As a heli flyer I appreciate someone in the drone community trying to get more people familiar with the hobby!!! I would recommend probably looking more into the basics of heli flying and maybe trying out a simulator first. some of these machines, including that 300, can severely hurt yourself or someone else if not careful. Good luck!
100% this. I love my helis but the learning curve is steep. The simulator is your best friend when learning. The bigger ones like the 330 can really hurt you. Also, learn to love fixing them because you will be doing that a lot.
I concur. I never began with a quadrotor, only small co-axial rotor helis, then fixed pitch then CP and Nitro CP. Due to the cost and power of large electric helis I'm happy with 450 size electric - my Raptor 30 fulfils the need for a larger RC helicopter for me. Just need to find somewhere private to fly it here in the UK because I don't agree with all that CAA registration malarkey. We're not all terrorists who need to fly them straight into the compressor of a passing 777, nor do we want Amazoogle to have sole rights to sub 400 AGL airspace...
@@TachyonDriver Yep I started in 1978 pre gyro's and ended up with Align 700s and I love Steves drone videos but to be honest I was cringing a bit with him flying helicopters sooo close as even the very small ones can do a lot of damage, it might give people a false sense of safety flying them that close especially the 330 he was flying. These videos that Steve does are great ut remember the safety aspect.
I second/third/fourth/whatever the simulator first thing also. The beginning of the video makes true helicopters sound like a single rotor quadrotor as far as skill required and it's just not true. With a gyro stabilized drone, you can literally turn your back on the machine for significant periods of time and it'll still be roughly in the same place as when you looked away for the most part. Even a minor mistrim of the main rotor in a heli during the hover, you look away and you just created a dirt torpedo. Helicopters are NOT trivial to fly and it's a near truism that people buy helicopters thinking "pffft, I have 20 years of fixed wing under my belt, I'll be fine" and end up coming back the next morning for a crash kit. Lol! I did the same thing. I still vividly remember thinking to myself "why does this thing seem so uncontrollable?". All it was, was my brain didn't understand the mechanics of the hover yet. A good sim is worth the price of a few crash kits and it allows you to learn the hover (And every non crash flight starts with a hover and ends with a hover... Unless you're doing max pitch explosive launches anyway. :P) with no risk at all. Once I realized how helpful they were, I started using mine even once I was a fairly decent pilot just because you can use it to perfect stuff and try new stuff without any real consequence. CRASH! Hit the spacebar and tada! New $5000 high end 3D heli! :)
I was told 25 or so years ago, to learn to fly a rc helicopter, it is a lifetime achievement! (He was right!). Only after I learned, I truly appreciate & admire ALL 3d heli pilots! 👋👋👋
After 5 years flying drones, I tried to fly an helicopter a few months ago. Let me tell you, I have a lot of respect for helicopters and model plane pilots. When I am flying drones, I can relax. As a matter of fact, I started flying drones as therapy to deal with my PTS and anxiety. I can’t fly helicopters, I get really anxious 😂😂😂
I recently got into RC planes, and i got a carbon cub S2. Its a very nice beginner friendly plane, and after some practice and 5-6 fllights i got more confident and i find it very relaxing now. Note: It also has stabilisation modes, making it easier to fly especially in wind.
@@jfivecoat This is absolutely true. A plane and a drone both want to fly and will do it without any input. A heli is afraid of heights and fights to get back to the ground the whole flight ;)
With hundreds of hours in real helicopters....It took me a long time to learn to fly the RC version. Its not easy by any means. But ..once you do, its a blast .
I wondered about similarities...I've flown RC helis for years, scale type flight, and considered taking lessons on the real thing. probably zero head start I'd guess.
@@TheBikersurgeon other than the expanse, it's the best flying ever I would suggest you get your fixed-wing license first and then get an helicopter add-on rating
@@914va man...if I had the money an ultralight would be heaven honestly. I love fpv cuz it gets me in the air, free, but to actually be up there must be so much better.
In real helicopter, front is always the nose and back is always the tail. But on rc, it changes. Also I kinda wonder how would it be to fly 3D on real helicopter, It would be really disorienting and fun as long as G forces are comfortable I guess
It's actually piloting, not having a computer do all the work. Another reason why actual hobbyists kinda clown on "drone pilots" fpv guys even clown on them. If you have to use stabilization or gps, your not really the "pilot".
Yeah, flying a racing quad line of site, acro, which is what he is referring to, is very similar to an rc helicopter. The only difference for me is on RC helicopters the yaw is more willing to turn the craft, whereas the quad is quick in pitch and roll. I switch between the two very easily. No one cares about Mavic “pilots”
@@10fantic I begged a differ! The whole point of any hobby is to have fun! Many people chuck the helicopter hobby because without stabilization, These things crash and cost shit loads of money to fix. And yes, they break far easier than quadcopters. Stabilization has made the hobby more accessible to many new pilots. Did you know that many if not all jet liners use stabilization. Its call auto pilot!
@@johnnytrongaming Buddy, it's almost impossible to master. Unless you want to focus exclusively on RC Helicopters (the ones with no GPS), it's no fun honestly for a hobbyist.
Tip for practicing nose in hovering: follow the heli with cyclic. If heli moves to you, back stick. Etc. All movement of cyclic with nose in that follow the heli will stabilize it.
With flybarless choppers it’s either the flybarless unit that you can adjust or possibly set the expo for a bit more mellow on the control inputs to outputs.
Yes and requires far greater skill. Heli's now that is an RC Pilot with skills. In the 70's you had to fly the tail yourself with the left stick and no gyros.
yes! Quads are very Boring for me. no Offence to folks that Like them.. lol btw I had a Blade Ncpx back in 2012 before Safe mode. it was fun for back yard flying. then Last Year got a Mcp s seen Safe mode on the Box was like wtf! Drone mentality is Taking over! ok I will Just avoid that mode. well I had an Old Dx6 with only 0 and 1 switch so I was stuck with what I call Drone Mode on 0 and the Old Normal on 1 no. I Had to Buy a New Radio was a bit Pissed lol. I Just Missed the Hobby and wanted one Cheap Heli to fly. and Because people are getting more Lazy I had to fork out $ for a new remote..
I was more of a heli repairman than a heli pilot for my first few weeks. Of course they have come along way since the esky honeybee king days. LoL. Dual rates were my best friend and dialed down the collective throw too.
On the 3rd Larger Heli, it was flying in what's called Acro mode on your quads. For every action you'll need an equal and opposite reaction because it's not going to self level ever. If you pitch forward 20 degrees and release the stick it'll continue forward at 20 degrees until it crashes or the battery dies, whichever comes first. If you can fly your quad in acro mode line of sight you can handle this mode
Nice job Steve, I have been flying helis for seven years and the key to not crashing as much is learning to maintain your orientation as you said. Flying a heli especially a 3D one is not like flying a quad. It is best to learn on a simulator first. I would recommend the FW Flywing 450 heli, it has GPS.
Forst Heli for lots of crashing I recommend the XK K110, then go up to the Omphobby M1 once you are more confident. 450 class is great and the Fly wing with GPS really good.
I've converted from collective pitch helos to drones and haven't flown CP in a couple years. But one word of advice is to practice on computer sims as much as possible. Bigger helos are easier to fly but are a lot more expensive to fix.
