Gyros

[Fly Boy 3]

Hi all, our runway is oriented North /South. There is always a Westerly around which causes no problems. On such days when it gets above 15 mph, landings can be problematical.

      Would a gyro help in these conditions to keep wings level ?  Thanks

[Outrunner]

Yes a gyro would help. A gyro smoothes out uncommanded movements during flight. I use a 7 channel Lemon DSMX receiver that has a built in 3 axis gyro that I only switch in if it's likely to be a bumpy landing. It definitely smooths out those bumps on a turbulent day.

[Fly Boy 3]

Thanks Outrunner. Some times the cross wind will tip up a quarter scale model on to its back causing big damage. Will invest in one soon.

[Simon Chaddock]

FB3

Just a word of caution, The gyro reacts fast (much faster than a human can) but has limited authority. So do not expect the gyro to completely stop a really big disturbance. In such circumstances the gyro will hopefully slow things down enough to give the human time to put in an appropriate more powerful powerful correction    vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccc nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb.

 

I use Lemon gyro receivers on my really light weight slow flying foam planes. The result maxes a twitchy plane quite relaxing. It also allows but only up to a point for such to fly in what might otherwise be considered unsuitable conditions.

[Peter Jenkins]

The alternative is to retrim twitchy models so they aren't twitchy - quite often reducing the control throws is sufficient but you may also have a rearward CG.  I was scared stupid when I offered to recover a chaps Angel 30 when it got too far away for him to see what was going on.  I found it almost impossible to fly till I acclimatised to the huge control throws he had.   After landing the Angel, beautifully I might add(!), I took him to see how much movement I had on my aircraft.  We turned down his control throws to the same as my set up and his flying was immediately improved and the aircraft no longer scary to fly.

 

The other thing is to learn how to land in a gusty cross wind but always be prepared to overshoot if things get out of hand.  You can always use the gyro as a back up to dealing with the cross wind yourself.

[Jason Channing]

11 hours ago, Fly Boy 3 said:

Thanks Outrunner. Some times the cross wind will tip up a quarter scale model on to its back causing big damage. Will invest in one soon.

if you have a quater scale model and you are going to invest in a gyro than I would suggest investing in a decent gyro such as Powerbox or Cortex as there's a marked difference between the lower end and top end, not snobbery as i use some cheaper ones but in the end they are inferior to the top end ones in characteristics and set up

[Fly Boy 3]

Thank you for all your really informative comments, I do appreciate them.

     I have been practicing cross wind landings and as long as there is no sudden gust of wind I can land happily.  Cheers