If you’re flying a nitro helicopter, have lots of fuel available.If you’re going electric, make sure your batteries are chargedand have more than one available if possible. The more youcan fly continually, the faster you’ll improve your skills.
Make sure your gyro is set to heading hold mode. While somepeople recommend flying with a gyro in rate mode becauseyou’ll get a better feel for the helicopter, I don’t recommendit for the simple reason that unless you plan on building scaleships, you’ll probably never use rate mode, so there’s nosense learning to fly with it.
Also, make sure your radio and helicopter is set up forhovering and that it’s not too sensitive. If it’s too sensitive orquick to respond, you can try adding some expo to the cyclicto soften the sticks around their centres, or decrease theendpoints to decrease the amount of cyclic pitch andresponsiveness of the helicopter.
And finally, go through your pre-flight check.
Getting a Feel for Your Helicopter
Before you learn to hover, you need to understand how your RChelicopter works. When you move the sticks, how does yourhelicopter react? If you input right cyclic, how quickly does yourhelicopter react? The goal is to learn how your helicopter movesand corresponds with the inputs you give.Once your RC helicopter and radio are setup, you’ll need a practicearea. You’re going to want the surface you’re practicing on to be assmooth as possible so you can slide around a bit. A gym floor, a largeand smooth cement basement, a ice rink or a smooth asphalt makethe best practice surfaces – the smoother the better.If you’re trying to learn on a rough or uneven surface like grass orgravel, your RC helicopter can catch on it and tip over. The traininggear will help you slide around without fear or tippage.Make sure you have at least a 10ft x 10ft (20ft x 20ft or largerrecommended) area that is clear of any and all obstructions. Thelarger your helicopter is, the more space you’ll need.
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