Helicopters
Mark
Welcome to the Rockwall RC Sport Flyer’s Helicopter section. Helicopters are definitely a challenge, but the rewards of flying a heli are worth the effort. There is nothing more thrilling than hovering your bird for the first time. Learning to fly helis isn’t as difficult as in the past, especially with the recent development of in-home simulators. Patience and a good attitude go a long way when it comes to flying helis. A lot of prior research and study will help alleviate a lot of the inherent troubles one might encounter. You can bet that someone has made the same mistake, asked the same question, and shares the same enthusiasm as you. Here is a very quick and easy start-up guide for the newbie heli pilot:
Get help: There are several heli pilots in the club, and all would be more than be willing to help you. Setting up a helicopter for the first time is very challenging, proper setup is much more critical than with fixed wing aircraft. It is very unlikely that you will setup the heli correctly the first time by yourself. There are major differences between a beginner’s setup and that of a 3D expert. It also requires special tools that the veteran pilot most likely possess. A helicopter that has been setup properly flies much better and is more predictable! There are also numerous websites on the Internet with tons of information. See the links section for the best.
Goals: Talk to the other pilots or an instructor to determine realistic goals for you progress. If you set achievable/realistic goals, you have a target to focus on. This will help you to learn faster, and it will motivate you to practice. Furthermore, once a target is reached, it will give you confidence and a desire to practice even harder. Just boring holes in the sky will not speed things up, and in fact will more likely lead to a crash. Also, take it slow. Any maneuver tried real time should be perfected to nauseam on the simulator.
Baby steps: Always take very small steps. Take a big step, you may succeed, or you may crash. Heli’s are truly 3D machines, therefore the orientation of a heli can be very challenging. Crashes happen VERY fast and the possibly of careening out of control is very real (Injury to you or others is a very real danger.). If you crash, you may be demotivated, it will cost you money (How much depends on the size of the heli.), it will make you less confident, you are grounded for some time, and worse yet, it is dangerous! Make sure that you learn a step thoroughly and in all directions before you take the next step. If you don’t do this you may seem to make fast progress at first, but you will run into problems later on. In the end, you will learn faster if you take small steps because you know the basics well and you will fly instead of repair.
Stick to the Plan: There are many ways to learn to fly remotely controlled helicopters. Safety and avoiding a crash should be your main priorities. Develop a plan and stick to it.
Have an escape plan/Crashes: Crashes will happen. It’s the nature of all RC flying. But, there are some things you can do to reduce the frequency. Always have an escape plan. This should be a priority on the simulator. Think of this as an actual maneuver, like a loop for example. I like to (On the simulator, not in real life!) hover the heli about 100 feet in the air, close my eyes, then stir the sticks. Count to 3 then try to recover. Most crashes are caused by disorientation followed by the wrong cyclic input. For example when I do inverted hovering, I tell myself over and over, “down stick, down stick, down stick”. Why? Because when the heli is on it’s back, down cyclic results in the heli going UP. Away from mother earth, that is a good thing! Also, pause before you react: determine the orientation of the heli and what is required to get it to a safe altitude. This has to become second nature. This brief pause has saved me countless crashes. It is an instinct that will develop as your skills increase.
Use a proper RC heli flight simulator: The most important purchase you can make is a simulator for your home PC. The most expensive is about $200.00. That’s about 3 crashes on a 450 size heli and about 1 crash on a 500-600 size bird. Some include a transmitter and others use your own radio. Make sure the controller included with the sim is similar to your personnel radio (You don’t want a mode 1 if yours is a mode 2.). Simulators are a key part of training, but there are some differences between a real heli and a computer model. Stress is the main difference. On the sim, you hit the reset button and in 2 seconds you’re back up flying. In the real world, your day has ended and it’s back to the work bench for repairs. I find the cyclic on the sim heli’s to be a bit more responsive. I am sure that if I was sponsored and had top of the line components the difference would be much less. But for now my real helis seem to be a slightly more unstable and a little more doggish. There is almost always wind in the real world, so add some in the sim. I would suggest about 5 knots to start. I personally use the Realflight series. They have great customer support, it comes with a realistic transmitter (or you can use your own), and they have a huge collection of free downloadable models on the web. I have heard good things about Reflex and Phoenix also.
Which Heli to buy: There are literally thousands to choose from. Bigger is usually better because they are more stable and easier to see. The downside is they are expensive and cost a significant amount more to fix after a crash. I lean towards the smaller size helis at first. I think the 400 size helis are a perfect compromise. The Align TREX 450, the Blade 400 and the Blade CP Pro are good examples. Why smaller? The main reason is the cost of a crash. You will crash your heli, it’s just a matter of how often and how bad. I fly an Align TREX 450 and TREX 500. The 500 is much more stable and easier to see/fly. But a crash with the 500 costs me an average of $180.00. In contrast, the 450, which I have crashed probably 50 plus times, averages about $25-30.00 per crash. That’s pretty significant. I really like the Align series as parts are very easy to find (major factor.) and they are very solidly built. Raptors are also a a good choice, but they don’t make the smaller size helis (250 & 400 size birds.). I also recommend you build your heli from a kit. Building is a great way to learn about how your heli works and how it is put together. When the time comes for repairs, you will be able to fix it much faster and do a better job. There are numerous build videos on the Internet that take you from the box to the air. A quick word about coaxial helis: They are by far the easiest to fly, but they are strictly indoor/no wind fliers. Most pilots will grow out of them very quickly. They are good for learning orientation, but that is about it. On a side note, they are a blast to fly. I love the Blade mCX, I fly it all the time in my house. It’s very small and doesn’t need much space.
Dealers/Buyers: I recommend the local hobby shop (Rockwall RC Sport Flyer members get a 10% discount at HobbyTown USA in Rockwall.) for you first heli. The employees can answer a lot of questions and returning bad components is easy.
Online Dealers/Parts Links:
1. Helidirect.com
2. Readyheli.com
3. Heliproz.com
Information/Forums:
Simply the best informational site on the Internet. It has numerous build videos. I recommend you look under Finless Bob’s Helifreak Tech Room. Also, check out the Forum “Newbies: Tips and Information”. Explore the Heli skills and Setup 101. It contains lots of great links and basic information.
Runryder.com – Another great site. Good forums.
Alan Szabo is one of the best radio controlled helicopter pilots in the world right now. Check out this video of Alan Szabo performing a 3D helicopter flight: