Hey Everyone,

I've been reading on here quite a bit. I've read about 30 of the 120 pages on that thread, and I've been trying to distill the information on it. Mostly, I'm trying to figure out what I should expect in terms of things I need to do right off the bat. What is it that I'll need to do (that isn't obvious for a novice) for it to fly well?

A little about me: I started with a S107G and have been flying that a LOT. I've become pretty proficient, (doing loops around table legs, through desks, and blowing out the candles after dinner, among other things) and I'm looking for something more. After a lot of reading on these forums, I've ordered a DH9116 and it's in the mail. I've seen different things about balance, adjusting the swashplate, etc before it'll fly right, but I'm sorry - I don't have the patience for 120 pages of thread reading

Any help will be appreciated - the snow just finally melted here in Fairbanks, Alaska, and I can't wait for some outdoor flying. The temperature just broke 55 degrees for the first time this season (which is WARM) and we're expecting a beautiful summer...

Thanks for the help!

Well, Scotticism101, first thing I'd advise is not to play with the tx program settings at all.

Charge it up and take it out for a flight and try to get it into a hover, preferably 1 metre off the ground (chest height). If it drifts in any direction, click on my name and download and printout my tech manual for the DH9116, it holds the procedure to get it to hover hands free (swashplate levelling).

Next is a "your choice" sort of thing, upgrade the battery to a 900mAh LiPo for better performance and a programmable charger like a Turnigy Accucell 6.

Other than those suggestions, you don't need anything else, except an area without trees or buildings and never any wind.

Oh and above all else, have fun with it.

If at a later date you get into trouble or need some help with it, please join us the "Double horse 9116 Heli" thread and put you query to the faithful there, we'll have you sorted in no time.

Best advice is to go read the blog by stormforce - it has a awful lot of the information from the marathon thread condensed and since he posted most of that to begin with, it's pretty accurate. If I had to point to my biggest learning hurdle with it was the fear of getting it too far off the ground when in reality, getting it out of the grounds effects makes it much, much easier to handle. If you immediately get it flying over some grass, it's almost impossible to do any serious damage even with a hard landing.

Thanks for the help guys - the heli came in about 2 weeks ago finally, but for the FIRST time we've had a day that's not super breezy. Go figure.

I put it through 2 batteries; had a good time, started getting the feeling of it, and only broke a small piece of canopy that I can fix easily (a gust came out of nowhere and took it WAY up. I was concentrating so much on bringing it down without dropping it 40 or 50 feet that I ran it into a railing when I did get it down...) so all in all a good day. Definitely not very tolerant of ANY wind unless you're headed straight into the gust...

Anyways, looking forward to posting some pictures/video soon!