Helicopter tuition is carried out in the Robinson R22 Beta, a two seat, piston engine Helicopter. With over 3000 machines produced and 20 years in the training market the R22 is one of the most popular training machines and certainly one of the most reliable.

In order to maintain a stationary hover, the helicopter must be tilted just a little bit to the right. This is because the tail rotor, in addition to keeping the helicopter pointed in the right direction, also happens to provide a little bit of sideways thrust (after all, it's just a big propeller pointed sideways). To counteract the tail rotor's sideways thrust, the main rotor needs to be tilted slightly to the right.

Technically speaking in the US you can fly any helicopter less than 12,500 lb. (that is BIG!) In real life the insurance companies call the shots. They will assess each individual depending on their total helicopter time and their time in similar type of aircraft, e.g. turbine or piston. Once you meet the minimum requirements they usually will insure you if you get 5 or 10 hours of instruction in the type you wish to fly. In fact all the controls work the same in flight.

Being successful with an R/C Helicopter requires dedication and patience. One of the reasons that model helicopters are difficult is because the very first maneuver that you're going to learn is an advanced maneuver... hovering! All "successful" helicopter flights start and end with a hover and that is one of the keys, being able to successfully control your machine in a hover. There are people that have learned to fly a helicopter, at a novice level, in less than a month..

Initially, an airplane is easier to fly. A helicopter is less stable and will not fly if the pilot takes his or her hands off the controls. However, once you get the feel of it, it is like riding a bicycle - you do it without thinking.

Yes. But as far as we are aware none can sustain inverted flight. There are many remote-control helicopters that fly upside down for prolonged periods so it is aerodynamically possible. It requires a lot of power and a lightly loaded helicopter to even loop a helicopter. Aerobatic flight is prohibited in most normal helicopters - most pilots are more comfortable with the fuselage firmly suspended from the rotor system.

There are new helicopters being produced every year, and old helicopters are being retired from production to make room, so this document cannot recommend a specific make or model. However, it can offer a few ideas that will hopefully make your decision easier. First, no matter which helicopter you buy these days, if you build it according to the instructions, it will serve you well. Each design has its own strengths and weaknesses, it's own die-hard fans and detractors.

According to the FAA, in 2004, there were 27,135 active helicopter pilots. That includes 5,912 private pilots; 18,062 commercial pilots; 3,161 airline transport pilots; and one recreational pilot.

At the present time there is no official helicopter training program. There are several very highly qualified helicopter pilots in the club who can assist you in getting started.

You will have to obtain a licence in the Ultralight or Aeroplane category, the most expedient choice being either the Ultralight or Recreational Pilot Permit. You will be exempted from the written exam for an Ultralight Pilot Permit but not for a Recreational Pilot Permit. There is no credit for your flight time.

No, it is not particularly difficult and it is not necessary to learn the fixed wing before you learn the helicopter. You will do most of the actual flying (i.e., handling the various controls) from the beginning be it a helicopter or a fixed wing.

With the Raptor 30, a 5 channel 5 servo helicopter radio will make the set-up and flying of your helicopter much easier. If you want the best possible radio system, a computer type radio such as the JR XP-662 or better with a helicopter airborne pack is the best overall choice. Also, the addition of a rate Gyro will help make your helicopter more stable in yaw.

Once again, there is a heli-pad on the north part of the second island. It is on the roof of the police station. If you can't find it, purposely get yourself busted and simply find the stairs to the roof after you get out of jail. Note: Some times the helicopter is not there. Leave and then come back in a couple minutes.

Fly-bars are a natural for helis in that they change the lift vector of the rotor, allowing directional flight to occur without changing the body tilt angle (neglecting the inertial forward motion). Gyros use direct control of the rotor to accomplish the same effect by tilting the body (Cierva) or the rotor itself (Bensen), saving a lot of weight and complexity. The autogyro came before the helicopter, and the original gyros had -no- flybars.

The current prototype cannot hover. Since our concept involves the rotor being in autorotation for cruise flight, there was no need to make the prototype a helicopter. It is part autogyro/part airplane. However, an autogyro can still takeoff and land vertically, provided it has a prerotator, a high inertia rotor and a collective control for the rotor, which the CarterCopter has. Most rotorcraft operations do not require hover, only that they can safely take off and land with zero roll.

Most of the helis on the market today are all good. With any helicopter the good experience you have is almost entirely proportional to how well the helicopter is built and setup. That is why it is so important for people starting out to get help from someone that understands how to best set one up for the flight level you are at. I see this all the time, but just as an example we will use the one from last weekend. It was a JR Venture and it was in need of a little help.

Often times the battery is used to help get the CG (center of gravity) of the helicopter under the main shaft. So in this case the size/weight of the battery is choosen to balance the helicopter. On the Raptor 30/50 a 1700mah 'A' size 4 cell pack works great. I used one of these on my Raptor 60 and it also worked good but on the 80/90 (longer tailboom) or if you use a rear tail mount then you may need to use a sub-c size pack.

If you're completely new to radio-controlled helicopters, you will find the assistance of an experienced flier very useful. Learning how to control a helicopter is difficult enough in and of itself; the same is true for tuning your engine, making necessary adjustments to your helicopter, and so on. Doing all of these things at once is a headache even for seasoned pilots. Doing all of these things at once is going to be a migraine headache for a novice.

We generally recommend that you start with a .30-sized or .50-sized helicopter (.30 copters use engines with 0.30 cubic inches of displacement). There are several different models to choose from which are all good for beginners - the Hirobo Sceadu .30 & .50, the Thunder Tiger Raptor .30 and .50, the Century Hawk, and the JR Venture are all popular models. The .30-sized machine is less intimidating to the new pilot, the initial cost is less, the cost to repair the machine is also less.

The FAA no longer tracks rotorcraft pilots by gender. Whirly-Girls, an international organization of female helicopter pilots, had 1,374 registered members as of 2006 (see www.whirlygirls.org). Whatever the number, there could always be more, and Quantum actively encourages women with an interest in helicopters to pursue pilot training.