Field Tips

Range check!

For some reason, helicopter flyers seem to do this a lot less consistently than airplane flyers. Perhaps it's because we tend to fly closer. When you consider the increased potential for RFI with all the metal and carbon parts we use, and the increased potential for disastrous crashes with five-foot-diameter rotors spinning away at 1700 RPM, I think that equal caution is in order.

Turn on the Tx and Rx (and wait for the gyro to initialize), compress the Tx antenna to a stub, and walk away from the helicopter. Count off 30 paces or so, turn around, and wiggle the sticks.

I like to point one of the rotor blades in the direction I'm going to walk, as this gives me a perfect edge view of the flybar paddles. This makes it very easy to see the flybar paddles tilting when I move the cyclic stick. If you're looking at the nose or tail of the helicopter, wiggle the elevator - if you're looking at the side, wiggle the aileron.

If you give the tail blades 45 degrees of 'lag,' you can see them quite well at a distance too. Put the gyro in standard mode (not heading hold) to make interference most visible.

With an FM/PPM system, you're looking for glitching and jittering, so you can just leave the controls centered, and occasionally circle them to verify that you still have good signal transmission. With a PCM system, you're looking for the system to enter failsafe. If you have it set to 'hold last position,' move the sticks in slow circles and watch for pauses in the helicopter's movements. If you have failsafe set to move the controls to center, hold the sticks in the corners. Be aware that the servos will probably hold their last position for a couple of seconds before snapping to center, so watch for pauses.

Typically, interference will show up in the tail blades first, since that servo is fastest and least loaded. If you can't see any interference in any channel, try tilting the transmitter through several different orientations - point the antenna directly at the heli, straight up, straight down, directly away, to either side, and so on. If you still see no interference, walk another 5-10 paces, or until you can see interference.

Do this at the start of each day. Eventually you'll get a feel for how far away you can get on an average day, a bad day, and a good day. Every now and then, you'll probably find that you can't get very far at all before interference makes itself known. Find the problem before you fly!

If the engine is flooded...

If the engine is flooded, it won't start. Remove the glow starter before doing this!!!! I cannot stress this enough. Here's the procedure:

1. remove the glow starter
2. open the throttle all the way
3. blip the starter a few times
4. if you see fuel spattering out of the muffler, you were flooded
   if you don't, you weren't flooded; skip the next step
5. continue to blip the starter until no more fuel comes out of the muffler
6. close the throttle down to idle

Try starting the engine as usual.

How not to kill a cold engine, part I

Does the engine die as soon as you start to carry the helicopter out to the pad? Even if you leave the glow starter on it? If your hands are big enough, you can hold the left side of the transmitter with your left hand, and give it a bit of throttle with your left thumb, pressing it into the gimbal and manipulating the base of the joystick. Carry the helicopter by the rotor head with your right hand.

How not to kill a cold engine, part II

I find that, early in the day, my engine dies when I remove the glow starter. It can be a real drag to start the engine, carry the heli out to the pad, pull the glow starter, step back and hear the engine die. This is an even bigger drag the third time in a row, I assure you.

Piching the fuel line will cause the engine to run lean - running lean will cause the engine to accelerate. The engine will return to idle after a few seconds. Here's the procedure:

1. Set the heli down, and set the radio down at an arm's length.
2. Hold the head with one hand, and pinch the fuel line with the other hand
3. As the engine revs up, pull the glow starter off with the hand that was pinching the fuel line. Don't let go of the rotor head yet.
4. Let go of the rotor head and step back. I will not be held liable if the blades whack you in the shins. It hasn't happened to me, but I suspect it might if you've pinched the fuel off for too long and/or your idle is too high.
5. As you step back, pick up the transmitter and give the heli a little throttle before the engine settles back to idle and/or quits.
6. Pocket the glow starter and have a nice flight.

Don't drip fuel all over the place

It's a waste of fuel, it's bad for the grass, and it's probably worse for the moles that live under that grass (dunno about you, but we have lots at our field). The local field has picnic tables set up for between-flight maintenance/fueling/etc. If find that if I set the jug on the seat and the heli on the table, I'm less likely to drip fuel from the filler nozzle after removing it from the heli - instead, the fuel tends to run back down to the pump/jug.