HOW MUCH DO THEY COST?

Prices vary from around £350/$500 for a good quality second hand 30 size with just about everything you'll need to get in the air, including some support equipment and a flight box to carry it all in, up to, and in some cases over, £2000/$3000 for a brand new top quality 60 size with just the bare essentials, such as a radio and engine. You'll need to think about spending even more on the support equipment such as we find in our field/flight box, 12volt battery, glo-leads and power panel and the absolute minimum you'll need..

WHERE CAN I BUY THEM ?

Most good model shops/hobby stores will sell helicopters, and some have a wide selection of second hand deals, but a store that specialises in helicopters is a much better bet. Choosing one of these stores normally, although there's no guarantees, gives you access to knowledgeable help from the staff, which you'll soon realise is difficult to put a price on. Check the Yellow Pages for your nearest hobby shop then go and talk to them. If your local store doesn't have at least an INTEREST in helicopters, find one that does before you "plunk" 

If you can't find a good shop/store locally, the Internet's a good source of information and there's more than a few places to buy on-line, but remember that dealing with a company on the other side of the world has it's disadvantages as well as it's advantages.

WHERE CAN I FLY MY HELICOPTER?

Well not in your front yard unless you know what you're doing and have GOOD insurance, and certainly not until you've learned how to fly, by which time you should be comfortably ensconced at your local flying site :-)

Again, your local hobby shop/store should be able to point you in the right direction. Most heli flyers are "groupies" and enjoy not only the flying, but the chinwagging that comes before. (And after and during:-)

These "groupies" can usually be found hanging around large expanses of grassland or deserted airfields, and your local hobby store will have a good idea of their location.

WHAT CAN I EXPECT ON MY FIRST TRIP TO "THE FIELD"?

If you introduce yourself to one or two of the flyers and tell them of your interest in helicopters, you'll more than likely be welcomed like a long lost son or daughter. If, on the other hand you turn up at "The Field" and skulk in a corner saying nothing to any-one, you'll probably be ignored, so what happens is up to you. Most helicopterists are more than happy to talk about heli's and even happier to show off their skills to FNG's, so take a trip to the field and don't be shy when you get there.

HOW DO I LEARN TO FLY?

Three basic methods have evolved over the years, these being:-

1 Fitting a set of training gear.

This is usually a long pair of sticks with "wiffle" balls on the stick ends, the whole thing being strapped to the original undercarriage in the form a large cross. This gives the helicopter a large "footprint" and makes it more difficult for the heli to fall over on it's side.

2 Get help from an instructor.

A good instructor is hard to find, but worth the effort in doing so. He can not only help you learn to fly, but can also coach you in the intricacies of the helicopter set-up and engine starting/running, not to mention the help he can give with the programming of the computer radios that are becoming almost mandatory these days.

3 Use a simulator.

Plenty of sims out there to choose from and although they're not cheap, they ARE good if used properly. By properly I mean as a training TOOL and not just as a toy. Simulators can give you the necessary experience regarding control movements and effects, but this experience should be tempered with the understanding that there ARE differences between simulated flying and REAL flying, not least the expense of a real life crash.

Use of a sim and an instructor together will have you flying in very short order and hopefully with little or no damage to your helicopter.

Which Simulator Should I Look At ?

Currently the CSM 3 in 1 sim is the favourite because of the quality of flight modelling. It's capable of being programmed to closely emulate your own model, and can be "flown" either with it's own controller unit or your own Transmitter. Even with the coming of the latest generation of sims which take advantage of "3D" graphics cards, the CSM is still regarded as having the best flight modelling although it lacks the visual punch of sims like RealFlight Deluxe and Tru-Flite, all of which now allow the use of your own Tx.

Using your own Tx allows you to use all the mixing functions of the Tx while you fly the sim, so you not only get the "flight" experience, you also get the necessary programming experience to get the most out of your Tx.

HOW DO I LOOK AFTER MY HELICOPTER ?

Keeping the heli clean will go a long way to keeping it flying. Dirty ball bearings or bushings will wear out more quickly than clean ones, and plastic gears, push rod guides and ball links also work better if kept clean.

Only "open" ball bearing need lubricating, not the "sealed" type. The sealed bearing are already packed with lubricant, and "oiling" them only serves to drive out the original lubricant leaving you with the task of CONSTANTLY oiling them thereafter. This "washing out" is achieved much faster if you use the spray lubes we all know and love to use, so avoid even touching them if you want long lived bearings.

