It’s been said,in regard to the Helicopter, that"A helicopter is an assembly of forty thousand loose pieces, flying more or less in formation" and that the helicopter is “the most versatile vehicle known to mankind”.
While fixed-wing aircraft receive most of the attention by historians, helicopter flight was the first flight envisioned by man. In fact, the ancient Chinese had a design for a hand-spun toy that rose upward as early as the 4th century AD. The great Italian Leonardo da Vinci made drawings of a machine that we now know to be the helicopter as early as 1490. While the concept of rotary-wing aviation had been conceived, the necessary technology for the creation of a helicopter was not produced until the advent of the internal combustion engine.
By or during the late period of World War I (1914-1918) major helicopter advances were made. The quality and extent of production materials increased, and great advances were made in the field of engine technology. With better technology in hand, and a good bit more needed, the U S military recognized the potential benefits of such a machine, sooo, advancements developed swiftly.
Currently (2018), the number one “man toy”, when considering R-C hobby flying machines, is the helicopter. At any rate, it wasn’t until 1968 that R-C helicopters for hobbies came of age, primarily resulting from the research and development of Dr. Dieter Schluter of West Germany.
Why did the development of this technology take so long? Perhaps the best answer is because there have been no short cuts in the R-C helicopter’s functionality; its development for the engine, drive gears, rotor blades, control methods, etc. all had to follow the design of full-size helicopters and had to be built to the same exacting standards.
In our View, the single biggest draw-back or flaw in RC Helicopter flight is the somewhat limited amount of “flying time” (typically 8 to 10 minutes) that’s available to the enthusiastic Hobbyist, especially for the battery powered electric models. The good news is not only that the battery is rechargeable, but when one battery’s power is “spent”; there is little difficulty involved in replacing it with a spare. The other good news is that Amazon.com has a special BATTERY section within their categories that’s sure to solve that problem.
So, just how difficult is the R-C helicopter to control in fight? It’s been described as being “similar to balancing a steel ball on a knife edge while riding a bicycle”! This is of course is an exaggeration! The fact is techniques involved can actually be mastered with a bit of practice. However, apprentice R-C helicopter users should be conscious of the notion that R-C helicopters are measured by many zealots of the trade to be the most difficult to master.
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