It's been a while since I sent out the last newsletter, due to a number of things, our Curtis funfly is coming up in a couple of weeks and I've been busy helping out with the organisation of that. Plus, working on keeping all my helis in flying condition takes time :).

The reason why I love this hobby...
The other night a bunch of us were at the field for a bit of an afterwork fix. Each Thursday night (weather permitting!) we gather at the field for flying and BBQ, I really enjoy these gatherings.
Anyway, I had gone out there with the intention of working further on the setup of my Webra 91 with it's new MPII (which is a whole different story), when I got there I found two of our most dedicated fliers there really starting to push themselves. One, who has been doing slow circuits was starting to get into some speed figure eights, and the other who has into forward flight for a long time was doing stall turns! I ran over and gave him some tips on some small improvements and then started talking him into doing a loop cause he was more than ready (skill wise) to do one. Finally, after a lot of arm twisting and assurance, he got up the nerve to continue to hold back on the elevator as he did a stall turn and around it went! Everyone at the field cheered and clapped and the pilot was rapt. It was all pretty exciting and reinforced the fact that this hobby is all about personal goals. People progress at different paces and it doesn't matter what skill level you're at, this hobby offers goals and achievements for everybody.

Scale Helicopters
In this edition is a report by Dr Timothy Dawson regarding his experience in learning to fly a flybarless rotor head for his Vario Gas Huey. This article, along with George's Squirrel articles are the only scale content I have on the site. If you have, or know someone who has, any scale helicopters, why don't you put something together on them and send it into me? I'd love to include more scale stuff!

It's a small world after all...
This week, regular visitors to the www.runryder.com heli forum site would have seen an example of how small the world of RC helis is. A chap sold an Ergo 60 to another bloke in exchange for a GY601 plus some cash. The heli was sent in good faith, however nothing was heard from the person with the gyro and understandably, the chap who sold the heli become a little nervous and started posting some concerns on the site. Soon enough, the gyro boy got on and complained the heli was damaged and the heli had been misrepresented, he then posted some pictures of the damage and it was blatently clear that this damage could not have occured during freight and that a scam was in progress. People began posting their outrage at this boy's deception and within hours, enterprising forum members had located addresses, phone numbers, trading histories from various sites and people began volunteering to pay this teenager a 'visit' to 'educate' him on the finer points of honesty. The guy in question quickly backed off and promised to send the heli back and has been pretty much 'black booked'. I'm not yet aware of if the heli has made it back to it's original owner yet.
It was refreshing to see how members of the heli community came together to help a member out and once again reinforced that the heli community is fairly small one where everyone knows everyone else!

Pilot Locator
The Pilot Locator has continued to grow in popularity since the last newsletter with it still rating second most popular section of littlerotors.com. Make sure your details are up-to-date! The pilot locator can be found at www.littlerotors.com/findapilot/

Market
The Buy/Sell Market has been growing also. It should be noted that this section will accept postings from all over the world, not just New Zealand. List your items free of charge! See the market at www.littlerotors.com/market/

Curtis in New Zealand
Within two weeks, Curtis will be here in New Zealand at our Rotorua fun fly, there's still time to register for those of you who wish to visit! Click here

Articles this issue are:

Pilot Profile: Mark Christy
Great Britain's Mark Christy is one of Europe's top pilots and is one of the top ranked F3C pilots in the world. Mark talks about his beginnings and ambitions in RC Helis. Click here

Scale: Learning to fly the FlyBarless Head
Dr Timothy Dawson tells us about his experiences setting up the Vario flybarless head on his Gas Huey. Click here

Basic 3D: Flips
One of the first 3D maneuvers is the elevator and aileron flip. Flips often form the basis of the more demanding 3D maneuvers. Click here

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

Si