FMA Direct
19
FS8 Co-Pilot™ user guide
11. Test all transmitter controls—including flight stabilization re-
mote on/off—for normal operation.
12. If you are flying with a buddy box: Switch on the buddy box
for at least 2 seconds
before each flight
. (FS8 Co-Pilot™ re-
quires 1 second to detect the buddy box. After that, the tran-
sition is instantaneous. However, you must allow FS8 Co-Pi-
lot™ to identify the buddy box
before each flight,
on the
ground, before taking off.
)
Working with FS8 Co-Pilot™
n
Sensor check.
When you turn on FS8 Co-Pilot™, it checks
to make sure the sensors are connected. If a sensor cable is
disconnected or broken, flight stabilization is automatically
disabled. If flight stabilization doesn’t seem to be working,
check the cables.
Tip:
FS8 Co-Pilot™ Viewer Software displays a
cable failure indicator when a cable operates inter-
mittently. To clear the cable failure indicator in the
Viewer, cycle power to FS8 Co-Pilot™.
n
Controlling flight stabilization
depends on how you set up
your transmitter and FS8 Co-Pilot™ for remote on/off:
l
If you assigned remote on/off to a proportional channel, it
works as shown below. Besides remote on/off, you can set
throw based on flight conditions.
Minimum
throw
Maximum
throw
Flight
stabilization
off
Flight
stabilization
on
For example, you can adjust throw to match a student’s
skills while the model is airborne. As the student gains
confidence, decrease throw to provide less stabilization.
l
If you assigned remote on/off to a switched channel, you
can turn flight stabilization on and off during flights. When
flight stabilization is on, throw is set by the two manual
Throw potentiometers on FS8 Co-Pilot™. To adjust throw,
you must land the aircraft and manually change the Throw
pots.
With on/off control, an instructor can take off and trim
without flight stabilization, then turn it on when giving con-
trol to a student. Or, you might use flight stabilization for
most flying, turn it off for aerobatics or inverted flight, then
turn it back on again for landing.
l
If flight stabilization is not assigned to a channel, it is al-
ways on during a flight. Throw is set by the two manual
Throw pots on FS8 Co-Pilot™. To adjust throw, you must
land the aircraft and manually change the Throw pots.
n
Inverted flight.
How flight stabilization responds to inverted
flight depends on whether you are using the optional Vertical
Sensor:
l
With
the Vertical Sensor, the aircraft will
roll
from inverted
back to its normal attitude (because flight stabilization el-
evator response is reduced when the aircraft is inverted).
l
Without
the Vertical Sensor, the aircraft may
loop
from in-
verted back to its normal attitude—
if it is high enough!
CAUTION: If the aircraft is too low it will crash!
l
To intentionally fly inverted (including in loops, half loops
and other maneuvers where the aircraft is inverted) or in
knife edge orientation: Turn off flight stabilization.
n
Overwhelming interference or loss of signal
—every pilot’s
worst nightmare—is where FS8 Co-Pilot™ may save your
plane. When FS8 Co-Pilot™ is set up with servo failsafe po-
sitions and flight stabilization is on (or is activated by a
failsafe setting), the plane moves into a stable, predictable
flight path in the event of interference or signal loss.
l
Reasons FS8 Co-Pilot™ enters Failsafe Mode:
u
You accidentally turned off your transmitter.
u
Your transmitter batteries are depleted.
u
Someone else turned on a transmitter on your channel.
u
There is radio interference from some unknown source.
l
How you’ll know FS8 Co-Pilot™ is operating in Failsafe
Mode: the aircraft won’t respond to your commands.
l
What you should do:
1.
IMMEDIATELY WARN OTHER PILOTS AND
SPECTATORS.
2. Make sure your transmitter on/off switch is on.
3. Hold the antenna vertical and high to increase signal
strength.
4. Check your transmitter’s battery status.
5. Ask other pilots if anyone turned on a transmitter on
your channel. If someone did, tell them to turn off their
transmitter immediately.
6. Attempt to regain control of the aircraft.
7. If you are unable to regain control of the aircraft, keep it
in sight and continue warning everyone in the area.
l
If you can’t fix the problem, the aircraft should circle and
descend slowly to the ground (but that’s better than the
plane drilling itself into the ground or flying out of sight).
continued
Tips for trimming
n
It’s best if the aircraft’s trim doesn’t change when you re-
motely switch Co-Pilot™ on or off. Trim shift can occur if
the model is not level when you set level orientation (step
2 in the “Infrared calibration” procedure on page 16). If
you notice trim shift, calibrate again. If that doesn’t
eliminate trim shift, try slightly tilting the aircraft’s position
during calibration to compensate.
n
If the aircraft is flying in a narrow valley, then high terrain
or tall trees on one side will affect the average infrared
radiation on that side. To the extent possible, calibrate
with the model oriented diagonally to the valley and
slightly tilt the aircraft’s axes to compensate.
n
Helicopters are very sensitive to small out-of-trim condi-
tions. You may need to adjust Co-Pilot’s trims (see tips
above) to match your flying site. A little effort here will
pay off with added precision.
