Remember to take a break every 5-10 minutes to give yourself a rest. Once you are able
to comfortably maintain a steady hover for 1–2 minutes you can increase the throttle to
allow the Draganflyer X8 to climb up to waist or stomach height (For safety reasons, you
should never fly at or near eye level). At this altitude, control will actually be easier, and
you can practice tightening up that imaginary square until you can maintain a steady
hover.
To descend for landing, decrease the throttle a small amount and allow the Draganflyer
X8 to gently settle to the ground. Keep practicing hovering as it is a requirement before
being able to take off and land, as well as perform many other maneuvers. Most people
will take 1-2 hours of practice to be able to hover steadily, so don’t get discouraged if you
do not pick up the skill immediately.
Lesson 3: Movements
This time, we will learn to move the Draganflyer X8 around in a hover. This will teach
you how to transition from a hover to moving flight and back again. Prepare the
Draganflyer using the same checklist and trimming technique we have used in previous
lessons. For this lesson you should also select a location where you can take off and land
on a smooth surface and fly over a grassy area. The edge of your driveway or patio would
be well suited for this if the area is free of obstructions. If you are comfortable enough,
you can begin this lesson by taking off closer to yourself (5 feet would be a minimum
safe distance). This will allow you to keep the Draganflyer X8 over the grassy area for
the duration of the flight.
Lift 2-3 feet off the ground and gently push forward on the pitch control momentarily to
move a safe distance away from yourself. Return the pitch control to neutral once forward
movement has begun. Pull back gently to cause the Draganflyer X8 to decelerate and then
attempt to establish a hover at the waist/stomach level. Any time you give a control input
to the Draganflyer X8 you will have to give the opposite control input to level out the
helicopter. So if you input forward pitch the helicopter will continue flying forwards until
you give it an equal backwards pitch input. Now, imagine a large square drawn on the
ground in front of you.
Using very gentle movements at first, and keeping the front of the Draganflyer X8 away
from yourself at all times, try to fly from one corner of the square to another along the
edges. Allow a slight delay after your control input for the Draganflyer X8 to accelerate/
decelerate. As you make changes to the pitch and roll controls you may need to adjust the
throttle to maintain a steady altitude.
It is better to lose a small amount of altitude than to apply too much throttle and have the
Draganflyer X8 climb out of your control, so be gentle on any throttle adjustments. Use
appropriate pitch/roll control inputs to decelerate as you approach the corners of the
imaginary square. Once you are comfortable flying front, back, left, or right, try
combining the pitch and roll to fly diagonally across the imaginary square. As you
practice, slowly start adding more control inputs to increase the speed of the movements
until you can fly around that imaginary square at a comfortable walking pace.
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