i'm new in rc field...i mean beginner...i'm still thinking about having an airplane or heli...???what are the pros and cons??

That is a big question. Here's my personal views on the subject -- they undoubtedly are not widely held.

Airplanes

Pro's:

1) Easier to learn
2) Cheaper
3) Faster
4) More sky to play with (can be safely flown farther away from the pilot)
5) Less annoying to neighbours (noise)
6) Very wide range of flight capabilities

Cons:

1) need much more space
2) need specially prepared facilities

Helicopters

Pro's:

1) Can fly in confined spaces
2) Don't need speciallized facilities
3) Can do amazing tricks in addition to many conventional flight regimes

Cons:

1) Difficult to learn
2) Very expensive
3) Glo-types are very noisy
4) Can't be easily seen & flown at significant distances
5) Somewhat fewer variations in flying activities than fixed-wing types
6) Slow

Go to the heli forum for heli info. Its like asking, should i get a cat or a dog. I kow im not very helpfull, but your question wasnt very helpfull, what is your budget, your space, do you have a flying site near by?

ermmm...i have budget with usd2000...yeah of coz there just around the corner from my place there is a flying field...its about 4x of football field...

Many have great success now adays with helicopters due to good flight simulators, heading hold gyros and 300 dollar price range plastic framed helis that are reliable and stable. They really are no more difficult to fly than airplanes but they need some patience, a willingness to learn the mechanics and plenty of practice. Someone local that is experianced and can look over your build job and verify your tuning and final setup will also go a long way.

They are more expensive and more expensive to crash but they will keep you constantly challeneged to learn new tricks and perfect the ones you know. In short I've never been bored with a heli, I have found myself bored with many fixed wing planes and gliders.

http://www.heliproz.com and http://www.ronlund.com both have pages with beginner info. Your budget is well within reason for a 50 or even 90 sized nitro heli, nicely equipped and a flight sim and some spare parts.

DAMN, thats a rich budget in terms of planes. You can go ahead with planes. They are cheap. BUt really, it depends on what you want. Some like planes or helis, it all depends what you would like. i prefer planes, but it all dpends on what you would like to put ino the hobby.

thankz alot guys....now i decided to go for plane ....maybe in next step after that i might considered with heli....lol..!!!

A budget and this hobby doesn't go together.

Sure they do. Just make sure its a really BIG budget!!

Brad

I call it a "flex" budget. More money gets allocated when I crash or need a new toy.

Reminds me of the expression "I can't be overdrawn, I still have checks".

It all depends on if you have a good instructor for either airplane or helicopter. I give instruction for both and I believe that for the most part, helis are not any more difficult to learn than fixed wing, in fact in my personal experience, learning to hover helis is in a way, easier than fixed wing.
http://www.amadistrictii.org/column/...9%20Column.pdf

I have know real personal interest in helis. They just don't look like as much fun or nearly as pretty in the air to me. I just don't seem to get the facsination. I have the read couple posts above saying that they are no more difficult to learn than planes, now since those statements were made by ppl with much more experience than I have, I will have to except them at face value. I' sure they could be with proper instruction from a qualified heli instructor. which I have never tried. I have tried to play a little on the sim with the helis (not knowing what I'm doing) and with zero to little success[:@]. They certainly seemed much harder to fly to me.

The one thing I do know about helis is that at the particular club field I fly at, they are not very popular! It seems that thes heli pilots while learning have a need to practice hovering a few feet off the ground right smack in the middle of the runway. With total disregard for the ppl who have planes in the air at the same time. I saw a guy have to bring in a deadstick on a runway that is now half the size it usually is, because the darn heli is still playing around in the middle of the runway! End result was a minor crash do to trying to swerve around the heli while trying to get the plane slowed down. I hope if you do go for helis you'll keep in mind that planes need that runway too. If it had been my plane, we certainly would have had a little discussion about common curtesy. I don't contend that all heli pilots do this sort of thing , but I've seen it on a few occassions now from the same instructor & student. That's the scary part, it's an instructor that's continually plugging up the runway with this thing. while we have a control line circle down at the end of the runway & off to the side that gets used once in a blue moon by one person. Seems to me that would be the place to carry on these heli hovering lessons[sm=idea.gif], not the middle of the darn runway!

Having said that, I'm sure that the majority of heli pilots are fine, & curteous ppl.


