Radio Control Helicopters
Mark Fadely [[email protected]]
An interview with Bobby Watts and Bert Kammerer
HELLO AGAIN, EVERYBODY. Good flying weather has invaded the country. It is great to get outside and enjoy some nitro flying again. The small electric-powered helicopters are fun for indoors, but there is nothing like flying a big, fire-breathing .90 outside to get you in the mood.
I thought it would be fun to hear from my good friends Bobby Watts and Bert Kammerer for this month’s column. I e-mailed these guys and asked them if they would like to do an interview for MA. They hesitated for roughly one second and then said they would.
Bobby and Bert are two of the hardest-working guys in the hobby, and they put in an enormous amount of time. They do research and development (R-and-D), testing, and product development for Miniature Aircraft USA.
What makes Bobby and Bert unique is that neither has been flying long and both are excellent pilots who have been invited to the Extreme Flight Championships, or XFC (www.futabarc.com/xfc-rc). This is the premier invitational contest for RC helicopters and airplanes in the U.S. It is being held in Muncie, Indiana, at the AMA site in June and should have just concluded by the time you read this. I wish Bobby and Bert good luck in that event.
I asked the two the same series of questions to see how their responses would compare. Let’s see how they replied.
MF: Bobby, let’s start with you. Thanks for doing this interview. I think the readers will appreciate your sharing your thoughts. Tell us a little about yourself. Tell us your age, where you live and go to school, and how long you have flown helicopters.
BW: I am 18 years old from Baltimore, Maryland, and I have been flying for almost four years now. I just completed my freshman year at the University of South Carolina where I am studying to be a mechanical engineer. In the summer I work at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab in Laurel, Maryland, where I work with UAVs (unmanned airplanes). At the moment I would like to continue working with UAVs once I graduate.
MF: Bert, I really appreciate your taking the time to do this. Let’s get right to it. How old are you and what do you do for a living?
BK: I am 35 years old. I’m part owner of an Internet-access and web-hosting firm located in Orlando, Florida. I have been flying RC helicopters for 2½ years.
MF: Why did you start flying helicopters, and did you have previous RC experience?
BK: I started flying RC airplanes back in 1982 when I was 11 years old. I flew airplanes off and on for many years, and one day back in October of 2005 I walked into a local hobby shop in Orlando and saw a Hummingbird collective-pitch micro. I figured a smaller helicopter would be easy to fly and bought it. To my surprise, smaller was not the way to go, but I didn’t have anyone to guide me. I learned all my hovering and forward-flight basics with the micro, and two months later I bought a 50-size machine. Before I knew it I was hooked on helicopters. I haven’t touched an airplane in about two years!
BW: I have always been into some sort of RC as a kid, whether it was an RC erector set or a nitro-powered RC car. I was always messing around with something. My uncle introduced RC airplanes to me when I was about 12 or so, and I flew some park flyers occasionally for a few years. When I was 15 my godfather took me to Hunt Valley Hobbies in Maryland, where he bought me my first helicopter and said the only way he would get it for me was if I built it myself. It was a Raptor 30 V1. I ended up building nonstop for two days, and by the end of the weekend it was complete. We didn't tell my mom how much it was either, which was a good thing at the time. Soon after, she began to learn that my new "toy" wasn't the $50 Toys "R" Us special we claimed it to be.
After that I became fascinated with RC helicopters, and it has been a major part of my life ever since then.
MF: It is interesting that both of you started flying airplanes first at about the same age of 11 or 12 years old. That is about the same way I started out in the hobby. Beginning with airplanes builds a lot of valuable experience and skills needed to be successful in helicopters.
Airplane pilots who are reading this should think about trying helicopters sometime. It is no longer an airplane vs. helicopter thing. You can fly both and still have friends.
It is never too late to pick up helicopters either. Many senior pilots are having a blast learning the ways of these models. AMA President Dave Brown started flying helicopters just last year.
MF: What helicopters are you guys flying now?
BW: Bert and I are currently flying for Miniature Aircraft USA, mainly flying the .90-sized nitro machine, the Stratus. We also fly the new Razor .50 nitro, as well as the .90-size electric, the Ion-X2. Both Bert and I have been testing these machines for a few months now, and they are all flying really well.
MF: Both of you will be flying in the XFC this year. What are your thoughts on that?
BW: Last year I had the opportunity to compete in the Extreme Flight Championships in Troy, Ohio. I placed ninth out of 21 pilots and I was pretty happy with my performance.
Besides some motor issues at the time, I followed my routine as planned, and things worked out well for my first year. I had a blast competing in 2006 and I am really looking forward to this year's competition.
I will also be competing in the 3D Masters this year in London, England. I look forward to competing with different pilots from all over the world and hope to place well there.
BK: I have been practicing quite a bit, and since I live within minutes of the Miniature Aircraft factory, I have also been testing on a daily basis, which has allowed me to practice even more!
MF: What pilots do you like to watch fly? And why?
BK: I enjoy watching many pilots. It is very hard to say who I enjoy watching the most because every pilot has a different flying style, and even though the basis for maneuvers is the same, flying style and speed vary from pilot to pilot.
I enjoy watching you fly at XFC; your ability to choreograph music to your flying is superb. I also enjoy Matt Botos' innovative flying style, as he likes to come up with new moves all the time.
Jason Kusaba, Alan Szabo, and Marcus Kim, to name a few, are amazing to watch, as they all have their own signature style. I also enjoy watching Bobby fly; Bobby has a very unique "smack" style of flying.
BW: I enjoy watching many pilots all over the world, but a few in particular are always coming up with something new. I think Matt Botos is probably the most creative pilot in the hobby. He is always coming out with new maneuvers or showing off a different style, which is an awesome thing to see.
I have always been a fan of Alan Szabo Jr.'s flying style, and I really like his mix of "smack" and precise maneuvers.
Also, my good friend Marcus Kim is another great pilot to watch, just to see how low a helicopter can go without crashing. He is always inches off the ground doing crazy maneuvers and usually manages to keep the machines in one piece.
Bert has also come a long way within the past two years and always seems to get better whenever I see him fly. I don't think I have ever seen anyone progress as much as he has in only a few years.
MF: Unfortunately we have to finish up already. It has been a pleasure hearing from you guys. I want to thank both of you on behalf of the entire helicopter community for the diligent work you put into R-and-D to make our hobby better.
Last, could you both tell our readers what is the best way for a serious helicopter pilot to progress as fast as possible?
BW: For the newer pilots out there, I would highly recommend getting a flight simulator and practicing on that as much as possible. I am currently using RealFlight G3, and it is probably the best out there.
Just like the guys back home taught me as I was learning, I really stress learning the basics of flight before getting into any 3-D flying. Everything builds on the basics, and if you don't have a good foundation, it will come back to hurt you later on when trying to learn a new maneuver.
Last, don't be afraid to take your machine up high and practice new maneuvers. The more daring you are to try new maneuvers (within or slightly beyond your abilities), the faster you will learn. Unfortunately this involves crashing at times.
BK: Practice, practice, practice. Stick to the simulator in the beginning as much as possible. Try to make a trip to the field several times a week, and most important, learn to fly all your basics before advancing to 3-D.
Mastering your basics (forward, backward, inverted forward, inverted backward, hover in all orientations, inverted and right-side up) before jumping into 3-D maneuvers can make all the difference in the world down the road.
MF: Thanks, guys. I will see you at the next fun fly.
Special thanks to Clayck and Helicraft for supplying the pictures. MA
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
