This paper presents a technique for estimating the attitude of a model helicopter at near hovering using a combination of inertial and non-inertial sensors such as gyroscope and potentiometer. To estimate the attitude of helicopter a simplified indirect Kalman filter based on sensor modeling is derived and the characteristics of sensors are studied, which are used in determining the optimal Kalman gain. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm simulation results are presented with real flight data. Our approach avoids a complex dynamic modeling of helicopter and allows for an elegant combination of various sensor data with different measurement frequencies. We also describe the method of implementation of the algorithm in the model helicopter.