You must realise that helis don't like staying in one place - think of it as trying to stand on a sphere of wet soap, that's probably the best analogy. You may be able to get the heli to stay in one place for a second or so (some have up to 10 seconds without inputs) but it'll never stay in one place permanently. You have to keep giving little inputs to counter the slight movement of the heli to keep it in a nice hover. The main problem with ALL new pilots is that they over correct with their control movements. This can be solved in THREE different ways (or combinations of them!):
- Move the cyclic servo pushrods into a hole CLOSER to the servo
- Add some negative exponential to the cyclic channels on your transmitter
These each aid in reducing the speed of effect your control inputs make. You can also try using a steel flybar (coat hanger, bike spoke, piano wire, etc). This is much heavier than the stock carbon fibre flybar and therefore will increase the gyroscopic stability of the rotorhead making the heli more docile and easier to handle. An alternative to the steel flybar is wrapping solder around the ends of the flybar or using wheel collars (just before they enter the paddles). This has a similar effect of using the steel flybar as it increases the rotating mass in the rotor system which will help you heli to remain more stable in flight.
The key to obtaining a stable hover is making SMALL and FINE control inputs. One thing you can't change with trims is the reactions you make as a pilot. Because there is a slight delay between the pilot making a control input and the heli responding, new pilots often get caught up in the pendulum of death (as I call it! ). This basically involves the pilot over correcting the helis movements. An example of this could be:
You see the heli drifting to the right.
You add left cyclic to stop the drifting.
You notice that your control input isn't having an immediate effect so you push the cyclic stick further to the left.
Then suddenly the heli reacts and shoots off to the left.
You respond as quickly as possible by giving full right cyclic control.
After a short pause the heli will then zip off to the right and smash into the wall.
'What did I do wrong?' you ask?
etc, etc.
This is an all too common occurence and it simply needs weening out of you. YOUR HELI WILL NOT REACT IMMEDIATELY TO YOUR CONTROL INPUTS! That's the key thing here. Keep your inputs SMALL, PRECISE and above all SLOW!
Good luck and tell us how you get on.