Plastic to plastic mating surfaces (like a plastic ball end and a plastic ball link) need to be kept clean and oil free. Don't be tempted to lube these parts at all. If the links feel too tight, a gentle squeeze of the link while it's attached to the ball with a pair of pliers will ease the stiffness. (Mmm Nice!)

There are specialist tools available for this procedure, but the cost is hardly worth it if you only have the odd one or two links to deal with. However, if you have a "stable" of heli's to keep flying, then it's a different matter, but you wouldn't be reading this if you were already that far along in the hobby now would you:-)

WHAT HELICOPTER SHOULD I BUY?

One of the most frequently asked and difficult to answer questions. The reason being, there IS no real "Best-Buy". There are different helicopters for different needs and flying styles, although it's fairly safe to say that your first helicopter shouldn't be the most expensive on the market for obvious reasons.

To make the best and most informed decision, you should locate and talk to the people who are most likely going to be helping you, and that means a trip to your local flying site. If all the flyers are flying Shuttles, it makes sense to do the same, but if they're all flying X-Cell Pro II Pentium 700's, or Athlons, then ask what they STARTED with before spending your money. Very few flyers started out with top of the range heli's and most flying clubs will have a number of FNG's flying their "trainer" types and these are the helicopters you should be considering.

Remember, the cost of a small 30 powered heli will be a lot less than a full blown 60 both in the initial buying price and the running costs. The cost difference in fuel alone should also be taken into consideration.

As you progress in the hobby and become a better flyer, THAT'S the time to think about getting a bigger or better machine, but in the beginning, talk to your local flyers and take their advice.

WHAT RADIO SHOULD I BUY ?

This question is a little easier to answer. Buy the BEST that you can afford. Unlike the helicopter, the transmitter is not likely to get hammered into the ground during a crash (unless you whizz it up the field in a fit of pique through frustration:-) and as a result, it should last you for years, so it's best to spend as much as you can buying the best you can.

There are helicopter specific radios, aeroplane specific radios and "combination" radios which cater for both disciplines. If you think you may want to try your hand at planks sometime, go for one of the "combination" sets, although it's my opinion that even if you DON'T intend trying the "other" type of flying, it's still a good idea to go for the "combo" sets. 

One good reason is that if you want to sell it in the future, you have a wider "capture net" if the radio is good for more than just one model type. Fortunately the latest thinking from the manufacturers is to limit the "type specific" radios to the very top of the range sets, which aren't "usually" bought by new flyers.

There are various makes of good radios (Futaba, JR, Sanwa/Airtronics and others) and all are capable of doing the job well, so if the next question is "Which MAKE of radio is best" the answer is "The one you feel happiest holding and owning". I'm certainly not going to get into the Futaba v JR v Sanwa v The Rest argument, because there's no winning THAT one :-)

WHAT DOES A GYRO DO AND WHICH IS THE BEST

A gyro is a device that helps the flyer control the tail of the helicopter. Without one, the tail of the heli would swing left and right whenever the power is adjusted, or a gust of wind pushes the helicopter, all of  which makes flying very difficult, particularly in the beginning. The gyro takes most of the tail rotor work off the you, allowing you to concentrate on other things

Gyro's come in two types these days, one being an electro-mechanical device, the other being solid state, using piezo crystal technology. Due to a reduction in price and an increase in performance, the "piezo's" are now becoming the gyro of choice, even for first time flyers.

Even the piezo gyro's are seperated into two camps. The first camp being a kind of solid state version of the older electro-mechanical gyro's and the other camp being the "Heading Hold" type.

The heading hold gyro's have brought helicopter flying into a new dimension where the tail is held so well that flying backwards at speed is now only limited by the flyers ability to maintain orientation with the helicopter in unusual attitudes. This doesn't mean that you'll be able to fly inverted backwards auto's the first week though, that STILL takes at least a fortnight:-)

There's a growing number of Heading Hold gyro's now on the market. CSM, Futaba, JR,  Arcamax and a few others, so the choice between them will depend on availability and reputation.  CSM were the first to launch a heading hold gyro with their ICG360, and haven't sat back having since introduced the ICG540 which has more features and a simpler set-up routine, and as a user of the CSM, gyro's I can vouch for the performance