I know there are more single rotor pilots here than just me, I'd be interested to hear what others think of the difference between flying an RC heli and a multirotor. Yesterday I pulled my Trex 450 off the shelf and revived it after close to a year of hibernation in its case. The last heli I flew was my Radikal G20 gasser last September, other than that I've been flying exclusively multirotors since last July.
Today I flew the Trex again for the first time in probably a year and I have to say the first few takeoffs and landings were kinda dicey. Helis are a lot different than multi's when taking off and landing and that single large high speed ginsu knife of a rotor makes you want to stand way back and give it plenty of space. Don't know what it is about one large rotor spinning at 2000 rpm vs 4, 6, or 8, eleven or twelve inch rotors spinning but it sure does get your attention.
I got in I think 8 or 9 full battery packs on the heli and in windy conditions which made it a bit more challenging, but it came back to me pretty quick. One thing for certain, I have a much easier time holding orientations on the heli, it's real easy to see which end is which and my fingers "remember" what it needs for correction regardless of which way its pointed. Still, it wasn't easy flying the little critter, unlike any of my multis that will just happily putter along, a heli likes forward speed and you really have to stay sharp while flying one.
They also get bounced around by the wind as bad if not worse than a multi, add to that having collective pitch with the ability to go to negative pitch with the motor at high throttle setting in idle up and it can get exciting very quickly if you forget what you're flying and try to cut the throttle while still in idle up mode! Fortunately I remembered to setup a throttle hold switch when I swapped over to the 11X this morning and even better that I remembered to use it...
Since I still have a half dozen helis sitting up on the shelf I figured I might as well get back into flying them, it makes for a nice change once in a while especially since I do a lot of flying at an RC Heli club field with the multis.
So, anyone else here fly both?
Ken
Today I flew the Trex again for the first time in probably a year and I have to say the first few takeoffs and landings were kinda dicey. Helis are a lot different than multi's when taking off and landing and that single large high speed ginsu knife of a rotor makes you want to stand way back and give it plenty of space. Don't know what it is about one large rotor spinning at 2000 rpm vs 4, 6, or 8, eleven or twelve inch rotors spinning but it sure does get your attention.
I got in I think 8 or 9 full battery packs on the heli and in windy conditions which made it a bit more challenging, but it came back to me pretty quick. One thing for certain, I have a much easier time holding orientations on the heli, it's real easy to see which end is which and my fingers "remember" what it needs for correction regardless of which way its pointed. Still, it wasn't easy flying the little critter, unlike any of my multis that will just happily putter along, a heli likes forward speed and you really have to stay sharp while flying one.
They also get bounced around by the wind as bad if not worse than a multi, add to that having collective pitch with the ability to go to negative pitch with the motor at high throttle setting in idle up and it can get exciting very quickly if you forget what you're flying and try to cut the throttle while still in idle up mode! Fortunately I remembered to setup a throttle hold switch when I swapped over to the 11X this morning and even better that I remembered to use it...
Since I still have a half dozen helis sitting up on the shelf I figured I might as well get back into flying them, it makes for a nice change once in a while especially since I do a lot of flying at an RC Heli club field with the multis.
So, anyone else here fly both?
Ken
