General Safety Measures - GRAUPNER Micro Star 400 Manual

6. General safety measures

• Take out adequate third-party insurance cover.
• Wherever possible join the local model flying club.
At the flying site:
• Never fly your model above spectators.
• Do not fly models close to buildings or vehicles.
• Avoid flying over agricultural workers in neighbouring fields.
• Do not fly your model in the vicinity of railway lines, major roads or overhead cables.
Pre-flight checks, flying safety:
• Before you switch on the transmitter, check carefully that no other model flyer is using the
same frequency.
• Carry out a range check with your RC system.
• Check that the transmitter and flight batteries are fully charged.
• Do not let the model fly out of safe visual range.
Post-flight checks
• Clean the model and check that all screws etc. are still tight.
• Examine the helicopter carefully for wear and damage, and replace worn parts in good time.
• Ensure that the electronic components such as battery, receiver, gyro etc. are still securely
fixed. Remember that rubber bands deteriorate with age and may fail.
• Check the receiver aerial. Conductor fractures inside the insulation are often not visible from
the outside.
• If the main rotor should touch the ground when spinning, be sure to replace the blades.
Internal blade damage may not be visible from the outside!
• Never carry the model by the tail boom: too firm a grip will easily deform the tail rotor
pushrod.
7. Some basic terms used in model helicopter flying
The term "rotary wing machine" indicates that the helicopter's lift is derived from rotating "wings"
which take the form of rotor blades. As a result, a helicopter does not require a minimum for-
ward speed in order to fly, i.e. it can hover.
Cyclic pitch
Cyclic pitch variation is used to steer the machine around the roll and pitch axes. Changing cy-
clic pitch has the effect of altering blade pitch depending on its position in the circle. The effect
is caused by tilting the swashplate, which then effectively tilts the helicopter in the required di-
rection.
Collective pitch
Collective pitch provides control over vertical movement, i.e. for climb and descent. The pitch of
both rotor blades is altered simultaneously.
Torque compensation
The spinning rotor produces a moment which tends to turn the whole helicopter in the opposite
direction. This effect must be accurately neutralised, and this is the task of the tail rotor. Tail
rotor blade pitch is altered to vary torque compensation. The tail rotor is also used to control the
model around the vertical (yaw) axis.
Hovering
This is the state in which the helicopter flies in a fixed position in the air, without moving in any
direction.
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Micro Star 400 v2