Mark

At our field helis and fixed wings peacefully co-exist. Those learning/practicing hovering do so in an area that's past the pits and off the runway. Those doing extreme aerobatics usually get the air to themselves, while the rest of us watch in amazement, and those just flying around get the space over the runway, but stay high enough that someone landing, planned or because of a deadstick, can do so without risk of collision. The field is informally reserved for helis every Sunday morning. Technically, those of us with fixed wing planes could fly at that time, but we give the helis their space. I feel bad when I see reports of conflicts. Reminds me how lucky I am to live so close to such a great club.

We peacefully coexist at our field too. The way our field is laid out the heli pilots have an area in the grass to fly from and it works really well for to practice hovering or for basic flying. The more advanced heli pilots will fly out over the runway, but it's not usually a problem because most of us enjoy watching the show!! Until recently though I didn't understand why they needed the runway since they could take off in the grass. I finally asked one of them and he told me that they like to use the straight runway as a reference point for their maneuvers they fly. Ok, now that I know why it doesn't bother me anymore!!!

Ken

Just one more note not covered yet about Helis. Proper setup is much more demanding on Helis than fixed wing. Our senior instructor is an accomplished heli pilot, and I have seen him spend a few hours making sure blade incidence, balance, etc are properly set before ever taking a helo up. I have also heard helis described as a collection of very expensive, precision parts, all working together to fail.

I enjoy watching the experienced heli pilots at our field. But they have years of experience under their belts, and they spent a lot of time and money to get there.

Brad

This brings up another point. Strictly my opinion, but I think that the learning curve for heli's is a lot steeper than it is for airplanes. When I am teaching somebody to fly an airplane will have them do a "stunt" on their very first flight. I'm talking about a loop, which we all know to be pretty easy to teach to a student. Pull back on the elevator stick, hold it, hold it, hold it, and release. They've done their first trick on their first flight, and they will have an ear to ear grin on their face for days to come. And before everybody picks me apart, I do show them how to properly do a good loop later on in their training, but I just want them to do something on the first flight and this is on of the easiest things to teach to a new pilot.

Now when I've watched heli students it seems like they hover FOREVER before they even start doing other things, most often moving side to side. I'm not saying that learning one is better than the other, or vice versa. I'm just saying that from what I've seen it seems to take longer when learning to fly a heli before you can do any "stuff".

That's my 2 cents worth.

Ken

Just like fixed wing, people can spend very little money or big bucks to have fun in RC aeromodeling. Just to make a point, there are tons of previously owned helis out there for sale that can be picked up for pennies on the dollar, of course, one would have to know what to look for when buying used. You can buy a good new 30 size fuel powered heli outfit for around $600.

You can use most, (except for ccpm mode) airplane radios for helis. Some radios have alternate heli programs, but when I first started flying 60 size helis, I used a 4 channel AM airplane radio, which worked fine. My point is, if you have someone to help you setup and flight trim your heli the first time, there isn't all that much to do afterwards. Once you get the hang of hovering, and if you witnessed the intial setup, you can figure out how to make adjustments on your own. In other words, it's not nearly as difficult as some would have you think it is.

CCR

Of course, I'm speaking from my perspective as a 3 decade heli and fixed wing instructor. As far as the newcomer heli pilot is concerned, learning how to hold a sustained hover is "stuff" enough for the time being, that will put a smile on his face for quite a while. He then can slowly learn whatever he wants to do and doing so within breaking anything gives him or her tons of thrills, although from the a non heli flier's perspective, it's not such a big thing.

What makes learning to fly helis on par with the learning process of fixed wing, is that the heli newbie can learn to fly and not break things mostly on his own, which isn't adviseable during the fixed wing learning process. When I teach people to hover helis, it usually only takes between 30-60 minutes of hands-on instruction, of which he or she can hold a sustained hover or at least a few seconds at a time and with the student having 50-100% control for that time span. After that, he can go totally on his own, thoughout the hovering stages right to forward flight and to 3D.

CCR

As I said, I wasn't bashing either heli's or plane's. That was just my observation of the situation.

Ken

Airplanes are invariably trying to fly -- helis are invariably trying to crash. (I'm only half joking)

No problem, I didn't take it as bashing of either. Although it's really nobody's fault, helis tend to get a bad rap, mostly because unlike airplanes, newbies tend to be left to learn mostly on their own. If someone says for whatever reason that they are going to learn to fly airplanes on their own, he will not doubt receive strongly worded suggestions to not do so. That is usually not the case for helis, although it will be suggested to try to find someone to help setup and flight trim his heli, in most cases, he has no choice but to go through the expensive trial and error hovering learning curve. Instructors who actually give hands-on hover/flight instruction are rare as hen's teeth. lol

CCR