Learning Nose-in
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Learning Nose-in |
| Learning nose-in orientation is a big step in
the learning curve and opens up many more maneuvers that
you can go to. Before I learned how I was spending most
of my time worrying about the helicopter turning nose-in
as I was practicing other maneuvers. After learning nose-in
I could then concentrate more on the new tricks because I
was no longer worried about the helicopter turning toward
me and as a result my progress increased. There are two techniques you commonly hear on how to learn this, bottom->up and top->down. Bottom->up means to strap the training sticks on and start off on the ground just like you were learning how to do tail-in hover. Top->down means no training sticks, start up high and turn the helicopter around nose-in then whenever you get out of control do a half turn to get back tail-in. The only technique I promote is bottom->up. I have seen others crash using the top->down method. For a while this method will seem to work fine. However the problem is that there will be a point at which your concentration level is so intense on giving the correct control direction that when you mess up and need to bail-out to a tail-in position your brain is still thinking 'backwards' and you end up dumping the helicopter in the ground. Now another method you hear some say is to move the stick the same direction the rotor disk tilts. So if the left side tilted down then move the stick left. This works for some but is not the way I recommend learning. First off all this does is teach you to level the helicopter and not really how to position the helicopter. So how do I do it... Lets start off by learning the 'relative control' technique. |
Picture 1 Picture 2  |
The pictures on the left show
the technique I use to keep my control directions correct
during any orientation. When you begin flying you think
in terms of moving the stick right makes the helicopter
go to [your] right and left stick goes to [your] left.
This helps to ease the thought process when you first
start out as you have many new things to concentrate on.
However you eventually need to stop thinking in terms of
[you] and start making all control commands relative to
the helicopter. What I do when I teach others how to
learn nose-in is have them look at their helicopter from
above and imagine they took a picture. Then imagine they
cut the picture out and placed it at the base of the
cyclic (aileron/elevator) stick as shown in the photo at
the top. Notice for my Raptor the nose of the helicopter
is at the top, the tail is at the bottom, and the muffler
side is on the left. Now lets go through an example of
the thought process. I will sit the helicopter in front
of us in a tail-in position. Next I use objects around us
and go through some examples. 
Using the picture to the right, lets say we want the
helicopter to go toward the tree. Which way do we want
the helicopter to move.... Don't say left/right/forward/backward,
instead think in terms of the helicopter as in toward the
nose, toward the tail, toward the muffler, or away from
the muffler. So with a Raptor that has the muffler on the
left, the answer would be 'toward the muffler'. Now
remember the imaginary picture at the base of the cyclic
stick. Move the stick toward the side of the muffler in
this picture. The helicopter now moves toward the tree as
expected. Now lets say the helicopter is too close to you
so which way do you want the helicopter to go... remember
the first step is to think in terms of the helicopter
then use the imaginary picture to move the stick the
correct way. So to answer the question you want the
helicopter to go in the direction of the nose. Now refer
to the imaginary picture, this would mean you move the
stick forward. These excercises with the helicopter tail-in
are to get you use to the new thought process.  Next
I will turn the helicopter nose-in and again ask which
way does the helicopter need to go to move toward the
tree. The answer would be 'away from the muffler'. Now
refer to the imaginary picture at the base of the cyclic.
