Noobie here!! be gentle!

[inferno]

Hi all, ive decided to look seriously now into flying nitro heli's. Ive played with cars, and can fly a plane to an extent, but my only experience with a chopper was a disaster, it wasnt setup, it cost me peanuts, it went up about 20feet spinning faster and faster and then just fell out of the sky

Well saterday, i went to pick a car up and i bumped into a small club in milton keynes, and the guys there amazed me with there flying! Bassicly they suggested on a low budget i should start out with a Raptor, so ill be browsing the classifieds, and to get a simulater.

Well i just got clear view RC and registered it, and ive ordered a suitable game pad, but from what ive seen of it so far, i know its not going to be realistic without connecting a TX to the pc.

So my first question, what tx should i invest in initially? i dont want all singing all dancing if i dont need it (my RC car 3 channel TX was over £300 and did everything bar make a cup of tea!) but i need something i can rely on when i get really into flying.I dont want to have to invest twice though.

Also what raptor should i get? do they come prebuilt or do i build myself? should i be buying the copilot failsafes too? i used them on my cars, but can an 8ch failsafe really stop you from crashing your heli mid flight or when your out of range and inverted?

I was reassured this weekend that anythings possible on a low budget toy, up untill now id only ever seen one heli 'fly', the others marely hovered!

anyway im off to carry on browsing, any pointers here would be usefull though! oh and im near harlow, and know theres a local club, is anyone here a member?

thanx for looking, tom.

[Raptormadsteve]

Hi and welcome to the forum. Here is a link to our friendly club in harlow
http://www.hdmfc.com/ you would be more than welcome to come up harlow common and have a chat and see what you think. With regards Anything you fly it would be a very good idea to join the bmfa as this also gives you insurance and an awfull lot of expirience3 in modeling in general .http://www.bmfa.org/ thats the web address for the bmfa. Hope this helps

Please also be assured rc aircraft are not toys!
Regards Steve

[inferno]

yes ive seen that harlow club site, and was planning to pay a visit next weekend if the weathers good!

dont worry, im fully aware of the danger of flying rc models, and dont intend to fly inunsured or in unsafe areas this time round

[nightstalker]

Raptor Titan is your best choice, als hobbies have just dropped there prices on theres to £230.00, with regards to radio i use the futaba 9c super but its not one of the cheap radios so to save you some ££ and get a glitch free heli and not to worry about frequencies go for the DX7,

Oh welcome to the club, also dont forget that Milton keynes club ((thats is thats the one on the main rode to Northampton right in middle of no where)) there having a flyin next moth sat 7th and 8th july come along and spend a day,

[richieclarkie]

Another option would be the Knight sport which you can pick up for £180.

You would be well advised to get a DX7 if you can, they are a fantastic system.

Oh yeah and if you stick at this forget about money. You won't have any!

[Steve]

Sorry to butt in here. I've visited the Harlow common now on 3 occasions. On two of those, there was only me and one other chap there - site user raptormadsteve was one, and twopart was the other. The 3rd occasion I went there was yesterday morning, and it was VERY busy. I have to say as a visitor from another club, that the flying discipline there is complete and utter crap. There are too many people wandering about spouting rules about do this and don't do that, and nobody actually watching what is going on and how dangerous it is.

There were planes taking off and landing in whatever direction suited them (sign of a lack of ability, let alone discipline), and then helicopters hovering around all across the middle of it. Now I'm not against planes and helis flying together, as we do it all the time at my own club, and when done properly and safely, there's no problem, but this was just a demonstration of disorganised chaos, which must surely only end in some nice mid-air collisions.

It's just madness to have helicopters hovering around in the middle of a runway while there are planes flying, and by training pilots as well. The hovering area has to be seperate and secure.

Anyway, there is another flying site at Harlow, which is more suited to 'sensible' flying positions for helis and planes. Again, I am not a member as I live about 30 miles away, but have flown there as a guest of twopart. The other site is for club members only and is a dedicated RC flying site in a good location, but the problem with the common is that it's just that, common land, so while someone was hovering a helicopter and someone else was flying a plane on a buddy box, a bloke came tearing across the strip on a motorbike!

Contact site users twopart or stumpy for details about joining the other site.

[kevinh]

Where abouts is sheering in relationship to harlow?

