4
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Look carefully for any damage to the helicopter, especially the rotor blades. If the rotor blades show any signs of damage, they
should be replaced before flying.
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Check to make sure that nobody else is flying on the same frequency before turning on the transmitter and that the transmitter
antenna is fully extended before flying.
FLYING THE M.A.S.H. ARMY RESCUE CHOPPER
Learning to fly any R/C helicopter takes patience, time and practice. If you've never flown an R/C helicopter before, we suggest
trying to find someone in your area or at your local flying field who can help you learn to fly. An experienced helicopter pilot can also
test-fly your helicopter to double-check that it is trimmed and set up properly. This will make it a little easier for you to learn to fly. If
you don't have someone to help you, a good alternative is to practice with a computer-based R/C helicopter simulator. Depending
on the adapter provided with the software you purchase, you may even be able to connect the M.A.S.H. Army Rescue Chopper's
transmitter to your computer.
Below we list basic flight tips that should get you well on your way to flying your helicopter successfully. If you're just starting out, we
suggest flying two battery's worth of flight time per day for about 7-10 days. This will get you familiar with the helicopter without overdoing
it. When learning something new like this, it's often better to do a little at a time, let it sink in overnight, then come back the next day.
Before continuing, we suggest reading the Basic Operation section on page 9 to familiarize yourself with how the different controls
operate and how they affect the helicopter during flight.
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Always fly off of a hard surface. If you try to fly off of grass, the landing skids and tail will catch in the grass and cause the helicopter
to tip over easily. Landing in grass is no problem, but you should always take off from a hard surface.
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When first starting out, always keep the helicopter in front of you with the nose pointing away from you (like if you were sitting in
the cockpit). This will make orientation much easier.
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Always remember that you should "fly the nose" of the helicopter, not the tail. Getting used to this concept will really help with
orientation and the respective control inputs, especially right and left roll and yaw control inputs.
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When the helicopter's nose is pointing toward you, the roll and yaw controls will seem "reversed." This takes some time to get used
to until it becomes second nature. Imagining yourself sitting in the cockpit will help you get used to this.
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When you throttle up and begin to take off, the helicopter will have a tendency to move to the left. This is normal and is caused by the
torque of the spinning rotor blades. You will need to hold a small amount of right cyclic and right tail rotor to counteract this tendency.
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When you're ready to take off, it's usually more difficult if you slowly advance the throttle and attempt to make many small corrections for a
perfectly smooth climb to hover. It's better to get the helicopter off the ground and out of the wake of the rotor blades as soon as possible.
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Here's our technique for take off: With the helicopter on a hard surface with the nose pointing away from you, advance the throttle
to one-quarter to get the main rotors and the tail rotor spinning. Wait a few seconds for the rotor speed to stabilize, then push the
throttle to half throttle. At half throttle the helicopter will start to get "light" and begin to slide to the left. Apply a small amount of right
cyclic and right tail rotor as described above to keep the helicopter in one place. Apply a couple of more clicks of throttle and the
helicopter will lift off. To achieve a stable hover with the nose pointing away from you, you will need to make minor control inputs on
all of the controls. This takes a lot of practice to learn and get used to. Start by doing just short hovering "hops" and then progress
until you can hover the helicopter in one spot for more than a few seconds. Once you're comfortable with that, practice hovering in
one spot for longer periods of time.
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If you're only a few feet off the ground and you start to get into trouble, pull the throttle all the way back and the helicopter will land
without damage. Remember that you may need to straighten the rotor blades if they hit the ground.
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Once you're comfortable hovering the helicopter with the nose pointing away from you, practice hovering the helicopter sideways,
then at a 45 degree angle, then finally with the nose pointing toward you.
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After you're comfortable hovering the helicopter, you're ready for forward flight. Keep in mind that this is a fixed-pitch helicopter.
Altitude is controlled by throttle, so if you want to climb you need to add more throttle and if you want to descend you need to reduce
throttle. Moving the cyclic control stick right and left causes the helicopter to roll right and left. To help keep the helicopter from
"skidding" when you roll right or left, you will need to apply right or left tail rotor depending on the direction you're turning. Moving
the cyclic control stick forward or backward will cause the helicopter to fly forward and accelerate or backward and decelerate. The
helicopter can fly backwards from a hover by pulling back on the cyclic control.
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Smooth, controlled flight from take off, hover, transition to forward flight, then back to hover and finally landing is a combination of
using all of the control inputs at one time. Again, this takes time and a lot of practice, so don't get discouraged if it takes more time
than you'd like. Keep at it and you'll be flying your M.A.S.H. Army Rescue Chopper like a pro!