This picture never changes position, the nose is forward,
the tail is back, and the muffler is on the left. So to
move the stick 'away from the muffler' in the imaginary
picture you would move the stick to the right. This would
be the correct way to get the helicopter closer to the
tree. Okay, one more example. The helicopter is too close
to you. You want the helicopter to go toward the tail
side. Imagine the picture, you would need the stick to
move back.The above talks all about the right stick but this same technique works for the left stick too. Look at Picture 2 and you will see the image of the helicopter positioned so the nose is on the rudder stick. Think about the direction in terms of moving the nose toward the muffler side or moving the nose toward the side you adjust the main needle. Here is an example with a nose-in hover. The helicopter is rotating and you are now seeing more of the muffler side of the helicopter. You want to get the nose pointed back toward you so to do that you have to move the nose toward the muffler. So look at the imaginary image of the helicopter in picture 2. To move the helicopter toward the muffler you need to move the stick to the left. |
| Now that you understand 'relative control'
lets start with the actual flying. When I teach someone
how to do nose-in hover I do just like I did with tail-in
hover, I control the collective/rudder stick and let them
just work on the aileron/elevator. This splits the task
in half and even though the person can control the
collective without a problem in the tail-in condition the
problem is that they are concentrating so intensely on
the aileron/elevator that they often do not pay as much
attention to the collective and then the helicopter can
get too high. This scares them and with the break in
concentration it can possibly lead to a crash. The person
you get to do the other stick does not have to know how
to nose-in, just so they can maintain collective to keep
the helicopter only a couple of inches off the ground. So
if you and a flying buddy are wanting to learn nose-in
you can both help each other by taking turns. Start by putting the training skids on. This will act just like when learning to hover tail-in and will allow the helicopter to slide around the ground. And it will work to level the helicopter if you give the wrong direction. Now as always the training skids only work if the helicopter is less then a couple of feet off the ground. So your buddies job will be to keep the helicopter low. Also if the helicopter moves faster then a slow walking pace your buddy needs to land the helicopter. When I train people this way I first get them to hold the radio the way they are use to then take their left hand (for mode 2 radios) and place it either on the side of the radio or under it. Then I place the side of my hand on the edge of the radio for stability and I control the left stick. The first stage is to lift off straight. There are two things that everyone gets confused on here. First is that when the helicopter is tail-in you are already use to it wanting to lift off to its left so you add a little right stick (for a clockwise rotor). So which way do you move the stick during lift off with the helicopter nose-in... it's the same. Move the aileron stick a little right. The helicopter does not know it is facing you, it is still going to want to lift to its left. The next thing that most get confused over is how crooked the helicopter sits in a nose-in hover. You have a tendency to want to level the rotor disk but then the helicopter moves. It has to sit crooked to stay in one place. So why isn't it that way in tail-in hover??? It is, you just got use to it and no longer realise it is crooked. When you go nose-in it is exagerated because your perception of level during tail-in is a few degrees tilted to the right. However when you are nose-in those few degrees are now the other direction, that is twice as far from what you had perceived as level. Work on making the right corrections to maintain a hover. Then have your buddy that is helping you call out a random direction to go to. At first you are just going to work on going left/right, however do not say this, have them say either 'move toward the muffler' or 'move away from the muffler'. This will help you get use to referencing the imaginary image and controlling movement relative to the helicopter. After you do some practice with the aileron control then go forward/backward, 'toward the nose' or 'toward the tail'. Later put these two together by tracing a triangle on the ground just as was done when first learning to hover tail-in. Don't worry about how perfect the triangle is, the concept behind it is to work your skills at hand eye coordination with the aileron and elevator. At this stage you should work on controlling both sticks yourself. The assistance before with the collective helps you build up your skills on the cyclic so now controlling both will not be as intense. Keep the helicopter low, if you get too high (over a couple of feet) then drop the collective. Also if the helicopter moves faster then a slow walking speed then again drop the collective. Next you need to get use to making the transition from tail-in to nose-in and back. To do this I start out tail-in and get the helicopter light on the skids but not off the ground. Then rotate the helicopter counter-clockwise slowly to a nose-in position and lift up into a hover. After a few seconds lower the helicopter so it is light on the training skids again and rotate it around to tail-in. Lift up and hover for a few seconds. Do this over again several times. This will seem very odd at first and kinda feel like your brain is rotating around hahaha. After you begin to get use to the change, then do the rotation but with the helicopter a few inches off the ground. Start in a nose-in position and with the helicopter off the ground a few inches give a left rudder command to rotate to the tail-in hover. This will be the easiest one so do it first. After a few of these work on doing the transition from tail-in hover to nose-in hover. Then work on doing a slow complete rotation. |