So, I'm Paul (hiiii paaaaul). And I'm a heli addict.
Bought a coax model at the local Bass Pro shop for my father for Christmas 2012 as a "fun" gift. I flew it a few times and got frustrated with the lack of banking (only a 3CH model: throttle, yaw, and elevator via a reversible up/down thrust propeller on the tail), but I enjoyed the challenge of flying it in a tightly confined space without crashing into things. Not easy without banking.
So in January 2013 I headed to the local hobby shop (Walt's Hobby in Syracuse, NY, since renamed to Walt's Hobbytown) to see what they had. Asked a few questions and ended up getting a Blade 120SR. Flew the heck out of it for a month, discovered online part ordering and got to flying it on the calm days outside. Grew a bit tired of the fixed pitch and the lack of maneuverability in anything but near dead calm wind conditions, so researched and asked more questions at the hobby shop. Ended up buying a Blade Nano CPX.
Spent the next two or three months flying it inside my theater room avoiding contact with the projector and wall screen at all costs. More parts. And eventually I was able to fly in the 24x15x9ft room in controlled circles and circuits (little bit of a problem with nose in forward flight) and hover in a 1sqft area. I was flying it outside too and starting to dabble with idle up modes and trying to go inverted.
I bought my first sim, Phoenix, about this time. Also had gotten onto my first RC related forum, RC-Help.com, where I gained a great deal of knowledge up until its untimely closure not too long ago (more on that later).
And shortly after that, with spring 2013 around the corner, I bought my first big heli. A Blade 550X Pro combo kit. I wanted my next heli to be a kit, I also wanted local support for a safety check before my first flight and maybe some guidance on first hover in the hobby shop parking/back lot.
I started building it. And happened to run across a "couldn't pass up" buying opportunity on RC-Help when Gaba put his Trex 700E up for sale. I snatched it quick and ended up having both the 550X and 700E on the bench at the same time. I put the 700E aside while I finished the 550X build. Enjoyed the hell out of the process of building it up, setting it up, testing everything, etc. I took it into the shop for final inspection, got some nice compliments on the job I did, and they took me out back to do a spin up and short hover. First the shop guy did it (Chuck Wright) and then I asked if I could have a go at it under his supervision. There was some hesitance since the lot didn't have a ton of space around it and they had no idea what my skill level was beyond my statements about being able to fly the nano cpx in my theater room without crashing. But he went along with it. Spun it up, fed some collective, and it lifted off smoothly (a little more sensitive to the collective than I was used to). Hovered it for 10 seconds and then I landed it. Success!
Flew the 550X in my back yard for a couple/few months. Built the Trex 700 and flew that in the back yard too. I live in an almost rural area, have a sizable yard and permission from the neighbor to fly in his even more sizable yard. So it was entirely safe. Albeit a little cramped, particularly with the 700.
Feeling cramped as I moved into fast forward flight and circuits and some light sport flying, and suffering a bad crash with the 700 in part due to space confinement and not being far enough away from myself, I sought out a local RC club to join with good flying facilities. There are two major clubs in the area and ended up at the one further away, in Phoenix, NY, the STARS rc flying club. Joined up, joined AMA, and enjoyed a half summer and fall of flying and progressing.
In the remainder of 2013 I picked up a Goblin 500 (new), Goblin 700 (used, off Island Breeze), a 300X, and a mcpx. This year I picked up a 350QX, a QAV500 (still being built), and a 300CFX.
My flying has progressed slower this year due to things keeping me away from the field and out back as much as I'd like. Working on mastering half piro flips and backward upright flight. Sim time this winter will be dedicated to working on full and double piro flips, mastering backward upright flight, and learning inverted forward and backward flight. Also thinking I'm going to learn to pinch the sticks instead of thumbing them.
I'll wrap with RC-Help.com (you thought I forgot, didn't ya?): It was a great site up until it's closing a month or so ago. This site's development was began in the days following that shutdown when a number of members felt compelled to put something together to fill the unique place in the RC forum community that RC-Help had provided: a place for beginners to go and not feel pressured or shamed for their beginner status. Simple. Friendly. Help. We all start somewhere and RC-Help excelled at welcoming those starting out, offering advice and help on everything from the minor to the significant. And it also had its fair share of intermediate and advanced pilots so people stuck around as they progressed, offering help to new comers and feeling a sense of camaraderie, and even family, with the dedicated members there. Two weeks of feverish work ensued with people from around the globe involved.
And then RC-Help.com reopened.
After two weeks or so the site came back online, much to everyone's surprise. The sudden way that it disappeared, coupled with the well known issues its administrator was having during the lead up to the closure, and the few strands of communication some managed to have with the admin after the closure, lead everyone to believe it was shutdown and gone forever.
But it is back and they are trying to rekindle that spark that made it great. And we are here too, having come too far and invested too much time to abandon the effort. And we'll admit to being pretty stoked about what we've built here, too.
So I press on in my growth as a pilot, both of helicopters and multi-rotors, and soon with my first airplane, and in my new role as an admin here at RC-Hangout. Hopeful that what we've built here will be what we set out to create. And also hopeful that RC-Help and its administrator will sustain through the troubles and that that site will grow once more, too.
I'll take this opportunity to give a hearty thanks to everyone involved in this effort (and in no particular order): Danhampson, Tony, Marius, Graham Lawrie, Derek, Lee, murankar, cml001 (Clay), ken jackson, KevG, treff, and wolfman76. If I've left someone out, my apologies. We had a monster email list and discussion going to kick all this off and I'm not sure if I matched everyone up with a member here or not. Know everyone made contributions and had a role in this. I thank you sincerely for helping make this happen and supporting me in my role through it, too.
