When would I use aileron with my heli?

tpcollins · Hopping Maniac Joined: 23 Dec 2010 Posts: 25

Before I go out and crash my Blade SR again, I want to practice more with my MCX2. I'm up to making continuous 7' - 8' circles in my family room using rudder and elevator plus using the throttle since it has a tendency to yo-yo at times.

But in what instances would I use aileron for a heli? In my very limited airplane crashes from years ago, I would use a touch of aileron to get it to bank and then use some rudder to turn. And I was under the impression that I might need elevator to keep the plane's nose up since it should lose a bit of lift (but usually crashed before I got that far).

When I touch the aileron on the MCX2, it just goes straight sideways so I'm not sure what value it would serve unless I wanted to make a very wide turn - I think. Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

chopper54 · Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 5:23 am Post subject:

hi tp.
aileron can be used mixed in with throttle and elevator to make banked turns with a heli but i dont know if a coax can get enough speed up to achieve it. but the thing with a heli is it doesnt just go forwards and backwards. because of the unique nature of the rotor head it can go any direction you want. forward, backward, sideways and anything in between and that is the reason 4 channels are more usefull than three channels. three channels cannot go sideways.

Crashagain · Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2011 11:15 am Post subject:

When you start making banking turns you will use aleron. The stick movement for a banking turn is to start with forward flight, bank the heli with the aleron's, then apply rudder in the same direction, as you start to bring the heli around you will add more collective to keep the altitude up, and a small amount ( and I mean small amount) of elevator to keep the heli's nose up, but not too far or you will stop your forward movement.
I hope I shed a little light on it for you..

tombo242 · Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2011 7:09 pm Post subject:

+1 on that Crashagain. Couldn't have put it better.

Tom.

Crashagain · Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2011 1:24 pm Post subject:

Thank you..
It was one of the first things I learned.
The trick is mastering the collective, when I first started, I was using all elevator and the heli kept stopping as I exited my turn. A fellow flyer was watching me and came over and offered that advice, and showed me on his heli. It took a few batteries to nail it but the reward is huge. Watching the skids stick out at almost 90deg to the heli as you bank around is pretty cool. Watching a big 600 doing it at 50mph is really awsome...

BSquared18 · Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2011 12:46 am Post subject:

Re "you will add more collective to keep the altitude up...."

Please help out a newbie. What exactly does this statement mean? How does one "add more collective?"

Thanks,
Bill

Crashagain · Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2011 11:53 am Post subject:

When flying a heli we give 3 major types of input. Collective, Cyclic and Rudder.
Collective is the pitch of the heli, as you turn you change the angle of the disk, it's not level anymore so the heli will want to drop. By adding Collective (positive pitch) you can keep the heli at the same height.
Cyclic input is elevator and aleron.

FlyDoc · Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2011 12:20 pm Post subject:

I've wondered about the convention of using 'aileron' and 'elevator' for the side-to-side and fore-and-aft cyclic controls. It works in practice, but seems we're using FW terms for RW flight. Is a puzzlement! Confused

Doc

tombo242 · Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2011 7:17 pm Post subject:

Hi FlyDoc,

Seems to me that these terms were in use long before helicopters arrived and the terms simply meant that activating 'Ailerons' produced roll and activating 'Elevators' produced pitch. When you hold the cyclic of a helicopter it is very similar to a fixed wings' stick. In fact if you look back to the very early wing and tail warping it is even more similar to the helicopters' cyclic blade pitch changes.

Tom.

NT7R · Charging Joined: 08 Jun 2013 Posts: 1 Location: Montana

"and a small amount ( and I mean small amount) of elevator to keep the heli's nose up, but not too far or you will stop your forward movement. "

This helped me out a lot. I have been too heavy on the elevator but couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong...

Thanks for the suggestion...

Mike