Heli-Max HMXE0250 - Manual (Page 37)

37
ADJUST BLADE TRACKING
If you feel uncomfortable adjusting blade tracking by yourself,
please have a helper do the sighting for you and simply fly the
model. Slowly bring the main rotor up to speed but do not lift
off the ground. Please wear safety glasses when performing
the next step. Observe whether the rotational planes of the
blades are the same. If they are not, adjust one of the short
double linkages to bring the blades into the same plane.
TAKEOFF
Slowly add power and observe the model. If you feel it
needs trimming at any time, simply lower the collective stick
all the way down to land and adjust the trim on the
transmitter. For now, simply bring the collective stick up until
the helicopter is “light on the skids”. As you become more
comfortable with the helicopter, you can lift higher off the
ground. Stay low until you become comfortable.
If you should get into trouble, simply bring the collective stick
down slowly and the helicopter will settle and land. This is
when the training gear serves its purpose, since it helps to
level the helicopter automatically before landing. The training
gear will also allow the model to slide on most surfaces.
You will notice the cyclic controls lag behind your control
inputs. This is perfectly normal and something you get the feel
for with time. It’s normal to drift around in a hover until you are
used to flying the model. The cyclic controls on the Kinetic .50
are fairly sensitive so only small movements are necessary.
HOVERING
Once the helicopter is hovering, concentrate on holding the
helicopter in one spot. This can take some practice. Wind has
a big effect on the stability of the helicopter. Be patient and take
your time. Trying to rush the learning process can be costly.
LANDING
Level the helicopter into a hover and slowly decrease power
until the helicopter settles onto the ground.
BASIC MANEUVERS
Once you have become accustomed to hovering, it is time to
work on moving the helicopter around. Just pick some points
on the ground (you can mark the ground if you like) and fly
the helicopter over to them. Try to maintain a steady hover
directly over those points. For now, always keep the tail
pointing directly at you. This helps to keep your orientation.
Pirouettes: Add a small amount of tail rotor (left or right) and
try rotating the helicopter slightly sideways and see if you can
maintain the hover. If you get uncomfortable bring the tail
back towards you. Once you begin to feel comfortable, try
moving the helicopter to the side and turning back. Then fly
back to the other side in straight lines.
Once you become comfortable with those you can try
rotating the helicopter 360°, which is called a pirouette. The
helicopter can drift during pirouettes, so make sure you
have plenty of room to perform the maneuver.
After pirouettes, it is time to move onto nose-in hovering. It is
best to wait for a calm day. Take off and climb to 15'. Practice
half pirouettes, working from tail-in to nose-in hovering. Try to
lengthen the delay between the transitions. As you improve,
you’ll remain nose-in for longer periods of time.
Now it’s time to work into basic forward flight. Just take the basic
hovering maneuvers listed above and slowly go out farther and
faster, but always bring the helicopter back after one pass.
Practice controlled slow flight in close as well. The more time
you spend practicing, here the easier things will be later on.
AEROBATICS
When you become comfortable in fast forward flight, you can
slowly progress into aerobatics. Once you are in forward flight,
use the idle up switch to raise the rotor RPM for aerobatics;
this provides the power to fly inverted. Also, in wind, it may be
difficult to descend for a landing without the idle up on.
The first step is chandelles. Fly straight across in front of you
and pull up to a 45° angle. Now at the top, when the helicopter
slows down to a stop, apply some tail rotor to bring the nose
around 180° and continue back down on the 45° angle.
As you progress with the maneuver, you can pull to greater
angles, up to 90 degrees. This would be called a stall turn.
Loops: Once you are comfortable with chandelles and stall
turns, it’s time to move onto the loop. The key to the loop is
entering with plenty of air speed. Start pulling aft cyclic to
enter the loop. As the model goes inverted at the top, pull
back on the throttle a little bit (towards negative (–)
collective) to help hold altitude. As the model comes back
vertical, add some positive (+) collective to speed. One of
the most common mistakes made on loops is using too
much negative (–) collective at the top of the loop.
Flips: These are a lot easier to perform than they sound.
Start with plenty of altitude. From an upright hover, slowly
add in full forward cyclic. As the model approaches vertical,
bring the collective stick back to center. As the model