Toy Helicopter Confused for Life-Sized Version, Rescue Mission Mounted

Police patrols, three Charleston Fire Department trucks, and a battalion chief rushed to the Wando River where a helicopter had plunged into the water. A two-foot toy helicopter. That's what? Over ten times smaller than the real thing? Confusion understandable. More »

Massive Machines Gallery

The Overburden Conveyor Bridge F60, used in open mines. It looks pretty huge here, sure, but how big is it? More »

Fearless Chinese Farmer Builds Dubious "Working" Helicopter Using Wood, Massive Cojones

When mere mortal men gaze upon the playground jungle gym, they see the unhinged tomfoolery of their youth. When Chinese farmer Wu Zhongyuan sees one he says, "I can make that fly." Updated More »

Blueprints of Obama's Boring Helicopter Leaked to Iran Over P2P

President Obama isn't very excited about his fancy new helicopter, but that's not his fault—he just hasn't seen its super-neat blueprints yet, because he's not allowed to have Limewire. More »

Unmanned Helicopter Flies Low, Dodges Obstacles With 3D Laser Camera

Engineers at Carnegie Mellon University have paired a 3D laser camera system, capable of mapping out terrain and obstacles in real time, with an unmanned Yamaha helicopter, creating an autonomous, incredibly low-flying UAV. Once loaded with preexisting topographical data, the sighted UAV is able to hug the ground at altitudes of 5m, fly around obstacles with just 3m of clearance and sense oncoming obstructions as small as 6mm. More »

Dealzmodo: Big R/C Helicopter Sale at Think Geek

Think Geek is throwing a "Pre-Holiday R/C Flying Toys Blowout" and offering their various helicopter toys at up to 70% off. Two models, including this pictured Dueling Galactic Marines Copter Set, run just $15. That's like the price of three McDonald's Value Meals. Don't eat for a day and you have no excuse not to make this purchase. Plus, if you're actually eating fast food three times a day, the abstainer will probably add at least a few hours to your ever shortening existence. [Think Geek]

First Production VH71, Future Presidential Helicopter, Takes to the Air in England

That plain old yellowish-green helicopter is the really the first production version of the VH71... the future Presidential Marine One. It's been a year since the prototype took flight, but apparently PP-1 (the first of five in phase one) performed "exceptionally during its 40-minute flight." More »

Sikorsky X2 Helicopter Tested, Even Cooler than Expected

Sikorsky, makers of the Blackhawk and other sleek helicopters, have successfully tested their X2 Technology Demonstrator, a prototype designed to showcase new propulsion systems that will allow their helicopters to fly at twice the speed of conventional ones. And it looks sci-fi pretty too, even more so from the front: More »

Mad Aussie Guy Catching a Marlin from Helicopter

Yes. Fishing marlins from helicopters. It may sound boring, but seriously, you won't believe your eyes. If your jaw doesn't drop after watching this, I'll post pictures of myself naked. Update: do you think this is real or not? I think it is, but you can tell us your opinion in the comments. More »

Chinese DIY Helicopter is the Culmination of 10 Years of Ingenuity, Possible Mental Illness

A DIYer from the Guangdong Province in eastern China has finally perfected his sub-$3000 home-built helicopter, taking it for a demonstration flight in what appears to his back yard. A tinkerer since he dropped out of school in his teens, Chen Zhaorong has been working on this project for nearly 10 years, but only began flight attempts a few months ago. The first attempts were neither successful nor fatal, (a remarkable combo) but this time around he not only got liftoff, but seemed to be in complete control. More »

World's Fastest Electric RC Chopper Can Chop 10 Heads per Second

I don't know what's more terrifying about the new Rave 450-class electric helicopter—which the experts say is the fastest electric RC helicopter in the world: the fact that it buzzes like an angry giganormous killer wasp who just got three speeding tickets driving a Ferrari on a coke overdose, or the fact that it looks like it can chop your head faster that you can say "325mm or 350mm blades." (Video updated—was missing the sound.) [Curtis Young Blood via RC Heli Resource]

AirFox Live Helicopter Streams Traffic, Utter Chaos

The Chicago Fox affiliate WFLD has embraced a touch of Justin.tv with their new AirFox Live helicopter feed. Viewers can now visit the AirFox website and view Google Maps GPS tracking of the chopper, along with a real-time video feed sharing whatever it sees. More »

Airwolf Helicopter Replica Doesn't Come With Jan-Michael Vincent

Do you still mourn the day the networks took Airwolf off the air for good? Does the thought of flying through the cool mountain skies of the California wilderness, your trusty Bluetick Coonhound Tet at you side, excite you to no end? Me neither (city slicker, present), but that doesn't mean this Airwolf helicopter replica is any less cool. Sure it doesn't have an interior, and the chain gun has been suspiciously removed, but it's got character, and probably still smells like the feathered coiffure of Jan-Michael Vincent. That's Stringfellow Hawke, to you civies. More pics and budget pricing for this hunk of nostalgia after the jump. More »

Rocket-Powered Helicopter Pack is an Aerospace Masterpiece

Jetpacks are great, but never could they reach the levels of ridiculousness this strap-on helicopter provides with its rocket-powered rotor blades. The pack is powered by two hydrogen fuel canisters and the rockets at the end of the blades negate the need for a tail rotor. It's entirely possible this is just a drawing that will never actually get made. But as DVICE points out, Tecnologia Aeroespacial Mexicana, the firm that designed this, made an actual prototype of their last jetpack. So I'm holding my breath for some trial videos to hit YouTube. [Tecnologia Aeroespacial Mexicana via DVICE] More »