I was taught to take-off and land in normal mode. This way, in normal mode on the ground, you can let the main rotor build up speed more slowly. It won't wobble as much and the tail won't wag as much. Once the head speed stabilizes, lift off to clear ground effect. Climb to a hover at 5-6 feet. Your collective (also controls throttle (head speed)) left stick will be in the middle or slightly above. When you're in a stable hover, move to stunt 1 or 2. The transitions will be much smoother and it should feel more controlled. Transition back to normal mode a few feet above your landing site. Then you can slowly lower the left stick. It won't slam down like it does in stunt modes. Just MHO. :-)
I would never startmy heli idle up. This guys just learnin still lol. But he explained it perfect. Left out the fact that u domt start flying the heli in CP for most people
As Connor Cain said, master the tail-in orientation first. There's a saying in heli-land; don't know if it's also in plane- or drone-land: "Always fly at least 3 mistakes high". Make it an autonomic reflex to get to tail- in QUICKLY at the first sign of trouble. And always fly through gnat swarms. Bug-streaked blades are a like trophies.
Before i got into quads, i flew those toy twin prop sets coaxial helicopters which were simple to fly. Thought I could handle a bigger heli so stupidly jumped straight up to a 6 channel Walkera 🤣. What was i thinking? First flight it disintegrated in 3 seconds flat! Lesson learnt and respect to helicopter pilots
Here is a tip for the blade 330 if you're a newbie. If you're raidio will let you program exponential into pitch roll and yaw it helps. Program in to where it feels comfortable to you, as you get better slowly program it out. Some people like to leave just a little expo in. It's all personal preference as to what feels good to you. If you're hard core you don't want any.
I started with helis then moved on to drones once they hit the market. Helis got too expensive to crash and rebuilding was complicated. My biggest achievement was learning to auto rotate them down.
Before all the 3axis gyro stuff when I was learning, when all you had was head hold gyro in the trail, I found the bigger the heli the more stable it was. 450 is a good size to learn on real flight skills (after flying simulator), big enough to be stable and visible, but not ridiculously expensive to repair. I started flying helis then moved to fixed wing which was a cake walk.
Same here, learned to fly R/C heli on a good old gas powered model with a mechanical (flywheel) gyro. Learning with only a tail gyro meant *days* of practising a careful hover above the ground trying to keep the thing stable and in one place, often using a training hoop to keep the craft from tipping over. Then you'd try careful turns in place. Finally taking the thing a little higher and going to forward flight was a major milestone.
Reminds me of the first time I tried a helicopter. It is (still have it) the Blade that has the two counter rotating blades and balance bar. The owner of the hobby shop put the trainer ping pong ball landing gear on it and flew it inside the hobby shop with customers and all kinds of models hanging from the ceiling. It flew beautifully for him. I brought it home and put it on the dining room table took off and flew straight across the room into a bead chain on the over head light. Learned how to change blades and adjust linkage to blades in first day.
For beginners i recommend the XK Helikopters!! Before flight you should lower the values of the Servos in the transmitter. Then just choose a day with no wind and try! You can crash, its not that easy to break them!!
I have an xk 130 and if you crash, you just have to change the gear, sometimes spindle, and if you didn't press the hold, tail motor could be burned, so not a big deal in comparison with bigger models
I flew helis for years. When drones came out, I dropped the helicopters like a bad habit. So glad I did. Helicopters are the #1 biggest pain in the ass in the RC world. So finicky. I have had two 450's that literally self destructed during flight, no pilot error those times either. That was when I quit, for the last time. Drones are so easy and fun to fly, I enjoy them so much more.
Enjoyed that video, thank you! I'm just starting in drones, I did become an expert at fixing helicopters, I crashed alot!. "Idle up" is the way to go, faster the head speed the more stable I found. Thanks again .
You are doing very very well. Normally a first-timer would not be flying back and forth before learning hovering in all directions. The joy one feel the first couple of times buzzing around and landing without crashing.
Couple of things. I've been flying R/C helis for 20 years. Collective pitch helis use throttle/pitch mixing. The more pitch you have the more throttle/RPM/Power needed to keep the blades spinning. When the blade RPM slows too much you lose cyclic control. When you fly in idle up or "stunt" mode you set your pitch mixing to have roughly 50% throttle in the center with a blade pitch of 0 degrees and +100 stick at a blade pitch of +9 and at -100 stick a blade pitch of -9. Doing this allows you to fly upside down, and do a stunt type of flying known as "3D". 0 blade pitch allows you to have cyclic control through maneuvers like rolls, piro flips, stall turns, etc.
As my story goes: this is what I flew before I got into drones. 3D heli (350) and the Phantom came out and I scoffed at it. Now you've got me itching to get another heli. ("much like a drone" no, no not at all)
Cap I think we are both on the same wave length cuz i got myself a tiny helicopter on Friday and low and behold you surprise me with this video. Your small one is a giant to mine lol. You are the best. Keep them coming Cap.
Hey, I've been flying helis since I was a child and the easiest way to learn them it to stick with hovering them tail in as that's the easiest to orientate. You keep doing tail in until you can hold it dead still in the hover like it's painted in the sky. Once you do that you can rotate the Heli 45 degrees either to the right or left and then stick to that until it's dead still. You you keep repeating this process while rotating 45 degrees each time until you get to the Hardest orientation for most which is nose in hovering. I should also stress that if you want to learn helicopters properly safe mode is useless you need to learn with no stability to get the true feel of a Heli and how to react to it's movements. If you take your time and learn how to hover in all of those orientations then you're pretty much good to go with flying circuits. It does take a lot of time and patience especially without safe but it's better in the long run. I learned before flybarless was even a thing. Also I noticed you fly with your thumbs so I'd add some expo into your cyclic to tame down the stick at the centre to Help you. I hope that helps :)
Thats great advice. The expo thing especially, its always nice to set up a gentle curve. Hell, I use a curve on my drones too, set it soft near the neutral hover point and give it a nice sharp punch at the ends for stunting.
@@NeoIsrafil you've got it exactly. People also forget that a Heli should be setup for your flying style not everyone is the same. Though it is good to have a solid baseline and then you can tweak.
My favorite practice routine was always pirouetting hover and circuits. I've sit and burned 5 gallons of fuel just pirouetting in place and doing big pirouetting circles around the yard.
@@mckrackin5324 yep exactly I suppose everyone finds a way they find easiest to learn. I always tell new people to buy a Heli that has cheap parts and can handle a few crashes without breaking parts everytime then they don't have the money side of things coming into it.
Appropriate Shirt for the task. Military taught me that Jeep is an acronym for Just Enough Education to Pass. I had helicopters 14-16 years ago and had moderate success. The technology has caught up to the hobby. It is "easy-to-use" compared to the basic gyros that were add-ons in those days. I build a fly Freestyle and Cinematic as a hobby now. It's day and night. I have owned RC pretty much everything. Boats, trucks, gas and electric cars, planes, and some other weird things. I gave never lost my love for RC anything.
