gyro, heli-plane-car
 

I fly helis but am now building a plane for 3d, when i fly with a gyro on the sim its easier to hover etc. whats the difference if any between a plane & heli gyro , I also wonder if a car drift gyro is the same ?

Re: gyro, heli-plane-car
 

All a gyro does is read angular changes in a particular axis. There are generally two types, but basically it all starts with the angular change reading. Where tha majic lies is what they do with that data.

For the sake of simplicity let's refer to a heli, the gyro reading the angular change about the main rotor axis.

A basic gyro reads RATES OF ACCELERATION, meaning if that angular change is accelerating or decelerating it tries to maintain a stable state. If the heli is sittting with no rotation or spinning like a drill bit, if the state is stable, (not speeding up or slowing down) it will do no work. If the tail starts to speed up or slow down, that is change in the RATE of accel and the gyro will send a signal to the output (tail servo) to bring it back in line.

Headlock, (HH) gyros use the same inputs, but do some additional work to compute what that RATE of change may have done to the heading and can work out what it needs to do to bring it back to the START position, (ie. so much change for so long).

A couple of pointers: HH gyros still allow you the option of working in RATE with the GAIN function selecting the mode and how aggressive the gyro is. In fact, you want to do your initial flight tests in RATE as this tells you if your tail servo is in the correct position.

The second rule of thumb is that the more sophisticated the gyro, the less forgiving it is to vibrations and mounting issues. If you find the tail wags like a dog unless the gain is turned very low, that's the first place to look.

Never worked with drift gyros, but the basics will be the same.

Re: gyro, heli-plane-car
 

I don't see a reason for there to be a big difference between airplane and heli gyro (but if anyone can clarify, please do)

We have a flier at our field that loves to do 3d and has equipped his planes with 3 gyros (we call the guy "Gyro Mark"..LOL) He swears by them and the flight performance of his plane in 3D is apparent when he switches them on. He uses GY401 gyros with no problems.

Re: gyro, heli-plane-car
 

thanks that is what i was thinking, when i get some extra cash i think i may try 2 in my 3d plane

Re: gyro, heli-plane-car
 

Don't put Gyros in a plane. Learn to 3d without. #1 more weight with gyros, Number 2 there doing all the work. Gyros were all the rage for 3d 5 years ago. No one uses them now. Learn to fly 3d without and then you can 3d anything. If you use gyros may as well let a computer fly your plane instead of you.

Just my opinion but you wont ever get better if you let your gear do all the work. If you learn 3D. then you can fly anything. Besides Hovering with a gyro on the sim is very unrealistic. If you drop downwards with gyros the tail feathers fight against you and make it worse.