RCHelicopterGuy
Veteran
Location: Michigan
| I don't know about the physics of it, but my anecdotal experience is that lighter machines auto better than heavier ones, all other variables being equal.
The biggest difference I notice is how critical the flare is at the bottom. A heavier machine always seems to leave me less room for mistakes in the last 5 feet of the auto. I either land it fairly decently, or smack it down on the landing gear like I dropped a hot rock.
I had a Bergen Intrepid 50 once, and then bought an Evo 50 right after that machine. The Evo used the hardware that I took out of the Intrepid, so it was as close a match as I was going to get. The biggest difference was that the Evo weighed about 1.5 lbs. less than the Intrepid (yes, the Intrepid was one heavy 50... almost 10 pounds). I got to a point where I could auto the Intrepid fairly successfully, but I had to be right on the money with my flare or it would land with a thud.
When I swiched to the Evo, my first half a dozen autos actually gained height at the flare, because I was used to pulling more pitch with the Intrepid to arrest its momentum. Since the Evo was a good bit lighter, it took me a little bit to reacclimate myself to the lower pitch it required.
Point being, I had a lot more reserve at the bottom with the Evo. I could misjudge the trajectory by a wider margin, and still have enough blade inertia in reserve to compensate. The Intrepid - by comparison - had a much smaller window for success. I'll say this, though... learning to auto the Intrepid well made me auto the Evo like a champion.  |
