Oh my Gords!

The installation went very well and all appeared to be working OK on the “bench”, so it was time to test it for real!

For the first quick test, I went into the garden. Previous attempts to fly in the garden have resulted in the helicopter crashing into something very quickly, as I struggle to control altitude, attitude and direction. So I decided I would know very quickly if this gyro was going to be an improvement.

I got the heli all setup, head hold (hh) mode off and spun up the rotors. I took off and just as before, the heli gained some altitude and then headed in a direction that took it’s fancy! I landed sharpish and repositioned for the next take-off.

This time, I enabled HH mode and trimmed the tail until the servo settled. Up went the revs, up went the heli and … well, you could have knocked me down with a feather - it continued to point in the same direction Fantastic!! A few more take-offs confirmed that indeed it was not a fluke and the gyro was doing it’s job!

A few hours (and household tasks) later, I set off down to the field for a proper go There was a slight, fluctuating breeze that would normally have me landing a few seconds after take-off … but not today! I was able to take off and hover around for significant amounts of seconds before I needed to land. All the time, the heli generally kept true to the initial heading.

For a proper beginner like me, the head hold gyro has proved to be a worthwhile investment. It will allow me to spend more time practising the art of keeping a helicopter in one place for more than 1 second, without worrying about it’s general direction