Note
This are just some of Radd's posts on flying the Piccolo. It is more or less an abstract of his vision on learning to fly. We are working on a more elaborate version of this, so please hang in there.
Original post
Put some training gear on ( bamboo sticks and pingpong balls)..Bread sack wire ties work just fine to tie them on.
The average kitchen floor works nicely...It's smooth and usually obstacle free.
DON'T try to take off..!! Just spin it up slowly...Not even half to full speed...Remember your just getting acquainted?
DON'T TRY TO TAKE OFF!
KEEP THE TAIL POINTED AT YOU!.. anything else is a crash!...If the tail swings away...stop immediately and say .( "Crash")...walk over and straighten the tail and ask yourself what happened? Always pause and ask yourself that after every flight....It will never let you down...
DONT TRY TO FLY OUT OF A MISTAKE!!...that is a mistake...( your just getting acquainted )... throttle off, reset the tail and ask the question." what happened"...YOUR SAVING MONEY..
In this first fun filled day of slipping and sliding on the floor ....you are learning..!! Your seeing what wobbles and what wiggles...what stick does what and the sensitivity of the controls. Your learning how to balance and trim, how to control, how to calm down and mostly how to respect your flying machine..and ( you didnt break anyting yet!)
Is it wobbling? somethings not equal or out of balance.
Is it spinning up level? Or Is it drifting off badly is some direction?.....some linkage or servo setting is not equal.
Check to see that your trims right?
What is 2 or 3 days of getting to know your bird, having a total blast, plus having trimmed it out verses weeks of waiting for new parts to arrive?
( everyone hates this part)...I believe in marking out a three foot box on the ground and skidding your heli around untill you get the feel of it. touching the corners of the box and moving forward and backwards. Just always keep the tail pointing towards you and you'll be fine..
Then....after you've gotten acquainted well enough ( I'd say three days average)......take your helicopter out to a large space..( I Love you Guys?).....take your heli to a (huge) space...do some short hops.....Keep the tail......hop some more...THEN......Oh YEAH???.....Then remember that you havent broken anything....but it's time to start.....Take it UP..about a foot and a half off the ground...If you dont have the tail and it's not obeying you SET IT DOWN!!!....dont fly out of a mistake!!!...not yet! ( your still getting acquainted )..
Make it obey you....dont play catch up!...there is a pendulum effect. Be ready to give the oppisite stick input after each original input...these will get smaller as you learn to stop over compensations...
If you can only remember one thing I'll say it's this...." If you can't respect the helicopter on the ground you'll never respect it in the air.".....Make the little beast obey you, not the other way around....
Original post
I just hate to see broken parts...You know as I started this post it came to me that...while flyers will go to the ends of the earth to make better upgrades and modifications that can stand the piccolo on it's head..( in more than one way hehe)..They still give no proper advise on how to fly it? This is very upsetting to me because I truely do love this flying machine..You will many posts saying that the Piccolo is not a toy yet the advice for learning to fly it suggest that it is?? I believe the Piccolo is due the respect of a flying machine..That and seeing some many people give up needlessly is why I wont give up teaching how to learn to fly it without smashing it into everything in the house..You will see videos of flights up down and through the houses all over the entire planet. If the "helicopter" can be "flown" that well then it deserves the respect of a flying machine...You need to become familar with the bird and the controller...you can do that in trial and error or in a serious well thought out progression...I love the Picclo It really does deserve better advice than just "Take it to a big place and give it a go" Even plankers get better advice than that??
So being the pain in the butt that I gladly am...Let me paste one more bit of respect and advice written a while ago...
Heres the reason Radd Harps on and on : It's been nearly six months. Though I don't fly it everyday, I find that my reflexes are terribly slow and at the same time, panicky. You know, it's like: OH NO! IT'S GONNA HIT THE WALL!! PULL LEFT! NO, PULL RIGHT!! ARRGGHHH!! NOW IT'S FACING ME!!! WHAT SHOULD I DO? PUSH IT BACK!! PUSH IT BACK!!! CRASH!!!... ouch...
I need help...
See Fellas this guy is freaking out..and it's totally understandable...Why shouldn't he be? He doesn't know how the helicopter will react.. up,down,forward backward or sideways. He doesnt know how much stick to give it or which direction. He doesnt know how sensitive the sticks are or how proportional they are to the heli. He doesnt know the importantance of keeping the tail. He doesnt know how much throttle to give it or how strong it is. He doesnt know if it's trimmed out or balanced right..And why should he?...There is absolutely no reason he should know all these things...He's never done it before...Now if his fingers aren't sensitive to whats about to happen,, should he get aquainted with this helicopter in the air or safely on the ground? If someone was not aquainted with the fundamentals how could I in clear conscience tell them to go to a big room a try to fly it?....You all know I respect you and all your knowledge and I hope you'll see here that I'm not arguing with you..I hope?
But three days on a slick floor will save time, nerves, and lots of cash..I'm never suggesting to a newbie to take it to the maxium rotor speed and just barely keep it on the floor at first, but just simply to get aquainted with the machine and let the nerves settle down...as the battery packs go by one by one they see how to do what and what is too much..But mostly the frustration level drops like a rock!.. If the tilt to the right is too great raise that side of the training gear..
More than I hate to be flamed here....I hate to see new pilots get so frustrated and think they are stupid and unable to grasp the ability to fly....But the advise... "Take it to a big room and just try and take it up a foot or so out of ground effects and try to balance it like a ball on a plate is nuts..." Is that what they tell a student testing for his private license?..." just get in there strap yourself in the cockpit and give it a go?"...Would you ride with a pilot that learned everything he knows by himself? Ofcourse not! someone has explained what is going to happen and what to do when it does..
Just today in my shop a newbie with only four lessons hovered my eco 8 inside the building and without panic or crashing. I simply explained to him before each battery what was going to happen,.what to expect and how to correct for it. If I was full of bunk there is no way I could turn my machine over to a newbie and feel good about it.. On the third lesson he hovered 7 minutes on the last pack..
I have seen the confidence and sparkle return to the eyes of frustrated newbies..seen the adrenaline and excitement be just as strong on the floor as in the dilated eyes of a 3D pilot..And all without breaking anything..
After three days on the floor...that baby will gently lift off the ground and in control " Trust me."
Check out this post if your wishing you'd bought an RC car instead: http://www.ikarus-modellbau.de/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB1&Number=85608&page=&view=&sb=5&o=&fpart=1&vc=1
