littlerotors.com Newsletter
23rd April 2002

Welcome to the third newsletter of 2002. Once again, I've been a bit slack lately with getting out newsletters as quite a bit has been going on. My new Voyager 50 has arrived, had my first go at night flying and been busy helping out some of the new fliers at the field. However, here it is!

Beginners
You may remember in my last newsletter I spoke about my old Ergo moving on to teach a new pilot the ropes. This new pilot, Heather, is getting into helis after dabbling in fixed wing for a while, and brought my little Ergo to do it. I have been quite astonished at her sheer enthusiasm to succeed in a hobby that is very much dominated by males. She lives quite a distance from my home town but she tries to make the trip down to fly with us whenever time allows. Just this weekend she joined us at our local hobby shop owner's field where we flew and talked helis all day. Was a hell of a lot of fun.
Heather's enthusiasm is encouraging other women to consider getting behind the controls. I may even be able to persuade Sharon, my girlfriend to commence learning on my Voyager. She's fairly competent on the simulator, we'll see...

Another beginner, Martyn, turned up at our F3C meet armed with a pen and notepad and asked all manner of questions and wanted me to justify my answers. Generally when beginners ask how they should get into the sport I tell them the 'picture perfect' setup and the associated costs and then work down until we get to a level and budget that is within their expectations. While I was rattling off my version of a very good list of equipment to get started with (Voyager 50, OS 50, Futaba 9CHP, GY401, CSM V10 Simulator etc) along with the associated costs, Martyn was writing it all down along with my contact details. Sure enough, that night I had an email from Martyn asking for the contact details of stores to get prices for the above equipment and three days later, he contacted me to say he'd ordered ALL of the equipment I'd suggested!
I called around to his house when his Transmitter and Simulator turned up and set it up as realistically as I could and explained some things to practise with (trying to hover in a controlled fashion etc) and left him to it.
Three weeks go by and we can't fly due to the weather, but when the weather cleared up we met up at the field and I checked out and test flew his machine then handed it over to him. Within three tanks of fuel Martyn was hovering in a controlled manner up around his shoulders which took us all by surprise! The investment in good quality gear, followed by the investment in quality practise on the simulator had paid off already and the smile on his face showed us that he was going to stick at it.

Night flying 101
Santa brought me a set of MS night blades and glow wire at Christmas time and I finally got the chance to try this setup out a fortnight ago. Attaching the Glow wire to the Voyager wasn't a trivial exercise which required taking a drill to the canopy and using wire ties to secure the glow wire around the heli. Finally we got it all sorted I test flew it during the day so that if disaster struck, at least I'd be able to see it...
All went well and so on went the night blades and it was time to make the night flying debut at a fun fly no less. All was going great and I was becoming more and more confident when about six minutes into the flight the engine quit about 20-30 feet in the air and the two people standing beside me taking photos and talking non-stop went very silent. I began an auto and pretty much guessed where the ground was and managed to get it down on it's feet in one piece. It wasn't so much a landing as it was an 'arrival', but there was no damage nonetheless. It seems that I can't have looked too closely at the fuel level when I cranked it up...
I'll do a more in depth article next newsletter on getting into night flying. It's a hell of a lot of fun and am looking forward to next time!

Articles this issue are:

Flying Impressions of the Sceadu
After a few months of ownership, Hakim Tung gives his views on the Hirobo Sceadu 30. Click here

Flying Lessons: Introduction to Basic Aerobatics
Some basic principles that apply to to just about every aerobatic maneuver in the book. Click here

Basic Aerobatics: Stall Turns
Once past the Forward Flight stage, pilots often want to get started on basic aerobatics, the Stall Turn is one of the first aeros to be conquered. Click here

Feel free to contact me at simon@littlerotors.com at any time.

Si