Flybar Vs Flybarless- A Common Dilemma

Introduction

The confusion between flybar and flybarless is common among beginner RC helicopter users. People who have been flying RC helicopters for quite some time are usually fixated on one type. But, they might still want to venture into new options. And when they do, they’ll ask-

Which one’s better between flybar vs flybarless?

A flybar is mechanical and a flybarless is electrical. This is the basic concept. Flybars are cheaper to maintain compared to flybarless. Flybarlesses also require high-end servos whereas flybars don’t. But, flybarlesses are easier to manoeuver. 

This is not everything. If you wanna know more, keep reading.

Flybar Vs Flybarless: Key Comparisons

Before we talk about the detailed differences, let’s get all the key differences out of the way. We’ve organized them in a table below for your better understanding.

Flybar Vs Flybarless: Detailed Differences

If you’re a beginner, a lot of these terms here might be unfamiliar to you. But, we’ll try to explain them in the simplest way possible.

Both systems come with a lot of advantages and disadvantages. Some advantages side more with the flybar while some give the edge to the flybarless. While the mechanisms of a flybar are slightly complicated, a flybarless has a pretty simple system.

So, without any further ado, let’s dive right in-

Flight Stability

This is the first major difference that anyone would notice. People refer to flybars as mechanical and flybarlesses as electrical. One stabilizes the helicopter mechanically and the other stabilizes electrically.

You’ll see that there’s a lot going on at the head of a flybar.  There are things like a swash, mixing, correction, washout arms, washout base, seesaw, mixing arms. They also include flybar cage, flybar paddles, short and long pitch lengths, and washout lengths. 

Everything from the servo to the top needs to be set up at a perfect 90° angle. It’s quite an elaborate mechanical setup for a flybar. It takes quite a bit to stabilize one of them correctly. 

The flybar stabilizes the rotor head in flight. Therefore, it dampens a lot of the forces. By the time the forces reach the swashplates, you could say that the swashplates are relaxed. 

For a flybar, you need lighter blades. Blades that are lighter at the tip and heavier at the root are ideal. The lightness keeps the engine from bogging mid-flight and when performing hard 3D maneuvers.

On the other hand, a flybarless is easy to understand as they have a simpler top. Obviously, you still need to center your servos, bell cranks and make sure your swashplate is centered. Above the swashplate, ensure that the driver is aligned at a 90° angle.

Crash & Parts Repair

The repairs for a flybarless are very easy. After you crash the helicopter, putting it back together is going to be easy too. 

You don’t have to worry about aligning paddles. This is definitely a huge advantage over the flybar.

The blades used on a flybarless are completely different from the blades on a flybar. They are weighted differently. Unlike flybar, you need your blades to be heavier at the tip than at the root.

The reason for that is, the flybarless is actually a very unstable system mechanically. You need to do everything possible to let the gyroscope do its work.

Here’s a list of some of the best Gyroscopes-

Also, blades that are leading-edge heavier are also better. The CG on the blade should be slightly different core-wise and span-wise.

Servo Motor

We always recommend having the best servos possible. Whether you use an analog servo or a digital is completely up to you. But, you really don’t need any top-of-the-line servos for a flybar. 

We’ve already explained before how all the forces are dampened on a flybar. The truth is, any servo that has a good centering is good enough for flybars. Also, a moderate amount of torque and decent speed can also be good. 

You don’t really need a super-fast servo with a ridiculous amount of torque. Anything around 100 ounces of torque generally works well on a 90 size model.

This is where the flybarless is at a disadvantage. Since all of the stabilizing is done on the gyro, you definitely need high-end servos. You need fast servos with a lot of torque, with pretty good centering.

The gyro is constantly making corrections inflight, so a fast servo is highly necessary. Another reason why you need a good servo is that you don’t have a flybar anymore. So, all the forces easily go down through your swash to your servos. 

With a flybar, everything is stabilized at the top. But here, everything is stabilized at the servo level. Also, if there’s any kind of mishap, double-check your servo saver or servo horns. They can strip very easily. 

3D Maneuvering

In terms of maneuvering, flybarless has the edge. Once you take off with the flybar, you’ll notice that it tilts to the left. You have to hold your remote slightly to the right to keep it stable.

That’s not necessary with a flybarless. A flybarless can go straight even when you punch the throttle and send it straight up. Take your hands off of the remote and it’ll still go straight. 

But a flybar goes through a lot of interactions, so it moves back and forth slightly.

When doing loops, you have to make corrections on a flybar. But, a flybarless will do perfect loops without the need for any corrections. 

Flybarless is more powerful since there are no flybars. You can say that a flybarless is 15-20% more powerful than a flybar. They can even pick up speed much faster.

So, try using a motor approved by Roar and you’ll easily hit 90 mph.

Final Verdict

After considering everything, flybarless wins the race. As a flybarless is electrical, you’ll need much fewer parts comparatively.

Since a flybarless is stabilized electrically through the gyro, they require lesser parts. That is also the reason why they are more durable in a crash. After a crash, if you just put everything back together, it’ll fly just fine.

But, in a flybar, you need to make sure everything is perfectly in position. Or else, you’ll notice a lot more interactions than usual. Being electrical, however, makes the flybarless slightly more expensive to maintain.

So, taking all these reasons into account, flybarless takes the trophy home. All things aside, if you know how to fly your helicopter the right way,it won’t matter a lot.

We hope we could help you with our guide. Now you should be able to pick your choice of motor.

FAQs

Question: Do RC helicopters have propellers?

Answer: They’re called large blades that can create thrust like a large propeller.

Question: What if the tail rotors fail?

Answer: The helicopter will lose the ability to counter the engine’s torque. And thus, there’ll be no way to control the direction.

Question: What can cause the tail rotor to fail?

Answer: A malfunction in the pitch change mechanism can cause the failure.

Conclusion

Now you know all there is to know about flybar vs flybarless. You should be able to make your own decisions and choose for yourself.

Did we miss something? Let us know in the comments.

Good Luck!