The fresh air of a beautiful spring afternoon, turning evening, in the middle of an open field, not stale, muggy, but unsullied and cool, is wonderful for flying RC helicopters. All of them put together sound like an orchestra of a mix between a lawn mower and bees too close to ones ear, all buzzing around in the fresh open air of a wonderful spring day in New Jersey. One such RC helicopter is now flying inverted or upside down and is only about 30 feet above my head. I could hear its buzzing sound almost as if I could hear each individual blade spin around and around. The pilot then cocks the toy back into straight flight and speeds off towards the direction of the sun.
“How can you see it?” I ask in interjectionally, as if I knew better than his experience.
“You don’t. You have to bring her down below the trees or launch higher.” He is standing to my right next to be almost yelling because of the buzz of the other helicopters. I then see the tiny helicopter bounce up of the blinding sun and fly straight towards us and then stop at about 100 feet over our heads. The man motions to me in my ear, “This is the finally.” He then lowers the throttle on his remote and lowers his T-Rex –the name of the RC helicopter- to the ground. With a couple of corrections he manages to land it about 7 feet away from where I’m standing, from it being 100 feet above our heads-at our zenith- to it being on the ground 7 feet from where I’m standing.
“That was awesome.” I comment as he walks towards it and picks it up.
“Now Mr. Johnson…” I ask him while I stand in front of him looking at the helicopter that was just 100 feet over my head.
“How long have you been in this hobby?”
“About five years.”
“How did you get into this hobby?”
“Well I always loved flying.”
“Have you actually flown in a real helicopter?” An RC helicopter buzzes over us at about 50 miles an hour 40 feet over our heads.
“Yes of course I have.”
“What is the major difference between flying a real helicopter and an RC?”
“Well, you’re on the ground most of the time in this hobby.”
“Yea, he, he, so let me ask you something.”
“Yep…” His attention was on his RC, something on the main rotor blade was distracting him.
“Is this hobby worth the all the money?”
“…” He then just looked up at another RC helicopter.
In the world of hobbies there are those that cost close to nothing and those that cost close to a second mortgage. Usually and quite often most people stick with hobbies that are affordable and that are worth the cost and return with benefits. Yet there are the brave few who dare stick to those hobbies that can run into a great expense over the course of time and in this case a very short course of time.
The case in this paper is the hobby of RC helicopters or radio-controlled helicopters. These are basically miniature helicopters capable of being controlled by a person on the ground via a radio controller. The person on the ground basically places the RC helicopter on the ground either indoor or outdoor- dependant of the RC’s pitch which we’ll soon get into- and with the flick of a stick on the remote watches as it takes off into the sky above. The person then has to guide the RC helicopter back to the ground without crashes and destroying the toy.
There are two major divisions in this hobby however, which is why in my opinion is why it still lends itself well for beginners and new people interested in the hobby. On one side of the table you have the fixed-pitch RC helicopters and on the other side you have the collective-pitch. Fixed-pitch RC helicopters sacrifice mobility for affordability while collective-pitch sacrifices affordability for mobility. In other words if you are a beginner, go for fixed-pitch, if you are a more seasoned RC pilot and do not mind opening your wallet a little more wider than others than collective-pitch is for you.
For replacement parts, you need to find a local RC hobby shop, and trust me if you plan on getting into this hobby, plan on taking many, many trips to a shop and spending much more than just your breakfast money there. But once you find one, whether you’re a pro or a newbie, you will find the place beneficial as most of them offer magazines of the hobby, tutorials, training gear and even venues to get involved with your local community of RC helicopter pilots.
Okay. Let’s say you’re a beginner and you’re interesting in this hobby. What you need to do is now determine if you want to fly a fixed-pitch RC, which in actuality isn’t really a true helicopter as it could only hover and move forward, or if you want to go with the collective-pitch RC’s which are actual shrunken helicopters and can fly in all sorts of directions and can even fly inverted as Mr. Johnson flew his over my head that day in the park. Once you have made your decision, there are two types of RC helicopters you could buy, RTF or ATF. RTF stands for ready-to-fly and ATF mean almost ready-to-fly. RTF RC’s whether fixed-pitch or collective-pitch come with everything you need all in one package. For fixed pitch they range anywhere from $100 to about $400; for collective-pitch RTF RC’s look to spend anywhere from $350 to a whopping $1,500. If you’re wondering what an ATF RC helicopter includes they include nothing but the body of the RC helicopter and maybe just maybe all the parts minus the engines, batteries and the remote controller. Oh and there are no fixed-pitch ATF packages out there just because fixed-pitch RC’s are, well, cheap. ATF packages are for those who want to get into the nitty-gritty with their RC and build there own flying machine from scratch. If you are one of those, expect to spend anywhere from $1,000 to $5,000 but you may be able to just barely build one for around $900 but you will probably be uses some used parts in such a case.
