Coaxial, fixed pitch or collective pitch?

Every RC helicopter is one of three types, and the type matters far more than the brand. It decides where you can fly, how quickly you'll learn and what it'll cost when you crash.

The three types side by side

Coaxial: the easiest to hover

A coaxial helicopter has two main rotors on the same shaft spinning in opposite directions. Their twisting forces cancel out, so there's no tail rotor, and turning is done by speeding one rotor up and slowing the other. Most also have a weighted stabiliser bar that keeps them very steady.

The result is a helicopter that almost hovers itself. Perfect for a living room or a child's first go. The downside is that coaxials are slow, can't handle wind, and are so stable that they don't really teach you to fly a single-rotor helicopter. Toys such as the Syma S107 are coaxials.

Fixed pitch: real flying, gently

A fixed pitch helicopter has one main rotor with blades set at a fixed angle, and a tail rotor to stop the body spinning. To climb, the motor speeds up; to descend, it slows down.

That makes it slower to respond than a collective pitch helicopter, but it means you're genuinely learning single-rotor control: cyclic for direction, rudder for the tail, throttle for height. Modern fixed pitch helicopters are flybarless with gyro stabilisation, self-levelling and often altitude hold, which makes them excellent learners. RC ERA scale helicopters and the Blade Revolution 90 FP are fixed pitch.

Collective pitch: the full experience

A collective pitch helicopter keeps the rotor at a constant speed and changes the angle (pitch) of all the blades together to climb or descend. Changing the angle is almost instant, so the helicopter responds immediately. With negative pitch it can fly upside down.

That responsiveness is what makes collective pitch so capable, and so unforgiving. A mistake happens fast, and crashes are harder because the rotor is spinning at full speed. Modern models with self-levelling and rescue modes have made them far easier to learn, especially after time on a simulator. How the swashplate makes this work is explained in how an RC helicopter works.

Which should you choose?

• A toy for indoors or a young child: coaxial.
• To learn to fly properly, gently, or for scale realism: stabilised fixed pitch.
• For aerobatics, flying in wind or club flying: collective pitch, after practising on a simulator.

Channel counts are often used to describe these types, but they don't tell the whole story; see 4 channel vs 6 channel RC helicopters. Our RC helicopter buyer's guide walks through the rest of the decision, and the RC helicopters hub lists every guide. For a single-rotor helicopter's electronics, see gyros and flybarless units.