Easy peasy, lemon squeezy

May 4, 2012 2:18 PM

RC Helicopter Kung Fu (Warning! Very silly music!)
posted by Blazecock Pileon (12 comments total)

At first I misunderstood this as RC Helicopter Kung Fu Fighting, and expected to see some in air carnage. I quickly realized that the skilled flying was much cooler. I was especially intrigued by the pilots references to "the simulator" where he develops many of his techniques! Also, the really silly music doesn't start until at least 5 mins in.
posted by grog at 2:31 PM on May 4, 2012 [2 favorites]

I was especially intrigued by the pilots references to "the simulator" where he develops many of his techniques!

RC helicopters are extremely easy to accidentally destroy if you screw up and crash. So these days using a computer flight sim is pretty much a prerequisite before you ever start flying an RC copter to begin with. For the same sorts of reasons it makes sense that he would develop his new maneuvers in the safety of a flight sim before trying them out in real life. Plus it's easier and cheaper to spend hours trying things out on a computer than it is to do it in real life.
posted by burnmp3s at 2:42 PM on May 4, 2012 [1 favorite]

Word cannot describe how badass this looks. Imagine using those in the military. If I saw an immense cloud of RC helicopters tailwagging in my direction, I'd lay down my arms in the name of awesome.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 3:51 PM on May 4, 2012 [2 favorites]

I looked at that helicopter, then Jamie, then the music gave me certain ideas.
posted by Twang at 6:28 PM on May 4, 2012

I appreciated that they listed all the parts used, although this was after all an ad. Out of curiosity, I added up the major components:

^{Body - $866
Blades - $90 (main) + $28 (tail)
Battery - $450
Motor - $250
Servos - $150 x 3 (cyclic) + $140 (tail)
Electronic motor controller - $550
Virtual flybar controller - $365
Receivers - 2 x $35
Voltage regulator - $30
Transmitter - $210
Total - $3499}

Boy would I hate to crash that, although I'm sure you can reuse a lot of stuff.

Also, he should have a little model pilot sitting in the cockpit with model barf all over himself.
posted by Rhomboid at 6:37 PM on May 4, 2012 [1 favorite]

So, they have simulators that are precise enough that you can work out entirely new maneuvers on them?

How long before someone just plug in an AI of some kind into the simulator, and train it to fly actual R/C helicopters?
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 6:45 PM on May 4, 2012

Gods, what cheeseball.

Sorry, but all I can think of is that guys like this ruin hobbies for everyone else.
posted by clvrmnky at 7:06 PM on May 4, 2012

Looking at the video it just seems that the chopper is constantly out of control and that the pilot is taking extraordinary measures to keep it in flight.

On the video the movements are so unnatural and jerky that I can't really see them as 'awesome tricks', which I assume is the intention. Anyway, I accept the pilot as being very talented but I guess I'm not really impressed by the flight style.

Btw, those of you interested in starting out flying RC choppers might be interested in the Syma 107G. It's a great easy flier that you fly indoors at home chasing dogs or coworkers at the office. Btw, it's under $20.
posted by quanti at 7:13 PM on May 4, 2012

hm.
posted by 4ster at 7:20 PM on May 4, 2012

i would not want to be riding in that tiny plane
posted by The White Hat at 8:25 PM on May 4, 2012

I started the video, then was completely, overwhelmingly disgusted by 1 guy driving in a huge, empty, pickup truck. I've been away from the States a LONG time.

Then I read what Twang said, and now I'm going to turn on my sound and take another look. Not like I don't fly RC helicopters, I've destroyed several. :-/
posted by Goofyy at 11:26 PM on May 4, 2012

I just think this whole flying style looks spastic. The helicopter's not doing anything in particular, it's just sort of flopping around like an anti-gravity fish out of water. I appreciate the level of control it takes to do, but I don't think it *looks* good. What do I know, though, I fly rc gliders, they are completely incapable of anything like this. They're much more graceful looking, though.
posted by tylerkaraszewski at 8:07 AM on May 5, 2012