LEARNING TO DO LOOPS

**NOTE** REMEMBER! THESE ILLUSTRATIONS ARE TO GIVE YOU ONLY AN IDEA OF WHAT IS TO HAPPEN. YOU NEED TO BE MUCH HIGHER IN ALTITUDE BEFORE TRYING ANY AEROBATICS FOR THE FIRST TIME. USE EXTREME CAUTION AND HAVE AN INSTRUCTOR THERE WITH YOU AT ALL TIMES. ALSO THESE ILLUSTRATIONS AND LEARNING TECHNIQUES ASSUMES THAT YOUR HELICOPTER IS SET UP TO DO THESE AEROBATICS. MAKE SURE YOUR MIXES AND COLLECTIVE IS SET CORRECTLY! GET AN EXPERIENCED FLYER TO CHECK THEM OUT AND DO FEW FIRST.

The radio illustrations have course movements to them. You want to flow into and out of the loop. You will power in, go to negative pitch, then power back out. Your first loops will probably look like a backward flip. After you get the hang of the loop you can "finesse" them. You will learn how much power your helicopter has and how big the loop is based upon that. If you are slow into the loop your loop will want to be small. If you are fast into the loop you can make the loop much bigger. You will then learn how big it can be based upon that speed. You don't want to fall short on speed if your loop is to big. If you do you will either just fall over, (which is better) or you will start to go backwards (not so good). This is one reason while learning to do loops that you will pull the aft cyclic (elevator backwards) to almost full or full back pressure so you can get the loop over with. Also depicted in these pictures is the fact that the loops start in front of you and end in front of you. This is how they should be done contest style and even 3D at times, however for learning you will probably be behind the helicopter or let the helicopter "pass" your position before starting them. All the examples here are using a radio set up that has you hovering at 1/2 throttle stick. If you fly 3D and hover at 3/4 throttle stick the idea will be the same but the radio stick positions will be a little different.

So .... with all that in mind...lets start!

NOTE: LOOPS SHOULD BE DONE INTO THE WIND!!!

Photo #1

Photo #1 shows that you will want to be level going into the loop. You will have about 5/8 throttle stick and about 5/8 forward elevator stick or what ever is needed for a fast forward flight with your particular helicopter. As stated earlier...BE AS HIGH AS YOU POSSIBLY CAN! Don't skimp on altitude.... or you will be buying parts.

Photo #2

Photo #2 shows the helicopter right in front of you. This would be the beginning of the loop for contest style flying or even good 3D style when that comes. You will notice that on the radio you are just beginning with back elevator, but your still in the power.

Photo #3

Photo #3 shows the helicopter starting to climb. Your now back on the elevator stick but still in the power. Its a constant "flow" to the sticks. Your still adding power at this position.

Photo #4

Photo #4 shows the helicopter in the vertical position. You are still coming up with max power at this time.

Photo #5

Photo #5 shows that at this point...about 1/3 into the loop you will reach max power. As stated before...Your flowing into max power....leveling off inverted at the top of the loop, and powering back through the loop on the down side. At this point if you find your self with a helicopter that is slow and doesn't look like it will make it to the top of the loop you will want to pull "more" aft elevator. This will tighten up the loop so you will make it. You don't want to fall short or you might end up doing a tail slide.

Photo #6

Photo #6 shows that at the top of the loop you will want full negative pitch to "hold" you up. However, the amount of negative pitch will depend upon how fast you fly through the loop. The faster the loop, the less negative pitch at the top you will need to hold it up. The slower the speed, the more negative you will need to keep the loop "round". For the most part you will only need about -2 to -3 degrees of negative pitch. Figure if your hovering right side up at 5 degrees of positive pitch you will need -5 degrees of negative pitch to hold your helicopter inverted. Since you have forward speed, you don't need as much because your "flying through the loop". If your using a full "3D" setup with -10, then you will not go to full low throttle / negitive pitch. You just add enough negitive pitch to keep the top of the loop "round".

Photo #7

Photo #7 shows that on the back side of the loop you will begin to come up with the throttle stick. You should be around 1/4 throttle stick or 0 degrees pitch going through this spot and into the 3/4 position of the loop. This is where your going to "power" back through the loop. The addition of positive pitch will then fly you forward to complete the roundness of the loop.

Photo #8

Photo #8 shows that you will start to take the pressure off the elevator stick as you begin to start flying forward again. You still are increasing the throttle as you start to fly. Your going for that same throttle position as you went into the loop and are trying to get the same speed out as in.

Photo #9

Photo #9 shows that your nose down attitude is almost what it needs to be for your forward flight. Your almost done! You will be back into the power at this stage. You will also be taking more of the elevator back pressure off the stick as you "push" forward into forward flight. Like any forward flight its a balance between positive pitch and the amount of forward cyclic or "nose down" attitude you have to keep a level forward flight condition.

Photo #10

Photo #10 shows that just before the starting position of the loop your helicopter has that "forward flight" nose down attitude. So all that is left is to push forward elevator as you did going into the loop and your almost back up on the power for forward flight.

Photo #11

Photo #11 shows that the loop is complete. You will want the helicopter back into level forward flight. The idea here is to start the loop at one level and end it at that same level. You off course want the loop to be round and as big as you can get with out the helicopter loosing forward speed at the top of it. After you learn to "flip" the loop over you can then start to "finesse" it into a nice big round loop. Even if the first loop you just pull full elevator back pressure and "fling" it over, you will get the hang and feel of it.

GOOD LUCK!...BE CAREFUL!...HAVE LOTS OF FUN!...

HB