I had an Ultra Stick that was really good, though there was a niggling annoyance or two during construction. I'm not a big fan of Ultrakote, but it seems that's the best material around because they have cheapend monokote up so much. And, oh, I automatically replace all the clevises with Dubro or Great Planes as soon as I open the box.

That's the bad part.

Here's the good: I've had two Hangar Pulse XTs and they have been awesome. I fly them really, really, really hard, and they stay together. I love the way the Pulse looks, and I love the way it flies. Both of mine came out of the box in perfect condition and flew with very little trim. I haven't even changed the setup. The way it comes out of the box is perfect. Right now the Pulse is an even bigger favorite for me than the Ultra Stick. That's a big statement.

The Pulse XT PNP is a great concept, and I wish they would do more airplanes like that. With PNP just about all of the work is done. I don't want to work. I just want to fly, so this works extremely well for me.

A step even further along than PNP is the Hangar 9 RTF lineup. I have a lot of students, and I insist they get a Hangar 9 RTF trainer, Why? Well, so I don't have to build the thing, that's why. I spend about 20 minutes going over a new student's plane and then I never touch it again. I set the needle and then we fly it and fly it and fly it. One Hangar 9 Alpha at our field is on it's third student! Not only are the planes reliable and well built, but they are very stout and take an incredible amount of outright abuse. We are extremely pleased with the Hangar 9 Alpha and Arrow trainers that our students fly.

We have also had a few of the Hangar 9 PTS Mustangs show up at our field and they are really nice too. They aren't perfect trainers, but they are acceptable. With all the training aids pulled off, it's a very nice sport plane and extremely docile considering that it is, after all, a Mustang.

Personally I have owned a PTS Mustang and PTS F-22 Raptor. Both of those were very nice planes that didn't have any QC issues.

This doesn't mean that there aren't problems occasionally, but Horizon service has treated us extremely well. I empathize with the poor fellow who started this thread, but it seems like his problems may have, in part, been caused by poor handling in shipping. I mean, they don't put the things in the box with the wings smashed, do they? It probably happens in shipping. I'm sure that Hangar 9 could make a bullet proof carton, but who's going to pay for that? That's right.....US, who will turn around and then complain that the plane costs too much.

Look, I hardly mail order anything, especially ARF planes. I buy as much as possible from my LHS, partially out of loyalty, but also because I can inspect the aircraft before I pay for it. If there is a big problem, I just pick out another one. Once or twice I've missed some damage, but I take it back to the LHS and they swap it out for me. With Horizon products, shipping damage is the vendor's problem, but for QC issues, the customer sends it back.

OK, this system isn't perfect but it's very workable. You just have to carefully inspect the plane before you pay for it. I've found very few Hangar 9 quality issues, but I've also seen an entire shipment of Ultra Stick 25E kits reduced to splinters by UPS. You just gotta check the thing out carefully before you take it home.