Flying R/C Helicopter from a yacht!

Has anyone seen this guy? Flying an R/C Helicopter from the bow of a Broward?

I've logged about 100 flights off the bow of the Broward over the past 2 years, with only one mishap. I converted my helicopter into a submarine! Fortunately, that machine was well amortized (over 1200 flights) and was ready to retire.

That helicopter has been a big hit with the locals on the intracoastal. I even had Deco Drive come out to film a segment on me flying in front of Shooters... which brings up a good story!

About two years ago, the very first time I ever flew in front of Shooters...

I fired up, lifted off and proceeded to do my usual stuff. A few loops, a couple of rolls with some 540 spins thrown in. Upon landing on the front deck of the Broward, I was met with an applause from onlookers who had left their dining table to come out to the dock and watch me fly. The dock was jammed with people asking more questions than a presidential press conference. Five minutes later... I see several men making their way through the crowd and coming toward me. As it turns out, it was the Ft. Lauderdale Fire Department in full gear ready to put out a fire.

Turns out they received a call from an elderly woman across the intracoastal that saw a helicopter spinning out of control and smoke coming from it... so she dialed 911!

The fire department thought it was pretty funny and asked me to fly again for them. Appearently, there is a note on the bulletin board of the local fire department NOT to respond to any calls about helicopters crashing in front of Shooters.

True story!

Fishing? I'm not sure if you could get the worm to stay on the hook at 90 mph!

It's ironic you would think of fishing from an r/c helicopter, as we have (in r/c heli circles) referred to these machines in their "Pod & Boom" configuration (no scale fuselage) as.... "FISH-HEADS", because they look much like the skeleton of a fish.

The next r/c project is a turbine powered (that's right, turbine!) helicopter. They are available now, but cost as much as a small runabout. Most r/c heli's (and planes) are glow engine powered, but the r/c jet community has made tremendous leaps in fuel flow control technology over the past 5 years and it's trickling down to other forms of r/c.

Gotta tell ya... I've had more fun telling unsuspecting women we have a helicopter on board our yacht. When we tell them we've got three helicopters... these chicks think they've hit the motherload! Always fun to watch their gold-digging smiles turn to disappointed frowns when we tell 'em... the heli's are only 6 feet long!

" A woman who expects everything... deserves nothing. A woman who expects nothing... deserves everything!"

ROFLMAO!!!! That was seriously funny!

Hey Digital Vibes!

I hope I didn't give you a haircut when I buzzed you!

Flying from the boat is fun, but I exercise extreme caution. I double check my equipment prior to each flight and stay *way* inside of my flight envelope. I've got a bunch of inverted maneuvers that have taken a lot of time (and money!) to learn, but I generally don't do it in populated areas.

Mostly, it's just a way to share the hobby with others that have never been exposed to it. If you have an interest, there's a magazine published by a good friend, Mike Mas, called Rotory.
You can also find information online at www.rotory.com.

I've competed in FAI and 3-D aerobatics for about 15 years with these machines and I'm still learning! There are few things more challenging, with the exception of dating women in South Florida!

Thanks for the kind words!

Hi T-Rex!

Thanks for checking out the site and signing up! I've always enjoyed your sense of humor and your website is an absolute hoot! Makes a southern boy like me, feel right at home.

I can't imagine you giving up on helicopters, but I've had my share of frustrations with 'em too. Sure wish they had flight simulators around when I started flying 'em, which I might suggest... is the very best money you can spend in the hobby.

The new sims are so realistic and so proportional... that if you can do it on the sim, you can sure enough do it with the real thing. It's kind of like a Lay's potato chip commercial... "go head and crunch, we'll make more!"

In a Yachting interview with Tom Perkins, the ex-GM of Hewlett Packard and the venture capitalist behind AOL, Amazon and Genentech... it turns out he has another bobby in addition to building one of the largest, most high-tech sailing yachts in history (Maltese Falcon)... he also flies remote control helicopters!

I'm in good company.

That's not just killer paint... it's a killer site! Check out your mouse curser animation under "tru fire". Because I've buried a lot of birds, I've become fairly proficient with an airbrush... but my work looks like a kid with crayons compared to this. Good stuff!