Flying mode , advice needed !!

[sebrien andre]

Hi all I began flying Autogyros with Firefly , cranefly , and last , Panther . This began 3 months ago . I have been flying helicopters for 20 years now , and I have to say old reflexes are still there . My flying mode is N° 2 all cyclic left . As I have difficulty flying AG with rudder like I quick understood it is the way to fly , I wondered if it would be a benefit for me to change my flying mode permuting Aileron and rudder to fly the AG like I am used to fly helis with my old habit ! I wanted to share this idea and know what you think ? Curious to read your answers I think I will give a try ! Andre

Edited By sebrien andre on 08/04/2013 10:48:32

[Frank Skilbeck]

Isn't mode 2 all cyclic on the right stick with tail and throttle/collective on the left stick.

Anyway regardless I have my Auto G autogyro set up like my planes and helis with the "cyclic" (note AutoG only has aileron on the rotor and a conventional elevator) on the right stick. I found that flying my helis which have heading hold gyros improved my use of the rudder stick and helps with the AutoG which needs the same inputs in a turn, some aileron and the rudder to bring it round.

I've also found with the AutoG for the fliers that don't use rudder much (or at all ) setting up a bit of aileron rudder mix helps in normal flying, but like a Heli I find with my Auto G that it flies best if you can use both the rudder and aileron controls, rudder alone won't pull the AutoG out of a bank, rudder only turns are very untidy and aileron only tight turns end up losing a lot of height or need a lot of power applying.

I must get round to building a proper rotor head autogyro.

Edited By Frank Skilbeck on 08/04/2013 11:01:20

[sebrien andre]

Hi Frank I don't know why I said N°2 !! I fly stick mode N°3 of course !! Why I asked is because as you say turning with aileron only ends up with lost of height , and this is how i often do !! The few times when I concentrate a lot for a right turn for example , I put right rudder and "left aileron" , and then I was happy with the AG behaviour . But this is not a reflex I have !! The purpose as you understand is to keep altitude using minimum aileron . Regards Andre

[Tom Wright 2]

Sebrien.

Try a small roll input , with coordinated application of rotor back stick but before the roll develops in to a nose drop apply opposite roll,a little more power during the turn can also help ,but not if the nose has already dropped . Most find rudder only turns easy but this is normally done quickly otherwise a slow rudder turn can end up needing crossed controls.

Don't know if this will help as your mode and heli reflexes could be requiring a new learning curve on the sticks .Simon should be able to help here as he went from heli to autogyro .

Tom.

[crispin church]

try mixing aileron to rudder 30- 40%

or just change the wires on rx for rudder and ailron and if you got flight sim try it on there first

[Richard Elliot]

Sebrien

I fly aeroplanes, helis and autogyros all in the same mode.....I would be wary of varying anything. Autogyros fly a bit like helicopters, and the bottom line is sometimes you will need to put a thumb full of roll/ cyclic or rudder/tail input in so you will want them to be on the correct thumb without thinking about it.

Keep at it, it will be worth it and your flying brain will soon adapt!!

Cheers

Rich