What is the best way to break into flying a normal circuit (in front of the pilot) once you are comfortable flying the heli in a circle around the pilot (similar to a u-control airplane)? I also fly RC airplanes and so Im hoping the concept is the same.

I started with planes too and found forward flight quite easy. The most difficult bit will probably be bringing it back to the hover so I would suggest maybe practicing moving across in front of you at a moderate speed (faster than hover) and stopping.

Remember that the angle of approach from forward flight to the hover is controlled by the collective and the speed by the cyclic and you shouldn't have too many problems.

It is also advantageous if you can hover nose in at this stage but is not strictly necessary if you are comfortable with planes.

practice figure 8's.......then make them bigger and bigger