The little Blade Nano is the best rc helicopter to learn to fly and learn 3D on because it is a full collective pitch helicopter that can do most everything a larger more expensive heli can do. Because it’s so small and light weight in crashes it doesn’t do much damage and when there is damage repair parts rarely cost more than $10 US. You crash a Blade 230S, 330S (450 size)or larger it will be far more expensive to make repairs to get your bird back in the air.
I have an Align Trex 500 and a Blade 450X. Both are fitted with a Revolectrix CoPilot II stabilizer system. Primitive by todays standards but this bit of kit really works. I'm not sure if the company still makes the CoPilot II or even still exists. If you want to fly helis with 'training wheels', this is what you need. Be warned it only works in daylight, even then it needs cloudless skies to 'read' the ground and sky to get its stability.
Excellent performance for the first two days flying RC Heli drones. I love all your reviews on drones. And this one top notch as well. BTW: I just purchased the 330 myself. You did just fine!
Brilliant it is difficult to fly these, tried for ages and lost my patience, but maybe things have changed but it was a struggle for me . Bought myself DJI pro 2 love it and can enjoy all the technology it offers to allow me to enjoy the product. BTW BRILLIANT Chanel.
Flew my first RC heli 44 years ago. 1.6 meter rotor dia powered by a 10cc nitro engine. Controls were the hardest thing to set up. Only analog 5 channel radio in those days.
Love this video I'm in to flying helicopters and you did better explaining the rundown of everything in detail better than most dedicated helicopter channels
You can do 2 things to calm a helicopter down for learning. 1. Decrease the head speed by lowering the throttle curve. This will slow down the cyclic speed and make it calmer. Don't go to far or the load will overheat the motor. 2. Use the radio dual rates and exponential to calm it down. Using a collective pitch curve from -5 to positive 11to 12 degrees is good for normal mode learning. This will keep you from slamming it into the ground when landing.
You did great in my opinion. I did it the other way around. I started with helicopters waaaaay back then. Haven't bought a new heli in a while, my latest one is a Protech 450 EP. It has a fly bar and tail gyro and that's it. Build three quadcopters so far, quite easy to fly compared to older helicopters with only a tail gyro, ESC and receiver for electronics.
Love your honest reviews . good video. I had a couple of SYMA 107 indoor ones I used to fly at work in the office LOL . never moved up to the real deal.
I flew RC helis with 'gas' motors. Now I fly drones. I know the bigger helis were more stable for me. I consider the 330s a small heli. The others were micro and minis. The rotating mass of larger blades helps on autorotations. Blade speed doesn't drop off as fast. (Can the electrics autorotate?) And you might want to look into how to check your blade tracking. Nice to see you give it a go!
Nice to see a drone pilot encouraging people to get into helis, looks like you popped a link on the Nano ;) Little helis like the Nano are fun for a while but they don't pirouette well, and slow pirouettes are the best way to learn orientations. I'd suggest an OMP M1/M2, but the Blade 330 is a cracking heli too the larger size feels more floaty and they ironed out all the bugs in previous generations, just when people started to lose interest... so some newer parts are tricky to get hold of (e.g. helical main gear). I have a 400 (Trigger's Broom edition) and 450X, and an OMP M2, and love flying them all, I don't think there's any skill more difficult to learn but it's so rewarding.
RC Helis today are so much easier than just a few years ago. From mechanical gyros to 6 axis solidstate gyros with auto leveling. The advent of PC flightsims also made it very easy. PS The smaller the heli the harder to fly. Bigger helis are a larger outlay but sit in the air far more stable
with the drones your throttle is your lift, with the copter the throttle may be static and you're working with rotor pitch depending on the mode you're in. Generally in normal mode your lift comes from throttle, in the stunt modes throttle actually becomes static and the direction of lift depends on what you're doing with rotor pitch... So when you put it to 30% throttle that may be lift, but pushing the copter down, which is a good time to go inverted
in 1983 i learned on a .60 size NITRO heli,!!! [ an 11 pound Schluter to be exact} we had no pizo gyros at the time or "safe" mode for that matter. the only thing that i can tell you that will help you learn , is, to stay at it no matter what. don't fear the crash, you will only learn more in the rebuild process. keep in mind, in the event of a crash, TWO piles.....parts to replace and parts you can reuse. btw, always replace main rotors as a set. MEOW.
Hi, you should try a flybarred heli with just a tail gyro, most of them are pretty much extinct, they're really hard BUT it gives you the best ability to fly anything
flew heli's for a few years and moved to flying quads about 6+ years ago. just got an omp m1 for Christmas as i fancied getting back into heli's, going to take me while to get to grips with it again lol this little thing is quick and very slippery, reminds me of ma old fbl trex 250.
You are good brother I’ve been flying rc helicopters since 2017 .. you did great it’s same as fpv drone but heli Have negative pitch that open doors for 3D also helicopter need constant input that’s all , I hope you continue in rc helicopters
Hey that's a great video. I'm originally a heli pilot before all the auto levelling came into helicopters. You're right if you can fly a drone like a racing drone you can pretty much fly a helicopter. Delvaux throttle-control. Eventually if you get into it you'll have to get a pitch gauge for your blades. Then you can think about throttle curves pitch curves. Usually at half you have zero pitch so basically the motor is ramping up from 0 to about 50% and then your blade will be at zero pitch so perfectly flat at 0 at 50% throttle.
had one still got it ran out of forward trim no probs blue tact lug nut on front keep adding till correct idk sometimes the best solution is simple i guess on bigger hellis the hobby gets dearer and noticed flyers going to fixed wing but its drones for me now im hooked
Idle 1 or 2 aka stunt 1 or 2 basically heli pilots will engage for 3D, F3C and etc. If the throttle/collective pitch is abit too sensitive. You can reduce the collective pitch and throttle curve on your spectrum remote control. Awesome video bro... 😀
The heli's you can buy now are not the same as when i treid it. All the electronics that help stabilize it makes it a lot easier. I learned flying on colective pitch with only a gyro on the tail rotor control. A 700 size powered by a 10cc 2-stroke engine. And that is hard. Real hard. No ready to fly kits in those days. The setup with mixing in the right amount of throttle and pitch and tail rotor pitch took some time, had to learn a lot to be able to do that. And if you want to fly outdoors, the bigger the better imho. Bigger is much more stable, less sensitive for wind, and easier to see the orientation if you want to fly higher or farther away. Downside of bigger is the price and the increased damage when crashing. And many countries have extra rules if rc aircraft are above a certain weight.
In drones the gyroscopic forces are balanced by counter-rotating pairs of blades which isn't the case with a helicopter. Which is essentially why choppers are so much more hectic, and difficult and fun, to fly. Plus they look cooler ;)
In the 330 it has a one way bearing so when landing get around 6” off the ground and kill the power. Leave the pitch where it is and as the blades lose momentum it’ll come form real soft and safe.👍 this won’t work to well on the other two
Nice job Steve! Like a pro! I'm not ready for this yet. I still have not mastered fpv with goggles and I don't think I'll ever afford the DJI FPV kit. Thanks for sharing your experience. It's always appreciated!
