Me and Remote Controlled Helicopters

Since I was a kid I have always wanted a remote controlled helicopter.

In our small town, kids my age in the late 1970s and early 1980s would cruise up and down Main Street in our cars. You weren't anybody unless you were seen in a car on Main Street come Thursday and Friday nights. I worked in a fast food restaurant just a block away from the action, but our restaurant was the place to hang out in between jaunts up and down the main drag, or when the munchies truly started to kick in. Some of the people who cruised Main were pretty cool, but others thought they were God's gift to mankind, and could be really rotten to other people. It was those sorts of people that gave me the idea of modifying a remote controlled helicopter so that it could carry, and release on demand, eggs. I fantasied about taking such a device up to the rooftops of the shops that lined Main Street, and sitting up there all night dropping rotten egg after rotten egg on the hotrods of all the other rotten eggs.

But technology back then couldn't support my dream. While there were RC helicopters at that time, they were expensive affairs that demanded a high level of skill to fly them. I couldn't afford either, so my dream of bombing Main Street, much like the cruising of Mani Street, eventually died off.

Eventually cruising Main was outlawed, but today lithium battery and micro motor technology has reached the point where small, inexpensive remote controlled vehicles of all types are available to the average Joe. Over the past year especially "micro helicopters" have hit the market in a big way. I bought my first small r/c helicopter several moths ago. It was this piece of crap that was damn near impossible to control, and had a battery that wore out in no time at all.

The next micro helicopter I bought was this little guy...

This is a nice little bird, but can be a challenge to fly. Once I got the hang of it I really enjoyed flying this little guy. It fits in the palm of my hand, and is billed as the world's smallest remote controlled helicopter. The only trouble I have had with it is that after a while I could no longer set the trim on it. It is necessary to set the trim on helicopters to prevent them from just spinning around and around. This particular little helicopter needs to be trimmed out after every charge. However, recently I just can't seem to get it trimmed, so it just sort of 360s around the room. I even bought another one thinking it was just an isolated problem, but nope, the second one does the same thing! I have even tried new tail rotors, but nothing seems to work.

Now THIS baby is great...

This is the Air Hogs Reflex micro R/C Helicopter. Another great little bird that rocks! This is by far the most maneuverable micro helicopter I have owned. The two little props on either side of the main rotor are how the helicopter turns, or moves forward or backward. It isn't the smoothest of helicopters in terms of maneuverability, but it does translate your input into some accurate maneuvers.

With my Picco I almost always hit a wall, or some other obstacle in the room. (All the helicopters I have shown you thus far must be flown indoors. The slightest gust sends them traversing across the universe.) The Reflex is so easy to fly by comparison that it almost never runs into anything. It takes longer to charge, averaging around an hour compared to the Picco's ten minutes, but it flies a little longer, and has a much more powerful main electric motor. I love this thing, and fly it as often as I can. I even take it to work sometimes so that I can fly it in the very large warehouse we have.

Here is what I would like to have next...

Have you ever seen anything so beautiful? It's the Walkera Dragonfly 35, and it is a completely different helicopter from what I have had up until now. It is much larger; almost two feet long with a wingspan of two feet, and is capable of perfect 3D maneuvers such as roll, inverted, and swoop flights. It is also much more expensive running as high as $500.00, but I have seen it on one website for as low as $189.00. All the other helicopters I have talked about are under $60.00.

The dogs aren't too thrilled about the helicopters flying around their house.In fact, they bark wildly at the things, and usually end up under a bed someplace. Ebby usually just ignores them, but Thalia, the Siamese Ninja, she tries to catch them. Goodness knows if she ever does snag one, I will be out one helicopter.