Michael Kranitz

As the founder and principal software author behind RCUniverse (back in the day), I am excited to have you here to see what RCPilot is all about. I can share a few things:

- If you want to see what your RC World can be, change worlds using the menu by the logo up top and visit Scale Helicopters. We have lots of content there from the predecessor site, HeliStorm. It illustrates how phenomenal the platform can be when the folks commit to adding valuable content.

- This is NOT like Facebook in the sense that every contribution here gets analyzed by AI (subject to your final say) and cataloged by topic and, if applicable, product. This makes it possible for other members to easily find and benefit from the knowledge you shared. That said, we have a SHOTGUN SHARE feature that lets you share your posts with all of your favorite Facebook groups and forums.

- Unlike Facebook, we are not divided into little groups that spring up monthly. Trying to keep up with dozens of groups just ruins the community experience. Here, we are divided into "RC Worlds" but those divisions have proven to be useful over time. You can hope from one world to the next, but most of us are aligned with one primary discipline so that's likely where we will be.

- Our "build stories" are very cool. The link each chapter in your build journey into one story so that people can easily drill into a chapter to learn what they need while others maybe just follow along with every chapter.

- Our integrated "RCMarket" is the most advanced classified market software on the planet. Lots of security.

- There is a ton more here. Look around and please contribute. In this community, rank is achieved by the QUALITY of your contributions. There are no "Like" buttons. Instead, we have sentiment sliders that let you grade a post on 4 different criteria. That's meaningful feedback. Those whose posts earn high marks from the community, get status.

Horizon Hobby is sponsoring a brand new NX8+ transmitter for the winner of our 30-day Battle of RC Worlds contest, which pits Jet Pilots vs Scale Heli Pilots vs Airplane Pilots vs 3D Heli Pilots vs Glider Pilots vs Drone Pilots. Everybody gets 15 plays per day. Bet 1-5 chips.

To earn more plays, simply post in the feed and make it a good one. Posts that receive high reaction scores ear more plays for the poster!

Who will take the crown? Which RC world will carry the torch!

Play Now!

After much internal debate and input from the RC community, at large, I decided to rewrite the entire HeliStorm platform and integrate it with RCMarket.com and the functional elements of RCChecklist. The result is a community for all those who fly and all those who place a high value on being able to efficiently share and find things relative to our hobby.

On RCPilot, scale helis has a head start, so if you know someone who flies other RC stuff (or if you do), please feel free to contribute!

Hey Guys, most of you who know me understand that I despise the countless selling areas on Facebook and forums simply because they fragment an already small market. A week or so ago, I launched RCMarket.com, a central market for ALL RC stuff. The market is amazingly simple to use and it has powerful filters and mobile capabilities. Since I wrote the software, I can adapt it as needed to user feedback.

The Buy & Sell link here on HeliStorm now link to RCMarket. It's free so please use it! The only way a market works is if people use it!

I often find myself porting small tools from one work table to another or simply scattering my tools on the sole table I’m using.

The other day, while grabbing supplies from Harbor Freight, I noticed an end cap display of mini toolboxes in a variety of colors. I had to grab a few thinking I would anchor two in my heli van and have one for my main workbench. I’ve now discovered just how useful these cute little boxes really are. I’m working on an assembly table (not my sit-down bench. I just grabbed the box and put it right in my work area. Every time I’m finished with a tool, I pop it back into the box and it’s never lost.

Simple and fun! $18 bucks at Harbor Freight!!

Danny brought up a point about how current contests have the pilots calling their next maneuver and performing a "reset" before each maneuver.

I was thinking about full scale air shows and helicopter demonstrations. Interestingly, in those events, the aircraft actually do reset in order to perform a maneuver at show center. All of which is to say that I think we should let pilots decide how they are going to execute their routine. In the "Artistry" part of the judging, I suppose a judge could reward a pilot who chooses to smoothly move from one element to the next.

Food for thought!

Gents,

I reset the discussion category so it is private (apparently, my followers got an email notification due to a bug in the software 🤦🏻‍♂️). Evan Sayres has been added to the group.

Very good discussion last night! Our next steps are:

- Each person should craft what they think is a good paradigm for competition classes and judging factors for each class (what they do, not how they do it).

- We can think about how judges evaluate what competitors do (e.g. evaluation standards like, "precision," "realism," or simply just "score."

