RC Helicopter Fun TestimonialsOh man, another self indulgent testimonials web site page – YUK! So why did I build one too if I feel that way? Well, a lot of time and effort has, and continues, to go into this little heli site of mine. My main goal is to help others get into RC helicopters and succeed with them. When I get feedback that confirms that goal, it makes me realize that my rantings are actually helping. It is simply very rewarding knowing that others involved, or are just starting out with RC helis, like this site and find the information useful and factual. Thanks again to everyone who contacted me with the many words of encouragement... it makes the effort all worth while. Here's what people are saying... Hello John, Wow! Great job. I have been into RC Helis for about 3 years now, somewhat obsessively I must admit. I am very active on several forums including rcgroups.com, archeli.com.au and helifreak.com (where I am a moderator). I have learned a huge amount about all aspects of the hobby but there is always more for me to learn. I found the information on your site, relevant, clear, easy to read and follow, useful and a pleasure to browse. I have added links to your site in beginner's areas at archeli.com.au and at helifreak because I think it is an ideal starting point for folks starting out, thinking of starting out or trying to find their way through the maze of where and how to start. Congratulations on doing such a great job of sharing your passion with the wider world and the RC community. Kenneth Green - Australia Hi John: Just a brief note to express my thanks for your encouragement through your website and words of wisdom. I was the first to attempt flying R/C helicopters here in Trinidad & Tobago and that was back in 1979 when I purchased a Kavan Bell Jet Ranger. Needless to say that did not go well based on the lack of information and technology. The model was retired in pristine condition to this day as a static display. Tried again in 2008 with a Blade 400 and was not too successful with that either - way too fast and twitchy for this old brain and reflexes. In January 2009 I got Real Flight 4.5 and with your advice began practicing. I then bought a Raptor 50 Titan in March 2009 and began learning in earnest, again with your fine advice and with my flying buddies at the field. I have progressed continually and rewarded myself last summer with Bergen Intrepid Gasser and a Century Bell 222. Although I am not into 3D, I have progressed to the stage where I feel confident in taking delivery tomorrow of my Bergen Intrepid Turbine. Not only am I the grandfather of R/C helis here in Trinidad & Tobago, I am making more R/C history with having the first R/C Jet Turbine here. Just wanted to say thank you for helping make all this possible - I really enjoy this hobby. Cletus Berkeley - Trinidad and Tobago Thank you for taking the time and effort to put together one of the best hobby websites I have ever seen. I've already spent several hours reading and using the links on your site. It's been so enjoyable that I'll definitely be doing more of the same in the next few weeks. Your articles are well written and very informative. You have clearly put a lot to time and thought into them. You obviously enjoy your hobby and it shows in your writing. Terry Potter - United States Hi John, The Trex 600 flies like an absolute dream. The setup was absolutely spot on and the heli lifted off clean and hovered. The blades required no adjustment and not even a minor tweak needed from the radio. What an absolute dream in how smooth this heli is. You said it would be easier to fly if put together right than my Blade 400's and you sure where right. My wife said I had the biggest Cheshire cat grin she ever saw after the first flight. As you know I had my doubts I would ever see this through but I must admit having feelings of satisfaction and accomplishment. I can't say enough thanks to you & your e-books for the help. Thanks and more thanks John for all the help. Kieth Carter - Canada Hi John, Just wanted to let you know that even though my flybar & upper rotor didn't seem to be binding even in the slightest, I followed the directions on your website and sanded & silicon lubed the flybar ball joints & the TBE is almost completely gone. It's kind of interesting that I couldn't feel the "binding" but it was obviously there. Thanks again for all the great info on your site and for your great personal support. I know that it's not just because I'm also Canadian even though I live outside SF. :) LOL Also, I'm sure you already know this but I regularly see you and your site referenced on HeliFreak as "the best rc heli reference site on the web". Congratulations on a great job and a very helpful site. I'm ready to get back to leveling the swash plate on my Blade 400 & following your flight school with it. Thanks again. Brian Samuels - United States I just found out about your site. I bought a Blade 400 1 year ago and have yet to hover it. If I had known about your site I would have already been well on my way to flying my 400. I have been on many informational sites but yours has already taught memore than all of the rest. I purchased both of your e-books and am well on my way to flying my 400. Thank you very much for all of your hard work to make flying possible. I am telling everyone I know to look at your site. Thanks again... George Copas - United States Hi John:I just wanted to drop you a note and say thanks for all the terrific information on your web site. Your site has a tremendous wealth of information that seems perfectly oriented to my need for information at this stage. I have several hobbies that are what you might call "technical" topics in and of themselves (aviation, astro-photography, and tennis for example) and I must tell you that I have yet to come across a resource in another field that is as complete, no-nonsense, concise and well organized as what you have created with rchelicopterfun.com -- truly: kudos to you and my thanks for the [remote] helping hand! Cheers, Mark I just wanted to say thank you for all your help to me in this hobby. I