For any radio controlled helicopter owner, the thought of crashing your prized toy is a terrifying one, and one that you don’t want to dwell on too long. It can be expensive, and very harrowing to see your radio controlled model crashing into the ground, hitting a tree, or performing a spectacular mid-air coming-together with another RC helicopter or plane.

However, despite the obvious drawbacks with crashing a radio controlled helicopter (cost and time involved with repairing one) the sight of seeing a crash is always a spectacular one, and draws a certain morbid curiosity. Luckily, you don’t have to crash your own RC helicopter to see the results, nor do you need to stand around in a field for hours waiting for someone’s radio controlled flight to go horribly (but entertainingly) wrong.

To see some great RC helicopter crashes you can simply use the video sharing website YouTube and entering the phrase ‘RC Helicopter crash’ into the search box, where you’ll be treated to countless videos showing RC enthusiasts suffering the ignominy of crashing their RC helicopters for your viewing pleasure.

It’s almost ‘car-crash TV’, but with radio controlled helicopters. If you’re thinking of getting an RC helicopter, learn from their mistakes.

Child obesity is very much a hot topic at the moment, with everyone from politicians to Jamie Oliver attempting to improve the health of the UK’s children. This means changing their diets so that they eat healthier foods, to improving their exercise plans to incorporate more physical activities.

One of the biggest problems with children’s health seems to be their over reliance on video games and computers, with kids spending countless hours sat in front of a screen. If they’re not playing video games they’re browsing the Internet, or watching television.

The problem has one obvious solution, get the children out of the house and running around to stay healthy. One problem with this is that many areas of the country have banned ball games, meaning that the traditional British sport of football is difficult to play on the streets. Times have changed. Instead, children could try adopting a hobby that gets them out of the house and mingling with their friends, a hobby such as RC helicopters, planes and cars. By playing with radio controlled models children are able to go outside, seek out great spots to play with the models and enjoy themselves in the outdoors.

Another advantage with RC models is that children learn how to build and maintain them, which is a great skill to learn as it teaches them engineering and problem solving skills, skills that could prove useful in later life.

You could be forgiven for thinking that radio controlled helicopters are just toys, playthings to be used to while away the time when you’ve nothing better to do. This isn’t the case however, as RC helicopters aren’t just idle playthings. They’re not just children’s toys, or models that people play with in their spare time. As we’ve written about previously, RC models such as helicopters and planes are used for a variety of purposes, including military applications.

One such use that RC helicopters have is in the movies and television, TV programs such as the classic Eighties show ‘The A-Team’. In the A-Team, the team of US commandos (lead by George ‘Hannibal’ Peppard) the A-Team would drive around in a van and occasionally fly in helicopters to fight the bad guys. When the TV show called for a helicopter chase however, the budget of the TV show didn’t always extend to crashing an expensive helicopter, which is where RC models came into play.

The A-Team would often see helicopters exploding, crashing and colliding with mountain sides, which were filmed using RC helicopters and other RC models, showing the versatility of radio controlled helicopters and other RC models.

It’s the ultimate question for anyone thinking of getting into the world of RC models, and is looking for something a little more unusual than the cars and trucks that most RC enthusiast enjoy. Planes, boats and helicopters provide a different sense of excitement than cars as they’re less common, require different skills to operate and are ultimately more satisfying to play with.

RC boats are the slowest of the three (generally) and obviously require a large surface area of water to use, such as a river, canal or boating lake. When you play with RC boats though you need to make sure there are no fisherman located nearby, as they never take too kindly to people playing with RC boats, scaring away their fish.

RC planes are very fast and can be difficult to take off and land. They require constant concentration when in flight as if you take your eyes off them for a second you could crash them into a tree, or fly them out of range of the transmitter.

Helicopters can be the easiest of the three to use and fly as the smaller RC helicopters (Micro RC Helicopters) can be flown indoors by small children. Larger helicopters however take more experience and need to be flown outdoors. They also have a much higher skill level required to fly, so shouldn’t be used by RC novices.

So which RC model sounds the most suitable to you?

Most of the country is covered under a blanket of white snow tonight, and many people didn’t go to work and children had the day off school. If the snow continues tonight, which it looks very much like it will, it will be the same story tomorrow with people getting the day off work and school… a snow day!

This is great news for RC enthusiasts as they get to spend the day playing with radio controlled models instead of going to work or school. In deep snow, most RC cars will struggle to work, but RC trucks such as the Clodbuster will find the snow ideal terrain for its huge tyres and four wheel drive power and four wheel steering.

As well as cars and trucks, snow is great for RC helicopters as they can take off from any small area and fly around free of the treacherous terrain underneath. RC helicopters can fly around in weather that real helicopters can’t, making them more resilient to the weather.

Also, RC helicopters can fly in the snow where RC planes and boats can’t operate. Planes require a runway to take off and land, which means that when the snow is covering the ground they can’t be used. Boats also require water and the weather what it is today means that most areas of water are frozen over.

So let it snow and enjoy your RC helicopters and trucks.

It’s Valentine’s Day just around the corner, and women everywhere will be looking for something to buy their husband, their boyfriend or indeed any man in their life. But what do you buy? Men aren’t particularly interested in chocolates (which most girls will be thankful for) and flowers never seem right. Jewellery is very much an acquired taste and anything really soppy could make your guy feel uncomfortable.

Instead of going down the usual route however, why not get something that your man will really want, something that all guys want? Gadgets!

All guys love their gadgets, whether it’s something to make them feel like James Bond or just something to make them feel like children again, gadgets and electronic toys are very much the thing that guys want.

So how about some radio controlled gadgets, such as cars, boats, planes or helicopters? It may not have the personal touch of a heart shaped pillow adorned with the words ‘I love you’, but your guy will get more pleasure from an RC helicopter than he would from a scatter cushion.

He’s also be able to show his mates what a cool girlfriend he has!