jimkim

Hey guys, it’s nice to see there is interest in our new Pitts! I have worked extensively on the Pitts but I am just one of a team of designers with Great Planes. We always read your comments with great interest when we have a new release. Sometimes the comments are valuable and then there are the times when we just kind of scratch our heads. The posts on the Pitts have so far focused on the weight of the airplane, whether we have posted an accurate weight and comments on the video we posted on line. Some of the comments have been favorable and others not so much. It would appear that no one has been able to speak about the Pitts from actual experience yet so some of the conclusions that have been made seem a bit misplaced.

I thought I might take this opportunity to help you understand what we do when developing a new product and what you can expect from us when we release a new product.

In the case of the Pitts, 3 years ago we recognized that this airplane could be very popular so we began the development process to bring you a high performance version of this great full scale airplane. Early in the development process it became evident that weight would be a critical issue. We worked on developing a lightweight structure that would hold up to the rigors of 3D flying and the stress that is put on the airframe from the vibration of a 50cc or larger engine. Developing the structure is just the first step. After that the airplane moves into the testing phase. This is when we make sure that the airplane has the proper incidences for the wings, stab and engine. Through flight testing we make sure the airplane can meet the performance expectations of the customer. In the case of the Pitts we determined that the very lightweight airframe was not strong enough to hold up to the type of flying that many of you would be doing. This sent us back to the drawing board. We spent a great amount of time examining all areas of the airplane to determine where structure needed to be added and where we could remove weight from other areas of the plane and still end up with a strong lightweight airplane. You may not be aware that weight is not the only factor in creating a good all out 3D airplane. Choice of airfoil, wing area wing loading, etc are all factors. A light airplane with a bad airfoil will not necessarily make a good 3D airplane. I won’t bore you with the details of the testing of this product but we worked with three different airframes before we brought you the airplane that is now available.

When we market a product and list weight specifications I am often taken back by the comments I read. One person will think we under report the weight while someone else will think that the airplane will be heavier than advertised. I can not speak for other manufacturers but from our perspective it does not serve our company or our reputation to put false weight expectations on the box. I think we do a very good job of representing the weight of our products. In the case of the Pitts we could have flown the airplane with very lightweight Lipo batteries or used a small fuel tank or flown with smaller lighter weight servos to get our overall weight down but we didn’t. The plane was flown with a 6 volt, 4200 mAh receiver pack, we used a larger than required ignition pack, we used metal geared servos, not plastic geared servos. All of this is done so that we can be sure that the plane will perform with the equipment that you will most likely use and that if you choose to use all of the heaviest components the airplane will still perform well. We could have used a 55cc engine to give it a little extra oomph, but we know a lot of you have 50cc engines in your shop so we chose to show the airplane with the 50cc engine. To account for variances in wood we even test the airplane at a weight 10% higher than our highest advertised weight.

When we are testing the performance of the airplane we are very lucky to have a number of very good 3D pilots including Frank Noll. There are not many pilots that are better than Frank so when Frank tests the airplane and agrees that it is acceptable as a 3D airplane then we feel we have achieved our goal. The videos we post are not edited to make the airplane look better than it actually is. If you look at the video of the Pitts, Frank put it through hovering maneuvers, high alpha flight and a number of typical 3D maneuvers. We made sure that the airplane could do waterfalls, blenders, hovering, etc.
All of our testing allows us to accurately represent our products to you. Our videos show you what you can expect from the airplane and the airplane will do what we show.

We don’t do everything perfect but we spend a lot of time working to bring you the best product we can that will perform, be strong and look good when you are at the field. If you purchase a Pitts I assure you it will perform as shown in our videos and the claims and specifications in our marketing are accurate. I hope this explanation will help you make a better informed decision on the Pitts!