Herb Benham: Teen gave radio-controlled copters a whirl -- and became a pro
| Monday, Sep 28 2009 05:33 PM
Last Updated Monday, Sep 28 2009 05:33 PM
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I don't want Kyle Dahl mad at me, I'm thinking. Not when he's flying his helicopter. Not when he has it on one of its screaming 90 mph power runs.
Don't let Dahl fool you just because he's a quiet, respectful 16-year-old junior at Centennial who actually likes hanging out with his father, Dave. There is no underestimating his virtuosity after seeing him make his helicopter dance, spin and flip.
Dahl flies radio-controlled model helicopters. Not only does he fly them, but he is one of the best in the world at flying them. Recently, Dahl finished second at the Munich Heli Masters in Germany.
Confession time. I never thought much about radio-controlled anything. Somebody told you they flew little airplanes and your eyes glazed over and you longed for the little balsa wood airplanes with the rubber bands you made when you were a kid.
Dahl will turn you into a believer. He's been flying model helicopters since he was 7. Dahl is probably better at this than Derek Carr was at throwing touchdown passes last year for Bakersfield Christian.
Companies shower him with free batteries, motors, blades, custom canopies and radio components like high-tech confetti. Dahl has been offered $500 a month plus travel expenses to represent one of the battery manufacturers based in Las Vegas.
If you think road bikes have gone space age, you ought to see these radio-controlled helicopters with their three-foot carbon fiber rotor blades that run on lithium polymer batteries (a bigger version of the cell phone batteries).
Flying helicopters requires a valet, a personal assistant and until recently, when Dahl became sponsored, a checkbook. Dahl's dad, Dave, fills that role. Good radio-controlled helicopters can run $2,500. The batteries cost $350 each. Competitions require three helicopters and three batteries.
Why? Because as good as Dahl is, what goes up, can come down. When it does, the helicopter can look like a cat in a blender.
Dahl has practiced his chops on a simulator. Without it, his learning curve would have broken the bank. Dahl also makes another 2,000 flights a year (a typical flight is five minutes, about the life of a battery before it requires recharging).
Last Thursday, I met the Dahls and a photographer on a baseball field next to Rosedale Bible Church at the corner of Heath and Rosedale. It was so far west, I thought I might be feeling some coastal breezes.
It was 102 and David had mercifully set up a blue canopy so that spectators could stand and watch once the helicopter was launched. The Dahls brought two helicopters that were so beautiful, svelte and elegant that they looked like they could fly on their own.
When Dahl picked up the control console, placed the helicopter on the grass and started working his thumbs raising the helicopter off the ground, it was jaw dropping. He is so good, you think you've fallen backwards into a video game.
"I used to fly higher and slower," Dahl said. "Now, I go lower and faster."
Lower, faster while rolling, flipping and spinning. The helicopter is able to fly in three dimensions simultaneously (roll, pitch fore and aft and pirouette around its yaw axis) as well as fly upside down.
This helicopter was the kind of thing you could see in a James Bond film taking out the power grid for half of Rosedale.
"That's why you have to have a spotter in competitions," said Dave, who fills that role. "One time, a pilot flew a helicopter into another pilot and he had to have extensive jaw surgery."
A parent wants to know. Is there a a scholarship in flying radio-controlled helicopters? Can you make a living doing it?
Maybe. At least the living part. One former pilot designs helicopters for a big European company and makes a million dollars a year.
For Dahl, it's probably going to take him to Cal Poly, where he plans to study engineering. In the meantime, flying helicopters has helped knit this family together.
"It's given Kyle something healthy and creative to do through his teenage years," Dave said. "And we've gotten to spend a lot of time together. How many 16-year-old boys like spending time with their fathers?"
That's worth something right there. Scholarship or not.
