Before you take off with a Single Rotor Helicopter
Single rotor heli's require more pilot awareness and control than co-axial heli's. Before you put one in the air for the first time it is useful to spin it up to just under take off speed and feel how the controls affect the helicopter. Single rotor helicopters have a tail rotor. Thrust from the tail rotor constantly pushes the helicopter to the left. This requires you to hold a slight amount of right aileronto keep it from drifting left. Too much aileron will tip the helicopter over onto its right side, so use small stick movements.
Typically 'training gear' is attached to the skids: carbon fiber rods in an X-shape with ping-pong balls at their ends. This aid helps you avoid tipping the helicopter over and touching the main blades on the ground. Trainers are useful until you can take off and land without tipping over. After that they just get in the way and make the heli handle poorly in the air.
Floor Exercises
1. Pre-flight inspection.
2. Turn on the transmitter.
3. Plug in the flight battery on the helicopter.
4. Gradually spin up the main rotor until the helicopter starts to drift left.
5. Apply a little right aileron (right stick right) to stop the helicopter from moving left.
Don't take off yet! Use the right stick to keep the helicopter in one place. Some people suggest making a square on the floor with tape so you know if the heli is drifting. Keep it in the same place or use small movements of the right stick to bring it back. You can also use the left stick to keep the tail pointing at you. When you hover the helicopter it is important that it stay 'tail-in' towards you. This is a good time to get used to flying the tail.
Honey Bee FP testing the controls |