[Fwd: Amazing 17 year old R/C Helicopter pilot video]

"Beav" wrote in message
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"Steve R." wrote in message
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I've been lucky in that we both live in Texas (about 2 hours apart) so
I've seen him fly at many fun-flies and contests through the years in our
general area. I also went through a "brief" period of think he was
someone I might want to emulate but every time I saw him fly, he seemed
to be a light year ahead of the last time I saw him fly. When I first
saw him perform a pirouetting loop (!), I thought, "forget that!" It was
impressive indeed, but not something I could see myself doing. Maybe
some day!

Steve, I'd been flying some serious 3D for a fair while before I attempted
my first pirouetting loop. I went for a single piro taking the full loop
to make the full 360 yaw. I got to 320 :-))

2nd one was Ok, but that was three weeks and 500 quid later.

Beav

Well Beav, at least you've "tried" to do the pirouetting loop. It's not
something I've ever worked up the courage to do yet. All of my flying in
the past 10 to 15 years has been basic sport flying and FAI competitions.
It's a plateau that I've been on for a very long time. The problem is, I've
gotten comfortable with where I'm at and have not been particularly
motivated to advance. It's cheaper! ;-)

Having said that, I'm about to purchase a used Fury from a friend of mine.
This will be a third model in addition to the two X-Cell Pro2k's that I've
been competing with and it's going to be a 3D setup. My wallet is starting
to ache already. There are some 3D maneuvers that I know won't be much
trouble, after all, they're just modifications of stuff I'm already doing.
The pirouetting stuff is another story. I've always had a hard time
wrapping my brain around the control movements that make them work. But I'm
looking forward to learning! :-D

Fly Safe,
Steve R.

"Steve R." wrote in message
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"Beav" wrote in message
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"Steve R." wrote in message
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These guys all do very aggressive 3D work and they do
it in a controlled manner.

Like I said somewhere else, "'Til something goes wrong" ;-)) Then they do
make a fast lawn dart:-)

This is true! However, it's been my experience that if something goes
wrong, it doesn't matter if you're doing 3D or not, it doesn't take long
to become the proverbial lawn dart. ;-)

Having said that, I've watched Curtis fly long enough to have been witness
to some of his more spectacular crashes as well as some of his more
impressive saves. I've seen him shed a tail rotor, or at least the
control of it, in hard 3D maneuvering from about 6 to 10 feet up and still
put it on the ground, on the skids and in one piece! It's "amazing" what
that guy can auto out of! :-)

At the 2003 3D Masters (he won of course) he went out to fly his "thank you"
flight. He took off with the intention of a quick sideways flip to inverted,
putting the heli into a depression in the ground, which would've "hidden" it
from the spectators. He did that aright, but he didn't get it OUT of the
depression, he made the depression deeper instead.

It was a REAL shame he did that, coz he really is a thing to watch. He also
took half his tail blades off doing tick-tocks at zero feet (-2 inches
actually) a flight or two earlier. he killed that heli too.

He didn't make any of those mstakes this year though

Beav

"Beav" wrote in message
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At the 2003 3D Masters (he won of course) he went out to fly his "thank
you" flight. He took off with the intention of a quick sideways flip to
inverted, putting the heli into a depression in the ground, which would've
"hidden" it from the spectators. He did that aright, but he didn't get it
OUT of the depression, he made the depression deeper instead.

It was a REAL shame he did that, coz he really is a thing to watch. He
also took half his tail blades off doing tick-tocks at zero feet (-2
inches actually) a flight or two earlier. he killed that heli too.

He didn't make any of those mstakes this year though

Beav

Yeah, the last good one I watched wasn't really that spectacular, but it was
funny. He was doing a "stoppy" auto. You know, where they deliberately
hold positive collective until the rotor blades completely stop. I've seen
him do this successfully before but "not" this time. Naturally, he started
"way" up there. The blades did stop rotating but when he lowered the
collective, one of them lagged back and got caught under the horizontal fin
against the tail boom. All he / we could do at that point was watch the
free fall. He started the maneuver so high that I think it took 5 or 6
seconds for the model to hit the ground. I wish my eyes were "half" that
good! ;-) Right before it hit the ground, you could hear him say, "Bye
bye!" There was plenty of damage but it was rebuildable.

Fly Safe,
Steve R.

"Steve R." wrote in message
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The guys mentioned above are pretty much professionals. I can't say for
certain with Alan and Scott but Curtis and Jason actually make their
living
flying RC helicopters. They're that good!

Scott used to work in a model shop in Orleans, Ontario. I bought a Raptor 30
from him there. Don't know if he's still there, I moved back to the UK four
years ago. I think he was about 17 back then and had full sponsorship, but I
don't remember who with. I suspect Curtis probably makes a lot more from
video and book sales than he does from competition flying.

Si

"Beav" wrote in message
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Like I said somewhere else, "'Til something goes wrong" ;-)) Then they do
make a fast lawn dart:-)

I stopped flying a year or so ago in frustration. I'd made it to circuits,
loops and stall turns with only a minor pilot error crash. Then I had about
three successive mechanical or electrical failures in a row that cost me a
limb each time and I thought enough. I've still got them though, a Raptor
60 (in bits), an Eco 8 (in one piece but needs a gear wheel) and a
half-completed Airwolf with Vario mechanics. I shall pick it up again at
some point..

Si

"Simon Robbins" wrote in message
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I suspect Curtis probably makes a lot more from
video and book sales than he does from competition flying.

Si


Curtis' conpetition flying, as far as I know, is just an extention of his
business as a whole. I don't know whether or not he's specifically paid to
attend the AMA Nat's competition, the World competitions, or the various
worldwide 3D competitions he's attended through the years but I imagine he
probably is. Manufacturers love to use the winners of these events in their
advertising and I'm sure they get compensated for it. At the very least,
it's a tax write off. This would be in addition to the video and book sales
you mention, as well as the RC helicopter flight training school that Curtis
runs. He also done a fair amount of R&D work for JR, as he also did for
Robbe/Schluter when he worked for them. It all adds up.

Fly Safe,
Steve R.