Great that you could share your experience of flying a Hleli from a Drone pilot point of view. As an RC heli pilot for several years now I notice the turns you made on the smaller machines were about 99% Rudder (Yaw) Helicopters turn better if you use some Aileron (Bank) , some Elevator (pitch) and co-ordinate your rudder to keep the tail in line your turns will be easier and unsettle the heli less. When I fly drones I have to concously NOT use aileron and elevator lol. Watch how your heli pilot friend turned your 330 size. Also, the 300 size machine is about the smallest you would want to be flying outside on a regular basis, the smaller ones are more affected by wind and they get MUCH smaller much quicker and in fact at the club I attend, we usually suggest a 500+ size machine to learn on. That feeling you got when your 300 size lifted is what we like to call the "intimidation factor". It really does mess with your head when you have a model spinning blades 300 mm blades at 2000 rpm at eye level. Well done with your first go, keep at it and you will be rewarded :).
those are really good choices, 330 is easiest to fly, bigger rc heli easier to fly, your buying at a good time, lots of gyro assist and panic recovery, go back just 5 years it was a little diff, go back 10 years and they offered only tail gyros even harder to fly. nice video
You have no fear. Sim Sim SIm. Work your nose in. Nice job going for it. You picked good ones to start with, and you set them up correct. (3D pilot here).
Put some expo around mid stick on cyclic on the 330. It looks like too much correction and that can be expo'd out. I used to make my 600s soft around the middle of the cyclic and then accelerate control at the extremes. That made for soft flying mid stick but easy to reach full cyclic. Do the same with collective.
Best way to think of it as a drone pilot, is to think of it as a really poorly tuned drone. That’s about how they fly. I came to drones from helis and still fly both regularly.
Been flying rc helis for 18 years and people always ask just how hard is it really? And the only way to describe it is take a bb and put a bowling ball on top that bb,now keep it balanced!!! Good job my man, don't say you haven't the skill,just work on your stick inputs rc helicopter's are crazy sensitive! You did a heck of a job for 1st time,just have work on them landings lol,,,keep up the awesome videos
I've been flying Rc Helis for about 13 years now, nitro and petrol and it took me a gazillion number of hours on the simulator and on the real ones to be kind of good at it and by no means do I consider myself a master pilot but I have and always will have a blast flying an rc heli. On the other hand, I tried a drone once....got bored to death after barely 5 minutes. Once you fly an heli switching to a drone is like going from a fully manual old racing car on a race track to a self driving Tesla on the highway. That is for the sport aspect of flying but for shooting videos, drones win hands down.
Headless mode is good to use also, esp in the beginning when learning to fly.. THis allows you to move forward & backwards with the joystick regardless of orientation of the heli
i love my drones.. But my god Heli's sound so good and are so much fun to fly. It's how i learnt back when i was 10 with the counter weights above the blades haha i stiil own my first heli and now my son is learning :)
Hi, i flow for few years now, your FBL 6250hx need to turn on stability. here how to do that: On your ix12: Model Adjust > Forward Programming > Setup > Fm Channel: Aux 2 > SAFE > Stability Hold: Off Normal: On Stunt 1: Off Stunt 2: Off Notice in normal mode it is on and Stunt1,2 is off. good luck
I can fly helis relatively well (8 years)and I'm oriented in every attitude. I really struggle to fly drones fpv! Line of sight is way easier than fpv for me. The 230s is perfect for inverted flight training and funnels & it's Very robust!
The reason the bigger helicopters are easier to break is because of what is called the square cube law. Basically what is means is while strength increases by the power of 2 weight increases by the power of 3, so as things get bigger they get exponentially heavier.
Wait until you get a 600 or 700 :) They come unbuilt so you learn how to fix them before even flying, just by assembling them. Been flying RC helis for 10 years, it's good fun. When drones started to pop up, I had zero issues flying them, but got bored quite quick - they are great for filming though.
Im 3d heli pilot, The best way to learn to fly a helicopter is to get a simulator, train your nose in and nose out and try to keep the helicopter still (hovering). Then inverted nose in and nose out. Helicopters must always be compensated at all times in order for the helicopter to be stationary. So good luck wanting to see you do some 3d some day. But im just in to FVP drone must is more relaxing to fly drone 😅😀
Congratulations, you learned to hover quickly. The safe modes horizon has have revolutionized beginner helicopters. I started with the blade series as well and now fly nitro powered and electric helis up to my largest being a 766. (766mm main blade length vs 330mm for your 330). For the viewers, it's important to keep in mind that they only hover and do basic forward back left right like a drone, but in order to fly like a helicopter you get to do coordinated turns like an airplane. Then you can do all the moves inverted, backwards etc lol. It's a flying hobby where there's never a day where you can't learn something or try something new. I'm really glad you brought a heli pilot to try it and check your setup. Too many people try on their own and get overwhelmed or crash because they didn't know better. I always encourage people to try helis, but with a person who can already fly the learning curve is significantly reduced. Once you reach a point where you can hover and do basic circuits with the 330 without stability mode you can do the same with most any helicopter. Honestly, the 325 class helis are some of the hardest to fly. Lots of power/speed/ability and small size comparatively. I highly encourage you to search for an RC Heli club and visit it, see what the capabilities are and ask lots of questions. It's possible to learn on your own and many of us have done it but you might be surprised how much you can learn. Anyway congratulations, it's nice to see people step out of their comfort zone and try new things.
As a heli flyer I appreciate someone in the drone community trying to get more people familiar with the hobby!!! I would recommend probably looking more into the basics of heli flying and maybe trying out a simulator first. some of these machines, including that 300, can severely hurt yourself or someone else if not careful. Good luck!
100% this. I love my helis but the learning curve is steep. The simulator is your best friend when learning. The bigger ones like the 330 can really hurt you. Also, learn to love fixing them because you will be doing that a lot.
I concur. I never began with a quadrotor, only small co-axial rotor helis, then fixed pitch then CP and Nitro CP. Due to the cost and power of large electric helis I'm happy with 450 size electric - my Raptor 30 fulfils the need for a larger RC helicopter for me. Just need to find somewhere private to fly it here in the UK because I don't agree with all that CAA registration malarkey. We're not all terrorists who need to fly them straight into the compressor of a passing 777, nor do we want Amazoogle to have sole rights to sub 400 AGL airspace...
@@TachyonDriver Yep I started in 1978 pre gyro's and ended up with Align 700s and I love Steves drone videos but to be honest I was cringing a bit with him flying helicopters sooo close as even the very small ones can do a lot of damage, it might give people a false sense of safety flying them that close especially the 330 he was flying. These videos that Steve does are great ut remember the safety aspect.
I second/third/fourth/whatever the simulator first thing also. The beginning of the video makes true helicopters sound like a single rotor quadrotor as far as skill required and it's just not true. With a gyro stabilized drone, you can literally turn your back on the machine for significant periods of time and it'll still be roughly in the same place as when you looked away for the most part. Even a minor mistrim of the main rotor in a heli during the hover, you look away and you just created a dirt torpedo. Helicopters are NOT trivial to fly and it's a near truism that people buy helicopters thinking "pffft, I have 20 years of fixed wing under my belt, I'll be fine" and end up coming back the next morning for a crash kit. Lol! I did the same thing. I still vividly remember thinking to myself "why does this thing seem so uncontrollable?". All it was, was my brain didn't understand the mechanics of the hover yet. A good sim is worth the price of a few crash kits and it allows you to learn the hover (And every non crash flight starts with a hover and ends with a hover... Unless you're doing max pitch explosive launches anyway. :P) with no risk at all. Once I realized how helpful they were, I started using mine even once I was a fairly decent pilot just because you can use it to perfect stuff and try new stuff without any real consequence. CRASH! Hit the spacebar and tada! New $5000 high end 3D heli! :)
Kann Ihnen nur zustimmen
I was told 25 or so years ago, to learn to fly a rc helicopter, it is a lifetime achievement! (He was right!). Only after I learned, I truly appreciate & admire ALL 3d heli pilots! 👋👋👋
Back then, it was a lil different..
