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Getting Started with Helicopters

If you've an interest in learning how to fly helicopters
then the news is good; learning to fly helis has
become a lot easier in recent years thanks to the
introduction of smaller, more stable
electric powered versions.

If you're starting from scratch though it's easy to
find a starting point to get into the learning curve.
It's now possible to make a one box purchase,
charge the flight battery and be hovering in the
comfort of your own living room in no time at all.

mCOX

Step by step you can learn and advance your skills with Blade

For learning to fly there's a clear path with the Blade range of helis. If
you have some RC experience and have mastered the orientation
issues of control you may be able to jump in further up the chain but
Blade caters for all levels of skill from zero to hero!

if you want


By and large the helis fall into two distinct types so far as ability levels
needed to fly them: single rotor types and contra rotating types.

The two basic types of heli - Counter-Rotating and Single Rotor

Counter-Rotating
The counter-rotating helicopter has two sets of main rotor blades that
rotate in opposite directions. The effect of this is to cancel out the
rotational torque of a single rotor which results in a model that is very
much more stable in the hover and easier to control. So much so that
models such as the Blade MCX and MCX2 are perfect beginners
helicopters that can be flown indoors, the slightly larger size CX2
and MCX Tandem also offer the same level of stability. In forward flight
they don't attain a great deal of speed but if you're learning, and
indoors, speed isn't something you need too much of.

CX2 Coxial Diagram

The Blade CX2's coaxial, counter-rotating blades cancel out the rotational torque that makes hovering a conventional heli so difficult for first-time pilots. They also make rudder turns much easier by simply slowing one blade or the other without sacrificing any of the inherent stability. This truly is a heli just about anyone can fly, right out of the box.

The mSR in a hover. A good next  step to move onto after a counter- rotating  heli but go slowly with it as  it’s a great deal faster and more agile.

Single Rotor
Single rotor heli's are more manoeuvrable than twin rotor types and far quicker. So once the basics of helicopter flying have been mastered you can advance your flying skills with a single rotor helicopter and the Blade mSR is the perfect helicopter for that next step. It's small (20mm rotor dia) so you can still fly indoors to acquaint yourself with it, but to get the best of it you have to really fly in a large space. That means outdoors unless you happen to own a large hall! Calm days will be needed, the mSR only weighs and ounce, otherwise you will be compensating for wind and not concentrating purely on learning to control the heli.

If you want to get plenty of stick time the slightly larger 120 SR will cope better with the type of conditions normally found outdoors, and ultimately the SR as the largest of the three at this level will cope with adverse conditions best.

One point to consider if you are learning still would be that the smaller helis like the mSR when flown outdoors over long grass will sustain much less damage than the larger versions when mistakes are made, they're pretty robust too, although not indestructible.

mCPX


Finally.....

Moving forward from here personal preferences may take you the scale route or to aerobatics, both most likely with larger helis, but by now your knowledge will be at a point where you be more than capable to make the decisions necessary to further your interest.

Blade mCX2, mCX

Never Flown? Start with a contra rotating heli

If you're completely new and have no experience of helis the
counter- rotating type has got to be your starting point. There's a lot
of coordination to get used to when learning to fly a heli and the
stability and slower speed of this type is ideally suited to letting you
get on top of that learning curve. They're small enough to fly indoors
so you won't have to cope with breezes whipping them off, and you
can keep all of your mistakes to yourself! The sheer stability of
these machines means that with no experience you can be hovering
one in a very short time.
Blade CX2, mCX Tandem, Blade mSR

Moving on from counter-rotating helis
Confident to move on from counter-rotating? mSR, 120 SR or the SR all make good next steps. You'll find them far more agile than counter- rotators and a lot quicker in flight so take care and learn slowly, step by step. The mSR is the smallest, best suited to flying indoors, the SR120 will cope with indoors and is a little less responsive to light breezes when flying outdoors. The SR although reasonably large in size is still primarily built with the improving novice pilot in mind.

12 SR, mCPX

Aerobatics - skills to aspire to
Fully aerobatic helis are what most pilots aspire to master and with the
growth of interest now in helicopters there's no shortage of choice . The
Blade 400 has proven to be a competent performer, while the mCP X
heralds in yet again a new era; that of the micro flybarless heli. Robust and
relatively inexpensive the mCP X can perform a considerable amount of
aerobatics such as Hurricanes, loops, funnels, rolls, inverted flight and is
great for both practicing and learning the skills.