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You Can Fly Helicopters !
R/C helicopters have become extremely popular. They are riveting to watch, but they intimidate some potential pilots. If that includes you, then read on-because their popularity has encouraged manufacturers to develop many new models. So now there's something for everyone who'd like to try a heli !

Heli Flight Basics

Generally speaking, an R/C helicopter flies 30-50 mph in forward flight and up to cloud ceiling of visibility. What types of things can an R/C helicopter do? Just about anything you can think of that involves flying! They can hover in one spot, fly backwards, sideways, do pirouettes while in forward flight, stall turns, loops, rolls, standing loops and rolls (a loop or roll with no forward speed), tumble and most amazing, they can fly upside-down and hover inches off the ground! Let's see an airplane or even a full-size helicopter do that! Of course there's aerial video and wildlife photography capabilities…

Flying your heli ... the radio
A helicopter radio provides a separate channel for each of the five functions described below. That is the reason you require 5 channels (minimum) to fly helicopters. It has special throttle-collective pitch mixing functions available only on computer radios. These mixing functions make the helicopter much easier to set up and fly . More channels may be used for other purposes - gyro adjustment, retractable landing gear, etc. The best RC heli radio for the job has 7 or 8 channels.

How the heli radio sticks control the helicopter
Throttle (ch 1)- Moves the helicopter up and down.
Collective Pitch (ch 2 mixed with ch 1)- Also helps to move the helicopter up and down. Controlled by the throttle mixing, the pitch of the main rotor blades change together or collectively to create the desired movement of the helicopter.
 Tail Rotor Pitch (ch 3)- Turns the helicopter right or left (Yaw).
 Fore-Aft Cyclic (ch 4) - Tilts the helicopter forwards and backwards (Pitch). This enables the helicopter itself to fly forwards or backwards.
 Left-Right Cyclic (ch 5)- Leans the helicopter to the left and right (Roll). The helicopter leans to the right or left in order to fly in either direction.

In both aircraft & helis … a Gyro makes you a flying expert!
A heli gyro is like an "auto-pilot" for the tail rotor. Generally, the tail rotor is a touchy, difficult function to control (and the most important while learning). A gyro is a little black box that contains special components and circuitry to help you hold the yaw (left and right turning ) position of the helicopter. Don't fly your heli without a gyro.
Aircraft gyros are also available to smooth out the bumps caused by turbulence. Model aircraft with a gyro fitted fly like they are on rails ! 
 
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