[Steve]

Where abouts is the other site in relationship to harlow?

It's right next to the Motorway, and North East of the town.

[inferno]

either site is good to me TBH, im only local. Well my money seems to be going out on car projects i get bored of easily, so im sure ill get more enjoyment from heli's!

really cant get to grips with the sims though, once the choppers up there impossible to crash, and to land is too easy with no feel or feedback ( im using the keyboard and clearview) is a TX and pheonix much better then?

I wouldnt want to fly with to many other aircraft in the feild either tbh... if the helis wander half as much as in a sim thats asking for trouble!

sooo who will be local on saterday or sunday to show me what and where to buy?!

[Steve]

Send a PM to stumpy, twopart and g0pkh - they're all local to you.

Sorry to drop you three in it chaps!

[Knight50]

Hi all, Well I would like to make a statement regarding this thread as there seams to be some misunderstanding regarding HDMFC and Harlow Common.
First off I am Vice Chairman to H.D.M.F.C and am fully aware what goes on at Harlow common, I myself was there this gone Sunday and as I am a ‘A’ cert in both Fixed wing and Heli I am not biased in any way but feel I have to set the record straight.
Because the site caters for all formats of flight, and the fact that the Common is common land and not Private does impose the problem, first off we cannot impose rules, but we can advise as to what the general rules are regarding a flying club and its safety, all off what should be known by flyers if you have BMFA insurance as its set out in the hand book you get when you join the BMFA, but at the end of the day we cant enforce them, if someone feels that there is an issue regarding safety that person should speak up and say something to the other flyers flying on the day, we are all safety officers in our own right and have the right to express our feelings in this matter if you feel there is any danger, If you choose not to speak up then you really don’t have a right to complain about the site.
I have been flying from Harlow Common for over 6 years now and in all that time I have never seen a midair between a Fixed wing and a Heli or Heli and Heli, the way the flying is done it makes it difficult for that to happen, yes there is mixed flying of both formats but in general all fixed wing will fly away from all Heli,s, in most cases the Heli flyers are practising for there ‘A’ and are at least 80-100 feet away at one end of the patch.
If you are a ‘A’ Cert Heli pilot like myself and want to do some general and 3d flying I tend to wait for all fixed wing aircraft to land before I fly myself, but I cant stop fixed wing taking off while I am flying, its really down to everyone on the patch to observe any danger that maybe around if they decide to fly.
If someone feel that they would like to fly on there own without anyone else flying that person should ask all the people present on the patch if its ok that they don’t fly for 5-10 minutes or so while you have a fly, in most cases I don’t see that as a problem and I think you will get full support for your request from the other flyers.
Everyone has a right to fly and safety is of upmost importance and must be regarded as the number one rule to any flying site including Harlow Common.
In general flying from that site is very safe with a excellent record of no accidents involving individuals and I hope it will continue.
If anyone has a issue with the site or has a problem you are quite welcome to contact me with you comments on 07970.431528, I will only be to happy to here from you and discuss the situation.
I hope this clarifies any uncertainty regarding the site and we can continue to enjoy our flying time there.
The message here is please say something if you have concerns, don’t just keep tight lipped.
Many thanks for reading and happy flying
Vice Chairman HDMFC

[Mark J]

Bummer!
I was working down that way last week and our digs were in Harlow, and if we had know, I could have squeezed my heli in the van and in the evening could have popped down for a quickie (ooer Mr's! lol!)
Never mind, will have to keep my eyes open for future opportunities (may have a job coming up in or near Reading at some point in the future so who knows!, so any members on here from around those parts???)

[inferno]

Ill send some pms when i get chance , probly just going to see whos there at the weekend, might visit both sites.

Hopefully bumping into steve coombes too to sort pheonix, a TX, and possibly a raptor if all goes well :P

[inferno]

Hmmm i had a wander over to harlow common site today, and i really think ill pass on that one personally!

for a start i found several horses walking down the road on there own!!! and the feild appears to have several more roaming free. then the kids whizing around on quad bikes, and dogs and walkers...

yet to find the sheering site though :S

im also looking into the possibility of flying on a farm where my mates have lockups and a workshop, fairly local, masses of unused land and generally we dont see any public up there wandering around off the road.