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Twister Hawk
changes and so stabilizes the helicopter.
The aim now is to travel steadily and progressively across the oor.
Walk forwards following the helicopter across the oor whilst using the controls to maintain slow and
accurate progress.
The 'walking technique' is the method often used to safely develop the automatic ability to apply the right
control input when needed. You should practice this until you are starting to automatically input the control
commands required to keep the helicopter moving gently forwards along the ground.
When you feel con dent, proceed to the next step...
TAKING THE FIRST 'HOP'
By now you should be making the correct control inputs automatically and be able to make smooth
progress across the surface of your oor. If you cannot, please keep practicing!
The rst 'hop' is a natural 'next step' from walking your Twister Hawk.
Whilst walking you apply a small amount of extra throttle to brie y raise the helicopter off the oor and into
the air for a second. Then you should reduce throttle and settle back onto the oor.
With practice, you will nd that you are able to make more and more of the correct control commands
required to keep your Twister Hawk upright and that the hops become longer and higher.
Always make sure you watch the nose of your helicopter–not the tail. The gyro will keep the tail straight for
you a lot of the time but you will have to use the yaw control to swing the nose of the helicopter straight as
you make progress across the oor.
Keep practising and you will nd that your ights will become longer.
Please be aware that a model helicopter in the hover–regardless of design–will never stay completely still!
A helicopter will always require some level of input to stop drift or a tendency to turn or climb. This is not a
sign of something faulty with the helicopter, but is in the nature of a hovering helicopter.
By now you should be able to manage hops at a height of between 10 and 30cm with duration of 5-10
seconds per hop. Flights will become longer and easier as your co-ordination and understanding of ight
develop.
HOVERING AND MANOEUVRES
As your co-ordination and anticipation improves, you should be able to reduce forward speed when making
'hops', thereby bringing your helicopter into a hover.
Practice hovering until you feel con dent with the basic handling of your helicopter.
Next, you should start experimenting at rotating (yawing) the helicopter slightly to the left or right using the
tail rotor (yaw) controls–but only proceed to this stage when you have mastered the hover!
From the hover, yaw the model a few degrees left and then back to straight ahead–always remembering to
watch the nose. Practice yawing to left and to right until you feel con dent.
Next, practice crabbing your Twister Hawk to the right and left using cyclic controls:
From the hover, brie y 'nudge' a small amount of right roll. Your Twister Hawk will start a drift to the right.
Put in a small amount of opposite roll to halt the drift, then a small amount of left roll to start a drift to the
left. You may need to keep the tail straight using tail rotor whilst doing this. Always be ready to correct the
drift by using opposite roll. If you get into trouble at any stage, reduce the throttle, land, change you
trousers and try again.
BEYOND THE HOVER
As you become more pro cient with your helicopter you will want a larger space so you can really start to
y around instead of hovering about all day.
If you do y outside, please remember that any wind will affect the performance of your Twister Hawk—
sometimes markedly. Don't be too surprised if, while ying your model, it suddenly climbs or drops without
you making any input. This can be caused by a small breeze, gust or a 'thermal' passing through.
A training undercarriage can be a huge help by providing your Twister Hawk with a wide track and a
degree of cushioning to aid stability and therefore help prevent 'tip-overs'. See the parts listing at the
end of this manual. Another useful training aid is a computer ight simulator which can greatly enhance
and speed up the learning process. A simulator is also great for teaching yourself "nose in" ying. This
is when the nose of the helicopter is pointing at you and where some of the controls effectively become
reversed—which can catch out both experienced and novice pilots alike!
GOOD LUCK AND HAPPY FLYING!
21
http://www.modelengines.com.au
Available from:
www.modelflight.com.au
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