ORIGINAL: flyinrog
I think the electric heli business is booming because of the advance of battery tech and because there are more people flying at home in their front yard as opposed to going to the field...or maybe in my case cold weather is keeping me close to home at the schoolyard instead of the field,,our club has 2 fields , one has a heli field the other doesnt..and I agree when one of those .60 glow heli fires up, everybody either watches or watchesout...so many heli flyers are flying/hovering at eye level, and thats part of the problem..we have a pro here and the first time I saw him , he was walking 5 feet from his heli at eye level walking up and down the field,,I thought this guy is nuts!!...I have a cheap LMH, but plan to get a trex 450 soon ,,tax refund ...Rog
I agree, the electric boom is due to the advance of battery tech. This allows smaller helicopters than one could have before, and cheaper than one could have before, thus allowing more people to be able to afford a heli. This is both a good and bad thing. As was pointed out by bugzilla earlier in this thread, you have the smaller 300 size helis that are generally squirelly getting badged as beginner helis. When a prospective helicopter pilot sees the reduced cost (as I did when I started), they tend to lean towards a that product. In this case, that product would be a 300 size CP heli, which is more for intermediate to advanced pilots. The good is that when people do their homework before making an electric heli purchase, they can purchase a 400-450 class machine, which is much better suited to a beginner. Those helicopters are not that much more than a CP (depending on make, model, and level of completion). In the past, before the advent of micro helicopters, most people (just guessing here) would start out on a .30 size nitro bird. This requires a significant increase in startup costs over a 400-450 electric, including the heli, engine, radio gear, starter, starter shaft, glow ignitor, fuel pump, and spare glow plugs at a minimum. Many of the new breed of 400-450 electrics come RTF with everything needed to fly in the box (normally sans simulator and equipped with cheaper radio gear that is usually replaced as the pilot begins to progress beyond basic flight, sometimes sooner.), making the entrance to the hobby less expensive.
The hovering at eye level should not be a problem as long as the pilot is at a distance from the heli, the heli is at a distance from the pits, and the pilot has control over the heli. However, the walking 5 feet from the heli up and down the field is. While moving, it is more difficult to keep orientation and control over any RC aircraft, but even more so on helis. Also, if the pilot's walking while flying a heli and has control over the heli, they may not have the situational awareness to avoid obstacles in THEIR way, ulimately loosing control of the heli and posing a threat to themself and others at the field. There is also the chance of a mechanical failure, posing greater risk of injury to the pilot walking that close to the heli.
Happy flying.