Phil Cole
Veteran
Location: Redwood City CA
| The point of doing the aerobatics is that you show that you can control the heli when it gets into unusual orientations.
The first time I had to deal with an inverted heli was just after I was confidently flying circuits, as you might expect to see of a conservatively flown scale model. I lost it in back lit clouds after running a bit wide at one end of the circuit.
By the time I had orientation the heli was inverted. I had no idea what to do, banged the stick around in the hope that something good might happen and planted my trusty Shuttle a foot into the ground.
Being able to deal with loops and rolls would have gone a long way to saving the situation.
The point I'm trying to make is that you need to remain in control when things go wrong.
Obviously, autos are very handy in the case of flame-outs, broken drive shafts and so on. I've had to auto my Jetcopter twice. Both times were non-events, but could have resulted in bad fires had I not been able to auto.
Even if the aerobatics were not necessary, I think autos are a must.
Note that the manoeuvers are recommended, not mandatory. If the CD feels you are safe you can be signed off without performing any aerobatics. Safe means that you will alway fly in such a way that you can avoid bad situations. E.g. if the CDs trust you to only hover your turbine at waist level there is no need to see any manoeuvers except the hovering and an emergency set-down.
Also, the flight demonstration can be performed using a .60 size helicopter. In fact, you can't use a turbine heli for the demonstration. You only fly your turbine after you have your waiver, and you can fly it any way you want. Some are content just to hover around, others fly as hard as the model can. |
well done 
