Thursday, March 6, 2014

I got air!

 

The helicopter training flights have left the floor.  I’m practicing steady hovering, within the confines of the front room, with slight movements and corrections, and no panicking.  Many flights last for a minute or more now.  Some flights end with a graceful intentional landing.  Most finish with a decision to return abruptly to the floor just before a more serious crash.

 

There is a tricky lag to helicopter controls.  It’s easy to overcorrect.  I’m supposed to relax and let the helicopter fly itself.  That task is complicated by the tendency of the craft to rotate around an axis when held at a steady hover however.  It’s like the little flying machine is hanging by a string fixed to the ceiling and someone gave it a bump; or a tetherball that has a life of its own.  It picks up momentum, the plane of rotation expands and wants to take up the whole living room.  My challenge is to neutralize the rotational motion, without over-correcting.  It can be done…  I just don’t get it done every time.

 

It will be nice to fly this outdoors on a calm day.  But this is South Texas.  We haven’t seen a calm day lately.  I think, with a little more practice in the house, I’ll be ready to fly outside even if it’s a little breezy out there.  I won’t be able to completely control which direction the craft goes, but I should be able to follow after it and keep it in sight.  I’ll be sure to have my running shoes on just in case though.

 

 

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