Home Page

To fly radio controlled helicopters is a constant balancing act.

R/C helicopters are extremely unstable flying machines. So to fly R/C helicopters, you constantly need to balance the helicopter to prevent it from losing control and crash.

I'm going to explain the controls for a 4-channel helicopter and upwards. One channel is used to control a specific function on the helicopter. You can fly the helicopter in the Normal Flight mode (only applicable to four channel or less helicopters), or you can fly in 3D Flight mode for aerobatic maneuvers (only applicable to six or more channel helicopters).

A four cannel helicopter will have four functions.  

1. Elevator to control forward and backward flight. To go forward you need to push the elevator stick forward. The nose of the helicopter will pitch down. To go backwards you need to pull the elevator stick down. The nose of the helicopter will pitch up.

2. Aileron to control left or right roll. To bank left you need to move the aileron stick left. The helicopter will roll to the left. To bank right you need to move the aileron stick right. The helicopter will roll to the right.

3. Rudder to control left or right  yaw. To turn the nose of the helicopter left you need to move the rudder stick to the left. The helicopter will yaw to the left. To turn the nose of the helicopter right you need to move the rudder stick to the right. The helicopter will yaw to the right.

4. Throttle to control up and down. To go up you need to move the throttle upwards. Take care that the throttle is close when you switch the helicopter on. You always start with the throttle in the down or closed position. The helicopter will start flying when the throttle reaches 50% of throttle. To go further up you need to push the throttle stick further than 50%. To go down you need to pull back on the throttle stick.    

Six channel helicopters will have two more functions.

5. (CCPM) Mixing of cyclic and collective. As throttle inputs increases in the Normal Flight mode, the Cyclic Collective Pitch Mixing (CCPM) system automatically adds pitch to the blades to help lift the helicopter of the ground. The amount of pitch and how fast it is added can affect the flight characteristics of the helicopter.

6. 3D mode for aerobatic maneuvers. This function will be use when flying aerobatics. This will enable you to fly the helicopter up side down. Basically from 50% throttle and upward the pitch of the rotor blades will increase with a positive angle of attack. From 50% throttle and downward the pitch of the rotor blades will decrease with a negative angle of attack.