Airdonkey

"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