Well, finally got to put a few flights on the G-Booster powered ES Evolution (hybrid) this weekend. I've got to say, the Booster is a VERY nice engine to say the least. I'm fairly sure I have the only 160 in the States for now, but I'm sure that will change.

As far the flying qualities of the Evolution, it continues to be a WINNER! I'm not sure I noticed any major differences in the overall flying, but then again, it is a Euro and they all have flown great. This Euro is quite different than both of my previous ones. This one is much lighter (and flew as such), it also has single exhaust (previous ones had bifurcated pipes), and no doors or speed brake unlike the previous ones.

It was very windy, so that definitely was moving the plane around. Nevertheless, I was immediately comfortable with the plane once airborne and there were zero surprises and I needed just a couple clicks of up trim. It is balanced right at 540mm from the front edge of the intake (original manual setting), but I think I will be moving the batts. slightly forward later. Landing was uneventful and very Euroesque. BTW, I have a set Dreamworks' Pro-Link gear and "straight" Pro-Link trailing struts in Euro. These are only the first flights and test with them, but they seem to be working great and look to be very promising and a great alternative for the conventional struts, especially for grass.

Once I get more flights on the new ES, I may be able to elaborate more on the differences as I perceive them, but from the initial three flights, it is hard for me quantify. The mere fact that the aircraft is so different from what I have flown previously, may inhibit me from judging accurately anyways.

I have never heard of a bad flying Euro apart from the occasional "tucking" issue you hear about sometimes. Only one of my Euro's had that tendency and it was only in a left turn and was not that bad, but noticable. This Euro did not exhibit that behavior at all.


*NOTE* Be careful with the armament and drop tanks [:-]. On the third flight, I decided I would try to fly with the center drop tank, wing tanks and outboard missles attached. It looked SO GOOD for about 10 secs. Right after take-off and into the downwind, the left wing tank departed taking out the left missle and pylon with it [X(]. I throttled back, checked out the flying characteristics, dropped the gear, made a couple passes and landed without issue. In all fairness to CA, these are pre-production tanks, pylons, and armament; I'm not sure they were even intended to be "flown", so no fault on their part. I'm sure the production parts will be up to the task if that is what they are meant for. From now on, I will only fly with the center drop tank and outboard missles unless I do some work or get a production set.

I'm sure everyone will enjoy their Evolution ES' and I can't wait to hear other's report once they start hitting the skies.

George