Specifications

Chapter 3. First Helicopter Selection Guide

3.1. Things to consider when selecting your first helicopter

• Durability

• Price of replacement parts

• Availability of replacement parts

• Size

The reason for this is: when you are learning to hover, you will crash. This is a given. Everyone

crashes. When you crash, you do not want to spend a fortune repairing the helicopter, be-

cause everyone has limited funds. When you crash, you do not want to wait forever for re-

placement parts, because every day you spend waiting for a part is a day you are not flying the

helicopter, and learning something.

Size is very important, because larger helis are more stable and easier to hover. They have

more inertia, so they move slower and they give more warning of their intent. Micro helis are

more difficult to hover because they are very skittish and wander off in a new direction with

very little warning of their intent. Larger helis are not any easier to fly, though.

If you live in an area like Seattle where it rains almost continuously for nine months of each

year, I would recommend a fixed-pitch Piccolo. Otherwise the Lite Machines Corona is the best

electric trainer available today. The Corona is very stable and acts like a much larger heli-

copter, so it is nearly ideal for learning hovering.

To make a plane analogy, the Corona is basically the Slow Stick of R/C helicopters. It has a

simple fixed-pitch rotor design which is very durable, and usually receives very little damage (if

any) in most beginner crashes.

You may be tempted to buy an aerobatic 3D helicopter for your first helicopter. This is a bad

idea, because aerobatic helicopters are usually much less stable. They are usually designed

with a high center of gravity and very sensitive controls so they can roll and flip faster for aero-

batic moves.

Think of this plane analogy: if your were an R/C airplane beginner, should you buy a hotliner

for your first plane?

Be sure to purchase your helicopter from a shop that carries a full line of replacement parts

and can ship replacement parts quickly. When you are learning to hover it's virtually guaran-

teed that you will crash a few times, and when you do you will want replacement parts ASAP.

Any R/C helicopter for which you cannot buy replacement parts is not properly repairable, and

is basically a paperweight.

Also, lithium-polymer batteries are fragile and easily damaged in helicopter crashes. For this

reason, we do not recommend using lipo batteries on your first helicopter. Some helicopter are

not flyable using NiCad and NiMH batteries, and require lipo batteries, and therefore these

helicopters are not recommended for beginners.

Also, GET A SIMULATOR. Even a free simulator such as FMS will save you at least 100 dol-

lars or so in replacement parts when learning hovering.

The Walkera helicopters are not recommended for beginner helicopters because the electron-

ics are of very poor quality. Various problems which have been reported include: