Remote Control Helicopter
Ground School
Learn all about the controls and the terminology associated with a Remote control Helicopter.
Learning how to fly a remote control helicopter is a somewhat challenging undertaking. I would say it's like trying to ride a bike without the training wheels. As a kid, it seemed almost impossible to think that you could keep the bike from falling to one side or the other, but after a bit of practice, you were cruising right along. It might take numerous tries to get to where you can consistently hover, but if you keep at it you'll master it.
Of course, After you learn to hover, you'll have to learn forward flight, nose-in hovering and flight, inverted flight, aerobatics, auto-rotation,etc...
RC Helicopter Controls
Collective Control
The Collective controls the lift on a remote control helicopter by
increasing the pitch angle of the main rotor blades. The servoes cause
the blades to tilt through a range of angles which increases the pitch
angle of the blades. The increased pitch angle on the blades and an
increase in power causes a corresponding load increase on the engine
which keeps the engine at a constant RPM causing the heli to climb.
Cyclic Control
The Cyclic control causes the heli to pitch forward or back and to roll
to the left or to the right. The cyclic is the same as the elevators and
ailerons on an rc airplane. For example, pushing forward on the cyclic
control (the right control on your transmitter) will cause an asymmetric
lift on the main rotor head, causing the front section of the blades to
move down and the rear section of the blades to move up with a
corresponding forward flying, nose down attitude of the heli. This
applies to any direction that the heli travels, nose up, right or left.
Servoes
There are usually five servos on RC helis. One servo controls the
throttle, another controls the collective, one controls forward and aft
movement (like an elevator), one controls left and right movement (like
ailerons), and one controls the tail rotor pitch (like a rudder).
Gyros
The gyro can really be an indispensable little gadget, because can
detect yaw movements and feed those inputs to the tail rotor to dampen
those movements. Moving the left stick to the left or right also
supplies control inputs to the tail rotor. A gyro is an absolute
necessity. Otherwise, the heli would spin around wildly and be almost
impossible to control.
Radios
A remote control helicopter requires a five channel radio. One each is
needed to control pitch, roll, and yaw. One controls the throttle, and
one controls the collective.
Auto-Rotation
Auto-rotation is the process of safely landing a remote control
helicopter after the engine has quit in flight. while the heli descends,
the wind passing through the blades from below causes the blades to
spin up, building up speed.
As the ground nears, you can apply collective to increase lift.
To lean more about Remote control helicopters go here.
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