- We can include audience/fellow pilot votes as a % of the overall class score

- We can have an "artistry" factor which accounts for the "in between" flying among prescribed maneuvers

Rather than email, just post your replies in this thread.

The weather finally got nice! This video shows me practicing slow, controlled flight. Nothing fancy. Just fundamentals. Still knocking the rust off. I have found over the years that the less I think about HOW I am executing a maneuver the better it is and the MORE I think about it, the more I screw it up!

Our field is not great for large machines so I tend not to wring it out. Doing that leads to more violent inputs at field flight boundaries. For some, this style is boring. For me, it’s an exercise in focus. Yes, tail needs right trim. 😆 Video is unedited. HeliClassics Mi-171.

I have 5 helicopters on my Jeti transmitter. Over the years, I have learned that I simply cannot remember the different functions I have assigned to different switches. I have Axons in three models and Futaba CGY’s in the others. I have three Pahl turbines, a Jako and a JetCat. One model has a Bambi bucket, one has a winch and water cannon, and another has retracts. 🤪

So, to keep my mind in a good place, I bought a Brother P-touch D410 (which lets you make micro-sized labels) and I labeled my transmitter as shown. I also take the extra time to use as consistent a setup as possible so the controls match the labels.

This is not revolutionary; it’s just practical!

We are in the planning stages for HeliStorm™ 2026, which, if held, would occur on September 2-6, 2026 on the front grounds of the National Museum of the United States Air Force. Here are the variables that we are dealing with:

1. The USAF Foundation is unable to contribute funds to the event. Last time, they kicked in $25,000 so this is a large negative.

2. I am unwilling to fund the full $26,450 I contributed last year to cover shortfalls and still do the work to host the event. I will cover small shortfalls.

3. The schools in the Dayton area have indicated that they will not send students out on a field trip that early in the school year. Accordingly, there will be no full scale helicopter industry participation.

All of this means that HeliStorm™ would simply be a massive fun fly event with the following extras:

1. Exhibitors from the RC industry
2. Large central pilot lounge
3. Learning workshops
4. Silent auction with mobile phone bidding
5. Food trucks
6. Pizza party on Friday
7. Formal banquet inside the museum (with private touring)
8. Informal attendance by the general public (and accompanying promotion by the museum)
9. Bring your own tent
10. No on-site camping (other than by Darrell Sprayberry who would run security).
11. Relaxed flying contests judged by RC pilots
12. Pilot's choice awards in various categories

Please indicate your willingness/likelihood of attending the event. We expect the cost of attendance to run in the neighborhood of $165-195/pilot with no distinction between flying and non-flying pilots. All paying pilots (and their guests, who would cost less if they wish to attend the banquet and pizza party) are entitled to fly and have access to the flight line and pilot lounge.

This poll will help me decide whether or not to host the event. HeliStorm™ became the largest scale helicopter event in the world in its inaugural year. We can either keep that going or punt! (After you vote, please share this poll with anyone you think might want to attend).

What do you think?

I was lazy today and was almost too embarrassed to post this, but I concluded that my cautionary tale was more important to share than protecting my ego.

Last week, I took the 1/4 Lama out for a maiden since purchasing it from Gonzalo and rebuilding the mechanics and fuel system. On spool-up, the blades were not tracking well so I shut it down and went home. I replaced the head rods with turnbuckles and re-tracked it. I mention this because I could have tried to do these things at the field, but I know better.

Yesterday, I brought the Lama out for a second try. I spooled up and before I even reached mid-stick, she gracefully floated into the air. I actually exclaimed out loud that this machine was the smoothest I had ever flown (it seemed that way). I hovered and performed some initial flight maneuvers and was absolutely blown away by how it flew. I did notice that it had a slight backward drift in a hover and was slightly sensitive so I decided, after 3 minutes, to land and adjust the expo in the radio.

I landed, spooled down and adjusted the expo. I then went into the AXON menu on the transmitter and examined the agility settings; they looked fine for the bank I was flying in, but I could not find a way to trim the elevator from the transmitter. THIS IS WHERE I FAILED MYSELF.

Rather than shut down for the day or pull the deck and connect a cable to the AXON to adjust the cyclic trim, I told the guys around me that I was going to "cheat" and put in 3 beeps of forward cyclic trim. I was well aware of the rule that all trims should be at 0 but I had cheated in the past (likely with a 3X or 401 on the tail) so something in my head told me I could get away with it.

