Hovering - Basic Helicopter Flight

All (successful) helicopter flights begin and end with a hover. The ability to hold it steadily in one position in the air is a basic and necessary skill. The nice thing is that a co-axial heli is the easiest heli to hover. However, like all helicopters, hovering a co-axial bird requires you to co-ordinate four controls:

  • motor speed, controls how high it flies
  • rudder, controls the direction the heli is pointing
  • aileron, controls side-to-side position
  • elevator, controls forward and backward position

Taking off is the first introduction to coordinating the controls. Hovering is where you refine your skill until you can keep the helicopter steady as long as you wish. At first you will hover with the tail pointing towards you because that is the easiest way to control the helicopter.

Hovering Tail-in

1. Take off by moving the left stick upward (throttle).

2. Hold it high enough to be out of ground effect but low enough to easily see the rotor disk.

3. Keep the motor speed steady to hold that alititude.

4. Use the left stick side-to-side (rudder) to keep the tail pointing directly at you.

5. Use the right stick to keep the helicopter steady side-to-side and forward/backward(aileron and elevator) .

6. If you start losing control or the heli wanders more than three feet in any direction, land.

7. Make a controlled, soft landing by gently moving the left stick downward.

Practice taking off and holding the helicopter in a stable hover until you can do it whenever you want to. You should be able to hover for one full battery pack without difficulty. As you keep flying and trying new things you can always bring it back to a tail-in hover to regain control. It takes time to get good at this. You will enjoy flying more and avoid needless crashes if you take your time and go slowly.

Home