Oh my Gords!

It was Saturday, it was sunny, it was calm … and I had to work! How cruel is that!!

Well, I managed to get everything done by about 4pm so I was off into the garden

The first battery went quite well, I was managing to keep in the air for 30 - 40 seconds at a time, sometimes even a bit longer. I was quite happy with that considering I was flying in my smallish garden and still getting to grips with the whole “control” thing.

The second battery went on and off I went again. It only lasted about 1 - 2 minutes before the heli could barely take off? OK, maybe the battery didn’t get charged properly - no problem, I’ll try battery number 3. Umm, the same thing happened. Even worse, the motor then refused to even spin!?

I removed the canopy and noticed that the motor was so hot I could have cooked my dinner on it!!  Luckily, I had a new spare (from a very generous friend!) so I put that on sharpish. Oh boy, what a difference!! The head speed was noticeably faster and it sounded so much nicer - it’s funny how you don’t realise something is wrong/broken until you replace it.

So, back to battery 2 and off I went. I think my skills are improving, mainly because of the fact that I have not crashed into anything other than the ground for quite a while now! It definitely seems to be the confidence to lift off with conviction that has helped.

I can remember the first few days with my Lama, where the takeoffs were very gingerly, and slowly, done. I read a post on heliguy.com that said you need to commit to the takeoff and get to a height of 3 - 4ft, in order to get out of the ground effect. I managed that quite quickly with the Lama. However, the King does not seem to bounce quite as well (cheaply) so takeoffs have been too non-committal until just recently.

My current problem to overcome is over-correction. I manage to take off OK and the heli goes up quite nicely. Obviously I am then into controlling where the heli goes. If I can manage to react fast enough and smooth enough and with enough gentle care, I can manage to keep it with a 4 - 5ft square. However, it always seems to end up that I am swinging significantly side to side, front to back, etc. Sometimes I manage to bring it back under control, but more often that not it’s time to land, before I crash.