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How to Fly a 3D Helicopter

3-D or "collective pitch" remote control model helicopters have taken the modeling world by storm over the past several years. These aerial acrobats are capable of almost any extreme maneuver you can think of; at times they even seem to defy gravity or explanation. For those who want to get up in the air without the time-consuming process of first building a model, many manufacturers offer complete ready-to-fly kits. These kits include everything necessary to get flying in just a few minutes and, after practice, offer a relative RC beginner a chance to experience high-performance 3-D action. Since the blades can change their pitch or angle of attack, these helicopters are capable of inverted flight and feature an "idle up" or stunt mode when 3-D flight is desired.

Things You'll Need

Ready-to-fly 3-D capable helicopter
Training kit

Instructions

- 1
  Attach the training kit to the landing skids of the helicopter with the supplied hardware
- 2
  Spin up the blades by slowly increasing the left stick on the transmitter. When the model begins to drift on the ground, do not increase the throttle further, and begin to compensate for the motion with cyclic controls on the right stick. Always try to keep the model directly in front with the tail facing you.
- 3
  Hover the helicopter. Once able to confidently manage the model's movement on the ground, increase the throttle to about half, at which point it should lift off the ground. Again, try to keep a stable hover with the model directly in front of you.
- 4
  Hover in different orientations. Once a stable hover is maintained, try to hover the model with the nose facing you, or a "nose in" hover. Also attempt side-in hovers where the helicopter is 90 degrees from you. This will improve coordination and orientation for forward flight.
- 5
  Push the right stick slightly forward while in a hover, and the model will pitch forward and fly away from you. Bring it back by gently pulling down on the same stick. Once confident, try a circle or figure 8 by flying forward and steering the circle with the rudder control on the left stick.
- 6
  Engage idle-up mode. Once confident with all these patterns, flip the stunt mode switch on the transmitter while in a hover to enable 3-D capability. The head speed is now locked at full power and extreme maneuvers can be attempted. To flip the helicopter upside down, move the right side stick forward until the model inverts. Now the up/down controls are reversed. To go higher, you will need to lower the left stick and vice versa. By using the cyclic and collective controls together, large loops and rolls can be performed.

Aviation