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Old 2nd April 2025 | 22:01
  #41 (permalink)  
CGameProgrammerr
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Joined: Nov 2018
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From: San Diego, CA
OP said he's training on an R44. That's much harder for a student to fly than a R22 because the controls are so extremely light and sensitive. Even after I had essentially 'mastered' basic flight in an R22, it took me quite a while to get the hang of the 44. Frankly, even after over 400 R44 hours, I still sometimes struggle to set it down as cleanly as I'd like.

What I found helped was being slow - if for example you're drifting left, do NOT try to add enough right cyclic to immediately stop the drift because you'll just drift right. Instead, add a tiny bit of right cyclic and see what happens. Probably you'll stop drifting after a second or two. Then you can add a touch more to drift right to get back to your spot, then a tad left to stop the drift. Overcontrolling is extremely common.

An alternative, albeit not optimal, technique is to basically deliberately shake the cyclic back and forth a bit, which reduces lift but it can be easier for your brain to average out the inputs if your hand is constantly moving, rather than trying to keep it rock-still. I still do that sometimes when setting it down, especially after a long cross-country flight since my landings get a bit sloppier at that point.
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