WHO THE HELI IS THIS GUY?
Yup – Here's the funny face behind this web site taking advantage of a windy winter day flying not a RC heli, but a kite. One of the main reasons I took up
kite skiing
and boarding was to still be able to fly something on those days when it is too windy to fly RC helicopters, which by the way is most of time here in the Rocky Mountain Trench - :)
So why do I claim to be an RC helicopter expert? Hey, I never claimed that. There are radio controlled helicopter pilots who could fly circles around me. There are aeronautical helicopter engineers who can teach you way more theory than I ever could.I am simply an ordinary person and average flier who loves the RC helicopter hobby and wants to help others experience that same passion while avoiding many of the common mistakes and pitfalls. My views might be a bit different too. For instance, I believe in getting good quality equipment to start with and then grow with it. A lot of advertisements I see today are focused around cheap low quality RC helicopters that you will out grow quickly or end up spending a small fortune on in upgrades and repairs - if they even fly at all. I get the old "I purchased a good cheap heli on E-bay and it doesn't fly" comment so many times. I want to put an end to that and the waste of money that so many folks are lured into. I have been an RC junkie since I was ten or so. I started with RC cars and then got into RC planes when I was fourteen – bless my dad for driving me to local RC flying field almost every weekend. Secretly, I know he loved it too. My father was in the Canadian Air Force and later became an aircraft instrumentation technician. Obviously his passion for aviation, aircraft, mechanics, and electronics wore off on me. I can’t thank him enough for the support in those early years when I thought I knew everything, but now realize I knew next to nothing – sound familiar... I saw a RC helicopter flying once at the flying field and I was hooked from then on. After several more years of flying RC planes I got my first helicopter and 20 years later - guess what, I still love it! I still fly RC planes and dabble in nitro RC cars to this day, but neither come close to the passion I have for RC helicopters. The challenge of building and flying a heli simply makes this hobby the most rewarding and fun. I am by no means a 3D hotshot RC heli pilot. I am more of a sport flier, with an interest in scale and turbine. Finally getting into turbine has been so rewarding and a long time dream come true. I can't thank Chris Bergen of Bergen RC enough for all his help & support as I transition into this fun and fascinating side of the hobby. That said, I still enjoy flying little micro helis indoors just as much - yup I'm hooked for life!
What a great experience it is, and I hope you get as much out of this site as I have. Wishing you a life time of fun and success with RC helicopters, John Salt
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