A Fool and His Money

Yup, today, I got a cheapo remote control helicopter to play with. It flew really well. Hit the power and "whack!" it hits the ceiling. Cut back on the power and "whack!" it hits the floor. I almost mastered it, but managed to bust off the tail rotor during one of the crashes. Elapsed time: less than 5 minutes.

I'm thinking that I might be able to make a new tail rotor out of cardboard or plastic. However, if you are in the market for a helicopter, I'd suggest looking for a protected tail rotor like the one on the Coast Guard (HH-65).

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/hh-65-pics.htm

Prospective Santa's out there, might want to keep a backup handy.

I popped into Toys'R'Us this evening and got an AirHogs Aerosaur motorized glider. It is a very lightweight styrofoam glider with a pusher propeller. I had hoped that I'd be able to move the engine and rudder to a balsa glider in case of disaster. However, the plane is smaller and weaker than I thought. It needs a hand launch and loses altitude very quickly. Methinks I'll be returning it later this evening.

I finally found a helicopter that flies fairly nicely. It is the Alany Indoor RC Radio Controlled Micro Helicopter. It has a three channel Radio Control and counter rotating main rotors like you'd see in Russian helicopters like the Ka-25 Hormone.
http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Rotary/Soviet/HE19G5.htm

The main rotors are enclosed in wire circles so that they won't catch in ground debris and snap off as easily. The rear rotor is small and appears to be for canting the helicopter forward and backwards for directional flight. There is a rather sensitive knob that rotates right and left to trim the helicopter. There are two sticks on the controller. The left controls the throttle and the right controls forward, back, right, and left.

In about ten minutes of test flying, I was able to keep it hovering without smacking the ceiling and fly it around our living room just a little bit. The primary difficulty seemed to be keeping the helicopter trimmed for flight without it rotating a little to the right or left. I've also learned that you need to cut the throttle once a crash is imminent in order to protect the tail rotor.

Here's a video someone posted of my new toy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVdGe8juRWo