RE: FEJ planes: list of points to watch closely
Great post Oliver.
From what I have read and seen both here and elsewhere, you have a good knowledge of how a well designed model jet should be constructed. These facts should be in the public domain, so please keep them coming.
I personally do not choose to buy Chinese ARFs, (I like to build my planes and pay the extra for BVM), but I understand that they are a fact of life, and now fill a big segment of the market. These ARFs have made the hobby much more accessible, which is a GOOD thing.
I cannot however, understand how a company can release onto the market a product that will definitely fail, when operated as it was designed and manufactured by the factory. Relying on the consumer to fix design flaws is really not acceptable. R&D is the responsibility of the manufacturer, not the consumer.
So, should companies like FEJ be selling untested products into the market? I personally don’t think so. These models are sold as ARFs. Almost Ready to Fly. You should not have to re-engineer major structural components.
A bigger question might be; How will our regulators view an incident involving a model that has crashed, with a known design/construction fault. If there is property damage or personnel injury, there may well be ramifications for all of us.
For this reason alone, I would prefer if untested ARFs (as described in Oliver’s original post), were not on the open market…
(Hope this in not too negative David)
Roger