I took the Protege 60 back out to the field yesterday along with both of my RDS8000 transmitters and my Airtronics buddy box chord. I was hoping my friend Mike would make it out to the club so we could do a couple of training flights together on the new plane. I had tested the buddy box features at home a bit, but hadn't yet put them to the test out at the field.

Well Mike couldn't make it out, but it turned out to be a very good thing that I brought out the second radio and cable. Jim and Mary, a couple with an interest in checking out the hobby, stopped by the field to watch a few of us fly yesterday. I got to chatting with them between flights about our club, our Thursday night training program, and getting started in the hobby.

Jim and Mary seemed genuinely interested and began talking about coming out Thursday night and then again visiting our field for our big Labor Day Air Show next week. Realizing that I had a full buddy box setup available for the Protege 60, I suggested there was no time like the present. I offered to take Jim up right then and there on an intro flight and let him try my new plane out on the spot.

While I was getting the two transmitters connected up and double checking the controls, Adam, one of our newer club members, overheard our conversation and asked if I was going to be buddy boxing my Protege .60. I replied that I was, and Adam asked if I could give his girlfriend JoAnn and his friend Jeff each an intro flight. They'd both been interested in giving flying a shot but hadn't been able to come out on Thursday evenings.

Jim and I went up for the first flight and I talked to him a little bit about the controls and using gentle stick movements to control the plane before giving him control of my new Protege. When I first gave control over to Jim, the plane ballooned up rather noticably. I realized we'd need some help adjusting the trim on the RDS8000 I was using for the buddy box. My buddy Roland helped trim out the second RDS8000 and we got things smoothed out, then handed the second box back to Jim.

He took the lessons to heart apparently, because he did an excellent job right off the bat of making smooth movements and not overcontrolling the plane too much. We offered his wife Mary a turn on the sticks, but she didn't have her glasses with her. She sounded genuinely interested in giving it a try on Thursday night, however, and I wouldn't be too surprised if she shows up later this week ready to take her turn at the sticks.

After a short break, I refueled the Protege .60 and we took off again, this time with Jeff and JoAnn each waiting for their turn while Jim, Mary, and Adam all watched on. The engine seemed to suddenly be down on power, so I brought it back in and declared I'd need to adjust the needle a bit. This was only the sixth flight on the new Thunder Tiger GP-61 engine, and it is still breaking in. I had to lean out the high speed needle just a touch after our previous flight, but I was rewarded once again with smooth and reliable power once the GP-61 was happy.

We took back off and had some terrific flying. Jeff and JoAnn both did very well for their first time up just as Jim had. The both got in a few smooth turns and showed some real ability. They also had their share of overcorrections and control mistakes like any first time flyer would, but they each got about 6 or 7 minutes of flying time and seemed to have a lot of fun.

The Thunder Tiger GP-61 is getting a little stronger and smoother which each flight as it continues to break in. The RDS8000 radio system is performing wonderfully, providing smooth, fast, solid control. Using it as a training system has proven to be quite easy, as well. The big Protege .60 ARF flies smoothly, lands easily, and displays nicely in the air. The big 72" wingspan and high visibility covering scheme will really help students with orientation.

As afternoon faded into early evening, my gang of surprise students thanked me and headed out to go do other things. My friend Fred showed up and we got to chatting for a bit. I relaxed for a while and watched Fred fly his Thunder Tiger Imagine 50 while Roland flew his Sig Hog Bipe. Ralph Brown showed up and got three flights in with his Super Buccaneer. As the sun began slowly dropping toward the western horizon, everybody else packed up and headed for home. Fred and I were the last two pilots of the evening.

I fueled up the Protege 60 while Fred was tearing up the skies with a home made flying wing of his that is so fast it takes your breath away to watch it. Fred landed as I started up the Protege and walked to the flight line. As the big bird accelerated smoothly up the runway and lifted off into the sky, Fred came walking up to watch the fun.

I put the Protege through a full course of standard aerobatics, flying loops, rolls, Immelmanns, Split "S", and wing overs. The Protege was flying inverted more easily than many of my old sport planes with just a touch of down elevator required to hold it level. My Cuban 8s were getting better as the GP-61 increased in power, but my wing over turns still weren't very good. "You're not getting verticle before the turn," Fred offered, "you need to be straight up and down before you kick in the rudder."

"Here hot shot, why don't you show me?" I replied and handed Fred the RDS8000. Fred proceeded to show me what a decent wing over turn is supposed to look like and then flew the Protege across the horizon in a nice, smooth knife edge. Fred was using the elevator to remove the coupling, but he did it so smoothly you'd think he was flying a pattern ship instead of the Protege. He pulled out of the knife edge and rolled the plane through a double barrel roll.

"Ooh, I can see why you like this thing. The aileron roll rate is awesome! Do you want to fly this thing some more?" Fred's question was silly. "Yeah," I stuck out my hand, "pass it on over."

I finished up the flight continuing to do more loops, inverted circuits, and Cuban 8s. I even attempted another couple of wing over turns, but they didn't look much better than my original attempts. Finally the GP-61 started to surge and then quit. I took the plane around on its downwind leg and began my approach, oblivious to the fact that the propeller had quit turning.

The big trainer came gliding right around and turned smoothly as I lined up my final approach. It floated down steadily and responded perfectly with a slight flare as I set the main gear down on the runway right in front of where Fred and I were standing on the flight line. Fred complimented my landing and I had to laugh. I confessed that, after six or seven flights, I still hadn't landed the big bird under power. It glides in so smoothly and predictably that I had been flying it out of fuel every time before bringing it in to land.

Fred agreed that it was the perfect engine for the perfect trainer, and that the RDS8000 was a pleasure to fly with. Fred flies with a Polk Tracker II transmitter, and he noticed the light weight and the comfortable ergonomics of the Airtronics radio right away.

I wanted a nice big trainer that would be great for instructing with, but that would still be fun to fly when I was out on my own as well. The Protege .60 ARF is shaping up to be that plane in every way I could hope for. The TT GP-61 engine is getting better and better with every flight, also. The more I fly this setup, the happier I am with it.