have purchased your e-guide for the Blade 400 and it has helped me out tremendously and my B-400 is a much tamer ship with your suggested settings. Again, thank you John for your web-site and for sharing your knowledge in this great hobby. I have always been into aviation, especially growing up in Alaska. I used to go flying in helicopters with my buddied father who worked for Evergreen Helicopters in Anchorage. So I have always loved helicopters. In the Navy I was jet mechanic and worked and flown in A7-E Corsairs, E2-C hawkeye's, P3 Orians, F/A-18's, and my last jet the S3-B Viking. I was what they call an In Flight Tech. (IFT). My current job now is a Subject Matter Expert on the new F-35 Lighting II Joint Strike Fighter(JSF) jet. Man I love that bird and hope to get an RC of it soon. Scott Maney (Ret. USN) - United States John, your website is excellent. I've been wanting to fly heli's for the last 10 years, but was discouraged by the fact that they are the most challenging of all of RC vehicles. Your website provided answers to my questions including which helicopter to buy. Anyway I did purchase a Blade 400 per your recommendation and I am so happy. I hovered today 04-10-2009. I practiced on the simulator everyday for about 3 weeks, before going out. Thanks also for your information on fixing the TBE problem with the CX3. I had just about given up and had set the helicopter aside, but after reading your information I gave it a try and "polished my balls" now it fly's great! Hugo - Alhambra, CA, United States Dear John: I have been searching the net for information about RC Heli's. Your's is by far the best I have found. Congratulations! I am 71 years old and retired. I have not flown in many years but I was an instructor for many years. (fixed wing) The advancement in the hobby is absolutely amazing. We never had electric models and I had a flight kit that weighed 40 pounds. I am interested in Heli's for three reasons. 1. I can fly in my own back yard. 2. The challenge. 3. The availability of computer driven simulators. I have purchased the RealFlight G4.5 simulator and am blown away by it. I couldn't resist flying the fixed wing models and find that I haven't lost my touch, but as you say they are different as night and day. My goal is to get as good as I possibly can on Heli's. Thanks for writing down your knowledge and I am pleased to make your acquaintance. Albert - Canada I would like to personally thank you for taking the time to build this website. I have been fling fixed wing RC for years and have never had the nerve to take the leap into R/C Helicopters... Until I found your site. I purchased a Century 30 Hawk three days after reading over your site. And with the information that you have given me through this site I have set up and began to fly my new heli. (Tail in, Nose in hover And forward flight) AND TODAY!!!!!!! My first autorotation!!! (BUT FROM ONLY ABOUT 50FT) But hey! This is only the 10th day of me owning a RC heli! To make a long story short. THANKS! I know it has taken you a great deal of time to create this site. And the information that you have given ME is price-less! For what its worth... THANK YOU!I have given your site to some of the guys that I fly with, because they all wanted to know "How the H%LL did you learn how to fly so quick" One of them swore that there was somebody hiding in the bushes controlling my chopper! I guess the years that I flew RC planes helped a little bit because this bird flies like a plane in forward flight. Believe it or not, hovering was the hardest thing for me. But I would not have got that far if you had not been so thorough in the way you explain how to set up the heli on your site! The only regret I have is that I didn't find your site sooner! JB - United States Awesome website you have here. I started flying helis not to long ago. I started out with a Blade CP-Pro all I could get it to do was a little hovering. Last week however I got myself a nice Blade 400 3D I love this heli. I'm looking forward to to using your flight training to help me get better with my 400. Anyway I just wanted to say how much of a AWESOME job you have done on your website. Kevin - Canada I stumbled across your site and thought to myself "yea, another site that hasn't been updated since 1996" Wow, was I wrong. Your site is amazing. I'm finding more information in this one place than weeks of searching previously. Thank you so much for spending the time to provide such helpful information. John, I forwarded the link of your web site to many members of my club and I have to tell you, they all are very impressed! Even experts and sponsored professional heli pilots are very impressed with the excellent information you posted. I wish I had come across this info when I started the hobby since I made so many mistakes that could have been avoided if I had read your recommendations which I agree 100% with you. Just a Quick note; Great Website, good information, straight to the point. I wish your website was around 12 months ago when I started flying RC heli's. Hello, I am very impressed with your internet site. I am new to the hobby of rc helicopters and find you advice and knowledge very useful in any way. Many congratulations on your internet site and I certainly will consult it many more times. I REALLY appreciate your site. I've been googling helis for a while as a couple friends and I are considering electric helis, and the info available is sketchy. Thank you very much for all the work you've put into this. I've learned more from your site in one hour than I have from days of internet searches! Hello John, Just wanted to thank you for such an excellent web site, I am very impressed and can see you know your stuff. I have been involved with aviation for years. I was a helicopter and Harrier pilot in the Royal Navy and then became an instructor. Now I am currently working towards my aeronautical engineering degree. My son and I have been into fixed wing RC for years and started messing around with nitro RC helicopters about 10 months ago without much success. Then my son found your web site. We took your advice and