VStabi Pioneer of Flybarless

An important new function of the VBar NEO is the rescue feature. At activation of rescue, the heli will flip upside up from its current position. During the move the collective is controlled by the NEO in a way that the heli climbs a bit during the mannouver to get enough clearence from the ground.

Rescue is initiated by a momentary switch, that can be configured in the app. The switch can be used to activate a beginner hover mode if flipped into the other direction.

Calibration

To prepare the rescue, a Calibration of the horizontal position is recommended. Usualy they are factory calibrated, but in doubt it can be repeated here.

Place the Unit on a level surface, and activate the first option. The NEO will do a Warmstart, thats why it shall never be done in flight. So it requests the motor to be off to be able to activate.

This calibrates the horizontal position, which is used in case of an rescue

The second option sets the hover offset for the beginner mode, so the heli hover hands off. Note that this usually is not level. This option does not have any effect on the rescue mode.

Initialization

In case of getting error prompts about the rescoe init at the Z-axis which can't be solved (usually stiff mechanics, vibration issues) a alternative init can be chosen here. Therfore the heli has to stand upright (+-45 deg) during the init. The swash bumps 3 times if the use of the alternative mode was necessary.

Settings

A few optins can be adjusted for the rescue

The Switch that activates rescue is defined here. This shall be a spring loaded Switch, that activates the resuce. Note that the switch assignment ist stored in the transmitter, so if you connect another model, it will be on the same position.

The Mode is to select which rescue mode you want to have on your switch to avoid accidential activation i.e. of the beginnermode.

The "Collective after Rescue" field allows to adjust how much collective shall be applied to keep the heli climbing during and after the resuce. In case of rescuing from inverted, the heli will climb first, and the come down again but quite slowly.

More collective will push up the heli more than lower settings. There is no need to have extreme settings, since during rescue there is an additional boost anyway to accelerate a bit in the direction of the sky. Use 65% as an good startingpoint.

In Level mode its possible to reduce the throw, so the maximum angle and the maximum speed of the heli can be reduced.

Start with 60% for this Value. Please note that in beginnermode the negative collective is reduced to prevent from hard descends.

Status

This Display shows the current attitude. If the unit is resting level, the point shall be at the center of the display. The bar beneath the display shows the z axis. Its shall be filled on positive, and empty on inverted level position.

The Display can be used to check if vibrations can harm the attitude monitor. If the point stays about the center if the motor is running, and in hover the attitude monitor is not affected by vibrations. Note that the heli will hang a bit to one side, so a slight constant deviation is acceptable.

The Status buttons on the left show how the rescue is working. If triggered, the Rotate will light up, menaing the rescue is rotating the heli to level. If it is about level, an additional second is triggered called wait.

The "Collect" status means, that there is a collective offset on the stick input. This offset is needed to let the heli climb during rescue. If you wiggle a little with collective stick, this will delete the offset and thus deactivate the "Collect" display.

Status Display in Main Screen

The Main Screen shows an smiley if rescue is available. The simlie will be filled, if the rescue is started. It turns to a bold border as soon as the rotation is finished.

Using Rescue

There is no restriction in which position the heli is switched on and initialized, so it can happen during it is laying on the side with no issues. The only rule is to not move the heli during intialization. Thats the same as without rescue.

Try the rescue on ground with motor off, to be sure it is set up correctly and available. If the Heli is already level, you will see just a jump in collective to the climb position. If you have the heli angled a bit, you will see an cyclic input to level as well. Additional the transmitter will speak the start and the end of the rescue. Rotation has a timeout, so the cyclic input will be only for a few seconds. If the heli is in the air, it will have long been rotated before the timeout expires.

Do not forget wiggling the collective a bit to remove the offset and have normal throw for the start.

During Flight

Always keep in mind that you have rescue. This sounds wired, but in emergency situations, the idea to trigger the rescue often comes too late. Trigger the rescue for training purposes, so you get familiar with the action that happens and you are not too much surprised. Get confidence over the time how to use it.

In case of lost of orientation, or maybe some other problem, let the sticks go and flick the rescue switch. After hearing the Rescue ended announce, go ahead flying the helicopter. Move collective a bit to get back normal throw. Then try again.

If you lost orientation before triggering the rescue, it may be a good pattern to steer the tail after rescue finished, so you can clearly see how the heli is oriented now. Since it is level, it will not do heavy movements if you do so. You are allowed to steer the tail during rescue, it will change the rescue pattern, but the result will be the same.

Rescuing is not able to stop forward speed of a helicopter. It will level the helicopter, and then give back control to the pilot. It will no doing a stopping mannouver.

Keep enough space between you, the crowd and the helicopter. The Helicopter may fly above you if you fly in this direction and trigger rescue.

Do not use rescue in demonstrations if people are standing behind you. In this case you shall only fly if you do not need to rescue. Rescue is intended as a learning aid, to give you a safe exit from any pattern you fly.

Cyclic and collective control ist still possible during the rotation. So you are always able to oversteer the inputs of the rescue automat. If this may be needed, use big inputs, since the rescue will fight your inputs for a few seconds. Usually its better to not intefer with the rescue until it is finished.

Avoid using rescue if the heli is in ground and the motor running. Depending on the rescue collective setting, the heli may take off.

Using the rescue during a trim flight may have massive (negative) effects on the trim values. So we highly recommend not to use resue during a trim flight.