Specifications

An empty parking lot works well for this. Make sure there are no cars nearby to ensure you
won't hit them.
For a microheli, you probably want to find a hard level indoor surface, possibly an empty
garage or the kitchen. A 10 ft by 10 ft surface is probably necessary.
• Make sure wind conditions are ideal.
If you are using a heading hold gyro, then you want as little wind as possible. The best
times for this are probably the first three hours of daylight or the last hour of daylight before
dusk.
If you are using a non-heading hold gyro, then you want a little bit of steady breeze (not
gusty) to help hold the helicopter tail steady because the helicopter will tend to turn when
moving around. You will also want a little bit of forward trim to compensate.
With either gyro type, make sure you point the heli nose into the wind so the tail fin will help
keep the heli straight.
• Place the helicopter and training gear on the ground, with the nose of the helicopter pointed
away from you.
• Preflight check the helicopter. Make sure all ball links are properly on the balls.
• Perform the helicopter power-up procedure described in the previous section.
• VERY, VERY SLOWLY apply enough power for the helicopter to become light on the skids.
*** DO NOT LIFT OFF *** If you accidentally lift off at this point, you will probably panic and
crash. So try not to lift off.
• You should test the left/right cyclic and the fore/aft cyclic, and ensure the helicopter moves
in the correct direction. The helicopter should move equally well in all directions. If the
movement is not symmetric, e.g. the helicopter moves quickly left but very slowly right, then
this is a serious setup problem which should be fixed before proceeding.
When you push the rudder stick left, the heli should rotate counterclockwise. When you
push the rudder stick right, it should rotate clockwise. If these directions are reversed, then
you should fix the problem before continuing.
The rudder stick should control the NOSE of the helicopter and not the tail.
Some heading hold gyros will have a tendency to "drift" away from the direction they're sup-
posed to hold. This has been reported with the CSM LW200 gyro. If this occurs, then use
the trim on the rudder to remove any drift.
• The heli will start to wander around on its own. Use the cyclic control to keep the helicopter
within a 10 foot circle.
• The helicopter may have a constant tendency to move in one direction, and you may need
to apply some trim to counteract this.
Note that it will be impossible to perfectly trim the helicopter at this stage since you are hov-
ering in ground effect.
• Always keep the tail of the helicopter pointed towards you. If you are using a heading hold
gyro, this should occur automatically. If you are using a yaw rate gyro, you will need to use
the rudder to maintain the tail position because the tail will tend to weathervane with the
heli movement.
• Always fly the nose of the helicopter. This is very important. Do not fly the tail. Always fly
Tail-In Hovering
128