It is a device used to sense sudden unwanted movements of the tail. It's job is to move the tail servo to compensate for the unwanted movement. As an example, lets say you are in a hover and a sudden gust of wind blows the right side of the helicopter. Without a gyro this would cause the helicopter to turn to the right. With a gyro, it very quickly senses the sudden movement and gives a left command to the tail servo to keep the helicopter pointed where it was.

This refers to the sensitivity of the gyro. When the gyro senses an unwanted movement it commands the tail servo to move in the opposite direction to compensate. How much it tells the servo to move is the 'gain'. Ideally the amount of gain should match how much the helicopter was rotated so that it stays pointed in the same direction and does not move. If the gain is too high then the helicopter over compensates. The effect you will see is the tail will bounce back and forth.

To figure out the right gyro direction just watch for the control rod as you rotate the helicopter so the nose goes to the left. If the control rod gets pulled forward then you have it correct. This is assuming you have the tail assembly correct I have helped many with the tail backwards. Basically what you are looking for is for the control rod to go the same direction as when you move the rudder stick right.

First of all, you should know that optimal gyro performance requires pretty much everything on the helicopter to be well balanced and working smoothly. This includes the engine and drivetrain - any vibration will "confuse" the gyro sensor and degrade performance. Any fluctuations in engine performance will make more work for the gyro as well. Is the gyro gain high enough? If you can turn it up without causing the tail to wag, you should do so.

A standard gyro just dampens unwanted movements of the tail. To keep things simple lets say you are hovering and several gusts of wind hits the helicopter from the side, the gyro will keep the helicopter from suddenly swinging nose into the wind, but the helicopter will eventually drift nose into the wind. A heading hold gyro will keep the nose pointed in the same place until you tell it to move.

Frequently asked questions about this here list of frequently asked questions. Meta-FAQ, if you will. I have a frequently asked question. Who should I ask? ...or... People keep asking me this question, and I'd like to write it down for one last time where everyone can see it.

Well, it's impossible not to notice the helicopter pirouetting at 120 RPM and sounding like an off-balance washing machine... But it's better to be able to detect this condition before unleashing a five-foot flying lawnmower upon yourself and your neighbors. Fortunately, it's not too difficult. Remove the canopy, turn on your transmitter and helicopter, and wait for the gyro to 'wake up' if necessary. For this test, the gyro should be in standard (not heading hold) mode.

The Gyrobee is a legal ultralight if built to specifications of the Documentation and requires no licensing for either the plane or pilot other than a driver's license. back to top

In another of a long line of Design Decisions I Regret, xv tries to do all sorts of clever things with regard to the image window's position on screen. For example, if you issue the Max Size command, xv will position the window so that the window's contents exactly fill the screen (and the titlebar, frame, etc. are off the edges). Clever when it works, a big pain in the ass when it doesn't.

It has broken free already, but it hasn't moved out of its "parking spot" yet (April 25, 2000). It could drift a fair distance, but it will be a very slow process, lasting months to more likely years.

The Drift Session is a promotional company that produces drifting events and an internet resource dedicated to educating people about the sport of drifting. The Drift Session was the first organization to create drifting events and competitions on a regular basis in America. The DriftSession.com was also one of the first mainstream websites created specifically for drifting.

It has become much easier to choose a gyro these days. You USED to have to choose whether you wanted a rate gyro, a heading hold gyro, a mechanical gyro, or a piezo gyro. It's much simpler now, thankfully! Nearly every gyro on the market today is a Heading hold gyro. Different companies call this different things, such as Tail Lock, Heading Lock, AVCS, etc, but it all means the same thing. Usually now you only have to purchase a gyro that is suited to the size of your helicopter.

Answer: -- The telescope is not only magnifying the object you are observing in the sky, it is also magnifying the earth's rotation! The more magnification you use in your telescope, the quicker an object drifts out of the field of view. Manual telescope mounts will require you to continually "recapture" the object by moving your telescope slightly. Motorized mounts move the telescope for you and keep the object in the eyepiece.

Yes, you want a gyro on the little heli. It is very hard to fly if you aren't keeping the tail straight and without a gyro it can be pretty demanding on your feet. Using a heading hold gyro is definitely cheating as you will not learn to compensate the addition of power with pedal input. There is no reason to go to extremes as far as low or high sensitivity. Start out with a good stable setting and if you get bored, turn it off. If you're still bored try flying with a 10-15 mph direct tailwind.

Conductivity cells drift primarily as a function of cell fouling. There are several sources of the fouling: Biological growth is the primary source of cell fouling. Rinsing the conductivity cell with clean de-ionized water after each cast helps prevent most growth in the cell. If the cell is not rinsed, or standard tap water is used, growth rates can be severe. As the cell fouls, it will drift towards lower salinity values. Surface oil slicks also cause cell fouling.

No. However, what you lack in horsepower and torque, you need to make up for with momentum when drifting. While having lots of horsepower to spare can make drifting easier, it is not a requirement. Having lots of horsepower often lets a drifter correct mistakes and compensate for bobbles on the track that a low horsepower vehicle cannot. Once a low horsepower vehicle loses speed and momentum while drifting it is difficult to regain that momentum due to the lack of sufficient horsepower.

Drift diving is a blast! Divers drift along with the direction of the current for the entire dive, and are picked up at the end of the by the dive boat. As with any other type of specialty diving, it does require a certain amount of training and practice. The relatively mild summer currents in the Grenadines provide an ideal setting for learning to drift dive.