The 4 stars are good airplanes. It will work for flying the entry level of pattern. The main thing is learning to fly it precisely. Info can be found at www.nsrca.org on trimming and setting up your plane.

Now its not the most ideal of planes but if its what you got cool use it. The short comings of the 4 starts are the fact they are not designed to fly on knife edge. The rudder of these planes tends to have a bunch of coupling. Meaning when you give rudder input the plane will also roll and or pitch. Most of the pattern designs have this tendency designed out. Since the 4 start is not intended originally to fly pattern it was not designed to from the start. Another short coming are snap rolls the 4 starts will not snap like a pattern model.


This all being said as short comings in the design...Lets look at the Sportsman Pattern there are no Knife edge flight segments and no snap rolls. The 4 start will do everything on the list.

AMA Sportsman Pattern

1. Takeoff

enter the box

2. Straight Flight out
3. Half Reverse Cuban 8
4. Straight Flight back
5. Half Cuban 8
6. Two Inside loops

exit the box

enter the box

7. Two point roll ( this is (2) half rolls )
8. Stall turn without rolls
9. Cobra without rolls
10. Immelman turn
11. One horizontal roll
12. Split "S"
13. Double Immelman without rolls

exit the box

14. Landing

All of these maneuvers the 4 stars can do. and some of them they do very well.

For a descritption of all of these maneuvers check out the website above for the NSRCA or get an AMA rule book. These rules books can be downloaded from the AMA site or you can get one in the mail for free by just calling the AMA and asking for one.


Good Luck and Welcome to the Pattern World


Troy Newman