I had a helicopter that actually flew. It was tethered to a hand operated crank by a flexible wire. Crank faster or slower to make it go up or down. Control the direction by twisting the hand operated cranking mechanism left or right; that movement transmitted to the flying machine through the flexible wire. The perfect toy, except it had rigid blades. They took a beating. When they failed, that was it for the favorite toy of my youth. Blades and scotch tape just don’t work like undamaged blades do. Well, my youth is back; only new and improved. The Gyro Systems S107G; an awesome indoor helicopter. The blades are much tougher now, and they’re hinged. Centrifugal force keeps them extended while flying, but they collapse instead of breaking when they hit something. Counter-rotating blades eliminate the need for a vertical tail rotor to control the direction of flight. Somehow it does that through the main rotors. The horizontally mounted tail rotor provides the tilt to go forward and back.
It’s an indoor toy. The controls are infrared, so they don’t work outside. There are handling challenges. It is small and light, so it is super susceptible to drafts and air currents. It helps to turn off any ceiling fans, furnaces, or air conditioning. I find that the less air there is under the rotors, the greater the lift. As the helicopter gets closer to the floor, or other flat object, the amount of lift changes. It must have something to do with the air that is being forced down beneath it rebounding back up into the blades. Also, the less air there is above the machine, the greater the lift. The closer you get to the ceiling, the more the helicopter wants to fly further up. It’s like the ceiling just sucks it right up. The controls are straightforward; a throttle for lift and a joystick to control forward and reverse, left and right. Not growing up with computer games (and not being a real pilot) there are finesse issues I haven’t mastered yet for controlling an object in three dimensions, but I’m working on it (in ten minute increments). The bedroom has something soft to land on, but not much room otherwise.
The front room is better, but still lots of stuff to fly into.
The Welcome Center is a better flying room. Much more space.
But you know what “more room” results in? It doesn’t mean I don’t run into anything, it just means I get more flying time before I do.
It’s an indoor toy. The controls are infrared, so they don’t work outside. There are handling challenges. It is small and light, so it is super susceptible to drafts and air currents. It helps to turn off any ceiling fans, furnaces, or air conditioning. I find that the less air there is under the rotors, the greater the lift. As the helicopter gets closer to the floor, or other flat object, the amount of lift changes. It must have something to do with the air that is being forced down beneath it rebounding back up into the blades. Also, the less air there is above the machine, the greater the lift. The closer you get to the ceiling, the more the helicopter wants to fly further up. It’s like the ceiling just sucks it right up. The controls are straightforward; a throttle for lift and a joystick to control forward and reverse, left and right. Not growing up with computer games (and not being a real pilot) there are finesse issues I haven’t mastered yet for controlling an object in three dimensions, but I’m working on it (in ten minute increments). The bedroom has something soft to land on, but not much room otherwise. The front room is better, but still lots of stuff to fly into. The Welcome Center is a better flying room. Much more space. But you know what “more room” results in? It doesn’t mean I don’t run into anything, it just means I get more flying time before I do. 
