Introduction:
As with most 3D maneuvers, Tic Tocs (or Metronomes as they are sometimes called) are a challenging maneuver to do successfully and very cool when done right.
A Metronome is one of those timer things that they used for teaching music timing I think. Basically, the top of an arm swings back and forth from left to right through the centerline. That's pretty much the same as what we're aiming for from the heli. The helicopter is going to be the 'arm' with the tail of the heli representing the base which is generally pretty stationary, and the nose will rock forward and back representing the top of the arm.

Setup:
The setup for this maneuver requires the basic 3D setup (-9 or so through to +9), I ensure that I have heading hold switched on to stop the tail breaking out. Some swashplate mixing (throttle to aileron/elevator) doesn't hurt either. Try to maintain a headspeed of around 1750RPM or more.

Steps:
The steps involved in the Metronome can be described as follows:
· There are various ways to enter the maneuver, you can enter by doing a stall turn to get the helicopter vertical, or do a 1/4 flip.
· As the helicopter becomes vertical, gently add in back elevator while slowly adding negative pitch.
· As the helicopter reaches a 45 degree angle, halt the movement of the helicopter by adding further pitch and as the helicopter stops, continue to add in some more to get it moving back in the opposite direction again while adding forward elevator, but leading with the pitch.
· Once the helicopter has reached the opposite 45 degree angle, add positive pitch to halt the helicopter's motion and as the helicopter begins to travel back along it's original path, add back elevator to send it on it's way again.

Points:
Points to watch during this maneuver include:
· Do not over pitch! If you do, you'll lose valuable headspeed and altitude. Or, conversely, you could climb which will put your heli out of position.
· Do not stab the sticks, cause again, you'll sap headspeed and things won't go well. Be smooth and deliberate in your movements and you'll get better results.
· Lead with the collective (ie use collective before cyclic).
· Start high, I still tend to lose altitude when doing this maneuver!