crashing...."

Fucking screw won't go in...

Fucking piece of shit Phillips screwdrivers. Stripped by the screw?  Surely it should be the other way round......

95% Ready To Fly...?

This is my new bird, the EF Cypher 3D.   This is how she should look when built. According to the manufacturer "The Cypher 3D is ultra-quick to complete as it comes 95% factory assembled and almost ready to fly."

Almost ready to fly? You'd think that might mean you simply have to put in the battery and attach the rotor blades.  Not so. The heli basically lacks all of the electronics and there's a lot.  The airframe is built - which was nice of them - leaving me to set up and install 4 servos, a gyro, the receiver, the ESC, rewire the battery and set the pitch of the rotors.  That's the heli sorted.  Then I've got to set up and calibrate my 6 channel transmitter, program my pitch curves and trim the heli. Then I've got to learn to fly the fucker.

I don't know which part of this is scaring me the most.

This is the current state of play.  The heli is an unassembled tangled mess of wires surrounded by tiny electronic components, glues, batteries, connectors, chargers, instruction manuals and intricate new tools. My wife wants the dining room table back and the pressure is on.

First flight is scheduled for Sunday 8th March 2009.

T minus 16 days....

The beginning

Since I was a kid, I always fancied flying radio controlled helicopters. I loved Blue Thunder and Airwolf.

Thirty years later and I still fancy it.  They're supposed to be really hard to fly and I like a challenge.  I have a large lawn and don't really know what to do with it. I figured it would be perfect as an airfield. 

A few weeks ago I bought my first helicopter. It is really hard to fly! It also looks nothing like that:

I've recently bought another one and it's not even built yet. There's a theme emerging here. My aim is to assemble the heli, get it airborne and learn to fly it properly. I now realise that this is not as simple as it sounds and I know I've got some problems to solve as I come up the learning curve. I know nothing about radio, electronics or flying. In this blog I'm going to document the build, the first flight, the first crash, and everything that comes after...