Beautiful winters day for my first Autos
- Thread starter Lee
- Start date
Lee
Well-Known Member
Thanks guys,
@Stokke
It drops because, as soon as you hit TH, you need to give about -6º to keep the blades spinning. And as you approach the ground you use more elev than pitch to sow down. Like a flare, then use the pitch to finish the job. If you want to try them, just start using TH from about 2m or 5ft up and land, then progressively get higher.
- - - Updated - - -
Did another flight this afternoon with a bit more Smack
uploading now. Should be done by tomorrow morning
@Stokke
It drops because, as soon as you hit TH, you need to give about -6º to keep the blades spinning. And as you approach the ground you use more elev than pitch to sow down. Like a flare, then use the pitch to finish the job. If you want to try them, just start using TH from about 2m or 5ft up and land, then progressively get higher.
- - - Updated - - -
Did another flight this afternoon with a bit more Smack
uploading now. Should be done by tomorrow morning 
Westy
LEGEND
Just a footnote on Lees comments ..... on some radios ... - I know my DX7-SE does anyway - has a separate curve for pitch when on throttle hold so make sure you set that up properly or it will plummet from the sky like a stone.
The theory is the same as an actual heli auto rotation..... (Head speed (ROTOR RPM IN THE GREEN) and Air Speed are your friends..... in the real thing .... you feather the collective and cyclic to maintain a safe descent of approx 500 FPM (Feet per minute) .... It is a real rush of fear and exhilaration when you do your first one in a real heli!...... Whew I am actually alive to tell the tail!!
The biggest error of new pilots is watching the instruments too much (like a learner driver will stare at the speedo) and pulling a flare too hard and smacking the tail into the tarmac - I have seen that done in person and what a mess ... I sprinted for my life to get near that hangar as the hughes 300 literally self destructed in front of my eyes in a pirouette of rubble. That was the guys 4th landing solo ... he was lucky to get out of it with a few cuts and bruises. This was 23 years ago when I was a young buck with dreams of becoming a heli pilot .... my mate ended up following through and now has over 4500 flight hours under his belt and flies the big Squirrels and heavy lift helis...... Lucky bugga.
The key is to keep the nose slightly forward and collective down to maintain head speed inertia .... you will expend all of that energy in the main rotor when you either flare back or flair left or right and tail turn it to tail in and then level out and skid or land perfectly....
It is a lot different in the cockpit... as you can sense the rate of descent rather than trying to best guess from afar your altitude and the best time to begin your flair and collective pull.
The theory is the same as an actual heli auto rotation..... (Head speed (ROTOR RPM IN THE GREEN) and Air Speed are your friends..... in the real thing .... you feather the collective and cyclic to maintain a safe descent of approx 500 FPM (Feet per minute) .... It is a real rush of fear and exhilaration when you do your first one in a real heli!...... Whew I am actually alive to tell the tail!!
The biggest error of new pilots is watching the instruments too much (like a learner driver will stare at the speedo) and pulling a flare too hard and smacking the tail into the tarmac - I have seen that done in person and what a mess ... I sprinted for my life to get near that hangar as the hughes 300 literally self destructed in front of my eyes in a pirouette of rubble. That was the guys 4th landing solo ... he was lucky to get out of it with a few cuts and bruises. This was 23 years ago when I was a young buck with dreams of becoming a heli pilot .... my mate ended up following through and now has over 4500 flight hours under his belt and flies the big Squirrels and heavy lift helis...... Lucky bugga.
The key is to keep the nose slightly forward and collective down to maintain head speed inertia .... you will expend all of that energy in the main rotor when you either flare back or flair left or right and tail turn it to tail in and then level out and skid or land perfectly....
It is a lot different in the cockpit... as you can sense the rate of descent rather than trying to best guess from afar your altitude and the best time to begin your flair and collective pull.
