Auto Rotation How To ?

[Fred]

Hi I am new to Helicopters and was wondering how to go about doing Auto Rotation ?
I am in the proses of putting a Frenzy 50 together and practice it on the sim less expensive that way :)
Thanks
Fred

[Flyinfool]

It works pretty much the same as on the sim.
Start by doing baby autos from 2 or 3 feet high to get a feel for how much hang time you will get at the end, every heli set up is different.
Then start to do autos from up high and bailing out BEFORE you get the the flair and are still a couple of mistakes high, so that you are bringing the engine back in while you still have good headspeed.
This will let you learn just how fast the heli comes down and how much forward speed will work good for you.
Once you are comfortable with both ends then put it all together.

[CSpaced]

What Jeff said, and also when you plan to practice your autos set your throttle hold switch to slightly higher than idle. There's nothing worse than having your engine quit, turning a bail out into a forced auto!

[Fred]

OK so do I actually apply negative pitch to keep the head speed up . The sim seems a bit cartoonish ? if that makes since . I fly rc planes and know the sim can be a great tool but just not the same on a lot of things .
Thanks

[rcspud]

Yes you need to apply 4-6 degrees of negitive ptich while the heli is falling,and try to maintain keeping it level. At approx 4-5feet off the ground start applying pos pitch, here is where it get tricky, too much pitch=loss of head speed(lift) and splat. Not enough pos pitch and splat, thats where the sim is very handy.

When you get to the point of setting the heli down on the sim 9 out of 10 times, your ready to go out and try it. I learned on the the old G2 and not too long after learning how to do it on the sim, I had to do it at the feild due to a muffler coming loose, and yes I saved it :D

[Fred]

OK thanks sounds challenging . I do have the Splat part down pat though ,, lol

[freakyreef]

Autos can actually be fun. In fact. I am willing to bet once you have completed one or two, you will spend at least a few flights doing them. I try to end most of my flights with an auto., that way it seems to be perfectly natural when you NEED to do one.

Once you have practiced them on the sim to perfection, the hardest part is flicking the switch.
To make them more realistic/ challenging on the sim, add some weight to the heli and take some weight away from your blades.

[Fred]

I must have a setting wrong . ?? I am using Aero Fly Pro but when I use the Hold switch I do not get positive pitch and crash's . Will keep trying to figure it out but if someone has a explanation that would be great to.
Thanks for encouragement .

[extra1540]

come do it on my g3.5!

[Animal]

Fred, I'm just learning autos myself. The first thing I learned about autos was that woody blades loose head speed much faster than carbons or fiberglass. You can certainly perform autos with woodies, but it's much easier with C or FG blades.

The next thing I learned was to make sure my throttle-hold pitch curve matched the pitch curves of one of my flying modes, ie normal, idle-up 1, idle-up 2 or idle-up 3. Make sure you are in that mode when you hit the throttle hold. If you don't have a match, your heli will pop up or down. If it pops up, it will kill your head speed and flaring may be difficult.

I started out at 1 foot. I found all I needed to do was wait for the heli to start dropping on it's own, then flare. This worked at 2 to 6 feet as well. Somewhere in that range or higher you'll find you need to reduce pitch in order to keep head speed up until the flare. Initially, you won't need to reduce it much, but as your altitude increases so will the need to reduce pitch. Practice each altitude multiple times until you get a good feel for it, then increase it some more. Dedicate whole flights to nothing but autos, and soon you will find you are comfortable with autos a good many feet up. Just keep practicing.

One final thing, have a look at this video (http://video.helifreak.com/?subpath=DebianDog&filename=Curtis-AutoClass-Invasion09.wmv).

As always, have fun! :)