Getting your Dragonfly 4 airborne

This is what it's all about!
Skating your helicopter around on its skids should have got you used to how it responds to your stick movements, and you should now have a good idea of how much you need to move the sticks to get the required amount of movement from the helicopter.

Incidentally, you may or may not have had practice on an rc flight simulator. If you have, then you'll have a good idea of what to expect. But for the purpose of this page, I'm assuming that you haven't put in any practice on a sim.

With the training skids still attached and the helicopter in the controlled position that you're now used to (ie directly in front of you, pointing away from you and the weight just off the skids), increase power until your Dragonfly 4 begins to lift off the ground.
The rate at which you increase power is quite critical - too slow and the helicopter will move around too much, too fast and it'll be hitting the ceiling before you know what's happened!

As it rises, it will drift and wander all over the place. This is what rc helicopters do!
The chances are that it will drift across to the left, and this is normal for a helicopter such as the Walkera Dragonfly 4. This is because of the sideways thrust being generated by the tail rotor. Even though this thrust is intended to only control the yaw, it is more than enough to push the helicopter completely sideways.

Don't panic!...

Once airborne, the Dragonfly 4 will do what it wants to do, not what you want it to do! As it starts to swing from side to side, and yaw left and right, it's your job to control those movements - and this takes time!

Until you start to get the feel of it, you will over-correct the movements. RC helicopters are very sensitive and even small amounts of movement on the tx sticks can send the heli shooting off way more than you'd hoped.
As it shoots sideways, your natural reaction will be to apply opposite cyclic to stop it. And so it starts, the 'pendulum effect' - first one way, then the other, then back again.... Don't panic, it's all part of the learning curve!

The following video shows what to expect from your first nerve-racking moments aloft...

A word about trimming

Trims on the tx Trimming an rc aircraft is 'fine tuning' the controls so that it is as stable as possible with the transmitter sticks in their neutral positions (ie central).
The small trim levers on each side of the main tx sticks are for this purpose, and they can be very sensitive - just one click can make a difference to the model in flight.

When you're learning, don't attempt to trim the helicopter when airborne - you won't succeed because you'll lose concentration. The distraction of trying to move the trim levers while trying to control the helicopter while trying to see if the trim levers are having any effect will be all too much!

If the helicopter is flying off in one particular direction (more so than you can control it) sit it back down on the ground and move the appropriate trim a couple of clicks. Take off again and see if it made a difference. If not, or if it did too much, bring the heli back down and have another go.
One word of warning - don't touch the power trim, leave it fully down all the time.

Of course, when you're experienced enough you will be able to trim in-flight without problem, but until then, play it safe!

Don't run before you can crawl

It's normal for people to want to 'jump in at the deep end' when it comes to learning curves. Trying to do something beyond our capabilities is all part of human nature - we all want to run before we can crawl.
RC helicopters are no different, and you'll be keen to open the throttle and start eating up some serious airspace!

Before you can do this, you need to learn to hover, and hover well.

It doesn't take long if you put in the practice - with a well set-up FP electric rc helicopter like the Walkera Dragonfly 4, a few hours steady practice will see this goal achieved.

Learning to hover is crucial to happy helicopter flying, but it's also one of the hardest lessons to master. This is because all the controls - power, yaw and cyclic - need to be worked together, all in perfect harmony.
What you do with one control drastically effects another control, and during hovering there needs to be a continuous flow of minute corrections and adjustments by your fingers on the sticks.

But with practice, you will be able to hover your helicopter adequately enough, as in the following video...

Hovering practice - tips to remember...

Below are a few tips to help you hover your Dragonfly 4 (or similar 4-channel electric FP helicopter) successfully...

Keep the training skids on until you are confident.
Keep the helicopter 'tail in' ie in front of you, pointing away from you.
Keep a safe distance; 6-8 ft. is a good distance to keep. If the heli suddenly shoots backwards, you don't want to be too close to those blades.
If you start to lose control, don't kill the throttle completely. Just reduce it quickly enough to make the helicopter descend. If you can think quick enough, increase it slightly as it approaches the deck. Cutting the motor completely lets gravity take over too quickly, and broken landing gear is almost certain.
Keep the stick movements small and smooth. Over-correction is the biggest cause of accidents when learning to fly rc aircraft.
If you're hovering in a small, enclosed area like the room in the video, the wind from the blades will bounce off the walls and bump the helicopter around a bit.
Escape the Ground Effect (GE)*. Try and keep the helicopter a couple of feet or so off the ground, but keep it below face-level.
Set yourself goals to improve the accuracy of your hovering.**

*Ground Effect (GE) is an important issue. Spinning rotor blades create serious downwash and if the helicopter is close to the ground this downwash can't get cleared away. It hits the ground and bounces back up, making the helicopter a lot harder to control as it tries to fight this highly unstable and fast-moving air.

**Setting goals is the best way to learn quickly, but you must not set unrealistic goals that you can't reach quickly. If you do, you'll soon become very disillusioned with the whole learning process, and you'll be putting your helicopter on eBay.
A sensible hovering goal example is to mark out a circle or square on the floor. Make it, say, 6 feet across and learn to hover the helicopter without going outside the marked area. When you can, reduce the shape to 4 feet across and practice until you can hover within that one. When you can hold the heli within the 4ft shape, reduce the shape again to one or two feet across - you get the idea.
These shapes can be used for landing practice too, obviously.

Practice, practice, practice

Learning to fly an rc helicopter is a time-consuming process and one that will test your patience! But these early 'hops' are steps that every rc heli pilot has to take, and you must persevere.
At first it will seem as though you'll never have control, but after a few hours practice you'll be able to sustain a controlled hover in a small amount of airspace.

Follow these guidelines and keep practicing - it won't be long before you're hovering well without even thinking about it. Your thumbs will be working on their own, making minute corrections to keep the helicopter in place.

By this time you'll also notice that you're taking off in a very controlled way - you'll be getting the helicopter under control as it leaves the ground, again without even thinking about it - it quickly becomes second nature.

Once you've got to this stage, you're ready to begin learning to fly the helicopter properly and in mixed orientations.... Then the fun really begins!

The Dragonfly 4 - what you get and what to do with it all.