Setup Costs

Next Level Costs

If you are considering the costs of flying RC helicopters, we would like to extend our congratulations and welcome you to the world of RC helicopters as you are nearly there.

Please do not be under any illusions that a novice pilot will be able to pick up an RC helicopter transmitter, start flying around and performing acrobatics, it’s just never going to happen. It takes time to learn how to take off and perform a simple hover, there is no need whatsoever to run out to buy a Ferrari before you at least learn to walk.

The time taken to master the basics will inevitably also involve a lot of crashing, and with that comes cost.

We have broken the cost section down into the initial setup costs, ongoing costs (crash damage), and flight simulation which we consider essential.

We want to provide potential newcomers to the hobby with visibility of the mid to longer term costs beyond the beginner as you develop your skills and want more capable rotorcraft.

Initial Setup Cost

If you have already visited the Equipment Needed page you will already know that if you are new to the hobby, own no heli gear, and would like to have a go, you can buy everything you need to fly all night at in indoor helicopter club for less than £100 and that is absolutely true. Initial setup costs start from £60 and go up to around £400 for the more advanced helicopters.

The vast majority of RC helicopters purchased for use at an indoor club such as Rotorcraft, can also be flown outdoors on a calm day. Little to no wind and hopefully it goes without saying, no rain.

A Read to Fly (RTF) helicopter generally includes a fully setup, fully configured model and controller (transmitter), a battery and a basic charger. We would suggest buying some additional batteries so that you can continue your flying practice whilst your used batteries charge. Batteries costs vary between models with the smaller models having the cheapest batteries which can cost as little as £5 a piece. Batteries can take anything from 20 to 40 minutes to charge depending on how flat they were when starting the charge. A fully charged battery will give around 6-8 minutes in the air dependent on how you fly. 4 batteries would therefore give you 24-32 minutes flight time across 4 flights.

The chargers that come with the RTF models are usually very basic and allow just a single battery to be charged any one time. There are endless charges to choose from capable of simultaneously charging multiple batteries, each with varying levels of sophistication and functions, but that can be a purchase that you can defer until a later date.

The cheaper RC helicopters ‘Basic Budget Beginner’ that we have suggested on the Types of Helicopters Used page, are fixed pitch meaning they cannot fly upside down (inverted). Fixed pitch helicopters are only capable of very basic acrobatics but offer a very inexpensive route to mastering basic flight, enough to keep you busy for a few weeks or even months. These are great for people looking to dip a toe or perhaps even for the younger aspiring pilots who change their minds like the winds. Please be mindful that your ability will eventually outstrip that of the fixed pitch helicopter and inevitably lead you to the collective pitch or fully acrobatic variant.

Those with a bit more budget and or in a position to commit to learning to fly longer term, might want to consider a collective pitch helicopter Adventurous Ambitious Apprentices. Your flying skills and abilities are highly unlikely to ever out strip those of a collective pitch helicopter. It does make sense to put the extra investment in at the start and buy collective pitch if you are confident that you will invest the time needed to progress and commit to learning to fly. A collective pitch helicopter is the next step from those that have mastered and exhausted the abilities of the fixed pitch helicopter.

Expect to pay £250 – £400 for a Ready to Fly (RTF) collective pitch RC helicopter package. Same deal as the above, package includes everything needed to fly but will only include a single battery and a charger that can only charge a single battery at a time. Cost of batteries for these types of helicopters will set you back around £10 – £20 a piece. Batteries can take anything from 20 to 40 minutes to charge depending on how flat they were when starting the charge.

Flight times are generally the same across all electric helciopters so a fully charged battery will give around 6-8 minutes in the air dependent on how you fly. 4 batteries would therefore give you 24-32 minutes flight time across 4 flights.