what's the history of 3D flying? - rec.models.rc.helicopter

Message from discussion what's the history of 3D flying?

Beav

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More options May 17, 6:52 am

Newsgroups: rec.models.rc.helicopter

From: "Beav" <beavis.origi...@ntlwoxorld.com>

Date: Sat, 17 May 2008 11:52:17 +0100

Local: Sat, May 17 2008 6:52 am

Subject: Re: what's the history of 3D flying?

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"Steve R." <srhode...@comcast.net> wrote in message

news:_ICdnQ_cNvWw1bPVnZ2dnUVZ_hKdnZ2d@comcast.com...

> "Beav" <beavis.origi...@ntlwoxorld.com> wrote in message
> news:2RLTj.98374$h65.58920@newsfe2-gui.ntli.net...

>> No, but they did do "conventional" aerobatics. Loops, rolls, stall turns
>> and a combination of the three. The main "thrust" was for people to fly a
>> helicopter as a close emulation of a fixed wing plane as possible, so
>> perfectly round loop (at a constant speed) and perfectly axial rolls (at
>> a constant altitude) were deemd the pinacle of control and in lots of
>> people's eyes, still are. there's a majesty and grace seeing a helicopter
>> fly the FAI manoeuvres that can't possibly be copied in a 3D
>> demonstration.

>> --
>> Beav

> There's a precision to FAI style flying that "most" 3Der's never achieve.

Absolutely correct Steve.

> However, I've seen a "few" 3Der's that did their routines in a relatively
> slow and much more controlled fashion that were a true pleasure to watch.
> The hard core stick bangers have their appeal at times, just from a thrill
> point of view, but I'm much more impressed with whose who are obviously
> "flying" the bird through it's paces in a manner that I can actually see
> what it's doing.

I think a LOT of 3D flying is nothing more than a series of pre-programmed
stick movements which result in a particular "display" If ANYTHING happens
to disrupt the flow of those stick movements, the heli lawn darts with a
vengeance. I've seen too many REALLY impressive crashes because something
didn't work "quite" right and the flyer had no time to straighten things
out. Simulators are magic for working out those "pre-prograsmmed" stick
movements, but they're not much use for "failures in the system" training.

> The funny part for me is, in the past few years, I've had several folks
> come up and compliment those of us that fly more of an FAI style on how
> smooth the bird looks or how fast they were flying, etc. It's not that
> I'm that great of a pilot but I am competent within the limits of how "I"
> like to fly. It's just that these folks had never seen a helicopter do
> anything but flip and tumble around. Seeing one flying flat out in
> forward flight and stretching out a series of rolls across the full length
> of the RC field was totally different for them and they were unaware of
> just how fast a model helicopter can fly.

Yep. Lots of non heli flyers seem to think that 3D flying is little more
than an out of control heli and for the most part, they could well be right.
If flying 3D means counting seconds and moving sticks within a specific time
frame in order to complete a manoeuvre, then it's not what I want to do
(anymore). I'm still in favour of smooth and relatively large manoeuvres,
even if they're done with the heli flying backwards and/or upside down.

> I guess it all depends on what you're used to seeing but it almost feels
> sometimes like the pendulum is starting to swing back the other way a bit!

Indeed. And so it should :-) Us old fuckers just can't keep up:-))

--
Beav

VN 750
Zed 1000
OMF# 19

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