I'm Back Home on Vacation

Hello all.

  I'm finally back home on vacation, it was a good tour, but it was a long one.  I spent the last 88 days out at sea, normally we do 75 days.  But that's over and it's time to do some more flying.  While I was out at sea I purchased a Blade 450 helicopter and I'm happy to say after 8 flights I haven't crashed it yet.  I've had no real training in the ways of flying RC helicopters.  I'm completely self taught.  I started by flying the Blade MSR, and practicing on the Real Flight, and Phoenix RC simulators.  While I'm out at sea I can't fly much, but I bring my laptop with me and practice on the RC simulators.  I usually spend an hour every night flying.  I've had some people tell me that the simulators really don't teach you how to properly fly RC planes or helicopters, but I say otherwise.  When I fly on the simulators I pretend that I'm flying a real plane or helicopter, and I do everything I possibly can to keep from crashing.  If I do crash I figure out what happened and I learn from that.  In the video I have posted below you will see that I am able to flip, roll, and fly inverted with my blade 450.  I learned this all from the simulators.  I also bought the first version of the Blade MCPX, and with that I learned a little, but not much.  I love the MCPX but for 3D flying it wasn't that good, I have seen videos of the MCPX version 2, and it looks a lot more stable.  Another little helicopter I picked up was the Blade MSRX, and that little bugger is a blast to fly!  If your looking at learning how to fly RC helicopters I would suggest getting the MSRX as your first RC helicopter, and most importantly, pick up an RC simulator.  With a simulator you can learn, and crash as much as you like and not have to worry about wasting money to replace parts.  The simulators are a little pricey, but they are well worth the investment.  I have saved $1,000's by not having to buy replacement parts for my RC habit.