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

Well, the second set of blades didn’t last very long, so I ordered 3 more sets!

 With another set of blades fitted, I thought I’d check the pitch with my fancy (well, cheap actually) new pitch gauge. All seemed well!

After plenty of near misses and too many not misses, I decided it was time to find a larger flying area. I live in a small village and am lucky to have two large areas to choose from (cricket ground and rugby ground).

It was so much nicer to have more time to react to what the heli was doing! I’m not saying that I hovered or anything fancy, but I managed to take off and land with minimal crashing As Buzz Lightyear once said “This is not flying, it’s falling with style”

Unfortunately, my youngest son was unable to forsee where the heli was heading (wasn’t it obvious?! ), so I had to do an abrupt landing. Even more unfortunately, it broke the mounting for the vertical fin - so it was home time.

Luckily, I did have a spare mounting bracket (2 actually) supplied by the previous owner. Taking the rear rotor off to replace the bracket was slightly scary but it all went well.

Later on in the afternoon I headed out for another try.

I wasn’t necessarily trying to do so, but on one occasion the heli gained a reasonable altitude (3ft?) quite quickly … and all of a sudden the rotating stopped and it became almost stable !?

 3 feet?? 3 feet off the ground??? What was I thinking?!?! Get it down man, quickly!!

Thankfully, I managed to make earth and heli meet at a reasonable pace and nothing was broken. I don’t really know why I was so scared?! I had flown my Lama at 15ft+ before (very calm day!), but seeing the King that high was extremely nerve-racking!

Saying that, I managed to do it a few more times and it was starting to feel less scary - then came the landing too far. Nothing drastic, but the previously damaged fin finally snapped and flew off into the distance. I found the bit, but I didn’t have a spare or any means of fixing this one, so once again it was home time.

It may sound like a bad ending but actually, the surprise stability at 3ft has given me renewed hope that I will master this helicopter flying thing one day. Master … maybe that’s too strong a word …

Coincidence or fate? The Lama was grounded and awaiting repair so I was just wandering the HeliGuy forum reading all sorts.

I came across an advert for a used HoneyBee King 2 - off I went again investigating

The idea of having a larger size, Collective Pitch helicopter was very appealing and after getting the OK from the wife (sorry, you know what I mean!) I struck a deal

That was a few weeks ago and for 2 of those I was on holiday, so I haven’t really done much other than hop the King off the ground a few times … scary but fun!

I have managed to break the first set of blades, but I have a spare. I am also waiting for a pitch guage to arrive, so I’ll be ready again soon.

It was a calm summer day so I thought ”I’ll pop into the garden for a quick fly of the Lama”. Nothing unusual there …

 Set up, took off and hovered around in my usual semi-controlled state - oh what fun!

Seeing as it was so calm, I thought I’d go for a bit more altitude … up - down - this way - that way - still having fun.

Up we go again … oops, a bit far off to the right, a bit too near the neighbours garden. OK, don’t panic, just head left again.

 NO, I only said LEFT, not left and DOWN!! Before I could react, the Lama contacted with the bush separating our gardens and tumbled to the ground on the neighbours side. OK, I’ll just have to pop round and ask “can I have my helicopter back please” … and try not to feel like I’m 8 years old

The bush is quite thick, so I was surprised when I couldn’t see the Lama anywhere!? I looked on top of the bush, peered inside it and underneath it but the Lama was nowhere to be found. I tried spinning the rotors very gently and quickly to give me an idea of it’s location but nothing happened.

Then, even though it wasn’t near where I thought the Lama had landed, I picked up a stick and gently poked around in the fish pond … and out popped a little white xTreme blade

 I quickly extracted it from the pond, disconnected the battery and rushed back home.

 Long story short - the 4-in-1 was blown and both motors seized

The repair bill was only just short of what I paid for it initially, so it was re-assembled as much as possible and placed back in it’s box. It is currently awaiting funds for a rebuild!