@@daleyoung87 yes it was, you also needed deep pockets fullof cash
I learned planes, helis were on a whole different level lol
@@adrianharrison5208 Lol, you still need deep pockets full of cash.
Rc cars, drones, helicopters! This is by far my favorite RC channel!
After 5 years flying drones, I tried to fly an helicopter a few months ago. Let me tell you, I have a lot of respect for helicopters and model plane pilots. When I am flying drones, I can relax. As a matter of fact, I started flying drones as therapy to deal with my PTS and anxiety. I can’t fly helicopters, I get really anxious 😂😂😂
I recently got into RC planes, and i got a carbon cub S2. Its a very nice beginner friendly plane, and after some practice and 5-6 fllights i got more confident and i find it very relaxing now.
Note: It also has stabilisation modes, making it easier to fly especially in wind.
Learning to fly drones after helicopters, easy. Learning to fly helicopters after drones... hard.
Start on 3 channels and its easy then go 4
AGREED!! I got my first FBL Heli and I kinda hate the lack of stability.
Glad I started on helicopters and line of sight drones thean 😅
If you can fly a helicopter you can fly anything.
@@jfivecoat This is absolutely true. A plane and a drone both want to fly and will do it without any input. A heli is afraid of heights and fights to get back to the ground the whole flight ;)
With hundreds of hours in real helicopters....It took me a long time to learn to fly the RC version. Its not easy by any means. But ..once you do, its a blast .
@@TrooperTrading probably not.... and damn sure don't give a shit about you.
I wondered about similarities...I've flown RC helis for years, scale type flight, and considered taking lessons on the real thing. probably zero head start I'd guess.
@@TheBikersurgeon other than the expanse, it's the best flying ever I would suggest you get your fixed-wing license first and then get an helicopter add-on rating
@@914va man...if I had the money an ultralight would be heaven honestly. I love fpv cuz it gets me in the air, free, but to actually be up there must be
so much better.
In real helicopter, front is always the nose and back is always the tail. But on rc, it changes. Also I kinda wonder how would it be to fly 3D on real helicopter, It would be really disorienting and fun as long as G forces are comfortable I guess
Awesome Helicopter Video Steve!! I really enjoyed it!! Thank you so much for sharing your flights with each Helicopter!!
Any GPS-guided drone pilot will realise flying a RC Copter is a whole new game! Takes much more skill and focus.
It's actually piloting, not having a computer do all the work. Another reason why actual hobbyists kinda clown on "drone pilots" fpv guys even clown on them. If you have to use stabilization or gps, your not really the "pilot".
Yeah, flying a racing quad line of site, acro, which is what he is referring to, is very similar to an rc helicopter. The only difference for me is on RC helicopters the yaw is more willing to turn the craft, whereas the quad is quick in pitch and roll. I switch between the two very easily. No one cares about Mavic “pilots”
@@10fantic I begged a differ! The whole point of any hobby is to have fun! Many people chuck the helicopter hobby because without stabilization, These things crash and cost shit loads of money to fix. And yes, they break far easier than quadcopters. Stabilization has made the hobby more accessible to many new pilots. Did you know that many if not all jet liners use stabilization. Its call auto pilot!
I tried RC helicopters before getting into drones. Shits hard to learn.
@@johnnytrongaming Buddy, it's almost impossible to master. Unless you want to focus exclusively on RC Helicopters (the ones with no GPS), it's no fun honestly for a hobbyist.
Tip for practicing nose in hovering: follow the heli with cyclic. If heli moves to you, back stick. Etc. All movement of cyclic with nose in that follow the heli will stabilize it.
Nice to see you're trying new things, will be watching these as I'm interested as well.
With flybarless choppers it’s either the flybarless unit that you can adjust or possibly set the expo for a bit more mellow on the control inputs to outputs.
Helis are far more satisfying to fly than quads .
Yes and requires far greater skill. Heli's now that is an RC Pilot with skills. In the 70's you had to fly the tail yourself with the left stick and no gyros.
I don't agree there's no better feeling than FPV on a quad. But helicopters are hella fun though
Without a doubt
yes! Quads are very Boring for me. no Offence to folks that Like them.. lol btw I had a Blade Ncpx back in 2012 before Safe mode. it was fun for back yard flying. then Last Year got a Mcp s seen Safe mode on the Box was like wtf! Drone mentality is Taking over! ok I will Just avoid that mode. well I had an Old Dx6 with only 0 and 1 switch so I was stuck with what I call Drone Mode on 0 and the Old Normal on 1 no. I Had to Buy a New Radio was a bit Pissed lol. I Just Missed the Hobby and wanted one Cheap Heli to fly. and Because people are getting more Lazy I had to fork out $ for a new remote..
I was more of a heli repairman than a heli pilot for my first few weeks. Of course they have come along way since the esky honeybee king days. LoL. Dual rates were my best friend and dialed down the collective throw too.
Awesome video Steve, Remember practise makes perfect, Great job for someone who has not flown helicopters before
You don’t wanna mess with hell is Steve totally different beast and need really quick reflexes
On the 3rd Larger Heli, it was flying in what's called Acro mode on your quads.
For every action you'll need an equal and opposite reaction because it's not going to self level ever. If you pitch forward 20 degrees and release the stick it'll continue forward at 20 degrees until it crashes or the battery dies, whichever comes first. If you can fly your quad in acro mode line of sight you can handle this mode
Nice job Steve, I have been flying helis for seven years and the key to not crashing as much is learning to maintain your orientation as you said. Flying a heli especially a 3D one is not like flying a quad. It is best to learn on a simulator first. I would recommend the FW Flywing 450 heli, it has GPS.
Forst Heli for lots of crashing I recommend the XK K110, then go up to the Omphobby M1 once you are more confident. 450 class is great and the Fly wing with GPS really good.
Gregory Hall, A GPS Heli... I will have to check that out.
@@chrisbee5481 I love my XK k110 I've tried breaking it doing 3D and it just won't die it's amazing
Its easy to lose orentation when heli gets far away.
I've converted from collective pitch helos to drones and haven't flown CP in a couple years. But one word of advice is to practice on computer sims as much as possible. Bigger helos are easier to fly but are a lot more expensive to fix.
I was taught to take-off and land in normal mode. This way, in normal mode on the ground, you can let the main rotor build up speed more slowly. It won't wobble as much and the tail won't wag as much. Once the head speed stabilizes, lift off to clear ground effect. Climb to a hover at 5-6 feet. Your collective (also controls throttle (head speed)) left stick will be in the middle or slightly above. When you're in a stable hover, move to stunt 1 or 2. The transitions will be much smoother and it should feel more controlled. Transition back to normal mode a few feet above your landing site. Then you can slowly lower the left stick. It won't slam down like it does in stunt modes. Just MHO. :-)
I would never startmy heli idle up. This guys just learnin still lol. But he explained it perfect. Left out the fact that u domt start flying the heli in CP for most people
As Connor Cain said, master the tail-in orientation first.
