The building and flying of model aircraft has been a popular hobby for many years. One of the most enjoyable types of model is a radio controlled (RC) helicopter. While many people simply enjoy flying these craft for the fun of it, some have found a way to take a hobby they would enjoy anyway and make it a profitable business.
One of the greatest features of an RC helicopter is the ability to mount a camera onboard and use it to take some very high quality aerial photographs. In fact, this feature has been used as a means of examining structures for damage in places that would be too dangerous for a human to attempt to reach and by police departments to examine an accident scene from a safe distance.
Because they can be used in this fashion, RC helicopters are classed as UAVs and regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration. Their use as unmanned recon craft must be filed with an appropriate flight plan so that air traffic controllers can prevent a tragic collision between these small craft and larger craft that could be damaged badly enough to cause a crash. The FAA also tells the operator the maximum altitude at which the craft can operate.
RC helicopters can also be used with a motion picture camera to take shots from an aerial point of view that would be too dangerous to use a manned craft for or impossible to rig with other types of cameras. This makes some shots that would have been impossible at one time an everyday occurrence in the world of movie making.
There are many different types and sizes of choppers available to RC enthusiasts. Some run on gasoline while others are electric. What sort of tricks can be performed by one depends a great deal on the power source. The amount of noise made by one also depends on the type of power the craft uses.
Having these craft built to different scales makes it possible to divide them into indoor and outdoor craft. After all, the larger ones are more dangerous when in operation and could create a great deal of damage indoors while smaller ones take less power and are not as dangerous to their surroundings.
One of the most creative and interesting hobbies around is the building and flying of radio controlled aircraft. While planes can do many things that a helicopter can not, helicopters have other advantages that make them something a person can fly strictly for fun or for profit. Mounting a camera on one makes a tool that can be used for aerial photography without having to have a full sized craft that would produce enough wind to disrupt the scene one is trying to photograph.
Contractors, government agencies, and police departments have discovered that an RC helicopter with a camera mounted on it can be useful for examining structures, gathering evidence and assessing the safety of an accident scene, or for gaining information that can only be obtained from an aerial perspective.
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@ questions please = in theory, if I had two or more rc helicopters, (and safely spaced) could I control all of them with one remote control and fly them in formation? Also, how far is the effective range between a/c and rc? thank you
Hi Joe-
In theory, if you had two or more remote control helicopters on the same channel, then yes, they would receive the same inputs- HOWEVER this is a really, really bad idea. Unlike a RC airplane, helicopters require constant minute course corrections to stay in flight, which is why we always recommend pilots try a simulator before they spin up the rotors. With ground effect, you have to see it and react- take off would be different for each helicopter, not to mention staying in flight. I did read about some autonomous drones that fly in formation- but the key word here is autonomous- they each fly themselves, then use a wireless network to stay together.
As for transmitter ranges that varies- but about 500 feet, or 1 and 1/2 football fields is a good guesstimate…