rc heli vs plane

[tonyla]

my 20 year old daughter wants a rc helicopter but we are being told that with out rc plane experience a helicopter is just too hard.

 

thoughts? suggestion? she is interested in the 100.00 helicopter variety.

 

by the way she has flown a plane, it just wasn't a radio control one. it was a Piper.

[Francois_Dumas]

RC heli's are VERY difficult to fly, compared to RC aircraft. So it pays to do it with a pupil-trainer link with someone. It also pays off to get a special trainer 'landing gear' (very wide legs with styropor balls on the ends for instance) so the landings will not topple the chopper and destroy the blades.

[Gregori]

Flying a helicopter vs. flying a fixed wing could be compared to riding a unicycle vs. a bicycle. Buy realflight g4 software and you can try both in a simulator environment where crashing only costs a push of the reset button.

 

BTW - $100 is an awfully cheap toy, not a real RC aircraft. (Just my radio cost more than double that!)

[DaveTheAffable]

Flying a helicopter vs. flying a fixed wing could be compared to riding a unicycle vs. a bicycle. Buy realflight g4 software and you can try both in a simulator environment where crashing only costs a push of the reset button.

 

BTW - $100 is an awfully cheap toy, not a real RC aircraft. (Just my radio cost more than double that!)

 

+1 Realflight. If she is talking about a REAL rc helicopter (think spending close to $1000) the money is well spent on a simulator. I have crashed MANY times, and I had flown both REAL and RC aircraft for years.

[David]

RC heli's are VERY difficult to fly, compared to RC aircraft. So it pays to do it with a pupil-trainer link with someone. It also pays off to get a special trainer 'landing gear' (very wide legs with styropor balls on the ends for instance) so the landings will not topple the chopper and destroy the blades.

 

This is true. I fly real fixed wing aircraft and real helicopters, as well as RC fixed wing, but even with those ping pong ball "training wheels" I find this thing nearly impossible to fly. I got it for Christmas--I think it was in the $150 category.

[tonyla]

How about the Axe EZ , reviews are very good for beginers

[94aero]

Go with the Great Planes Real Flight simulator! There are buddy boxes that connect with the students transmitter, but with heli's they are very close to the ground and things happen VERY fast! Most crashes with them are in the 20-60 dollar range for a 30size heli.

My son and daughter started with a fixed wing trainer plane "goldberg eagle2"

 

[Spyder]

my 20 year old daughter wants a rc helicopter but we are being told that with out rc plane experience a helicopter is just too hard.

 

thoughts? suggestion? she is interested in the 100.00 helicopter variety.

 

 

+1 on the G4 simulator. The heli is not as hard to fly as most people think if you get a real heli. I doubt that there are any $100 helis that she will be comfortable with. I seriously doubt that beginning with planes would help her much with the helis.

 

We started with a Blade 400 and had so much fun with it we also got a T-Rex450. Both are electric so you can fly almost anytime without disturbing anyone.

The sim is the best investment you can make.

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

my 20 year old daughter wants a rc helicopter but we are being told that with out rc plane experience a helicopter is just too hard.

 

Heck, even WITH RC plane experience a heli is just too hard. I've got lots of RC glider experience; bought a heli last summer, and I'm useless on it. Haven't had any destructive crashes, but then I've never gotten it very far off the ground either. Couldn't manage a stable hover or anything resembling controlled flight. I'm gonna find me a heli sim before I try again...

[chrisolson]

I'm going to agree ... maybe I'm just not wired for heli ... I do full scale airplanes and sailplanes and electric RC planes, but I couldn't get the #$@@!*&! heli off the ground without looking like it was going to crash. So I'm sticking to things that have fixed wings ... just started a build on a 2 meter Chrysalis elec sailplane. Should be fun.

[Wooster]

My older brother has gotten into remote controlled helicopters and has seven of them. He says those with dual rotors (one on top of the other) are easy; those with single rotor (with small tail rotor) are hard to control. He's a licensed small plane pilot and enjoys the computer sim heli flying programs as well.

 

Wooster whose only radio control is am vs fm

[Macamoose]

Spent a lot of time learning to fly an RC heli. I definitely echo the recommendations for the computer simulators. You can usually pick up a used copy through one of the RC forum classifieds for relatively short money. Just make sure it comes with the controller, Real Flight is the one I used. The simulator will pay for itself in just a couple of crashes. Depending on the heli the replacement parts are where the companies make their money.

On the line at Udairi Army Airfield, Kuwait

 

Thad

[Francois_Dumas]

Nice pic (and heli's) Thad !