RC helicopters go video games one better - unlike images on a computer screen heli's really do fly—subject to the laws of physics. But helicopters can almost bend those laws. Pilots who really know how to fly can make them do things that have to be seen to be believed. And average flyers turn heads as the machines hover in mid-air and fly above 25 feet.

If you crash there may be damage to repair before you fly again. So in the beginning it is smart to take it easy and go slow. Every flight should follow a flight plan. The pages in the 'Learning to Fly' area of this web site cover recognized, basic flight maneuvers. When you know what you are going to do before you take off—and stick to your plan—you reduce the chances that you will crash. (Some heli nuts that will not be named wish they had known this in the beginning!) After you fly, think about everything that happened until you are sure you understand why it did.

If you have not flown RC a co-axial heli is a good choice for your first bird. It is easier to fly, flies indoors, and costs less—to buy and to repair—than most single rotor helicopters. For most people a co-axial helicopter offers plenty of challenges for some time. Sooner or later a lot of folks are going to wonder what flying single-rotor helicopters is like, but for indoor flying and Winter weather RC sport co-axial heli's are great.

If you decide a co-ax just won't do and you are going to fly a single rotor design, more power to you. The pages that deal with single rotor flying are for you. Yours truly started with a co-axial heli because an E-sky Lama was the first RC helicopter to get my attention. Looking back and speaking for myself, it was the right way to go. I had a blast learning the directions of flight and co-ordinating the control sticks. Then when I started trying to fly a single rotor heli, I had a foggy idea of what I was trying to do.

Many RC'ers will tell you that a computer flight simulator program (Sim) is nothing less than essential to fly RC helicopters. Although those of us who learned sport flying without one may demur, learning aerobatics will be considerably less expensive if your first inverted moves are done on a simulator.

In time your skills will grow. Things that seemed hard, even impossible, will become normal, everyday flight maneuvers. Of course the next level will seem just as hard as basic flight did in the beginning—with one difference: you know you can figure it out. That's why flying helicopters is so intriguing. There is always another level.

More flying information on the Internet:

RADD's School of Rotary Flight

Walkera/Hirobo helicopter flying school

Finless Bob's Flight Videos (Join HeliFreak.com for free.)

Freestyle 3D - expert personal RC flight instruction

Flight Simulator for the Macintosh

Search for your model on YouTube.com to see how other RC pilots fly it. Watching and analyzing newbies, beginning, and intermediate RC heli pilots is instructive. There are also experts whose flying skills are breath-taking and inspiring.

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Beginners in the San Francisco Bay Area can visit some of the Helicopter enthusiasts on this web site for help, flying lessons, set-up tips and flying.

Mac users have fewer options for computer flight simulators. Mac heads are therefore welcome to download a sim by control + click on this link:AlphaMac sim (36 mb)

It will be necessary to purchase this program but the price is modest compared to the better-known sims running on the PC.