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R/C
Twister skyLift
Walk forwards following the helicopter across the floor whilst using the controls to maintain slow and
accurate progress.
The 'walking technique' is the method often used to safely develop the automatic ability to apply the right
control input when needed. You should practice this until you are starting to automatically input the control
commands required to keep the helicopter moving gently forwards along the ground.
When you feel confident, proceed to the next step...
Taking the first 'hop'
By now you should be making the correct control inputs automatically and be able to make smooth
progress across the surface of your floor. If you cannot, please keep practicing!
The first 'hop' is a natural 'next step' from walking your Twister SkyLift.
Whilst walking you apply a small amount of extra throttle to briefly raise the helicopter off the floor and into
the air for a second. Then you should reduce throttle and settle back onto the floor.
With practice, you will find that you are able to make more and more of the correct control commands
required to keep your Twister SkyLift upright and that the hops become longer and higher.
Always make sure you watch the nose of your helicopter–not the rear. The gyro will keep the model
straight for you a lot of the time but you may have to use the yaw control to swing the nose of the helicopter
straight as you make progress across the floor.
Keep practising and you will find that your flights will become longer.
Please be aware that a model helicopter in the hover–regardless of design–will never stay completely still!
A helicopter will always require some level of input to stop drift or a tendency to turn or climb. This is not a
sign of something faulty with the helicopter, but is in the nature of a hovering helicopter.
By now you should be able to manage hops at a height of between 10 and 30cm with duration of 5-10
seconds per hop. Flights will become longer and easier as your co-ordination and understanding of flight
develop.
Hovering and manoeuvres
As your co-ordination and anticipation improves, you should be able to reduce forward speed when making
'hops', thereby bringing your helicopter into a hover.
Practice hovering until you feel confident with the basic handling of your helicopter.
Next, you should start experimenting at rotating (yawing) the helicopter slightly to the left or right using the
(yaw) controls–but only proceed to this stage when you have mastered the hover!
From the hover, yaw the model a few degrees left and then back to straight ahead–always remembering to
watch the nose. Practice yawing to left and to right until you feel confident.
Next, practice crabbing your Twister SkyLift to the right and left using cyclic controls:
From the hover, briefly 'nudge' a small amount of right roll. Your Twister SkyLift will start a drift to the right.
Put in a small amount of opposite roll to halt the drift, then a small amount of left roll to start a drift to the
left. You may need to keep the tail straight using tail rotor whilst doing this. Always be ready to correct
the drift by using opposite roll. If you get into trouble at any stage, reduce the throttle, land, change your
trousers and try again.
Beyond the hover
As you become more proficient with your helicopter you will want a larger space so you can really start to
fly around instead of hovering about all day.
If you do fly outside, please remember that any wind will affect the performance of your Twister SkyLift—
sometimes markedly. Don't be too surprised if, while flying your model, it suddenly climbs or drops without
you making any input. This can be caused by a small breeze, gust or a 'thermal' passing through.
A useful training aid is a computer flight simulator which can greatly enhance and speed up the learning
process. A simulator is also great for teaching yourself “nose in” flying. This is when the nose of the
helicopter is pointing at you and where some of the controls effectively become reversed—which can
catch out both experienced and novice pilots alike!
GOOD LUCK AND HAPPY FLYING!