purchased the RealFlight G4 simulator and started following your 10 day lesson plan. I just can't thank you enough for sharing this information with us. In less then a month we have both learned to fly circuits and nose in hover. Keep up the excellent work! Hi John, I contacted you earlier after I purchased my heli (Voyager 50) and you gave some opinions on this model. I read your segment on how to fly helis, read it again, and before I went to practice the first time, I read it again. Providing I was 10 years younger, I would have likely wanted to pop that sucker in the air and test my luck, but my added years of wisdom has taught me to "respect the advice form the experienced" and I kept replaying in my head about what you said about don't lift off the ground and if you stick to the plan you won't crash. I believe that's what has kept the heli in one piece.....the temptation is great to lift off to about 10' but these suckers are pricey to fix. With that, I say thank you for writing such a great article....I will surely contribute my success to this article. Just a quick note to say I have found your guide a great help. As a new pilot on a fp heli I was having difficulty in flying circuits ( but good at crashing circuits )But the way you explained and broke things down into segments helped greatly, everything is much smoother now,and considering I only ever want to fly scale is the way it should be. I think the furthest I'll ever want to go is a stall turn, which at my age (52)will be ample for my reflexes I suspect. I'll stay with your teachings until I reach my limits. Thanks once again, keep up the good work. Hi John, Absolute appreciation for the site my friend! I bought a Raptor 30 a few months back and am enjoying the learning stages. Your site has helped with the learning and breaking down the amazing amount of information on rc heli's. There's a lot of info that's higgledy-piggledy across the internet and your site brings it all together in a friendly manner, easy layout, easy to understand - thanks!! Hi John, I’ve paid tribute before about how good your site is as a one-stop-shop for RC Helicopter info. I’d like to expand that by stating how good your training info is for the novice and have given this feedback (and site details) to other pilots at the airfield, after them noticing how I seemed to have a certain plan in mind while flying. A training plan is so important in order give structure to learning - so I took your plan, performed it on the simulator and then took it to the airstrip; giving me the confidence to try it out for real. It really works and saves $$$ Thanks! Hi John, Came across your site today and wanted to say you have done a great job with it and have enjoyed reading through it. I am just about to venture into heli turbines and that’s how I found your site. Hello John, I just wanted to tell you this is a great site, I have played around with some toy rc helis and just purchased a honey bee King 2. I am glad I found your site and am going to try and learn on your 10 day schedule. I am on a very limited budget but have always loved helicopters. I think its great you are willing to devote the great amount of time you do for this as most I have found are only out to make a buck. As I am new to this and learning from your guidance I will keep you posted on my progress, I just wish you lived close lol. Not much around here in the way of rc help. Thank you so much and great site!!! Hiya John, I pride myself at giving credit when, in your case, it is certainly due. There are no fancy-anything’s on your site. It is simple, your font size is nice and big, the paragraphs are not a wall of text and I actually have read everything a few times now. (And I am one helluva a zero-focus sort of guy, *laughs*) I especially like how you said not to waste time with free simulators, and guess what, I was doing just that. I am looking at the RealFlight demo now thanks to you. And it was your site that prompted me to change the servos too. Also I got a DX7! So what I am saying John is, thanks to you I just blew 800 bucks! *Joking* But yeah, I think it is important for you to know, that your simple yes ultra informative-straight-to-the-bloody-point-site might have just help my VISA bill to go over the edge and to follow my heart. You Rock! I'll take your 10 day flying lesson seriously. In fact I'll do a log for you! Hi John, I found your Web site looking for info on turbine heli basics and what a nice surprise it was, to find so much excellent and useful information on RC helis concentrated in a single place, I can only thank and congratulate you for the wonderful stuff you have here. I'm still browsing your site but already am hooked! John, Thanks for putting this web site up. After 13 years of my son and I doing fixed wing he got hooked on Heli's. After 6 months he is doing 3-D. I had to buy a 600E just to try and keep up. I have been practicing in the Sim but this site has given me valuable insight on how they work. This is a huge help. I am 61 years young and intend to master at least sport flying. Thanks again and keep up the good work. I am hopefully about to start out in this fascinating hobby. Your website is brilliant! I am so glad I have found it! It's a very welcome source of information, for a novice especially. Know that your considerable time and effort in creating this site are much appreciated. Keep up the great work. Hi John, I have just spent a great deal of time browsing for tips from your site... May I just say that it is a fantastic site and I will be visiting again OFTEN! I have just bought my 1st RC Heli after messing around on a sim and a micro heli for 12mths. I have slight colour blindness and was told I would never fulfill my dream of becoming a Helicopter pilot when I was 10yrs old. I'm now 33, after 12yrs in the British Army where I got to fly in many Heli's and jet aircraft. It is now time to get as close to being a pilot as I possibly can. I thank you and this site for giving me more insight to flying and probably saving me money on a few spares!! Thanks again.
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