flymeaway

My Feedback: (6)

I've been flying a Firebird II ST for about 25 flights, and feel the need to move on (and give my son his birthday present back). I still have the occasional rough landing or bad distance judgement that leads me to climb 40 foot trees, but I can yank the little plane around and land quite well in expert mode.

So, any real time experience with any of the following:

Miss 2: Seems like a great plane, maybe a little pricy

Super Star EP: I like the price, but it seems too heavy for the wing span, which seems like it would be too fast.

T-Hawk: Seems like a good intro to 3ch flying

Wing Dragon: Same as T-Hawk, I've heard good things about this plane

Sparky 400: While it looks more like a real plane, I'm afraid of the all balsa for a beginner

I would like a plane that I can fly in more than 5mph winds, if that's possible for a trainer. Also, take off on well groomed short grass would be nice too.

I know this is a hot topic and has probably been hashed around many times, but I would really appreciate any input. I work in advertising, so I'm not going to listen to some copy writer's thoughts on an airplane that they've never flown. Thx.

Matt Kirsch

My Feedback: (21)

The Aerobird Challenger, Aerobird Extreme, and T-Hawk would all be excellent steps up from your current plane. If you go with the T-Hawk, get the deluxe radio version so you have standard controls and a variable throttle. Otherwise, you'll have to re-learn where the elevator is when you progress to bigger and better planes.

Have you considered the GWS Slow Stick? It's a little more money up front, but can be done for around $200 if you stick with strictly GWS gear.

RC Sumo

flymeaway
you Dads and crashing your sons' toys......lol. My retired father crashed my Aerobird pretty bad when I handed him the sticks. It made for a good laugh and outting so it was worth it.

as for your question....
As you can see, I fly an Aerobird. I learned how to fly on it and give it a full endorsement to someone such as yourself. Much like the Firebird, the Aerobird is extremely rugged. Parts are almost always carried by your local hobby shop. With practice, you can do some great aerobatics. Loops, tail slides, immelmanns, even inverted filght (although I haven't been able to pull it) can be done by this bird. Can it do barrel and snap rolls? No. But it can penetrate 10 mph winds easily. With practice of course. The bad thing about this plane? You can't easily transfer the electronics to another model. But the X-port add-on to this plane, in my mind, makes up for that. I can drop all kinds of things from my plane due to the high lift the wing creates. Currently I am enjoying making carpet bombing runs using those little paper finger snaps...you know the kind you throw on the ground and they pop? My next projects will be aerial photography and... a way to do fire "retardant" drops to put out mock fires. That's going take some time to get straightened out. The point is, this plane is great fun, has some unique expansion possibilities and won't set you back too much money.
The other plane I have seen a ton of posts on, besides the ever favorite Slow Stik, is the T-Hawk you mentioned. The T-hawk seems to closely resemble the Aerobird in form with a couple of exceptions. First of all, it has a tradtional rudder/elevator setup. More importantly, you CAN transfer your electronics to another plane. Something to consider. I have seen videos and read many posts about this plane's performance. Again, it appears to have the same qualities as the Aerobird.
As for the Aerobird Extreme, I couldn't tell you much. I have read alot of pilots who flew the the Aerobird/Aerobird Challenger really like it. But NOT for beginners. IT flies pretty fast.It also adds the bonus of the X-Port feature, so again, something to consider.

If you do go with the Aerobird challenger, there are several EXTREMELY good members here in the forums that can give you all kinds of advice and mods for that plane. Myself, AEAJR,foreverNight,DFAlpha...all pilots who seem to have extensive knowledge of the Aerobird. Aeajr especially has some fantastic links/advice. This was a big point for me...there seemed to be ALOT of pilots of Aerobirds in here.

and of course Matt Kirsch, forum moderator, always has good tips.

Good luck! Have fun!
if you have any questions regarding my personal experience with my plane, just message me.
-Shane

flymeaway

My Feedback: (6)

Well, I decided on none of the four planes I had in mind when I started this thread. I wound up going with the Aerobird Extreme. Last night was the maiden flight. The bird flew very well, very smooth and slower than I thought at half throttle. I flew it on Smart Trak mode, which I believe helped a bunch, but I was not uncomfortable in my ability to fly this plane. I flew the circuit a bunch of times and brought it in for a soft slow dead stick landing. I am really happy with this plane. Can't wait to get the hang of it, more stick time and expereince to start doing aerobatics. Should be a blast.

So, if anyone is looking for advice on how to get into RC flying, I am certainly happy with my progression - The Firebird first, now a 3ch Aerobird Extreme. I wouldn't recommend starting with the bigger ABX, but that's just my opinion. I'm flying surprisingly well at this point.

RC Sumo

AWESOME! Good job! Keep it up and have fun. I just saw some videos of the ABX flying .....wow. It looks like really nice. Glad to hear you are taking it slow nd doing ciruits and landing. You'll probably jump outta your shoes the first good loop you do!

Have fun!

Raincloud48

I bought a T-Hawk, after having a less than sucessful experience with a firebirdII st. I am a beginner and my first T-Hawk flight was a success(for me). The landing was rough and I managed to crease the wing. I straightened the wing, did a pre-flight check and hand launched the second flight. The plane was flying very well until the first turn, the wing folded ( where it had been creased) and crashed from about a 40 ft. altitude. It first appeared to be ok , so I replaced the wing and was doing a flight check when I discovered the rudder and elevator were not working properly and were making bad noises. I didn't know what was wrong, so I sent the plane back for repair. They promptly replaced the servo gears and sent it back. It cost me a little over $15 for repairs. I like the plane, but wonder why both servo gears stripped? I thought the wire servo linkages were a good thing, but maybe they transfer shock, from a crash, much worse than the cables on an aerobird would.
It seemed strange to me that, other than the large wing damage, the T-Hawk did not have a scratch on it, yet the servo gears were broken. Can anyone tell me if this is common? Woody48