Rc Flying Enthusiast....

[wheaters]

In auto rotation the pitch of the main rotors are put in a negative pitch (negative collective)(the collective and throttle looks like an emergency brake handle on the left side of the pilot - throttle is usually a twist knob on the end of the collective stick) rather than a positive as in flight. This is called wind milling or autorotation. What occurs is the main rotors essentially become glider wings. All parts of the blade create lift. The blades have an airfoil shape which creates this lift. So the pilot is compensating altitude for air speed or rather lift. The decent rate in an autorotation mode is very fast with little time to make decisions other than looking for a spot to gracefully land (crash). It is all in the timing that will determine if it is a crash or hard landing. The point is to obtain maintain the main rotor speed and just before impact switch to a positive pitch (increased lift - pulling collective) to slow or stop the decent. By doing so you loose rotor speed/lift. And if you are not very close to the ground, the helicopter will fall out of the air and crash. How bad of a crash depends on how high above the ground you are when you loose lift or if you fail to flair soon enough and hit the ground hard. It is all in timing.

When practicing auto rotations you keep your engine hot and flair before touching the ground as if the ground is higher up. Engaging the transmission. Eventually you are allowed to touch down. Many helis have been damaged by doing this. It is only used as a last effort.

I've been flying helicopters (and instructing on them) for a living since 1979. I flew fixed wing aircraft since before that time too and so I know what the controls look like. I also used to teach autorotations and full engine off landings to the ground as a routine thing, I've lost count of how many I've done in the past.

Although what you wrote about helicopters is along the right lines, there are basic inaccuracies in there, beginning with the first sentence. The blades of a full sized helicopter do not ever go into a negative pitch or "negative collective". The main rotors are set to a minimum but positive pitch angle, which cannot be gone below, unless like some naval versions you want to pin the airframe down against the deck of a heaving ship. The earlier Westland Lynx produced for the Royal Navy did have this facility, although I don't know about the later versions. But it would never be used in flight.

 

[wheaters]

Is Wheaters one of those crazy Hughes 500 pilots dangling a saw below to cut trees by power lines?

Or this??

Er, no thanks! I've fulfilled quite a large number of helicopter roles, but not that particular one.
Military support / Basic rotary instruction / Advanced rotary instruction / Search and rescue / V.V.I.P. operations / Underslung loads including fire fighting / special ops / observation / police / medevac / casevac and some others too. However, these days I fly a VIP/Corporate twin turbine.

 

[ClubJoe]

I've been flying R/C since the very early 60's. One of my more recent projects has been flying a drone right here in my front yard. I have to fly it full hands on with my Futaba 2.4 ghz system. I would like to get a computer drone that I can fly from my tablet which runs Windows 8. All the ones I have seen only function on Android or Apple. Any suggestions?

ClubJoe
Sunny Brandon, FL

 

[Cache Man]

I've been flying helicopters (and instructing on them) for a living since 1979. I flew fixed wing aircraft since before that time too and so I know what the controls look like. I also used to teach autorotations and full engine off landings to the ground as a routine thing, I've lost count of how many I've done in the past.

Although what you wrote about helicopters is along the right lines, there are basic inaccuracies in there, beginning with the first sentence. The blades of a full sized helicopter do not ever go into a negative pitch or "negative collective". The main rotors are set to a minimum but positive pitch angle, which cannot be gone below, unless like some naval versions you want to pin the airframe down against the deck of a heaving ship. The earlier Westland Lynx produced for the Royal Navy did have this facility, although I don't know about the later versions. But it would never be used in flight.

I agree with the negative pitch. I was thinking about the RC helis and stand corrected. See Below for something I would love to ride in:

 

[Cache Man]

I thought I would post this just for fun:

 

[Cache Man]

Er, no thanks! I've fulfilled quite a large number of helicopter roles, but not that particular one.
Military support / Basic rotary instruction / Advanced rotary instruction / Search and rescue / V.V.I.P. operations / Underslung loads including fire fighting / special ops / observation / police / medevac / casevac and some others too. However, these days I fly a VIP/Corporate twin turbine.

Wheaters, Can you do this? Ha! I cannot keep track of it and I fly them!

 

[Cache Man]

This is a 4 year old RC heli pilot:

 

[wheaters]

Wheaters, Can you do this? Ha! I cannot keep track of it and I fly them!

No, I don't think my eyeballs would stay in. It's amazing what these powerful models can do but they can't really be compared to passenger carrying machines.

I can do this though:

 

[Cache Man]

I've been flying R/C since the very early 60's. One of my more recent projects has been flying a drone right here in my front yard. I have to fly it full hands on with my Futaba 2.4 ghz system. I would like to get a computer drone that I can fly from my tablet which runs Windows 8. All the ones I have seen only function on Android or Apple. Any suggestions?

ClubJoe
Sunny Brandon, FL

ClubJoe, I have not seen a windows based system. On the larger of the multi rotors you can change the receiver to your system. On the FPV (First Person View) systems many come with their own system and a monitor screen built in to the controller. There are others with goggles. I don't know if this answers your question.

 

[goofyone]

I've been flying R/C since the very early 60's. One of my more recent projects has been flying a drone right here in my front yard. I have to fly it full hands on with my Futaba 2.4 ghz system. I would like to get a computer drone that I can fly from my tablet which runs Windows 8. All the ones I have seen only function on Android or Apple. Any suggestions?

ClubJoe
Sunny Brandon, FL

The Parrot AR-Drone 2.0 as well as the Parrot Jumping Sumo and Rolling Spider mini-drones all have Windows support officially from Parrot. The AR-Drone 2.0 also has Windows support from unofficial software which have been created.

AR-Drone 2.0 - http://apps.microsoft.com/windows/en-us/app/ar-freeflight/f1e1b8cd-df9c-4275-a228-25cd7125ca24

Jumping Sumo and Rolling Spider - http://apps.microsoft.com/windows/en-us/app/freeflight-3/3c827d26-a7fa-430e-9a1f-bb33670d0551