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Old 09-04-2003 | 04:41 AM
  #18  
Mike Caspari
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Joined: Dec 2002
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From: haughton, LA
Default Better Second Plane

The somethin extra flies very well and will give you a good idea of what arobatic planes are all about. to move to a second plane you may want to try to turn the throws up on your trainer to prepare your reflexes to quicker control inputs. maybe a good "stick" design with a semetrical wing should be next. As far as a 202 goes, a friend of mine won a thunder tiger 202 arf(40 size) in a raffle and I got it from him(I'm more of an "extra" kind of guy myself) but I figured the price was right to try it out. I scratch build all my planes to my own liking. I will say this though, I flew that 202 for nearly 2 years and would still be flying it today if the battery wouldn't have fallen out of the transmitter on me, bad fellin there when you look on the ground and wonder who's battery pack that is laying there and realize it's yours! Anyways, that 202 was a great performer, inverted passes a few feet off the ground, knife edge down the runway, dragging the tail wheel on a slow landing. This plane was awesome. I could take off in a cross wind, put the plane in a 15 degree climg out and let it fly hands off, it would turn into the wing gently by itself while remaining flat and continue to climb out as if on rails. Nice looking plane too, a little elmers wood glue on the formers in the fusalage to reinforce it some what and it would be fine. Moving to your next plane will depend on the skill level you accomplish with your trainer. I started with a semi-semetrical airfoil trainer 20 size, after learning to fly I set the throws way up and converted it to a tail dragger, I flew this for about 6 months. My second plane was a scratch built cap 21 which I flew ok but it still took alot of practice on landing, getting that speed right can be a pain. That TT 202 I found was easy to land 3 point, alot easier than the other 40 size acrobats I've flown but it will try to fall off on a tip, like the other small ones if you get too slow and apply too much up , bump the throttle if in doubt. I hope this helps you decide what to move too next, that TT202 would be a good 3rd plane and really introduce you to acrobats 101 made easy and if you tear it up think of it as a 200 dollar flight lesson and right it off. If you can really fly a trainer until the wings come off I don't think you would have any trouble with that 202, I know its an arf but I've lost my pride and joy and many hours designing and building and that hurts alot more. Use all the training tools available to you and get to the point where YOU can make the maiden flight, it means so much more as a builder.