For Christmas this year my girlfriend got me an Esky Honeybee CP2. It is a small 6 channel Electric RC Helicopter. The first night I started playing with it I burned out my first LiPo Battery. I might have over discharged it while messing around with the helicopter. Basically, the LiPo batteries that most of these small helicopters use are 3 Cell packs that must be kept above 3.0V or below 4.2V per cell (it is recommended to not actually go near 3.0V). I discharged mine to about 2.6V per cell! Luckily Michael at USHobbySupply was able to set me up with a new battery pack the next day. I also got a replacement battery from Xheli for free to replace the initial battery.
Since then I have started learning how to fly. I have already broken my Honeybee many times.
The first accident was in my Father’s basement. I was practicing hovering and I clipped the bicycle laying against the wall (broke a ball joint).
The second accident was at my Mother’s house where I landed too hard (broke the landing skids).
The third time I was holding the helicopter in my hands and accidentally hit the Idle up switch which puts the throttle at 100% (my landing skids detached from the Helicopter frame).
The fourth crash was in my kitchen when I was testing new plastic blades I had been given from Michael from UsHobbySupply. I hovered the helicopter in my kitchen and scared myself by letting it get too close, which resulted in me dropping the throttle and having a boom strike (blades chopped the heli’s tail in half).
Over the past weekend I broke the helicopter two more times by crashing the blades into the ground or an object sticking out of the ground (these broke off some ball ends in the heli’s head). I ended up replacing the main shaft as well since I bent it up pretty badly by then. Miraculously the feathering shaft between the blade grips has not been bent yet.
So far, with the help of a simulator (I use Realfight G4) and my many practice sessions with my Honeybee CP2, I have learned how to hover well in almost all orientations (nose-in is still sketchy) and I have done about 2 circuits with the helicopter. I still haven’t really broken into full forward flight, but plan on doing so soon when I take the training gear off.
I have become so hooked on this RC helicopter hobby I have already ordered another Heli. I found a good deal on an Eflight Blade 400 3D. I was going to build my own 450 Size heli, but found such a good deal that I had to get it. I will probably end upgrading it a bit like everyone else has as I get better at flying. There is so much information to absorb in this hobby; the learning curve is extremely steep. However, if you do a lot of research and understand that you will crash, then you will find out it can be a lot of fun!
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