19
Flying
Tips for the beginner
Now things start to get serious. Your PRO-Piccolo is completed, the batteries (including the transmitter pack!) are fully
charged, and the helicopter is waiting to show you what it can do. The first thing you need is a flying site. A great place to
start is a small hall or a fairly large room, if possible devoid of obstacles. Initially you do not need to worry about the height
available. It is vital that the air should be absolutely motionless and calm. Draughts, e.g. caused by an open window or
other ventilation measures, should be avoided. We recommend a flat, smooth floor on which the helicopter can slide; soft
deep-pile carpet is not a good choice.
Set the Piccolo down on the floor in the centre of the free space. Switch the transmitter on, move all the transmitter trims to
the centre position and set the throttle to the “full back” position. Now connect the flight pack. After the mandatory pause
until the LED lights up (3 - 5 seconds), check once more that the two servos are working properly. If everything is in order,
take up position around 2 m behind the helicopter, standing slightly off to one side, so that you can see the machine's nose
as well as its tail. Now open the throttle
slowly
until the helicopter starts to become “light”, i.e. starts to look unsteady on
the floor. (Opening the throttle is not really the right term; we are actually opening up the Volts). Now keep an eye firmly on
the helicopter's nose. If it swings to the right, move the tail rotor trim slightly to the left (and vice versa).
Now try the same again, opening the throttle until the machine starts to respond. If the helicopter reacts by lifting off
without rotating, then everything is in order - but
don't get carried away
! We're not really “there” yet, so reduce throttle
again and keep the machine on the floor. You may also find that the helicopter initially tries to swing to the left, then
straightens up when you increase throttle, only to swing to the right when the throttle is opened even further (we are
referring to the model's
nose
); in this case you will find that these deviations cannot be corrected with the trim slider. This
indicates that the tail rotor mixing in the Piccoboard is not set perfectly correctly. The mixer regulates the rotational speed
of the tail rotor relative to the speed of the main rotor, in order to compensate for main rotor torque. In the case described
above, the tail rotor mixer (from main rotor to tail rotor) is too pronounced. You can correct this by rotating the pot as
described in the Piccoboard instructions. Once you have done this you may need to adjust the transmitter trim again, and
approach the optimum mixer setup in small steps. Please be patient, as you will find it much easier to make any further
adjustments if this setting is correct in the first place. Initially we recommend that you should not adjust the gyro gain pot,
i.e. keep to the default setting to start with.
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