Qole - I'll work on getting the howto with code online then. Or if yours is also a channel A copter, and you think you can make it go with minimal instructions I can message you the lirc config and control script on here?

Paulkoan - as qole says, it's not really very practical. Even if it was (and setting aside IR range problems) you'd need to perform heavy filtering of the user input for sensible control. And I just don't have the time, this was a day's work! Can't spend any more time on it.

Zimon - this copter cost me £20, considerably cheaper :-) For the price of just the iphone, I could buy a N900, a copter, a nice meal and still have change ;-)