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An RC helicopter is the ultimate grown mans toy. It is quite common to find full grown adults in the park enjoying this activity and actually taking it as seriously as any other sport. Serious enthusiasts will spend years building up their collection and an arsenal of tools. Building an remote control helicopter from scratch is something of an art and there are fliers who will spend days or even weeks assembling their helicopter. And for some the joy comes from the build rather than actually flying the aircraft.
An RC helicopter is a type of model aircraft. The flier uses a hand held controller to move and maneuver the heli in the air. This control works using a transmitter to send signals to the aircraft. The mechanical operations of the bird can be quite complicated as some of them are exact miniaturized versions of a real life one. Learning how to operate one can be difficult especially with the bigger, more expensive and more complex machines. It takes lots of practice to perfect ones skills. There are however smaller versions available that are cheaper and easier to handle and this type of bird can even be operated by children as young as 7.
These machines are powered using nitro, electric batteries or gas turbines and petrol. Nitro is the most popular option as the engines tend to be more powerful and can maintain continuous flight for up to 12minutes. Unfortunately, it is quite noisy and does emit a foul smelling gas from its exhaust which means it can only be used outside. Nitro is also very expensive to buy. The electric RC helicopter is quieter and cheaper to buy than its nitro counterpart. The lack of fuel costs also means it is cheaper to operate and maintain. Flight times for this aircraft range between 4-12minutes. A gas powered helicopter tends to be larger than other versions. This is an advantage as larger birds are more stable and easier to handle in windy weather conditions. Gas powered models are best suited to a flier with more experience and skill. Their disadvantage is that they cant handle 3D aerobatic maneuvers.
Helicopters also come with different pitches (angle of the blade) and this affects the lift of your aircraft. Fixed pitch models are cheaper and easier to maintain. Collective pitch models have a much smoother flight but are much harder to learn and do require regular maintenance.
Commercial applications for an RC helicopter include remote observation, policing and filming. The military even uses them as spy planes or drones. A camera can be fitted onto the aircraft and used by a man on the ground to take low attitude photographs or even monitor criminal activity.
The world of the RC helicopter is growing every day and so are the uses. In recent years the manufacturing costs have come down which has seen a reduction in purchasing costs and the cost of maintenance. So now this hobby is easily available to most people.
