RC Heli in Korea

It all started in January.

   I have been teaching English here in Korea for about 7 years now. About 3 years ago, I got my own place and started teaching for myself. After a while, I needed something for the students to look forward to besides another class with another teacher. Hence, the prizes. With points earned for speaking only in English and doing well on their tests, the students can choose from a variety of gifts. I know from firsthand experience that children fear losing what they have gained. So, I use the prizes as a leverage for the kids to do their best as well as behave properly.

   The PiccoZ was one of those prizes. One day, when a student didn’t show up due to illness, I was bored. I decided to open one of those little heli’s and give it a go. Man, did I have fun! Never realized that RC helis would be so much fun. I have had RC cars before, but never was I even remotely interested as I was in this little heli.

 

    That was that. From then on, I decided that I wanted to fly a bigger heli. So, after doing a little bit of research, I found some places here in Korea that sell helis for adults. Isn’t it funny how the retailers make it sound so easy?

“You can do 3D flying with this model!”

“This package includes an ESC, a brushless motor, a BEC, a gyro, servos, and a transmitter. It is totally Ready to fly right out of the box!”

    This made me think that I was an expert pilot.  I wanted a TRex 450. So, I went down to the local hobby shop which was about an hour and a half away….

“Do you have a TRex 450? I am new to this hobby and I am very interested in having one.”

   “Hahahaha…… hehehehe…………”, were the snickers behind my back from people that were there and have flown for quite some time. They all deserved a swift kick in the a**. The owner was cool though and he asked me 2 questions.

“How long have you flown RC Helis?”

“Not to be rude, but what makes you think that you can fly one?”

    That made me think about whether I was going to be any good at this. Then, as I was thinking, he handed me a Tx to a Honey Bee FP. “Here, if you can hover this, then I will sell you a TRex. If not, then will you consider flying this thing for at least 2 months before even thinking about buying a TRex?”

    I nodded yes. Took the Tx and thought that I would show him. How hard can this be if I can fly the PiccoZ? Right off the bat…. DOPE! The throttle is on the other side! The heli just sat there seeming to laugh at me as it did nothing. Then I slowly moved up the throttle, on the right side, or Mode 1, then the heli reacted. Not like I had expected, but started drifting to the left. The tail slowly to the right. Uh-oh. What have I gotten myself into? Then I threw caution to the wind and lifted the thing and tried to make it hover. Looked easy when he did it.

    Crash! Right into the side of a cardboard box! There it was. There was my first purchase into the world of helis. Although I had crashed it and apologized for what seemed like forever, I felt like I was hooked on some kind of drug. I wanted to crash again for the sake of hovering the darned thing!

    Now, I am a full fledged collector of helis. Just a collector, mind you! ;-)  Should be an able flyer by the end of this year.