Backyard micro flight

After we've been flying successfully for a while, we all get the itch to fly more often! Without dispute, in the rc community (at least online) the most inexpensive "scratch" is the AirHogs Aero Ace, which can be purchased for between $25-$29 at Target, Toys-R-Us, and K-Mart (watch for coupons for 10%). What makes these little planes better than the rest is it has differianted speed control; others only have speed #1, speed #2, and speed #3 buttons. Don't buy any other version -- trust me, I did and I was disappointed. The Aero Ace comes as a bi-plane and a jet.

Available at aeroacemods.com are all sorts of upgrades, including wheels (it will ROG -- roll off ground) and night lights. I often use the night lights to fly in my backyard:I usually can climb about 40-50 feet high on a no-wind evening and have a seven minute flight with "throttle maintenance."

In the picture above I added floats to my Aero Ace. You need styrafoam, hobby knife, fine grit sandpaper, balsa, and waterproof glue -- and a hot glue gun to mount the floats. The secret is to make the floats as small as possible in every way, but length. Floats should be 70-75% the length of the plane. CG (Center of Gravity) is tricky, but a visit to the forums at rcuniverse.com or rcgroups.com will be very helpful. Keep playing with it until it flies stable. My plane is a bit rocky and nose heavy, but some adjustments should result in better flight.

2-Channel Woes

I am not a big fan of 2-channel RC airplanes, because of the lack of control with altitude. If you are in a bad situation, climbing or diving quickly is not possible and furthermore, forget about trying to do basic aerobatics. But nonetheless, they are fun inexpensive planes. I own a SDM Yellow Bee and I use it for testing new things out, like home-made floats. It's my guinea pig.

Dave recently replaced his Hobbyzone Firebird Outlaw with a Firebird Scout. His maiden flight was in 7 MPH winds. As nearly an intermediate pilot, he has the skill to fly in these conditions. But sadly, he got behind the wind and was not able to bring the plane to the landing strip (baseball diamond). He was swept over a neighborhood house and crashed into a tree and the plane fell upside down and snapped its wings. In less wind, this plane would perform very nicely. It is a SMALL plane.




I did not fair so well with my SDM Yellow Bee (can be bought for $25-29 at your local Harbor Freight Tools) either. The wind was throwing me all over the place. I was trying to keep my flight very close to the baseball diamond so Dave could video tape it. Low level flight in high winds is not easy. And I eventually got caught with the wind behind me and almost crashed into the dug-out box behind me in the photo. I just missed hitting it head on by about 2 feet.



As you can see from the photo to the right I sustained very little damage. A broken V-tail and prop. With 5-minute epoxy and packaging tape this plane will be as good as new in less than 7 minutes and will fly as if this crash never happened. If I had my 4-channel plane I don't believe I would have ever been in this situation with a near death experience for the plane. I am replacing the gearbox on my 4-channel foamie and hope to have some posts up for you to view.

Moral of this story: know the limits of your 2-channel airplane and only fly in conditions that you know with absolute certainty you can handle. Wait a few days if that's what it takes for the weather to let up. Contrary to what I believed when I first started flying, flying in all weather conditions does not make you a better and more succesful pilot, but rather proves you level of impatience and the only thing you will master is repairing your airplane and questioning why you went up in the first place. I destroyed three airplanes now, but have finally learned to be patient.