NOT THE CASE. Thanks to input from Gonzalo (full scale pilot), Danny Melnik, Tommy Dean, and Mark Smith, all of whom sent me to the internet to research ground resonance, I now understand why my lazy move was almost guaranteed to cause the mishap I experienced.

HERE IS THE LOWDOWN:

The AXON interprets trim commands as inputs. As such, the AXON sees the radio's trim as a constant, intentional cyclic input. While in the air, the AXON can correct for this. But, on the ground, the skids create a mechanical connection between the machine and the ground. As the rotor nears full speed during spool up, the persistent cyclic input can accentuate the natural frequency of the blades' lead-lag motion. This can cause them to move out of phase, shifting the rotor's center of gravity away from the axis of rotation. As the unbalanced rotor turns, the helicopter rocks on the skids (you can see this in the video). Once the frequency of rocking matches the blade frequency, you get resonance, which is SELF-AMPLIFYING.

THE LESSON: I can fix the damage to the model. I was able to shut down the system fast enough to mitigate the resonance and prevent a rollover. But there was no reason I had to experience this other than LAZINESS. I should have addressed the issue properly but in my desire to fly again, I overlooked an obvious rule of operating these machines.

I am sure many of you already know this rule (as I did). Yet, it didn't stop me from doing a stupid thing. I hope my experience graphically illustrates why -- especially with larger machines -- we should take nothing for granted and ALWAYS take the hard path of patience and deliberation before we fly.

I posted additional insights in the comments. This issue is one experienced by both full scale and model pilots. In the full scale world, instructors will most often NOT induce resonance for the student, but rather ask the student to observe what the instructor does in order to understand how to respond. I can say that having this experience has CEMENTED the learning in my brain.

I have to give a shout out to Mark Smith and HELIWORKSHOP because the level of service I’ve gotten, especially during my Lama rebuild odyssey, is simply outstanding. I purchased a HF tail rotor system and received it quickly. It was configured backwards but one call to Mark and I had an answer the next day. Over the past month, I’ve ordered a number of miscellaneous parts and an engine—everything is tracked and packed perfectly. These might seem like small things but it takes someone who really gives a sh$t to make it happen. And when you are in the thick of a build, that kind of service and support keeps the process running smoothly.

I've gotten feedback from pilots who like using a parallel tank setup so here is that diagram. The advantages of parallel are really the flow rate. With both tanks feeding the header/UAT, there is less strain on the fuel pump. That said, it is ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL that the tube lengths from the two saddles are EQUAL. Uneven flow from the saddles will create a situation in which one of the saddles drains before the other, which will draw air into the system. You can avoid this by NOT flying until your tanks are dry and by ensuring that your clunk lines to the splitter are equal.

HeliStorm™ is pleased to partner with renown designer, Mirco Pecorari of Aircraft Studio Design. Founded in 1989, AircraftStudioDesign has been creating unique and custom liveries for aircraft for over 30 years. But their expertise goes beyond that. Over time, they have expanded into liveries for cars and boats, as well as concept design for aircraft and luxury objects. They collaborate with some of the most renowned companies in the industry, such as Rolls-Royce, EXTRA, and Red Bull, alongside an exclusive clientele.

Mirco is a member of the HeliStorm™ Industry Board of Advisors and will be contributing design services to the event. Stay tuned for some really cool announcements.

After reviewing the candidate statements for those running for AMA President, I have concluded that Greg Stone offers the hobby the best alternative for growing beyond the current demographic of predominantly old men! I am one of them and I also read Model Aviation Magazine. As many who know me already understand, my focus in the hobby is expanded beyond our own little circle of cohorts. HeliStorm™ is a principal example of this. Of the three candidates, I believe Greg has the most focus on the innovative growth the AMA needs in its near-term strategic plan.

You can read Greg's statement here:

The dates are now OFFICIAL! HeliStorm 2026 will begin on Wednesday, September 2nd and end on Sunday, September 6th (the following Monday is Labor Day). We will have more information but I can tell you:
- We are coordinating with the museum to bring in at least 4 busloads of students on each weekday of the event.
- Our new layout will feature three big flight areas and a dedicated CENTER STAGE area with vendors and spectators situated dead center on the main flight box. (see the map)
- We will have up to 20 full scale industry members inside a dedicated recruiting tent
- We will have a "Flight School" tent for students
- We will have a pilot lounge for pilots just like last year with seminars and hands-on learning
- Great food
- Much more...