inexpensive plane for my son
I was facing the same challenge with my 10 year and 8 year old sons. I am a newbie and had never flown RC airplanes before.
Rather than spend a lot of money on on a "real" RC plane that they might not enjoy (remember this is the Xbox/GameCube generation - its got to be fast and fun or its outta here), I opted first for a couple of Hasbro AirSurfers.
The AirSurfers are an all foam bi-plane, dual engine, with no real control surfaces - they climb or descend using throttle on/off and turn by shutting the inside engine off momentarily. The plane, controller, engines, battery, charger - it's ALL included. They cost around $60 each at Toys R Us or go to Amazon.com.
Most everything is already assembled so it only takes about 15 minutes to attach the wings to the fuselage and get it ready to fly. It takes about 20 min for the battery to charge.
Then, we were off to the park, ready to fly. I gave it a hand-launch and we were up and flying. The plane is super easy to fly - my 10 yr old was cruising around solo in two flights and my 8 yr old was soloing in three. (For the first flights, I stood behind them, reaching over their shoulders to "correct" any mistakes until they got a handle on the controls.
Landings are a breeze, just cut the power and the AirSurfer slowly glides down for a soft landing.
We have been using a large grass park area for our flights with no problems (big and open, nothing around).
Both boys liked this so much (ok, I'll admit I had a blast too!) that last month I bought a RealFlight G2 Simulator for the three of us to begin to train for "real" RC flying. We all got to be fairly proficient on the simulator.
So, I just ordered a GWS radio and flight pack (Dream Starter kit) and a GWS Slow Stik (should be delivered by Friday) so we can move up to a "real" beginners plane.
The only downside to the AirSurfer is that the batteries don't last too long (3-5 minutes) and the kids would like to fly longer so we bought extra batteries from Hasbro for $10 ea. (We bought three extra for each plane - $30).
1. Total investment = $90 ea.
2. Flying time = 20 minutes (fly once then charge the first battery while flying the next three and then re-fly battery number one for an equivalent total of five batteries)
3. Look on their faces while flying and all of us having a great time = Priceless!
I know a lot of folks in this forum don't like the kiddie RC planes, but:
1. They are really cheap ($60 as compared to something like $200+ for the GWS radio, servos, ESC, battery, Slow Stik, and charger)
2. THEY ARE REALLY EASY TO FLY (absolutely no experience needed)
3. They are easy to repair (5-min epoxy or hot glue)
4. And they are fun!
And if you don't know whether you and your kids will stay in the sport this might be a good starting point (it was for us).
Will post results on the new Slow Stik adventure next week.
Best luck to all and I'd like to say thanks to all of the experienced flyers who post a lot of info for newbies like myself. You folks all deserve a good pat on the back and a hearty "thank you"!
Tom Stone