Learning To Fly

This article contains information on learning to fly remotely controlled helicopters.

Learning Tips

Important prerequisites or tips in order to learn to fly model helicopters fast, safe and without crashing every week:

	Have an experienced flyer help you: Setting up a helicopter for the first time is not easy. It is very unlikely that you will setup the heli correctly by yourself. A helicopter that has been setup properly flies much better and is more predictable! Furthermore, he may give you additional hints and tips on learning and he may point you at certain mistakes you make, which may be very helpful. Finding a good instructor is the most valuable investment in your helicopter hobby.
	Set goals: If you set actual realistic goals, you have a target to focus on. This will help you to learn faster, and it will motivate you to practice. Furthermore, once a target is reached, it will motivate you and give you confidence. Just flying around will not learn you to fly soon.
	Take small steps: Always take very small steps on the learning curve. If you take a big step, you may succeed, or you may crash. If you crash, you may be de-motivated, it will cost you money, it will make you less confident, you are grounded for some time and the worst it is dangerous! Make sure that you learn a step thoroughly and in all directions before you take the next step. If you don't do this you may seem to make fast progress at first, but you will run into problems later on. In the end you will learn faster if you take small steps because you know the basics well and you will fly instead of repair.
	Don't skip steps: There are of course numerous ways to learn to fly a remotely controlled helicopter. However, if you follow the steps that I have listed below, you will learn fast and with a minimum chance of crashing. The steps are chosen such that you always have learned the necessary steps before taking a new step. Furthermore, they are chosen such that you will be able to recover from the mishap that you will likely make in the new maneuver or step you are trying to learn.
	Have an escape ready: If you try to learn a new step, think about what can or likely will go wrong. Think about what the escape is to recover from that potential problem you will encounter. Next also practice that escape so that you are sure you are capable of performing the escape, and that you get used to it so that you indeed automatically use it if something goes wrong.
	Use a proper RC Heli flight simulator: Having a proper simulator which can be controlled by your Tx is invaluable. It allows you to get acquainted to controlling a model helicopter and learn the needed reflexes. Note that this helps a lot! However, also note that flying a real helicopter is still very different from flying one on a simulator. Besides the obvious restrictions of simulation there is always the stress factor in real life which is missing in the simulator. In real life it takes a bit longer to repair the heli, and it is a bit more expensive. I have tried numerous simulators, and I believe that Reflex is the best. It looks Great, and it flies very realistic. Not one of the other simulators is getting close (except CSM which looks awful). I know that RealFlight is very popular since it looks good, but it does not fly realistic at all. Note that I have tried many more, but they can't compete with Reflex.

Ok, if you follow the steps below, you will have explicit goals, you will take small steps, you won't miss essential steps and I have listed the escapes for you.

Steps to take

Preflight steps: Buy a good bottle of wine for your instructor, he deserves it :-) Learn about the basic theory of helicopter aerodynamics (see aerodynamics links on my Heli Links page) . This will help you to understand what is going on. Your instructor can learn you about the controls and their interactions and the influence of wind on the model etc. Learn about when a helicopter stalls etc, this is very different from a plane! Have your helicopter checked over thoroughly by your instructor for safety. Use your simulator to train your reflexes required for hovering the helicopter. Have your helicopter setup by an instructor for learning. Yes, an heli setup for an advanced 3D pilot flies very different from one setup for the initial learning steps. Setup a buddy lead between your Tx and the Tx of the instructor and make sure that both transmitters are setup properly. Learn about the safety procedures on RC helicopter flight and the specific safety procedures at the field you are going to fly.

Basic hovering steps: Learn Cyclic Control. Your instructor is controlling the rudder and the collective pitch/throttle. Learn Collective Pitch/throttle and Rudder. Your instructor will control the cyclic so that you can focus on collective. Learning to Control Both Sticks. Hey, you are hovering! The hovering "M". This is your first mastering of controlled hovering. Landing and takeoff. You can do it all yourself now. Yes, this includes taking off your training gear. Tail in the wind. This is no problem with nowadays gyro's. Sideways wind. You are getting close to mastering the hover. Hovering solo. There goes the buddy lead, your instructor can no longer take over control. Tail-in circle. You really mastered hovering a helicopter!. Practice the steps above in moderate wind. You mastered the basic hovering skills.

Advanced hovering steps: Flat tail-in figure of eight with slight nose rotation. First steps in letting go of the tail. Climb and descend. Now you get used to the heli climbing considerably (5m). Flat figure of eight with the nose following flight direction (5m). Fast sideways with semi stall turn Vertical Top hat. Large circle (50m). Large square (50m). Round figure of eight with nose following flight direction. Remote circles. Nose-in hover. Nose-in landing and takeoff. Practice the steps above in moderate wind. You mastered the hovering skills.

First slow and low "acrobatics" Takeoff and approach to a height of 20m. Slow pirouettes. Stall turns. Remote tail-in circles. Remote nose-in circles. Remote sideways figure of eight. Learning to Fly Backwards. Hovering vertical square. Pirouetting vertical square. Pirouetting remote circle. Backwards circle. Backwards remote circle. Backwards figure of eight. 540 Stall Turns (tail and nose). Dual direction stall turn. Backwards stall turn. Sideways stall turn. Practice the steps above in moderate wind. You mastered the basic flying skills.

	First fast and high "aerobatics" High and fast flying. Fast figure of eight. Learning the Loop. Learning the Roll. Knife Edge Pirouette. The ripper. Auto Rotation landing. You mastered the flying skills and the elementary aerobatics.
	First steps in 3D flight High Flips (sideways, forwards and backwards). Inverted Hover (high altitude). Inverted Pirouette (high altitude). Inverted low hover. Inverted low pirouette Low flips (sideways, forwards and backwards). Death spiral. Pumping low pirouette. Tail stand launch. Backwards rolls. Inverted pirouetting remote circle. Inverted pirouetting figure of eight. Noise-in funnel. Tail-in funnel. High piro flips. Inverted nose-in funnel. Inverted tail-in funnel. Low piro flips. Tumbling circuits. High sustained chaos. Low sustained chaos. Pirouetting loop. Pirouetting autorotation. Rolling autorotation. Rolling loop. You mastered good 3D aerobatics. For a nice description of moves look at: http://www.rchelicopter.co.uk/moves.htm#
	You don't need my help from here on :-) Just look at the 3D Masters page and their list of figures and go and practice. However, think about what can go wrong. What do you do to get you out of trouble in that situation. Start practicing high and safe. When comfortable with the maneuver, slowly reduce height. Above all, fly safe.