The following observations were made last weekend while attending the Bakersfield Pattern contest.

I have to admit that after being so much more involved in the building of the models over the past few months I had a lot more appriciation for every plane at the contest. I believe we had 21 pilots this year and out of the 21 planes I think 12 were either Oxai or CA's and 1 was Comp Arf. So out of 21 planes 2/3rds were flying something that either sold or is selling in the neighborhood of $3000.00 (Average) THat kind of blew me away so we lined up all of these planes and it made for a pretty cool picture. (I hope Tony puts it up)

Out of the 7 planes that were left most of them were good 2m designs thathave been around for several years. I know that I have seen at least three of the Abbras competing for a finals spot in Masters as rescently as last year. After sorting out the different designs and equipment that was being used I realized that what I was seeing was something like this.

Most popular planes are designed one of two ways. The First is by a pilot like a Hanno Prettner or CPLR that has figured out ways to make the individual designs better suit there flying style and ability. The second is by an individual that may not ever be a national or world champion but has the ability to listen to everyones opinouns and then apply his ability as a modeler to come up with a good all around plane. (Black Magic comes to mind) Several guys did that in the 80's off versions of Hannos Curare, and they probably out sold the Curare 4 to 1.

However,lately, at least to me it seems that the gap between the really good flying planes and the really affordable ones has kept getting bigger and bigger. Look at Oxai. They have come in and really set the standard in a fairly short period of time to what has now become almost just the average pattern plane. Now how can they turn around and produce a model for the entry level pilot. This was the same thing we were running into. In the past the CA planes I think were fairly solid designs geared toward the middle of the road pattern flyer. Since making all the construction changes we have kind of taken aim at a different type of pattern flyer and until last weekend I thought there is just no way to go back. Well maybe we can sort of.

I spoke at length to Steve, Bill Sheets, Jacob and his father as well as a few others and I think we have a way to do both. I was telling them that we have 4 or 5 old style foam Passports at the factory that are all built up to the ARC level but we had to just set them aside when all the new lighter version came together. So what I suggested is that since none of them are going to the Nats why not buy these planes and use them to help better understand the rest of the equipment in order to minimize mistakes when the new planes arrive.

THat conversation started me thinking how can we make a great $3000.00 plane and a great $1500.00 plane from the same plane. I think it can be done and if push came to shove the $1500.00 plane can also make weight at the Nats with some basic upgrades.

First off we are going to use the Passport as the sacrificial plane to test this theory on but if it is even halfway successful the Visa and Onas will be a piece of cake.

$1500.00 Passport 2010
1. Back to the foam fuse. THe foam is much easier to mold and is always a constant weight unlike balsa. (Savings 3 hours labor, $125.00 Material) End result same weight just a little softer skin.

2. Wing construction- Solid foam, sheeted, like before, and SFG's that are similiar to the Onas. (No removable wing tips) Savings tons of time, 4 hours or more and 2 ounces in weight without the removable tip.) Penalties wings will be 2 ounces heavier

3. All laser cut parts are exactley the same but the Battery tray/rudder servo tray will probably be left up to the customer to install(with a couple page instruction manual it should be a breeze.

4. Double walled Cardboard Shipping box that is going to get it there safely but probably cant be used over and over. Savings- 3-4 hours and another $50.00 or so in wood.

5. This line of planes is going to all come standard with anodized black wing and stab tubes. Savings close to $100.00

6. This is the area that we will not be able to a ton but with the right colors I think we can still offer a very clean scheme that isn't a full day per wing to do. The number of curves and colors doesnt have anything to do with the quality of a wing. It will be much less time consuming and then each customer can have a few logos made to go on it. Savings TIme 5-6 hours.

7. Again not to much we can save on the fuse paint except in scheme. Again 5-6 hours is huge.

8. We are going to include all the hardware and covers minus the Carbon spinner.

9. Single Piece Rudder (Time)

When its finished it should be a great all around plane that with a wing tube, stab tube, battery
and spinner sustitution should be capable of winning in any class legally.

We are going to try to make this easy on everyone. This line of planes are doing to be sold at half the price $3000.00 = $1500.00
+ $275.00 shipping making the total for a model that $1775.00

Please guys n gals let me know your thoughts on this or if anyone has something more to add. The main goal here is being able to produce a plane that flies 98% as good as the plane that cost twice as much.

Chip