Getting in the Air: Hovering
RC helicopter flights begin and end with a hover. (Two exceptions: autorotation (power off) landings and crashes!) You ain't goin' nowhere until you learn to hover with the tail towards you, known in the business as 'tail-in':
When you can take off and land in a controlled manner the next step is to stay in the air a little bit longer each flight:
- Take off (with a bit of right aileron so it goes straight up).
- Put the helicopter at a comfortable height so you can see it easily.
- Keep the tail pointing at you. Do not let it rotate to either side.
- Use the right stick to hold the helicopter in one place.
- Gradually reduce power to land on the takeoff point.
When you can hover in one place for an entire battery you have mastered basic hovering. Few onlookers know how much work it takes to hover tail-in!
Hovering tail-in. |