Electric RC Helicopters: Great for Beginners

In this post we’ll help you choose the electric RC helicopter that suits you best, based on how much experience you have flying these machines.

Their popularity, wide availability and affordable prices are all great news for the hobby. They’re less great for a beginner, though, who can quickly feel overwhelmed trying to decide which kind of battery-powered RC helicopter to pick.

That’s why we hope this post breaks down a few barriers and clears up the differences between the types of helicopter available today.

Electric RC helicopter models

Looking back over the last few years, electric RC helicopters have become very affordable, easy to find and much easier to fly. That has brought a lot of new people into the hobby.

RC helicopters now make up a big part of model aviation, and plenty of RC airplane pilots who used to fly only planes have at least one helicopter in their collection.

Essentially, there are three categories of electric RC helicopter: coaxial (dual rotor), fixed pitch and collective pitch. Let’s look at each one in more detail.

Types of electric RC helicopter

In this section we sort RC helicopters by how complex they are. You’ll get the information you need to understand each type and, depending on your experience, choose the one that fits you best.

Coaxial (dual-rotor) RC helicopters

Most electric RC helicopters follow the conventional layout, with a single main rotor and a tail rotor. Some helicopters, however, have two main rotors, one above the other, and no tail rotor. These are called coaxial RC helicopters, also known as dual-rotor, counter-rotating or twin-rotor helicopters.

On this type of RC helicopter, the two main rotors spin in opposite directions. As a result, the torque that one spinning rotor naturally creates is canceled out by the other.

Because of this, coaxial helicopters don’t need a tail rotor, since their blades don’t suffer from torque effect. That’s one less thing to worry about when you start flying, which is why these helicopters are ideal for newcomers to the hobby.

Fixed-pitch RC helicopters

The next step up in difficulty is the single-rotor, fixed-pitch RC helicopter. Like coaxial models, these have also been very popular with beginners.

Fixed-pitch helicopters rely on changes in main rotor speed to control altitude.

There’s a delay between moving the throttle stick and the rotor speed actually changing, which makes holding a steady altitude tricky at best. This is where flying a fixed-pitch helicopter gets a bit more demanding.

Even so, they’re an excellent introduction to flying RC helicopters for anyone who wants something more than a coaxial.

Collective-pitch RC helicopters

These helicopters have controls similar to full-size helicopters. Learning to fly one can take a lot of time, so they’re not recommended as your first machine.

Learning to coordinate motor power, collective pitch, cyclic pitch and orientation takes a lot of time and practice, and there’s no way to rush the process.

To learn this type of helicopter, start with a flight simulator. It’s a huge help for learning the controls of these aircraft.

Buying an electric RC helicopter

Whatever type you choose, the good news is that electric RC helicopters are sold in lots of places at very affordable prices. The range is so wide that you’ll always find a helicopter to suit almost any budget, preference and type of flying.

When you browse electric RC helicopters online, you’ll find a huge number of models. Open the listing of the one you like to check its details, such as the materials used, flight time and where it’s made.

Giant electric RC helicopters

As with other kinds of RC vehicles, the larger the scale of an RC helicopter, the more realistic it looks.

If you get the chance, look up a flight demo of a giant electric RC model. Some scale helicopters even fire mock missiles during their display flights.

Thanks for reading; we hope you found this post useful. Feel free to share it and leave a comment.