Now let’s say you’ve chosen a package and it’s a collective-pitch RTF RC helicopter from the company Align. The package set you around $350 in the red and you can’t wait for the batteries to finish charging so that you could take her out to your park and start soreing. You have to be careful here though since you will not be able to fly for anymore than 15 minutes. Remember there are rules in this hobby now. One can never fly the RC helicopter for anymore than the maximum power of the battery on the chopper- usually 15 minutes- and one must remember to charge the battery at home for a whole 2 hours. That’s right, so don’t think you will walk to the park with your new chopper and spend the entire day there unless you have spare batteries to load up on. Now since this is a collective pitch RC, we are not going to go too high with it just yet. Start by placing her out in the open and moving about 10 feet away. Make sure the power switch is on your remote and begin to give the helicopter some thrust by pushing lightly and very lightly on the throttle. The helicopter will begin to want to spin on the ground. This is normal as long as it is not too much. As you give it more power, it will be to tilt to the right, this is also normal. Now you have sort of lightly jerk the throttle for more power so that you thrust the helicopter into the air but don’t jerk it too much or you’ll end up having to dig your helicopter out of the ground as too much collective power too fast will cause its blades to tilt too far and smash into the ground. After lightly jerking the helicopter it should have jumped up as if it were going to fly up. This means that the helicopter is ready to fly high. If it doesn’t do a little jump or hop, than the blades need adjustment. So now apply the same pressure on the throttle as you did before but this time once you see it hop, push the throttle harder for more power and watch as the helicopter flies straight up into the air. Now we need to land it. Lightly relieve pressure on the throttle, and gently bring the helicopter back down to the ground. You could do this by making sure that the helicopter is gradually coming down and not smashing down into the ground. The helicopter should then safely touch the ground and once it does so, let go of the throttle and congratulations, you have just flown your first helicopter.
So now what is the enjoyment one could get from these RC helicopters?
The very fact that one could control a flying machine could be one reason why people would spend the money on them. It is an interesting feeling to control something and make it fly for you. Perhaps it’s because of what Mr. Johnson said after his pause, “It’s a different point of view. Its like you’re looking at yourself from the ground and imaging yourself in that chopper flying around the air of a park, its quite satisfying, until you crash and cringe at the cost of the next repair of course.” He finished with a chuckle. Another reason would be because at least if you crash, you don’t get hurt or killed in the accident. In flying a real life helicopter, if you make a mistake in the controls, you will and can end up killed; actual helicopter pilots must dedicate countless time in simulators and training seminars, it is a much serious matter. But RC helicopters are here to stay and the future is bright for the hobby. Although it is an expensive hobby, it is worth flying one just to at least get a taste of what it is like to actually fly.
“Hey, Mr. Johnson.”
“Can I try?”
“Nope, get your own buddy.”
“Well, thanks for your time.”
“How can you see it?” I ask in interjectionally, as if I knew better than his experience.
“You don’t. You have to bring her down below the trees or launch higher.” He is standing to my right next to be almost yelling because of the buzz of the other helicopters. I then see the tiny helicopter bounce up of the blinding sun and fly straight towards us and then stop at about 100 feet over our heads. The man motions to me in my ear, “This is the finally.” He then lowers the throttle on his remote and lowers his T-Rex –the name of the RC helicopter- to the ground. With a couple of corrections he manages to land it about 7 feet away from where I’m standing, from it being 100 feet above our heads-at our zenith- to it being on the ground 7 feet from where I’m standing.
“That was awesome.” I comment as he walks towards it and picks it up.
“Now Mr. Johnson…” I ask him while I stand in front of him looking at the helicopter that was just 100 feet over my head.
“How long have you been in this hobby?”
“About five years.”
“How did you get into this hobby?”
“Well I always loved flying.”
“Have you actually flown in a real helicopter?” An RC helicopter buzzes over us at about 50 miles an hour 40 feet over our heads.
“Yes of course I have.”
“What is the major difference between flying a real helicopter and an RC?”
“Well, you’re on the ground most of the time in this hobby.”
“Yea, he, he, so let me ask you something.”
“Yep…” His attention was on his RC, something on the main rotor blade was distracting him.
“Is this hobby worth the all the money?”
“…” He then just looked up at another RC helicopter.
In the world of hobbies there are those that cost close to nothing and those that cost close to a second mortgage. Usually and quite often most people stick with hobbies that are affordable and that are worth the cost and return with benefits. Yet there are the brave few who dare stick to those hobbies that can run into a great expense over the course of time and in this case a very short course of time.
The case in this paper is the hobby of RC helicopters or radio-controlled helicopters. These are basically miniature helicopters capable of being controlled by a person on the ground via a radio controller. The person on the ground basically places the RC helicopter on the ground either indoor or outdoor- dependant of the RC’s pitch which we’ll soon get into- and with the flick of a stick on the remote watches as it takes off into the sky above. The person then has to guide the RC helicopter back to the ground without crashes and destroying the toy.
