littlerotors.com Newsletter
4th March 2002

Welcome to the second newsletter of 2002. My Vigor CS now has about 28 hours on it and is going well. It's already had it's first competition and quite well even after a roll that very nearly turned very nasty! It's hovering beautifully and I can't wait for the weather to settle down properly so I can really get some work in on this machine.

Changing of the guard:
My little Ergo has now moved on to teach someone else how to fly. That thing taught me everything from hovering to inverted hovering, stall turns to tic-tocs.

However, after teaching both Darryll and I to fly, i twas starting to get a bit long in the tooth so I sold it off with an OS 46 and a GY501 gyro and brought a JR Voyager 50. After a month or two of not having a little heli to blast around with instead of the two big ones, I'm really looking forward to the Voyager.

It's going to be kitted out with a 60 size muscle pipe and hopefully, the K & S 10 tooth pinion to increase the headspeed and it's going to be my 3D workhorse. I love doing the FAI stuff with the Vigor, but going out and beating around every now and then with a little heli is great fun!

Beginners to the sport:
I'd hate to think about how many closet helicopters there are out there. People buy the gear maybe fly it once (maybe not at all) and then shelve it.

Lately, a couple of these closet helicopters have made it to the field. Some in the hands of new owners, others who have dug them out from the back of the garage and now want to go out and fly.

Normally I'm a bit wary of people who seem keen with the hobby. I'm careful to explain just how much this hobby can cost, although I am careful to point out that it needent cost as much as you'd think if they're careful and sensible. I often get them to read through my site and see if they're still interested. I'm careful not to spend too much time with them at first cause there's a good chance I'll never see them again.

If they still show up the next weekend, then I'm willing to spend more time with them and maybe help setup and/or test fly their machine if they have one.

I don't understand the 'closet' helicopter pilots. If you've spent the money, it's not going to cost you anymore until you replace any broken parts from a crash, so why not get out there and give it a go?

A fortnight from now, our club has got another demonstration day at a local school. I think this time, I might print off some fliers to hand out to prospective pilots with information on what's involved in this awesome hobby of ours to try and weed out the tyre kickers from the real keen ones. We'll have to see how it goes.

Weather:
I don't know where the hell summer went over here in New Zealand, cause it certainly wasn't where I was! Summer ended (not that it really started) the other day and the days have become shorter which will mean less flying time. I hope you guys in the Northern Hemisphere have better luck than those of us in the Southern!

Articles this issue are:

Hirobo Shuttle RG
Hakim Tung reviews the Rolls Royce version of Hirobo's legendary Shuttle! Click here

Vigor CS - My thoughts
I write my thoughts on my new JR Vigor CS. Click here

Bye bye little Ergo
The helicopter that I learned to fly on has finally left the fleet... Click here

Feel free to contact me at simon@littlerotors.com at any time.

Si