drtoothfixer Senior Heliman Location: Richland, WA
| Hi guys. I haven't posted much in this area as I consider myself a novice flyer, not really into all the contest maneuvers. In fact, I can't even tell you what what different classes of competition there are, but I LOVE flying my heli, and have made good progress.
Started flying in march, and have had a couple of different birds. Right now I'm flying a very upgraded Raptor 50.
I do loops, rolls, tornados (nose down), fast backward flight w/loops, inverted flight forward, back, and hover both ways inverted. I decided it was time to try AUTOS!!!
Last week I decided to try autos for the first time. I autoed the Raptor down to about 40 feet off the deck from a 100' altitude. I flared a little, hit the hold switch back on, and took off. That was fun! so I tried it again, dropped from 100 to about 30-40', and hit the hold again to power up, and guess what........no engine! I had set my hold RPM too low, and it flamed out. So here I am, in my 2nd auto, 40' off the deck with a decayed head speed, and no engine! I dropped the stick, dropped like a rock, and flared/positive collective at the last second, and it landed!!!! I returned home to change my shorts, then came back out to fly!
I've been doing autos (mostly ugly ones) ever since with no mishaps! I am soooo excited to get better at them! A couple of guys at the field are very good at them, so I hope to learn from them to spot land, etc...
Anyway, just thought I'd pass the good news on, and tell any other newbies to check their throttle hold settings before they lose it in an auto!!!!
Trevor |