Looking to get started in the exciting world of RC helicopters? Here are some of the best to progress your skills.
Choosing the right gear when starting any new hobby is tricky. To help you out, this article aims to help show you the progression of aircraft you should be looking at to start helicopter flying with our favorite line of Blade Heli products. So what are we waiting for?
Your First RC Helicopter
For your first model, you'll need to look out for a few requirements that are needed to make a good trainer heli.
- Durability - you will probably crash a fair few times, so making sure that you have a robust machine with spare parts available is a must
- Stability - inbuilt stabilization will provide you with a smoother, easier flying experience
- Compact size - small aircraft with less mass often survive better than larger ones. They can also be flown indoors
For your first, gradual steps into the world of helicopters, a fixed pitch micro helicopter is a great option. This is partly because they can be flown indoors meaning that you can build up your primary flying skills all year round. Sweet! Here's the Blade 70S, a helicopter designed around the concept of teaching new pilots whilst remaining an outstanding micro aircraft in its own right.
Unlike older types of ultra-micro helicopters that you may remember from back in the day, this modern machine hides away an impressive amount of tech under its protective yellow canopy. It's equipped with SAFE technology, a signature feature from Horizon Hobby. This makes the aircraft incredibly easy to fly and very stable.
With this ultra micro RC helicopter, you get a controller, battery and charger included in the box. This is all for a great price point of $59.99. This is nice as you could grab one of these with your next purchase from the FT store. It's worth giving helicopters a try even if you're on the fence about it! This model is small, durable and intuitive - which is just what you need as a beginner. To prove how far this thing can be pushed, here's Alex and Stefan testing the Blade 70S to the extreme!
Introduction to Collective Pitch
As you get more familiar with your Blade 70S, and master the basics of flying, you might want to progress to the next level: collective pitch. For those who don't know, collective pitch is where you control the pitch of your blades to govern your lift. Angling your blades can provide more or less lift at the same RPM. In radio control helicopters, the collective pitch and throttle are linked through a pitch curve and throttle curve. Here's one of our old videos to explain more.
So where do you start? As an introduction to collective pitch, the Blade mCP S is a superbly capable choice.
Like with the 70S, the mCP S is a micro helicopter. It has a durable composite frame, carbon main shaft and sturdy tail boom to provide exceptional survivability whilst the in-built SAFE and AS3X systems help keep the aircraft locked in. Learning through a helicopter like this is a straightforward way to get to grips with collective pitch. Four modes, including a panic mode, help you progress quickly. These are:
- Stability Mode: Provides renowned self-leveling and bank angle limits. This mode is great for those getting a feel for the helicopter, or practicing orientation before stepping into more advanced modes.
- Agility Mode: This mode does not provide any self-leveling and allows the pilot to perform mild 3D maneuvers such as inverted flight, flips, rolls and aggressive aerobatics. The rotor head speed is limited to a lower RPM in this mode.
- 3D Mode: This mode does not provide any self-leveling and allows the pilot to perform full 3D maneuvers such as inverted flight, funnels, and much more. The rotor head speed is increased to a higher RPM in this mode.
- Panic Recovery Mode: At the flick of a switch, panic recovery will return the helicopter to a safe and level flight when the pilot gets into an uncomfortable orientation or maneuver.
For $129.99, this helicopter includes a controller, charger and two batteries. This means you can get flying as soon as you've charged those batteries. You could possibly jump straight to this model, without first buying the Blade 70S, but it's more of an investment and you might benefit from learning the basics with a simpler helicopter.
Stepping Up
Once you've mastered the basics of RC helicopter flying, you'll be ready to move onto the big boys. One helicopter, in particular, that would make for a great transitional aircraft is the Blade 230 S v2
Entering the realm of larger collective pitch helicopters, the 230 S V2 is the next logical step from a micro helicopter. With this aircraft, you can either get an RTF version or a BNF. With the BNF version you get a pre-installed spektrum receiver. There's also absolutely no assembly required which makes setup straightforward right out of the box.
Unlike the smaller micros, these bigger helicopters, with blades of over 9 inches, make for ideal outdoor flyers. Their size means they don't mind the wind as much, especially with their Horizon installed AS3X feature. Because of this, you can get out to fly all year round. This will encourage you to build up those skills even more until you're starting to pull off some of the moves of those crazy aerobatic pilots. Just bear in mind that if you crash, the likelihood of you breaking something is far greater than that of a micro-sized heli. Don't worry though, there are always tons of spare parts available to order for these Blade helicopters.
As a closing snippet of advice, just remember that (like all things in the RC hobby) you should start small and work your way up. This will give you time to develop the skills necessary for flying larger aircraft. Tech like SAFE and AS3X only go so far. If you're not sure helicopters are for you, try the 70S. If you know you want to get big into helicopters, still stick with the micros. It's all to increase your chances of success!
If you already fly helicopters, let us know what your first model was in the comments below!
Article by James Whomsley
Editor of FliteTest.com
Contact: james@flitetest.com
YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/projectairaviation
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