Landing - Throttle Hold Or Not To Throttle Hold

Discussion in 'General Subjects' started by gonehelimad, Jul 8, 2015.

By gonehelimad on Jul 8, 2015 at 1:26 PM
  1. gonehelimad

    gonehelimad Active Member

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    For a long time of my flying history, which is not that very long LOL, (although represents a large portion of my heli flying time), I have always flicked the throttlehold when im about 20-30cm above ground as part of my normal landing procedure.

    The logic I am led to believe is that you are not landing under power and are
    1) less likely to strip gears or do damage if you have a tail strike (assuming you autorotate correctly from this height down to ground.
    2) have better control on landing as you minimise the rotor wash effect.

    More recently I was picked up by a HIGHLY learned flyer / instructor and advised that I should be landing under power gently and then flicking the throttlehold. Which I have reverted to more recently (and to confess find fairly natural also).

    The benefits of landing under power, (again I am led to believe) are:
    a) easier aborted landing management (don't have to deal with too much headspeed loss - if you have autobail out setup) to get out of a bad landing situation.
    b) better control on landing as under power (contradicts 2) above).

    Would like to know what your approach is and reasoning (understand that we are all at different stages) but would expect there is a best practice approach.

    thanks for your assistance.
     
    Last edited: Jul 8, 2015

Comments

Discussion in 'General Subjects' started by gonehelimad, Jul 8, 2015.

    1. WoodyB

      WoodyB New Member

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      Not sure about best practice but I have always used throttle hold for stated reasons. As a beginner I feel less likely to get in to trouble with the power off.


      Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
       
    2. iggy

      iggy Well-Known Member

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      I always do that baby autorotations because I think if you land a bit harder, the gears are not that much under load. But make sure you have an even surface to land. The heli can fall to one side if its not even and the disk is loosing speed and stability. I was lucky on the gras sometimes. There is not enough time to swich one the engine again and get lift in this situation.
       
    3. Nabil

      Nabil New Member

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      hi iggy if you permit me to comment on your last note regarding no time to bail out.

      wouldnt that imply that landing under power and learning to land gently everytime to avoid stripping gears and or topling over due to head instability makes more sense?
       
      Last edited: Jul 8, 2015
    4. Stuart

      Stuart Active Member

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      I used to hit hold and land. But recently I took was advised by an instructor to learn how to properly land under power.

      I have just completed my Silver Wings and it is a requirement to land under power after every move.
       
    5. Manyc

      Manyc Well-Known Member

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      I don't land under power unless required to do so...

      Basically do what you feel comfortable with.. If your doing low head speed under power may be wiser.. But I find under windy conditions it's easier tip throttle hold..

      Ultimately do what you want.. It's you're model

      Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk
       
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    6. F3C HeliGod

      F3C HeliGod New Member Staff Member

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      Very interesting thread!

      If you're taught to land by using throttle hold, at what point would you learn to land under power?
       
    7. utrinque

      utrinque Well-Known Member

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      I always throttle hold before landing.
       
    8. MadBird

      MadBird Well-Known Member

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      My take on the matter -
      1. With larger heli's I generally try and perform some sort of auto to finish a flight.
      2. If the landing space is extra small or rough and it's too risky to pull off a full auto I will do a tail in mini auto.
      3. If I'm flying a small heli like my G380 I generally do a mini auto.
      4. Also when flying small heli's in very strong wind I will land under power to give me maximum authority. Once I'm on the ground with a little negative pitch then I'll hit TH to minimise chance of tip over.

      I'm a big believer in being prepared for loss of drive to the rotor at any time, hence performing at least one auto per flight if possible to keep in practice. My first heli larger than a 450 was the Trex 600N and I had my fair share of flame outs with that biatch. Luckily even when I was learning on the 600N I never had an unsuccessful auto eventhough my first 5 flights with it ended in a flame out...
       
    9. Manyc

      Manyc Well-Known Member

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      When I was first starting I used to land under power.. Now it's when the situation requires.. Ie f3c. But I had a lot of trouble landing in high wind under power when I was starting out.. I was then suggested to baby auto.. And it made life easier...

      I can land under power or not.. Just used to not...

      Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk
       
    10. F3C HeliGod

      F3C HeliGod New Member Staff Member

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      I'm wondering if the need to use throttle hold to land when beginning was more to do with setup than flying skill?

      What sort of pitch and throttle curves were you all using?
       
    11. iggy

      iggy Well-Known Member

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      Hi

      Of course you have more stability with power on. But if its very windy your model can be pushed hard to the ground when trying to land it smooth and you have no chance to correct.

      I can land it anyway. You have to be prepared to everything when flying. So learn all possible options.

      Normal landing
      Baby autorot
      Big autorot (maybe even inverted)

      And last but not least - the skid ride! Hahaha

      Good luck.
       
    12. smakmeharder

      smakmeharder Administrator

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      I used to land under full power in stunt mode. Infact i would have only one switch position.... either on full power or off full power. This means that when you land under full power you better put it down nice and gently otherwise things can get rather ugly if a blade clips the ground. So now i usually cut the throttle 1 meter above the ground.
       
    13. Geena

      Geena Well-Known Member

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      I can land by way of full power, or by hitting throttle hold. I rarely land under power though, because I prefer ending my flights with an auto.
       
    14. Captain

      Captain Active Member

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      I fly for fun. Auto that baby every time. Come in fast with a big blade fart & float to the ground. WOOT!
       
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    15. smakmeharder

      smakmeharder Administrator

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      My autos suck... lol.. I should really try to improve them. I like the inverted autos the best.
       
    16. HeliGods

      HeliGods Mark - Administrator Staff Member

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      Throttle hold %100 of the time ...
       
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    17. Geena

      Geena Well-Known Member

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      When I was learning to fly, I learned to land under power first. It was only after I got into forward flight, that I started learning to land in throttle hold. Now I always finish off a flight with an auto....just a fun way for me to end a flight.
      My throttle/pitch curves on the Electric are:
      Normal mode: 0,30,30,30,30 Pitch curve 40%,45% 50$ 75% 100%
      IU1: flat 70% Pitch curve: linear
      IU2 Flat 100% Pitch curve: linear

      On the nitros:

      Normal mode: Throttle is linear, and pitch is 40,45,50,75,100
      IU1: Throttle is 95,90,85,90,95 and pitch is linear.
      IU2: Throttle is 100,95,90,95,100 and pitch is linear.
       
    18. simon

      simon Well-Known Member

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      I have had a look through the MAAA MOP's and I can not see where it stipulates the landing has to be under power, It seems to me there is no stipulation about landing under power. Maybe an instructor can point me to the relevant MOP , because cannot see it.
      Simon
       

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