Beginner

[wilton0]

I'm very interested in helis,what would be a good heli to start on? I plan on having an instructor,I would like to purchase a heli that would tame to a beginner or go wild with a pro,if any exsist,in this family. Any advice would be nice! thanks! P.S. nitro only!!!!!!

[robdoyle]

Boy what fun. I would recommend starting off with a simulator. Such as Real Flight G2. In all practicality, it would be less expensive to learn ORIENTATION this way. This way you would think less about crashing and concentrate more on training your fingers to fly.

The most important thing with a simulator is to pretend its a real helicopter and try to keep from crashing it. Otherwise you get into a bad habit mode and doink the real thing. I remember after only 1-2 months (about 30 min a day) practicing with the simulator. I was able to hover the first time in a real rc heli, without the need of training gear. the following two weeks i was doing nose in flight and simple aerobatics (loops/rolls).

If this isn't the way you want to go and rather go with the real thing. I would have to recommend a plastic heli. Like the Raptor, Shuttle or Nexus. 30 size of course. Although, I would personally get the Thunder Tiger Raptor 30 ARF (about $379 street price). Or if you want to build it yourself with help of an experienced person $250 for the kit alone.

The reason most people recommend the plastic type copters (in the case of the Raptor) is because the parts are very inexpensive to replace and most hobby shops stock the items you need. A basic crash kit is only $50 which contain most of the parts you would need to replace in a simple (hehe) crash.

Just remember, most people crash when trying to learn to fly (even more so afterwards). I've doinked 3 helicopters in the ground in the six months i've been flying. Just take your time. Keep from showing off (ugh) in front of friends and be patient. Flying heli's is a very fun and expensive hobby, but cheaper than other things people get in to.

Big Rob
Long Beach, CA