There's a saying in heli-land; don't know if it's also in plane- or drone-land: "Always fly at least 3 mistakes high".
Make it an autonomic reflex to get to tail- in QUICKLY at the first sign of trouble. And always fly through gnat swarms.
Bug-streaked blades are a like trophies.
Ha ha, thanks :-)
Before i got into quads, i flew those toy twin prop sets coaxial helicopters which were simple to fly. Thought I could handle a bigger heli so stupidly jumped straight up to a 6 channel Walkera 🤣. What was i thinking? First flight it disintegrated in 3 seconds flat! Lesson learnt and respect to helicopter pilots
Here is a tip for the blade 330 if you're a newbie. If you're raidio will let you program exponential into pitch roll and yaw it helps. Program in to where it feels comfortable to you, as you get better slowly program it out. Some people like to leave just a little expo in. It's all personal preference as to what feels good to you. If you're hard core you don't want any.
I started with helis then moved on to drones once they hit the market. Helis got too expensive to crash and rebuilding was complicated. My biggest achievement was learning to auto rotate them down.
Before all the 3axis gyro stuff when I was learning, when all you had was head hold gyro in the trail, I found the bigger the heli the more stable it was. 450 is a good size to learn on real flight skills (after flying simulator), big enough to be stable and visible, but not ridiculously expensive to repair. I started flying helis then moved to fixed wing which was a cake walk.
Same here, learned to fly R/C heli on a good old gas powered model with a mechanical (flywheel) gyro. Learning with only a tail gyro meant *days* of practising a careful hover above the ground trying to keep the thing stable and in one place, often using a training hoop to keep the craft from tipping over. Then you'd try careful turns in place. Finally taking the thing a little higher and going to forward flight was a major milestone.
Reminds me of the first time I tried a helicopter. It is (still have it) the Blade that has the two counter rotating blades and balance bar. The owner of the hobby shop put the trainer ping pong ball landing gear on it and flew it inside the hobby shop with customers and all kinds of models hanging from the ceiling. It flew beautifully for him. I brought it home and put it on the dining room table took off and flew straight across the room into a bead chain on the over head light. Learned how to change blades and adjust linkage to blades in first day.
This is the video that made me interested in rc helis again, love the quality content of yours! :)
Thank you!
For beginners i recommend the XK Helikopters!! Before flight you should lower the values of the Servos in the transmitter. Then just choose a day with no wind and try! You can crash, its not that easy to break them!!
I have an xk 130 and if you crash, you just have to change the gear, sometimes spindle, and if you didn't press the hold, tail motor could be burned, so not a big deal in comparison with bigger models
Best one for me to learn with was the blade 230s .
I flew helis for years. When drones came out, I dropped the helicopters like a bad habit. So glad I did. Helicopters are the #1 biggest pain in the ass in the RC world. So finicky. I have had two 450's that literally self destructed during flight, no pilot error those times either. That was when I quit, for the last time. Drones are so easy and fun to fly, I enjoy them so much more.
Enjoyed that video, thank you! I'm just starting in drones, I did become an expert at fixing helicopters, I crashed alot!. "Idle up" is the way to go, faster the head speed the more stable I found. Thanks again .
For me the faster head speed means faster movements which can certainly wake you up quickly
You are doing very very well. Normally a first-timer would not be flying back and forth before learning hovering in all directions. The joy one feel the first couple of times buzzing around and landing without crashing.
Couple of things. I've been flying R/C helis for 20 years. Collective pitch helis use throttle/pitch mixing. The more pitch you have the more throttle/RPM/Power needed to keep the blades spinning. When the blade RPM slows too much you lose cyclic control. When you fly in idle up or "stunt" mode you set your pitch mixing to have roughly 50% throttle in the center with a blade pitch of 0 degrees and +100 stick at a blade pitch of +9 and at -100 stick a blade pitch of -9. Doing this allows you to fly upside down, and do a stunt type of flying known as "3D". 0 blade pitch allows you to have cyclic control through maneuvers like rolls, piro flips, stall turns, etc.
As my story goes: this is what I flew before I got into drones. 3D heli (350) and the Phantom came out and I scoffed at it. Now you've got me itching to get another heli. ("much like a drone" no, no not at all)
Cap I think we are both on the same wave length cuz i got myself a tiny helicopter on Friday and low and behold you surprise me with this video. Your small one is a giant to mine lol. You are the best. Keep them coming Cap.
Hey, I've been flying helis since I was a child and the easiest way to learn them it to stick with hovering them tail in as that's the easiest to orientate. You keep doing tail in until you can hold it dead still in the hover like it's painted in the sky. Once you do that you can rotate the Heli 45 degrees either to the right or left and then stick to that until it's dead still. You you keep repeating this process while rotating 45 degrees each time until you get to the Hardest orientation for most which is nose in hovering. I should also stress that if you want to learn helicopters properly safe mode is useless you need to learn with no stability to get the true feel of a Heli and how to react to it's movements. If you take your time and learn how to hover in all of those orientations then you're pretty much good to go with flying circuits. It does take a lot of time and patience especially without safe but it's better in the long run. I learned before flybarless was even a thing. Also I noticed you fly with your thumbs so I'd add some expo into your cyclic to tame down the stick at the centre to Help you. I hope that helps :)
Thats great advice. The expo thing especially, its always nice to set up a gentle curve. Hell, I use a curve on my drones too, set it soft near the neutral hover point and give it a nice sharp punch at the ends for stunting.
@@NeoIsrafil you've got it exactly. People also forget that a Heli should be setup for your flying style not everyone is the same. Though it is good to have a solid baseline and then you can tweak.
My favorite practice routine was always pirouetting hover and circuits. I've sit and burned 5 gallons of fuel just pirouetting in place and doing big pirouetting circles around the yard.
@@mckrackin5324 yep exactly I suppose everyone finds a way they find easiest to learn. I always tell new people to buy a Heli that has cheap parts and can handle a few crashes without breaking parts everytime then they don't have the money side of things coming into it.
Appropriate Shirt for the task. Military taught me that Jeep is an acronym for Just Enough Education to Pass. I had helicopters 14-16 years ago and had moderate success. The technology has caught up to the hobby. It is "easy-to-use" compared to the basic gyros that were add-ons in those days. I build a fly Freestyle and Cinematic as a hobby now. It's day and night. I have owned RC pretty much everything. Boats, trucks, gas and electric cars, planes, and some other weird things. I gave never lost my love for RC anything.
The little Blade Nano is the best rc helicopter to learn to fly and learn 3D on because it is a full collective pitch helicopter that can do most everything a larger more expensive heli can do. Because it’s so small and light weight in crashes it doesn’t do much damage and when there is damage repair parts rarely cost more than $10 US. You crash a Blade 230S, 330S (450 size)or larger it will be far more expensive to make repairs to get your bird back in the air.
Might need to try helicopters 🚁 Love the video!!!
