Operation Manual

8.6.6. The starting procedure

Before you start the motor in your helicopter always carry out a safety check:

• Is the model in sound mechanical order?

• Are the radio control system and batteries in serviceable condition?

• Do the controls respond in the correct direction to transmitter commands?

• Is the gyro set to provide the correct direction of correction, and is it secured

firmly in the model?

Move the collective pitch stick to the collective pitch minimum position and the

idle-up slider to the idle position (between motor stopped and centre). Hold the

main rotor firmly in one hand while you start the motor. Do not let go of the main

rotor at this stage!

When the motor is running it must be adjusted to obtain smooth running. With the

COCKPIT

this does not have to be done with the model in flight. A full throttle

check can be carried out on the ground using the idle-up slider.

Important:

Before you do this move the collective pitch stick to the collective pitch minimum

setting and keep it there.

Now you can slowly advance the throttle using idle-up until the motor reaches full

throttle, without having to lift the model off the ground. To place an adequate load

on the motor, apply negative collective pitch to the same magnitude as required for

climbing.

Once the motor is correctly adjusted, move the auto-rotation switch to the auto-

rotation setting. Now adjust the AROT GAS value (see 8.6.4) to a point where the

motor runs reliably at a fast idle, but the clutch shows no tendency to engage.

Once you have set up the auto-rotation throttle setting correctly, for safety’s sake

we recommend that you always start the motor in the auto-rotation setting. This

ensures that there is no danger of the motor suddenly speeding up if you should

accidentally move the collective pitch stick (e.g. when placing the transmitter neck-

strap over your head).

8.6.7. Test flying

The most important stages in test-flying a helicopter are adjusting the:

• throttle and collective pitch curves, and

• static tail rotor compensation.

Throttle and collective pitch curve

The first step is to adjust the throttle and collective pitch curve to match each other.

The aim of this process is to achieve a constant system rotational speed over the full

collective pitch range when the throttle idle-up slider is at centre (see 8.6.5). This

adjustment is carried out by varying the servo settings for centre and end-points

(see 8.3.2).

Caution:

These values should only be altered when the model is on the ground.

Cut the motor before making any changes.