To make this plane fly at its best you need to keep the weight down. I fly mine with an Irvine .61 for unlimited power, but had to add tail weight. I also had one with an Irvine .53 and it would hover also and I'm at 6000 feet above sea level. If you don't have servos yet, get the Hitec 225's. They are .5 oz lighter than the 422's and put out 54 oz of torque. Stay in the .50 two stroke range and I also changed my landing gear to Graftech gear that saves weight. You will have excellent verticle performance and a very light plane. I also ran a YS .45 on one that works great if you keep it light.