The R/C Helicopter Fever

LESSON 3 - 3 TO 5FT HOVER

Now that you have completed the Basic Ground Excersizes section, lets try to hover! Place the helicopter 5 foot in front of you with the tail pointing towards you, or the nose away from you. Now bring the helicopter up to speed just like you did in the previous lesson. Now when you have it stable on the ground, give it a little more throttle/collective. Now the helicopter will begin to lift off the ground, and continue to rise. When the helicopter gets about 1 foot off the ground, lower the throttle/collective just enough to cause it to stay staionairy. Try your hardest to keep the helicopter in one spot. I know that this will be very difficult at first, but stick with it. Once you have had the helicopter in the air for a 30 seconds or so, lower the throttle/collective and set the helicopter back onto the ground. Now think about what has happend, why it has happened, and what you did right and wrong while hovering the helicopter.

Now that you have digested some of the actions of the helicopter, and you know somewhat how it is going to react to your input while in a hover, give it another try. Again rev the engine up slowly and bring it to about 1 foot off the ground. Hold the helicopter there as long as you can this time. It is ok if the helicopter goes forward, right, left, or back. Just bring it back to the original starting point.

In the begining bringing the helicopter back to the starting point is going to be very difficult. Do not get discouraged. Practice will make perfect. Soon the helicopter will not even move off the point that you lifted off from.

Once you get faily good in a 1 foot hover, increase the throttle/collective to bring the helicopter to a 3-4 foot hover. You will notice that it becomes easier to control at the higher altitutde. This is because your helicopter is no longer in ground effect. Before in your 1 foot hover, if your flying area was on the slightest slant, you would have noticed that your helicopter wanted to float right down the slant. About 3 1/2 foot, this ground effect is not existant.

Keep practicing your hovering until you can keep the helicopter in one spot for a full tank of fuel. I know this is going to take some time, and you wish to move on, but it is important to master the hover before moving on to other manuevers.

Remember that a helicopter flight begins and ends with a hover!

Next Section - Lesson 4:90 degrees hover