JHepburn

Ahh, this reminds me of one of my favorite videos. If you haven't seen it, enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4CQfaBGWSo

Very interesting, thanks Vortex! So should the increase in collective cause attitude to remain constant, or should we plan on giving a little pull to compensate for a falling nose during the turn? Thanks! Jeff

Perfect. It's very possible that both of those could have been true. Thanks!

I've taken off a few times and noticed that my three autopilot channels have either turned off or are flashing (new on my last flight). I checked the manual and can't find the answer...can anyone tell me what flashing autopilot channel lights mean or why the autopilot may turn itself off after being turned on? Thanks! Jeff

I was looking for similar information this morning and ran across this... http://www.tc.gc.ca/CivilAviation/general/Flttrain/Planes/Pubs/TP9982/Exercise6.htm Most interestingly, I found this quote towards the bottom... "One common fault when entering turns is excessive use of the pedals. This fault can be corrected quickly or completely prevented, if you remember right from the outset not to apply pedal unless it is necessary to control yaw. Normally you may need only a small pedal input into the turn."

Bump... Happy New Year!

Can someone explain what the autopilot channels are doing (no flight director). I understand the concept of input dampening, but I believe the other concept is angular stabilization...can someone explain what that does? Also, can someone relate the usage of trim to angular stabilization? I'm just trying to figure out what to expect from this bird. Thanks! Jeff

That's exactly what I was practicing last night. I started out around about 180kph at 100meters for some "quick stops". I then took it down on the deck and tried to do it with only 1-2 meters change in altitude...doing it at 10 meters was a blast! For me, the realization that the aircraft hovers at about 5 degrees nose up was the turning point. For a typical transition to hover from forward flight, I will trim to 5 degrees nose up and then pull to 10 degrees up to bleed off airspeed. As I slow down to 10 kph, I will drop to 5 degrees up and re-trim. Works like a treat every time!

I am as well. I've got a good feel for the systems, flying around, hovering, employing weapons from a hover. If you make me fly and fight though, it's a whole different story. I'd love to hear how people are able to manage to aviation, manage the shkval, identify targets, and deliver weapons at the same time!

Perfect. I have no problems now getting a solid manual hover (that took a lot of practice), but I think my issues with auto hover sometimes occur because I forget to click off the FD (which I usually use during a NOE ingress). Thanks GG.

How does the flight director and/or route mode being turned on affect auto hover? I sometimes get a non-stable hover even after bringing it to a manual hover and trimming appropriately. I want to believe that leaving one or more of these modes on prevents auto hove from being engaged. Thanks! Jeff

Made me think of this...great video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4CQfaBGWSo Jeff