Helicopter for One Can Be Folded Up, Carried By One Person

This wee helicopter is the Ka-56 "Wasp," a flying vehicle for one that can be folded down and carried by just one person. Designed and created in Soviet Russia in 1971, it doesn't seem to have really gotten beyond the prototype stage. I'm assuming that's because it's horribly dangerous, but it could be for any number of reasons. Guesses, dear commenters? Oh, and the first person to make a "In Soviet Russia, helicopter flies you!" joke gets banned as a Christmas present to me. More »

Next-Gen Tomy Heli-Q RC Helicopter Takes to the Skies Next Month

Japanese toy giant Tomy says it's about to roll out the next generation in tiny copters, and it's calling this one the Heli-Q. The company says this is the world's smallest radio controlled toy helicopter, but other than its smaller size, its specs seem similar to those of Picco-Z Styrofoam helicopters we've flown before. The Picco-Z took a 20-minute charge of its battery to give us an eight-minute flight, but Tomy conservatively says this Heli-Q will fly for five minutes on each charge. More »

Remote-Control Housefly Thinks It's a Helicopter

This infrared controlled mechanical insect will make all your other houseflies jealous with its awesome relative size, but its clumsy flight path certainly isn't going to win any aerobatic awards. It flies six minutes on a charge, and its construction looks a whole lot like the Pico-Z helicopters we've tested here a couple of times. More »

PicooZ Sky Challenger Laser Tag R/C Choppers Selling Soon

Remember those sweet laser-tag type R/C choppers we showed you a few months ago, the ones that fulfilled at least two of Adam's childhood fantasies? Today, I saw them, or well, something ridiculously identical, both in and out of the box. That's right, PicooZ is coming out with a $80 duelin' chopper set called Sky Challenger, and it'll be on Firebox.com within the next four weeks (though it's not up yet). Looks like Christmas will come early for Mr. Frucci! [Firebox.com] More »

Dual-blade Helicopter Breaks Chopper Speed Barrier

Helicopters aren't known for their speed, which is why Sikorsky Aircraft is working on a chopper prototype with two sets of blades instead of one. The blades, which would spin in opposite directions, would create equal amounts of lift on both sides of the chopper. More »

Wind-Powered Model Helicopter? Go Fly a Kite

A remote-controlled helicopter, powered by the wind? Well, not exactly. This wind-powered helicopter is more kite than copter, and it needs a pretty stiff wind of at least 13mph to stay aloft. More »

Future Aircrafts Could Shapeshift (Not Transformers-Style, Unfortunately)

In an article in the latest Air & Space, shapeshifting planes could actually be made a reality. Not shapeshifting in the sense of Transformers, but morphing to alter wingspan, wing area and other features. A lot of this approach on morphing planes is inspired from flowers and batteries.

Chiang and colleague Steven Hall took advantage of the shape-changing nature of batteries by building the same materials into a model of a Blackhawk helicopter blade. They found a small dose of energy could reshape the blade, altering the angle of its trailing edge to give it more lift.

A team of MIT smarties are working on and developing this project. They are currently awaiting more funding from DARPA, but it seems like they have progressed well, especially with the battery-material helicopter blades. Lockheed folding wing in a wind tunnel pictured. –Travis Hudson More »

Interactive Toy Concepts Blade Runner IV Adds a Rotor, Better Control

Interactive Toy Concepts enhanced its latest radio-controlled helicopter, adding a second tail rotor powered by a tiny micromotor. That makes the BladeRunner IV four-channel flyer easier to control in all directions. The 12-inch mini-chopper wasn't flying yet when we saw it at the big to-do at the Venetian tonight, but the company's enthusiastic reps assure us we'll see the bird in the air by summer. More »

DraganFlyer Four-Rotor R/C Helicopter Puts All Others to Shame

With our current fascination with helicopters, we would be remiss not to mention the DraganFlyer Industrial Electric Gyro Stabilized RC Helicopter that's been around for a while, a $5000 flyer with four rotors and an electronically stabilized mechanism that makes it sturdy enough for video surveillance work. Use your imagination here. More »

Micro Copter Takes to the Sky

We like putting our gadgets through torture tests and what better way to test something out than the grimey, concrete streets of New York. We took our mini chopper for a joyride to see how it'd perform outdoors. The chopper not only impressed us, but it got the attention of pretty much every passerby. Moving the chopper from side to side, however, was nearly impossible (it seemed to have a mind of its own), but we easily got it to ascend for about 50-feet before the frequency cut off and the mini copter made a nosedive for the concrete. Still, despite a bunch of crashes, the little chopper kept taking off. It may be cheaper than the Micro Mosquito, but it can still take a beating. More »

Palmsize Micro Copter Looks Like a Bell Jet Ranger

We've seen a few tiny R/C helicopters around here, but most look more like little mechanical mosquitoes than actual Bell Jet Rangers. But this Palmsize Micro Copter looks closer to the real thing. More »

Picoflyer: Teensy RC Helicopter

How sweet! This twee helicopter weighs 3.3g and can fly for about a minute on one charge. It uses three mini-motors and is controlled in the 900MHz range. More »

Japanese Robo-Crop Dusters Seized

Drama is going on over in Japan regarding these miniature robotic crop dusters being manufactured by Yamaha. More than 200 Japanese police officers raided the Yamaha office Monday seizing nine of these crop dusting robots that were scheduled to be exported. These robots are unmanned, equipped with GPS and can be programmed to fly however the hell you want. In Japan they are primarily used for crop dusters, but Yamaha had nine of these robots bound for China, and that definitely raised some red flags. Bioterrorism weapons in the form of plastic RC 'copters? You betcha! More »