I have the blade Nano, and have been flying it since January with my Radiomaster TX16S. I actually think its a better radio for the price.
Wher did you get the radiomaster transmitter
Blade 120 Sr was my favourite begginer Heli. Moved to a 450 3d, 130x, then a 450x.
Steve, now you need to change your name to “CAPTAIN HELI DRONE” ;-)
Captain Versadrone!
Captain tech
It was fun to watch you learn the basics.
I have an Align Trex 500 and a Blade 450X. Both are fitted with a Revolectrix CoPilot II stabilizer system. Primitive by todays standards but this bit of kit really works. I'm not sure if the company still makes the CoPilot II or even still exists. If you want to fly helis with 'training wheels', this is what you need. Be warned it only works in daylight, even then it needs cloudless skies to 'read' the ground and sky to get its stability.
Excellent performance for the first two days flying RC Heli drones. I love all your reviews on drones. And this one top notch as well. BTW: I just purchased the 330 myself. You did just fine!
Thanks 👍
Brilliant it is difficult to fly these, tried for ages and lost my patience, but maybe things have changed but it was a struggle for me . Bought myself DJI pro 2 love it and can enjoy all the technology it offers to allow me to enjoy the product. BTW BRILLIANT Chanel.
Thank you Stuart!
Flew my first RC heli 44 years ago. 1.6 meter rotor dia powered by a 10cc nitro engine. Controls were the hardest thing to set up. Only analog 5 channel radio in those days.
The cap is a must for protection
Love this video I'm in to flying helicopters and you did better explaining the rundown of everything in detail better than most dedicated helicopter channels
Thanks!
You can do 2 things to calm a helicopter down for learning.
1. Decrease the head speed by lowering the throttle curve. This will slow down the cyclic speed and make it calmer. Don't go to far or the load will overheat the motor.
2. Use the radio dual rates and exponential to calm it down.
Using a collective pitch curve from -5 to positive 11to 12 degrees is good for normal mode learning. This will keep you from slamming it into the ground when landing.
Best 3d helicopter I ever see trex. I love it.big budget hobby.bc many crachs before play 3d way properly
You did great in my opinion.
I did it the other way around.
I started with helicopters waaaaay back then.
Haven't bought a new heli in a while, my latest one is a Protech 450 EP. It has a fly bar and tail gyro and that's it.
Build three quadcopters so far, quite easy to fly compared to older helicopters with only a tail gyro, ESC and receiver for electronics.
4:50 it is actually for 3D mode so you can hower upside down and stay in the inverting position as you fly.
You always lift my spirits Captain
Try it totally manual. That means no gyro on the tail, too..like we had to.🙂
Love your honest reviews . good video. I had a couple of SYMA 107 indoor ones I used to fly at work in the office LOL . never moved up to the real deal.
U have a very nice home. U also are a good pilot and a gentleman. Thanks frm fla. John
Thank you kindly
I flew RC helis with 'gas' motors. Now I fly drones. I know the bigger helis were more stable for me. I consider the 330s a small heli. The others were micro and minis. The rotating mass of larger blades helps on autorotations. Blade speed doesn't drop off as fast. (Can the electrics autorotate?) And you might want to look into how to check your blade tracking. Nice to see you give it a go!
Nice to see a drone pilot encouraging people to get into helis, looks like you popped a link on the Nano ;) Little helis like the Nano are fun for a while but they don't pirouette well, and slow pirouettes are the best way to learn orientations. I'd suggest an OMP M1/M2, but the Blade 330 is a cracking heli too the larger size feels more floaty and they ironed out all the bugs in previous generations, just when people started to lose interest... so some newer parts are tricky to get hold of (e.g. helical main gear). I have a 400 (Trigger's Broom edition) and 450X, and an OMP M2, and love flying them all, I don't think there's any skill more difficult to learn but it's so rewarding.
RC Helis today are so much easier than just a few years ago.
From mechanical gyros to 6 axis solidstate gyros with auto leveling.
The advent of PC flightsims also made it very easy.
PS The smaller the heli the harder to fly. Bigger helis are a larger outlay but sit in the air far more stable
with the drones your throttle is your lift, with the copter the throttle may be static and you're working with rotor pitch depending on the mode you're in. Generally in normal mode your lift comes from throttle, in the stunt modes throttle actually becomes static and the direction of lift depends on what you're doing with rotor pitch... So when you put it to 30% throttle that may be lift, but pushing the copter down, which is a good time to go inverted
Love your confidence!
in 1983 i learned on a .60 size NITRO heli,!!! [ an 11 pound Schluter to be exact} we had no pizo gyros at the time or "safe" mode for that matter. the only thing that i can tell you that will help you learn , is, to stay at it no matter what. don't fear the crash, you will only learn more in the rebuild process. keep in mind, in the event of a crash, TWO piles.....parts to replace and parts you can reuse. btw, always replace main rotors as a set. MEOW.
Hi, you should try a flybarred heli with just a tail gyro, most of them are pretty much extinct, they're really hard BUT it gives you the best ability to fly anything
They sound awesome
flew heli's for a few years and moved to flying quads about 6+ years ago. just got an omp m1 for Christmas as i fancied getting back into heli's, going to take me while to get to grips with it again lol this little thing is quick and very slippery, reminds me of ma old fbl trex 250.
This was awesome ...I enjoy the omp hobby m1 with the t6 radio
You are good brother I’ve been flying rc helicopters since 2017 .. you did great it’s same as fpv drone but heli Have negative pitch that open doors for 3D also helicopter need constant input that’s all , I hope you continue in rc helicopters
Hey that's a great video. I'm originally a heli pilot before all the auto levelling came into helicopters. You're right if you can fly a drone like a racing drone you can pretty much fly a helicopter. Delvaux throttle-control. Eventually if you get into it you'll have to get a pitch gauge for your blades. Then you can think about throttle curves pitch curves. Usually at half you have zero pitch so basically the motor is ramping up from 0 to about 50% and then your blade will be at zero pitch so perfectly flat at 0 at 50% throttle.
had one still got it ran out of forward trim no probs blue tact lug nut on front keep adding till correct idk sometimes the best solution is simple i guess on bigger hellis the hobby gets dearer and noticed flyers going to fixed wing but its drones for me now im hooked
So interesting and fascinating to watch you learn to fly a RControl helicopter 🚁 I’ll be following your journey
Idle 1 or 2 aka stunt 1 or 2 basically heli pilots will engage for 3D, F3C and etc. If the throttle/collective pitch is abit too sensitive. You can reduce the collective pitch and throttle curve on your spectrum remote control. Awesome video bro... 😀
The heli's you can buy now are not the same as when i treid it.
All the electronics that help stabilize it makes it a lot easier.
I learned flying on colective pitch with only a gyro on the tail rotor control.
A 700 size powered by a 10cc 2-stroke engine.
And that is hard. Real hard.
No ready to fly kits in those days.
The setup with mixing in the right amount of throttle and pitch and tail rotor pitch took some time, had to learn a lot to be able to do that.
And if you want to fly outdoors, the bigger the better imho.
Bigger is much more stable, less sensitive for wind, and easier to see the orientation if you want to fly higher or farther away.
Downside of bigger is the price and the increased damage when crashing.
And many countries have extra rules if rc aircraft are above a certain weight.
In drones the gyroscopic forces are balanced by counter-rotating pairs of blades which isn't the case with a helicopter. Which is essentially why choppers are so much more hectic, and difficult and fun, to fly. Plus they look cooler ;)
In the 330 it has a one way bearing so when landing get around 6” off the ground and kill the power. Leave the pitch where it is and as the blades lose momentum it’ll come form real soft and safe.👍 this won’t work to well on the other two
For a first timer, you actually have good control. Good show. Try a 450, just for size.
Thank you!
Great job! I learned with rc helis first, drones are very easy in comparison lol, and with so much technology packed in to help us.
Nice job Steve! Like a pro! I'm not ready for this yet. I still have not mastered fpv with goggles and I don't think I'll ever afford the DJI FPV kit. Thanks for sharing your experience. It's always appreciated!
Great that you could share your experience of flying a Hleli from a Drone pilot point of view. As an RC heli pilot for several years now I notice the turns you made on the smaller machines were about 99% Rudder (Yaw) Helicopters turn better if you use some Aileron (Bank) , some Elevator (pitch) and co-ordinate your rudder to keep the tail in line your turns will be easier and unsettle the heli less. When I fly drones I have to concously NOT use aileron and elevator lol. Watch how your heli pilot friend turned your 330 size. Also, the 300 size machine is about the smallest you would want to be flying outside on a regular basis, the smaller ones are more affected by wind and they get MUCH smaller much quicker and in fact at the club I attend, we usually suggest a 500+ size machine to learn on.
That feeling you got when your 300 size lifted is what we like to call the "intimidation factor". It really does mess with your head when you have a model spinning blades 300 mm blades at 2000 rpm at eye level. Well done with your first go, keep at it and you will be rewarded :).
Yesss... been waiting for you to do this! Good job Cap. 👍
those are really good choices, 330 is easiest to fly, bigger rc heli easier to fly, your buying at a good time, lots of gyro assist and panic recovery, go back just 5 years it was a little diff, go back 10 years and they offered only tail gyros even harder to fly. nice video
Going back ten wars even tiny ones where lethal.
@@Jayhhardy I had a 250, moved very fast and was difficult to see ;)
I’d like to get back into flying them. I first learnt in 1987 so over 30 years ago. I figure they will be easier now with all gyro advances
I knew it! I told you people that Canadians can fly helicopter too. And its not against the Law. No lawyers needed!!!
You have no fear. Sim Sim SIm. Work your nose in. Nice job going for it. You picked good ones to start with, and you set them up correct. (3D pilot here).
Put some expo around mid stick on cyclic on the 330. It looks like too much correction and that can be expo'd out. I used to make my 600s soft around the middle of the cyclic and then accelerate control at the extremes. That made for soft flying mid stick but easy to reach full cyclic. Do the same with collective.
Best way to think of it as a drone pilot, is to think of it as a really poorly tuned drone. That’s about how they fly. I came to drones from helis and still fly both regularly.
Way to go Capi.!! Because camera gps Drones, can become very boring . TY, for throwing Heli Pilots a stick.
Helicopters 🚁 are drones right, broadened your Horizon (Hobby)! I know bad humor. Nice 👍 video Steve.
Been flying rc helis for 18 years and people always ask just how hard is it really? And the only way to describe it is take a bb and put a bowling ball on top that bb,now keep it balanced!!! Good job my man, don't say you haven't the skill,just work on your stick inputs rc helicopter's are crazy sensitive! You did a heck of a job for 1st time,just have work on them landings lol,,,keep up the awesome videos
I've been flying Rc Helis for about 13 years now, nitro and petrol and it took me a gazillion number of hours on the simulator and on the real ones to be kind of good at it and by no means do I consider myself a master pilot but I have and always will have a blast flying an rc heli. On the other hand, I tried a drone once....got bored to death after barely 5 minutes. Once you fly an heli switching to a drone is like going from a fully manual old racing car on a race track to a self driving Tesla on the highway. That is for the sport aspect of flying but for shooting videos, drones win hands down.
nice helicopters , thanks for the review.
Headless mode is good to use also, esp in the beginning when learning to fly.. THis allows you to move forward & backwards with the joystick regardless of orientation of the heli
i love my drones.. But my god Heli's sound so good and are so much fun to fly. It's how i learnt back when i was 10 with the counter weights above the blades haha i stiil own my first heli and now my son is learning :)
The sound is amazing!
Hi, i flow for few years now, your FBL 6250hx need to turn on stability. here how to do that:
On your ix12: Model Adjust > Forward Programming > Setup
> Fm Channel: Aux 2
> SAFE > Stability
Hold: Off
Normal: On
Stunt 1: Off
Stunt 2: Off
Notice in normal mode it is on and Stunt1,2 is off.
good luck
I'll check that out, thank you.
Great video and observations will help me decide which experienced beginner helicopter to buy.
I can fly helis relatively well (8 years)and I'm oriented in every attitude. I really struggle to fly drones fpv! Line of sight is way easier than fpv for me. The 230s is perfect for inverted flight training and funnels & it's Very robust!
I am exactly the same way. I find line of sight much easier. FPV feels so disorienting. I believe this is pretty normal.
Wow when you said you flew it around your house I was totally expecting you to be outside flying around your house
The reason the bigger helicopters are easier to break is because of what is called the square cube law. Basically what is means is while strength increases by the power of 2 weight increases by the power of 3, so as things get bigger they get exponentially heavier.
Wait until you get a 600 or 700 :) They come unbuilt so you learn how to fix them before even flying, just by assembling them. Been flying RC helis for 10 years, it's good fun. When drones started to pop up, I had zero issues flying them, but got bored quite quick - they are great for filming though.
Im 3d heli pilot, The best way to learn to fly a helicopter is to get a simulator, train your nose in and nose out and try to keep the helicopter still (hovering). Then inverted nose in and nose out. Helicopters must always be compensated at all times in order for the helicopter to be stationary. So good luck wanting to see you do some 3d some day. But im just in to FVP drone must is more relaxing to fly drone 😅😀
Congratulations, you learned to hover quickly. The safe modes horizon has have revolutionized beginner helicopters. I started with the blade series as well and now fly nitro powered and electric helis up to my largest being a 766. (766mm main blade length vs 330mm for your 330). For the viewers, it's important to keep in mind that they only hover and do basic forward back left right like a drone, but in order to fly like a helicopter you get to do coordinated turns like an airplane. Then you can do all the moves inverted, backwards etc lol. It's a flying hobby where there's never a day where you can't learn something or try something new. I'm really glad you brought a heli pilot to try it and check your setup. Too many people try on their own and get overwhelmed or crash because they didn't know better. I always encourage people to try helis, but with a person who can already fly the learning curve is significantly reduced. Once you reach a point where you can hover and do basic circuits with the 330 without stability mode you can do the same with most any helicopter. Honestly, the 325 class helis are some of the hardest to fly. Lots of power/speed/ability and small size comparatively.
I highly encourage you to search for an RC Heli club and visit it, see what the capabilities are and ask lots of questions. It's possible to learn on your own and many of us have done it but you might be surprised how much you can learn. Anyway congratulations, it's nice to see people step out of their comfort zone and try new things.