How To Fly A RC Helicopter
Have you always been among the crowd of onlookers who gawk and squeal at every turn the flying bird makes but have now decided that it is high time you take over the controls of a radio-controlled helicopter and inspire a crowd of your own?
Lots of us love these flying helicopters, Selecting and purchasing the best rc helicopter that suits your heart's desire is the easy part. However, once the RC heli is yours and sitting on your table, beckoning you to fly it, this is where the hard part comes in. Mastering the art of flying a helicopter is daunting.
More often than not, you just take the controls in your hand, thinking it could not be that challenging and end up bumping your helicopter up and down until it crash-lands. You are not weird, and neither is your bird. It is the first attempt at flying a radio-controlled helicopter that is weird.
If you want some more practice before actually flying then check out some remote control flight simulators.
To smoothen your flying experience, here is a quick read on how to fly an RC helicopter. Carry on to make your first attempt easier.
Tips For Flying A Remote Control Helicopter
1. Check Your Radio Transmitter
Knowing the radio transmitter that controls the helicopter is as significant as playing with the radio-controlled heli itself. Check that all the sticks convey your command. For instance, if you push the throttle forward, it should smoothly swing forward in accordance with the command.
Increase the throttle stick. It should respond with an increase in engine speed and pitch on the swashplate.
2. Learn the Centre of Gravity
Keeping the center of gravity in check is essential. If the center of gravity concentrates in the bottom, the nose of your bird will tilt upward. Likewise, if the center of gravity is top heavy, it will cause the tail to go upward.
You can ensure the center of gravity is balanced by holding the toy by the middle of its rotor blades and tiling the blades so that one points down and the other up. To cut it short, a perfect center of gravity is when the helicopter is exactly perpendicular to the rotor blades.
In case your bird's center of gravity is imperfect, remove and place the battery pack in a more equidistant position.
3. Fixing Your Helicopter’s Rotor Blades
It is a must to check that the single nut and bolt holding the rotor blades are intact and neither under nor over tight. Any misstep over here can affect the functionality of your radio-controlled helicopter.
The blades should be so tight as to not move downwards by the pull of gravity. At the same time, they should be loose enough to move when the helicopter is shaken lightly.
4. Taking Things Slowly
You cannot be a pro at flying your heli in just a jiffy. It requires patience, practice, and hard work to be a skilled pilot. First off, while taking off for a flight, take things slowly. Do not apply too much throttle right off, as this will cause your bird to tilt or fall off. This is a must in learning how to fly an RC helicopter.
The initial power is called spool. A proper spool will get the blades turning, but the spool has to be halted as soon as the copter lifts in the air. For this, you need to lower the torque gradually. Give your bird a direction keeping in view the shift that the bird takes while airborne.
5. Tracking the Blades
Do not forget to adjust the blades. If the blades are off from one another, the helicopter will lift awkwardly and crash as a result.
To adjust the angles of the blades, cover the tip of each blade with a colored tape as the first step. Next, give your copter a little lift in the air. With your safety goggles on and at a safe distance of 10-20 feet from the machine, bend down to get to the same level as the bird.
If the angles are same, both blades shall overlap as indicated by the colored tapes. If not, the tape will show which is higher and which blade is lower so that you can fix it.
6. The Wind and the Controls
Always make sure that the copter is facing toward the wind if there is any. Next off, fly your bird by first learning each direction at a time and taking things slowly.
After reading this I hope you're more experienced and ready to start flying your rc helicopter. Go out there and have fun!
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