Lesson 6: Side Hovering
Today's lesson is all about side hovering. No, it is not NEARLY as hard as Hovering was in lesson 3 (assuming you completed lesson 3, of course).
You will need to know how to hover with the helicopter pointed at a right angle from you (in both directions) so you can begin to fly with the nose pointed in the direction of flight. This allows the helicopter to move much faster and (if you don't have a heading hold gyro) absolutely necessary to fly at higher speeds at all.
Approximate Lesson Length: 1 hour flight time
This lesson is almost an interim lesson for lesson 7. However, completing this lesson will make lesson 7 much easier. Like the preceding days, you'll want Lesson 2 D/R, EXPO, and throttle and pitch curves. You'll also want to fly over cement, tile, or asphalt again.
You will need to know how to hover with the helicopter pointed at a right angle from you (in both directions) so you can begin to fly with the nose pointed in the direction of flight. This allows the helicopter to move much faster and (if you don't have a heading hold gyro) absolutely necessary to fly at higher speeds at all.
Approximate Lesson Length: 1 hour flight time
This lesson is almost an interim lesson for lesson 7. However, completing this lesson will make lesson 7 much easier. Like the preceding days, you'll want Lesson 2 D/R, EXPO, and throttle and pitch curves. You'll also want to fly over cement, tile, or asphalt again.
Right and Left Hovering
You'll want to start with a tail in hover over your helipad at about a foot (30cm) off the ground, with you standing in position 1. Now, slowly turn the helicopter 45 degrees so it is facing diagonally forwards to the left. This shouldn't be difficult, you likely saw this angle on your heli when hovering in Lessons 4 and 5. The tricky thing is now you will rotate the helicopter another 45 degrees to the left, thus presenting yourself with the left side of the helicopter.
When hovering in this orientation, you will discover that you almost have to "put yourself inside" your rc helicopter. Now a forward cyclic command will have the effect of moving the helicopter to the left, while a left cyclic command will move the helicopter towards you. With practice, you will be able to hover from the side. It's all a matter of imagining all helicopter movement in relation to the helicopter; in fact, if you practice from Lesson 2 on thinking of all helicopter movement in reference to the helicopter itself, this lesson (and nose - in hovering in lesson 10) will be much easier.
Once you have practiced hovering a while with the left in, now rotate 180 degrees CLOCKWISE to get the right side facing you. Like a left-in orientation, you'll want to practice hovering treating a helicopter movement forward as a forward cyclic command. You do not want to learn side hovering thinking of a forward movement as a movement to the right or left, i.e. as if the controls are all swapped around. This will make learning much harder in so many ways.
Keep practicing these left and right hover orientations until you think you're ready for Lesson 7. Have fun!
When hovering in this orientation, you will discover that you almost have to "put yourself inside" your rc helicopter. Now a forward cyclic command will have the effect of moving the helicopter to the left, while a left cyclic command will move the helicopter towards you. With practice, you will be able to hover from the side. It's all a matter of imagining all helicopter movement in relation to the helicopter; in fact, if you practice from Lesson 2 on thinking of all helicopter movement in reference to the helicopter itself, this lesson (and nose - in hovering in lesson 10) will be much easier.
Once you have practiced hovering a while with the left in, now rotate 180 degrees CLOCKWISE to get the right side facing you. Like a left-in orientation, you'll want to practice hovering treating a helicopter movement forward as a forward cyclic command. You do not want to learn side hovering thinking of a forward movement as a movement to the right or left, i.e. as if the controls are all swapped around. This will make learning much harder in so many ways.
Keep practicing these left and right hover orientations until you think you're ready for Lesson 7. Have fun!