Important First Steps in Flying Radio Controlled Helicopters
There are several steps in the learning process of flying remote helicopters. They can be classified as pre-flight steps, basic hovering steps, advanced hovering skills, learning various types of acrobatics in flying the Remote Control Helicopter, and mastering the steps of 3D flight control. If you have experience in flying RC Airplane then you should have an easier time to learn to fly radio controlled helicopters.
Pre-flight Steps in Flying an RC helicopter
The first step in flying remote helicopter is to understand the aerodynamics of helicopters. Either your instructor (if you have one) or the simulator will be able to provide you the basic knowledge about such helicopter aerodynamics and how to control and operate the very copter itself. The next step is to learn the setting up the helicopter. You should remember that the setting up of a learning helicopter will be quite simple but the setting up of an advanced model of 3D helicopter will be highly complicated. You can also use two transmitters for the flight control, one with you and the other with the instructor. If you make any mistake while learning, the instructor will be able to control and correct it immediately and avoid crashing of the helicopter.
Learning Basic Hovering Steps
When you practice the initial hovering steps of the RC helicopter, the instructor will be controlling the rudder along with the collective throttle/pitch in the beginning, while you learn cyclic control. Keep in mind that operating RC Helicopter isn’t as easy as controlling grounded RC toys such as cars, trucks, tanks. So, be careful. I don’t think it’s harder than operating rc planes though.
Once you are comfortable with the above hovering control processes, you can control both the control sticks and make your helicopter hover in the sky the way you want it. You should also learn to maneuvers the helicopter with tail in the wind or against sideways wind. Finally, you should learn the hovering of the helicopter with tail-in circle from the instructor. This will complete your basic learning of RC helicopter flying. You should practice this until you become perfect in the art of keeping the radio controlled helicopter hovering smoothly and achieving perfect takeoff and landing of the helicopter.
Choosing a Nitro vs. Electric RC Helicopter
In case you’re wondering which power source you should use for the rc toy, here’s a short comparison for you to read. Hobby grade electric and nitro helicopters can give you similar flight durations. Nitro is convenient when you want to make multiple flights during the day and not waste time waiting for a battery recharge-or pay for spare batteries, since you can quickly refuel your craft. Electric gives good performance and is the obvious choice if you don’t want to deal with cleaning your engine or storing nitro fuel.
- helicopter radio controlled, interesting video by the way
Just in case you’re interested in RC boat, check out this post about radio controlled boats!