There are two major divisions in this hobby however, which is why in my opinion is why it still lends itself well for beginners and new people interested in the hobby. On one side of the table you have the fixed-pitch RC helicopters and on the other side you have the collective-pitch. Fixed-pitch RC helicopters sacrifice mobility for affordability while collective-pitch sacrifices affordability for mobility. In other words if you are a beginner, go for fixed-pitch, if you are a more seasoned RC pilot and do not mind opening your wallet a little more wider than others than collective-pitch is for you.
For replacement parts, you need to find a local RC hobby shop, and trust me if you plan on getting into this hobby, plan on taking many, many trips to a shop and spending much more than just your breakfast money there. But once you find one, whether you’re a pro or a newbie, you will find the place beneficial as most of them offer magazines of the hobby, tutorials, training gear and even venues to get involved with your local community of RC helicopter pilots.
Okay. Let’s say you’re a beginner and you’re interesting in this hobby. What you need to do is now determine if you want to fly a fixed-pitch RC, which in actuality isn’t really a true helicopter as it could only hover and move forward, or if you want to go with the collective-pitch RC’s which are actual shrunken helicopters and can fly in all sorts of directions and can even fly inverted as Mr. Johnson flew his over my head that day in the park. Once you have made your decision, there are two types of RC helicopters you could buy, RTF or ATF. RTF stands for ready-to-fly and ATF mean almost ready-to-fly. RTF RC’s whether fixed-pitch or collective-pitch come with everything you need all in one package. For fixed pitch they range anywhere from $100 to about $400; for collective-pitch RTF RC’s look to spend anywhere from $350 to a whopping $1,500. If you’re wondering what an ATF RC helicopter includes they include nothing but the body of the RC helicopter and maybe just maybe all the parts minus the engines, batteries and the remote controller. Oh and there are no fixed-pitch ATF packages out there just because fixed-pitch RC’s are, well, cheap. ATF packages are for those who want to get into the nitty-gritty with their RC and build there own flying machine from scratch. If you are one of those, expect to spend anywhere from $1,000 to $5,000 but you may be able to just barely build one for around $900 but you will probably be uses some used parts in such a case.
Now let’s say you’ve chosen a package and it’s a collective-pitch RTF RC helicopter from the company Align. The package set you around $350 in the red and you can’t wait for the batteries to finish charging so that you could take her out to your park and start soreing. You have to be careful here though since you will not be able to fly for anymore than 15 minutes. Remember there are rules in this hobby now. One can never fly the RC helicopter for anymore than the maximum power of the battery on the chopper- usually 15 minutes- and one must remember to charge the battery at home for a whole 2 hours. That’s right, so don’t think you will walk to the park with your new chopper and spend the entire day there unless you have spare batteries to load up on. Now since this is a collective pitch RC, we are not going to go too high with it just yet. Start by placing her out in the open and moving about 10 feet away. Make sure the power switch is on your remote and begin to give the helicopter some thrust by pushing lightly and very lightly on the throttle. The helicopter will begin to want to spin on the ground. This is normal as long as it is not too much. As you give it more power, it will be to tilt to the right, this is also normal. Now you have sort of lightly jerk the throttle for more power so that you thrust the helicopter into the air but don’t jerk it too much or you’ll end up having to dig your helicopter out of the ground as too much collective power too fast will cause its blades to tilt too far and smash into the ground. After lightly jerking the helicopter it should have jumped up as if it were going to fly up. This means that the helicopter is ready to fly high. If it doesn’t do a little jump or hop, than the blades need adjustment. So now apply the same pressure on the throttle as you did before but this time once you see it hop, push the throttle harder for more power and watch as the helicopter flies straight up into the air. Now we need to land it. Lightly relieve pressure on the throttle, and gently bring the helicopter back down to the ground. You could do this by making sure that the helicopter is gradually coming down and not smashing down into the ground. The helicopter should then safely touch the ground and once it does so, let go of the throttle and congratulations, you have just flown your first helicopter.
So now what is the enjoyment one could get from these RC helicopters?
The very fact that one could control a flying machine could be one reason why people would spend the money on them. It is an interesting feeling to control something and make it fly for you. Perhaps it’s because of what Mr. Johnson said after his pause, “It’s a different point of view. Its like you’re looking at yourself from the ground and imaging yourself in that chopper flying around the air of a park, its quite satisfying, until you crash and cringe at the cost of the next repair of course.” He finished with a chuckle. Another reason would be because at least if you crash, you don’t get hurt or killed in the accident. In flying a real life helicopter, if you make a mistake in the controls, you will and can end up killed; actual helicopter pilots must dedicate countless time in simulators and training seminars, it is a much serious matter. But RC helicopters are here to stay and the future is bright for the hobby. Although it is an expensive hobby, it is worth flying one just to at least get a taste of what it is like to actually fly.
“Hey, Mr. Johnson.”
“Can I try?”
“Nope, get your own buddy.”
“Well, thanks for your time.”
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