For me, electric makes the most sense for my pattern planes. I started in RC flying electrics, I have only been flying a few years. There is a great electric only field that is only a couple of miles from my house, and right between my home and office. So, it was a natural progression as my flying interests developed. I look at the costs of flying across my entire hanger of planes. I have standardized on 5 cell battery setups. A single 5 cell for my smaller electrics, and two 5 cells in series for a 10 cell setup in my larger electrics. The costs of my collection of 14 of these batteries, and an optimized charging setup is shared between my fleet, so is very affordable. However, for my giant scale 30% to 40% IMAC planes, gas makes more sense to me. Electrics are just not there yet.

As far as performance, I find that my electrics perform very well. Probably better than what I see in the middle range of glow motors, and on par with the high end glow motors. At my last pattern contest the F3A, Masters, and Advanced classes were all won with electric powered planes. So, electric is certainly not a handicap at this point. Both electric and glow can be set up to work equally well by someone who understands the respective technologies.

Looking toward the future, it seems to me that the big advances are being made with electric technology. There are new batteries that are currently making the transition from the research stage, to the production stage, that will provide 10 times the capacity for the same weight. This means that in a few years, electric should offer at least the same flight times, more power, and at a lighter weight than glow. Hey, there are billions being poured into electric power research by both government, and industry. If they have their way, we may all be driving electric cars, and flying electric models in the future. LOL!