Traditionally RC helicopters have always been very complicated machines which have made them expensive and difficult to fly. With major changes in the hobby in recent years and a combination of remote control helicopters becoming smaller and more affordable, this has led to more RC helicopter pilots entering the hobby.
The Leicester Model Aero Club (LMAC) has an active group of Helicopter pilots who enjoy building and flying these remote control helicopters and we would only be too happy to assist in helping or advising on how to get into the hobby and what steps to take first.
As a group; the LMAC helicopter pilots generally meet on a Saturday morning at the LMAC flying site throughout the year. Helicopter flying is not restricted to just Saturday's however and you will often see helicopters flying all week around with many RC pilots flying both fixed wing and helicopters.
A very fast growing extension to the RC
Helicopter world is that of ‘mult-rotors’. These tend to have more than two
motors/rotors/propellers and are inherently more stable than collective pitch
helicopters. These come into their own for things like aerial photography and
flying from a first person view (FPV) perspective where the flyer actually
pilots the craft as if they were flying it, all via transmitted video signals.
Don't take our word for it, come and visit us at the Leicester Model Aero Club and come and see some of these fascinating models in action.
Are you interested in working towards your helicopter BMFA 'A' and 'B' Certificates? Again, the Leicester Model Aero Club can assist here and during 2013 we will be looking to schedule some dates by which Helicopters can work towards taking both their 'A' and 'B' certificates. More details will be published on these pages once a date has been set. In the meantime, take time to study the details of what both certificates comprise of and what you need to do to successfully attain these levels of flying.
BMFA Helicopter 'A' Certificate
BMFA Helicopter 'B' Certificate
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A selection of videos from some of the Helicopters on show at LMAC
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One of the common questions asked by most want to be / new RC Helicopter pilots is where do I start? Obviously depending on what level of experience you already have and whether you have a helicopter or not will determine how the question is answered. With the advent of Computer RC Flight Simulators though, it means you can practice the basics without evening hovering a real RC Helicopter and this is something which we would recommend new RC pilots invest in, not only for helicopters perspective, but fixed wing models too. There are two excellent RC Flight Simulators such as Phoenix and Real Flight where you can plug in your actual radio transmitter to practice on the many models which are available. There are many excellent videos on YouTube and similar which demonstrate RC Helicopters in action and some of the basics around how to control them. See how the radio stick movements control the helicopter :
(See the other videos in this series which help with other maneuvers)
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Interested in multi-rotors and First Person View Flying? The Leicester Model Aero Club have a growing number of members who are flying the model as if they were in it and would be happy to assist if this is the area of the hobby which you want to try. Again have a look at some of the video which can be captured from these mult-rotors flying from a FPV perspective: