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BROKEN BLADES, boom strikes, bent tail rotors and lots of frustration are what a lot of people think of when the topic of learning to fly helicopters comes up. And why? For me, it is because I watched several of my buddies do it, and those were the parts of their "fun" that caught my eye. So I've never tried helicopters before now. But the truth is, it doesn't have to be that way, and that revelation (for me) is why I'm writing.

You see, I found the secret to learning to fly helicopters without breaking a bunch of stuff and spending a lot of money. I have a Bell! That's right, a Bell. Rick Bell is his full name, and he's very knowledgeable about helicopters and has patiently acted as my instructor. I'm far from accomplished, but in a very short time, I've become good enough to remove my training gear and am confident doing basic hovering maneuvers. I\lore important, I've done this without spending a lot of time and money fixing my helicopter. In fact, it was Rick's suggestion that I could learn to fly a helicopter without breaking things that goaded me into trying it in the first place. I'm glad I took the plunge, as helicopter flying is fun and challenging, and it is making me a better pilot, regardless of the type of aircraft I'm flying. It's also neat to be able to fly in the local schoolyard, and helicopters fit small fields very well.

As I've said, I want to share with you the process I went through. I can't say enough to emphasize that this process depends on your having a good instructor. While helicopter; guys have been saying that for years, it must be understood that with helicopters, a good instructor is not simply a flight instructor. A helicopter instructor is most important to help you get your machine set up properly and to teach you how to

ARE THEY HARDER TO FLY THAN AIRPLANES?

I suppose this question gets asked more often than any other. Depending on who you ask, you generally get the answer "Yes," or "Heck, yes," but this answer doesn't really tell you what you need to know, in my opinion. So, as an experienced airplane pilot and neophyte helicopter pilot, let me elaborate a bit on flying helicopters.

Flying helicopters requires precision flying skills. If you watch Dave Patrick, Chip Hyde, or any of the top pattern flyers, you'll see precision flying skills; these are not unique to flying helicopters. With helicopters you have to fly four functions-all the time. Relating this to airplane flying, constant throttle control to maintain speed regardless of aircraft attitude, coordinating rudder and aileron during turns and maintaining altitude with elevator while making turns is all part of this. This sort of coordination is required to fly some types of aircraft and to do precision aerobatics, but again, most people jam the throttle forward on their airplanes and never touch the left stick until they're ready to reconnect with terra firma.

The visuals of helicopters are very difterent from airplanes in that they change with only minor changes in orientation. For instance, if you hover 3 feet above the ground, you have the ground to orient to, and you're largely looking down on the rotor disk. Identifying "level" in that context is pretty easy. But move the hell up to 8 feet, and you lose the ground reference, and now you're looking up at the disk. Trying to decide "level" at this new altitude is a new experience, whereas a similar height increase with an airplane doesn't produce nearly as pronounced an effect on orientation. I've found similar differences when hovering while looking at the right and left of the helicopter.

Helicopters hover; airplanes do not (torque rolls don't count). Hovering is somewhat like balancing a ball on the end of a stick, so the skills I've noted above all come to bear when trying to hover. Hovering also underscores the fact that with helicopters, you're controlling lift in a more direct way than with airplanes, and responses to this control are more immediate. Hovering is also where you must start learning to fly a helicopter, and it is done closer to the ground than when learning to fly an airplane. This makes helicopters seem more difficult to learn, as mother earth is not very forgiving of accidents. I guess that's why heli guys invented training gear.

So, are helicopters harder to fly?perhaps too hard? Flying helicopters is harder than throwing your average sport plane around the patch and letting it determine a good portion of its trajectory. No, it's not harder than flying precise aerobatics with an airplane. If you have experience coordinating rudder, throttle, elevator and ailerons, you'll find that it's just a different way of coordinating them, and you'll progress quickly. But helicopters are not "too hard" to fly. I believe anybody can do it if he wants to. Further, I'll go on record as saying that helicopters are a lot of fun, and the challenges of doing even basic hovering competition sequences can provide a lot of enjoyment in a small space.

START WITH GOOD EQUIPMENT

Helicopters and their equipment have improved considerably over the last few years, and the advent of good, inexpensive gyros and computer radios has made building and flying them much easier propositions. Nevertheless, good equipment choices serve as a basis for success.

Helicopter. Based on recommendations from several neoole T Qat one of the new Hirobo* Shuttle Z-TS helicopters for a number of reasons. First, it's fairly inexpensive. It's also easy to find parts for Shuttles, as they've been around for years and are still very popular. The instruction manual is also superb, and for someone like me who knew little about helicopters, it was an asset. The new Z-TS version of the Shuttle includes a top start feature that makes life easy in the pit area; it also comes with the starter wand required to start it. Hirobo also includes the metal clutch housing that has been available as an upgrade option. This is really nice, as it makes for a drive train that is more robust.

Gyro. I used the new Revolution* PZ200 piezo gyro. In the past, piezo gyros have been more expensive than mechanical gyros, but no more. In addition to being inexpensive, the PZ200 is very simple to set up and operate, making it ideal for a beginner. I don't know much about gyro function, but I've been impressed with how well this one functions.

Radio. The JR* 642 is a great entry-level computer radio if you don't already have a radio that can "speak helicopter." Some computer radios can talk both airplane and helicopter, though airplane versions of the transmitters put some of the functionality on different switches and knobs than the helicopter version of the same radio. You'll want to be able to program basic throttle and pitch curves with whichever radio you use.

ASSEMBLY IS WHERE IT'S AT

Attention to detail is important when constructing model airplanes, but many an airlane has flown with minor problems in its linkages, trims, balance, etc. Most experienced modelers will tell you that these imperfect models require a lot more flying skill than a model airplane built perfectly straight and with all its controls set up to perfection. So it is with helicopters. Paying close attention to the assembly instructions will reap benefits on the flying field. Go slowly, checking alignment often.

There are two basic goals when building a helicopter: build it to fly well, and minimize/eliminate vibration caused by moving parts. This means making sure all control rods are exactly the right length. In. helicopters, many of the pushrods come as pairs. These pairs must be matched with respect to their length. Rotor blades, rotor head, tail rotor, clutch, etc., should be balanced. There are a bunch of ball links that need to be free to move but not sloppy. These are the places where your instructor can help you a lot. Don't rush, and you'll have a helicopter that will give you good service and make you look good while you're flying it. The Shuttle manual is superb, and following the instructions carefully should yield a good flying machine.

I added several things to my Shuttle to improve it and just because of some personal preferences. I bought a set of tail-boom stabilizer bars; these stiffen the tail assembly. I also added some rubber skid stops to the landing gear. These are very useful if vou fly from pavement, as they help prevent the helicopter from pivoting in response to rotor torque while on the ground. These cost but a few bucks, and they're well worth the small amount of time required to install them.

At Rick's suggestion, I added a wheel collar to each side of the flybar assembly. These are invaluable in balancing the flybar once you get your bird in the air. Using them is easy. If you have some vibration in the rotor head, move one of the collars outward toward the paddle. If this improves things, continue to move that one outward until you've minimized the vibration. If moving it makes things worse, move it back to the center, and move the other one out toward its paddle.

Because the head of the Enya* 35CX is hidden when mounted in a Shuttle (unless you look from the bottom of the helicopter), I added a remote Ni-Cd igniter lug to make starting easier. I also added a header tank. This is more of a personal preference, as I like to add these to stabilize the fuel flow a bit more. Now that I have one on my Shuttle, I can't imagine being without it, as the header tank lets me see when I'm getting low on fuel. This amounts to little more than adding a 2-ounce tank, a bit of fuel tubing (see drawing) and some sort of "TX fitting that will allow you to fuel the system. I used a KSJ* fuel filter as my "T," and it does double duty. Fueling my system does require that I pinch the fuel line to the engine while I fuel (I use a KSJ clamp for this), but the system works flawlessly, and I don't have to worry about fuel foaming.

Once your helicopter is assembled and you've run the engine enough to be confident in its function, have your instructor fly it. He will be able to help you with several things. First, he will identify any problems with the helicopter's construction. He will also trim it properly so that it will hover with minimal inputs. Third, and this is the most important thing, if you see it fly and fly well, you'll know that it's possible, and that's important when you try something new.

During your early steps into helicopter flying, you'll need training gear. There are many quick-to-assemble kits, but you can also make them pretty easily. If you're learning with a .30-size helicopter, you might want to follow my lead. I bought a package of Dave Brown* fiberglass pushrods. I went to Wal-Mart and bought four small Wiffle balls (they came in packs of two for a buck). I used no. 64 rubber bands and simply wrapped a band around the rod, dribbling CA onto it. Using this method, I produced flexible stops on each side of the ball. My training gear were held to the skids with rubber bands, and it worked great.

The first thing you will be doing is sliding the heli around on the ground, trying to maintain a stable condition with the balls on the training gear either touching or nearly touching the ground. With training gear, it's pretty tough to break anything. Once you feel comfortable with this, bring the helicopter into a hover about a foot off the ground. Keep the tail toward you but with the heli off just a bit to your right or left (whichever is most comfortable) during all of your initial hovering, as this orientation gives you the best chance of providing the proper inputs. The only way to learn basic hovering is to burn fuel doing it; in fact, this is one of the ironies of helicopter instruction. Your instructor can help guide you by watching your progress and directing you, but he can't help you fly, and he can't take control if there's a problem, as there's just no time. So, go slowly; assess your comfort level at each step along the way. Discuss this with your instructor; it will help him make suggestions.

Once you can maintain a stable hover, you'll want to start moving the helicopter from side to side, stopping to your right and left, each time bringing the helicopter into a stable hover. Once you feel comfortable with this sort of thing and you can take off and land straight up and straight down, it's time to cast off the training gear. It will only hold you back. With the gear off, slowly work yourself back to doing these simple hovering maneuvers without the training gear.

One of the things that intrigues me about helicopters is the variety of maneuvers you can do in a small area while essentially hovering. Horizontal and vertical figure-8s done as squares or as circles are quite challenging. Precisely hovering over points on the field and sliding the helicopter between points is a lot of fun. Any of the maneuvers can be done by sliding from place to place or pointing the nose in the direction of travel. The variety is nearly endless, and you can do a veritable precision pattern routine in the confines of a baseball diamond. Give helicopters a try; I know you'll enjoy it.

*Addresses are listed alphabetically in the Index of Manufacturers on page 126.

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