Only a 6 pack today!

Got in all 5 packs on the Trex 450 FBL today.  I tried the 450 FB too, with more expo and a little DR to tone down the touchiness, but it's still a touchy beast, then gets more unresponsive with the expo.  That ends its days as FB.  Will decide on what path to make it FBL.  Flew the 130X just a single flight, and crashed out of control in a roll.  Just fractured the CF tail boom again.  I CA'd it on all four sides aft of the support and it is good enough.  I have a replacement boom which will go in as soon as this existing boom breaks enough, haha.  Really digging the 450 FBL and am getting tempted to flip that sucker!

Another 14 packs!

Had a good time flying the helis at the field today, in beautiful conditions.  Got in 5 packs on the 450FBL, 5 on the MCPX, and 4 on the 130X.  Did my first back flips, left flips/rolls, and right flips/rolls with the MCPX.  Did not have the cajones to do them with the 130X, but I think they will be much easier then.  The MCPX just is lazy and slow.  Did not crash at all on these attempts.  Felt very comfortable with the 450 FBL today, wow, such a pleasure!  Lots of slow and medium speed forward flight, lots of circles, some not vertical stall turns, and lots of nose in hovering.  Very fun all 5 packs.  Did try the 450 FB, and it was uber sensitive to me.  I should have tried expo and some forward trim, but did not.  I was so happy to get it down in one piece on the mat, after being all over the sky for two minutes.  Felt way too sensitive for me.  I just put it away after landing, haha.  Thought for sure it would be pranged when I was in the air with it.  I think I am going to convert it to FBL!

14 packs!!

Holy moly, I went through 14 battery packs today.  It was foggy at first but visibility extended about 100' out so I flew the new MCPX and 130X first.  MCPX had 4 packs, and the 130X had 5.  After about 90 minutes, the fog was burning off and the sun was shining through.  I had taken two flights with the Trex 450 FBL by then, and thought I would just go home, but with the sun shining , that allowed me to see well and burn up the other three packs for the 450.  It flew well.  Just did more of the same as I simply need lots of stick time.  I tried to hold better hovers in different attitudes...tail in, nose in, facing right, facing left.  I did them about 15' off the deck and also maybe 30' up.  Got to do a few more stall turns and moderate speed passes and turns.  Great fun.  On one stall turn, I had some negative pitch and that sure got my attention!  Quickly neutralized and went to positive as the chopper dove downwards.  No emergencies today, all landings on the mat, all in one piece.

5 packs

Ran 5 battery packs through the Trex 450 FBL, and it flew great.  I tried the FB version with the new tail servo, and it still had a twitchy tail, so I gave up on it and used the battery in the FBL.  Practiced some higher speed passes and turns, hovering at different attitudes and altitudes, and some stall turns.  Also did some low speed circles fairly low.  Transitions between normal and idle up got better today.  Also flew the Star for two packs.

Trex 450 Pro DFC FBL

Yeah, I don't know what the full name means either except the FBL means fly bar less.  Flew it through 5 packs today, and had fun.  Still stressful and still worry about losing orientation.  Good bright sunny day with solid blue sky helped somewhat.  Didn't do much except get more accustomed to hovers, forward flight, takeoff and landing, and using the normal/idle up switch more smoothly.  Getting there.  No miscues, no emergencies, all good today.

Flight Log: 10/17/13

Flew the Trex 450 FBL twice today.  Only twice because I did not know I was going flying till early this AM.  Tad wanted to go later in the day, but I was going out to SM with San.  Only able to charge two packs before going out.  Flew well enough to impress Tad with my progress.  He flew his Goblin 500 very well, lots of speed and grooviness like a pattern plane, haha.  Took her to high stall turns, inverted hover up high, and a lot of stationery rolls and tiny loops.  Good stuff.  Showing much comfort and confidence with the high quality heli.  Also flew our 130X heli's.  Mine blew out the tail again due to the crazy slider going beyond its normal limits.  Dunno why, but I have a new aluminum tail unit coming, so maybe that will solve the issue.  Tad ran 3 batts through his and did well.

Yay X 2

Today I flew the Trex 450 FBL and the Star.  Since I did not take the FB version of the 450, I had a good day of flying, haha.  I tried the FBL with NORMAL flight mode to tone down the sensitivity of the controls, but I did not care for it, so the next 3 battery packs were all in SPORT mode.  While more sensitive, it is also more precise and immediate response in that mode.  All 4 flights went well with no miscues, and I maintained flight orientation all the time.  I'm beginning to enjoy the flights and stress less, while  keeping intense concentration on the heli.  Also took 3 flights with the Star for complete relaxation.

Yay and Bah!

Yay for the Trex 450 FBL which flew good.  While I put the flight mode on SPORT, I think maybe that is where it was originally because it felt exactly the same today...sensitive but not uncomfortably so.  I have now set it to NORMAL for next flying day to see which I like better.  I got in two safe flights on the FBL today, and am liking the feel of it.

Bah for the Trex 450 FB because the DELAY did not help at all.  I tried various amounts of stick deflection, as well as gain settings again, and nothing really helped.  Probably I am just getting used to the tail jitters because it was more controllable to me today, lol.  I quit while ahead and will probably now resort to a new tail servo.  If that does not work, then the gyro is screwy.

Also got in 4 packs through the Showtime.

TREX 450 FBL and FB

New to the fleet are the Trex 450 Pro FBL (fly bar less):

And the Trex 450 Pro with fly bar (older technology):

I bought the FBL from Anthony a couple weeks ago, and Tad gave me the FB around the same time!  All of a sudden I went from micro helis only to two of decent size.  The FBL is flying well after a couple days of fine tuning with Quang and Jeremy.  The FB is doing some silly tail wagging which when I dial out with less gain in the gyro, then leads to sluggish response from rudder, neither being acceptable.  We thought Quang found the cause when he spotted threadlock causing binding to the tail slider.  Unfortunately, I got that all cleaned out so the mechanism is smooth, but the tail wag is still present.  I did more research today online and will try some DELAY in the gyro to see if that helps.  I notice that there is much less buzzing and jitteriness from the rudder servo, so mayhaps it will eliminate the wag.  I will find out next time I fly.

While the helis are a great challenge, they also are costly and exasperating.  I have established that I can fly them well enough in hover and forward flight.  If it doesn't get to be lots more fun and satisfaction, I might consider my accomplishments as acceptable and not put more money into something not giving me fair return in personal happiness!  My planes are much more trouble free and significantly less costly.  Choppers are in need of continuous maintenance and/or repair.

These are two pics of the same helis with the original canopies:

Bravata, 130X, and MCPX

What began as a foggy morning turned into a gorgeous, sunny Fall day by 11AM.  When the fog burned off, the JB sod cutters were revealed working on the south end of the farm.  They had been working the whole time but we just could not see them.  Luckily they worked just till about noon and then we were free to fly as usual over the JB acreage.  Tad was able to fly early as the fog allowed perhaps 50 yards visibility, so he got in 3 packs on this Goblin 500.  The fog was light by the time he did his 4th pack and he was able to turn loose a bit, flying stall turns, loops, and some inverted.  Great flying heli.  I flew my MCPX a few times, and the 130X a few times too, both without incident today.  After the fog and workers were gone, I had two nice flights with the Bravata.   It started and ran flawlessly.  Flew gracefully.  The down elevator that I mixed with flaps worked quite well, needing only a little more down to counter any ballooning.  I will leave it as set for now as it is predictable.  Landings were both from the West and were pleasing since the plane lands so slow and lightly.  Great fun today.