Yeah. The Pulse XT is gone.

In the past I would be really upset after a crash. Airplanes used to cost a lot of money, and it took a long time to build one and get it right. I was never satisfied with my own work, so this just made it even worse.

But......I don't feel so bad this time.

I've been flying my Pulse XT Plug-N-play for about three months. After assembling and flying a friend's, I liked it so much that I had to have one. I put lots and lots of flights on this plane. I live in Florida and fly just about every day. I lost track of how many flights the Pulse has on her, but it was getting to be pretty close to, if not more, than 50.

I started flying R/C in 1977. Back then when you bought a kit it was a box of sticks that you glued together. Not only that, but the kits weren't very nice and nothing seemed to fit. This required lots and lots of sanding and filling. After that it took hours and hours to get the covering right, the engine and fuel system in, and radio equipment installed properly. It was lots of tedious, hard work. Lots of guys enjoyed it, but I just wanted to fly and found building a major annoyance.

Flash forward to today and all the work is done. Not only that, it is very close to the quality of work that I was doing on my best day. In the case of the Hangar 9 plug-N-Play planes, there is almost nothing to do. The engine and fuels system is in and ready to fire, and the servos and switch harness are already installed. The servos are hooked up to the pre-installed pushrods. Everything is done except installing your reciever, bolting on the LG and tail, snapping a few clevices shut, and checking everything over. I had mine done in a half hour, but I took two hours to check everything, just because I couldn't believe it was so easy.

I flew the Pulse and I flew the Pulse and I flew the Pulse. I flew it hard, fast, and low to the ground and I flew it fearlessly because I knew I could get another one pretty easily. Not only did I like the quality and convience of the Plug-N-Play concept, but I really loved the way the plane flew. If this isn't my very favorite R/C plane of all time, it's in the top two or three.

Sadly, she is no more. Today I ran out of brains and biffed her in on the canopy. I had done a double Immelman really close to the ground and barely gotten away with it. No sooner than I got the plane turned around I figured it was so cool that I'de do it again. The only problem was that...............this time it was downwind.

I simply ran out of room and the Pulse went it on it's lid just inside the runway on the grass. It was completely my own fault, so what was there to do except have a good laugh about it?

The motor came flying out, and then came back and took out the fin and stab. Oddly, it didn't even scratch the canopy. Not surprisingly, it destroyed the cowling and firewall and the fuselage pulled apart back to the first former. The plane wasn't hurt so badly that it couldn't be fixed, but I'm funny about these things. If it ain't perfect, I don't want it anymore, so I gave it to a friend who is going to repair it for himself.

I then went straight to the LHS and piced up another Pulse PNP. Hopefully I can have it ready for tomorrow, but this time I am going to do a little fuel proofing around the wing saddle and where the tail bolts on. I might just take an extra day and spent that time enjoying the process. There really isn't much to do except pick and pick at it and get everything just exactly the way I want it.

I've got a pulse XT kit that I'm planning to convert to electric, but I'm having to save up for the power system. This is going to be pretty expensive, so it will have to wait, especially after today's disaster. I threw the servos, switch and battery from the old Pulse into the kit box and that's one less thing I'll have to buy when I'm ready to put it together.

Hangar 9 is making an enormous investment in the PNP concept. They are only going to do it as long as there is a market for it, so get out there, buy a PNP, and show them this is what you want. Hangar 9 is finding ways to mass produce quality built planes that fly beautifully, and they come that way right out of the box. OK, they aren't perfect, but they are better than most of us can do. I was quite satisfied with mine, and I'm sure the new one will be just as good. I'll stay with the Pulse for now until Hangar 9 comes out with something really, really cool, like maybe a Showtime 50 PNP or lord knows what.

So, I don't really feel all that bad. It's still a lot of money, but it's about half what a crash used to cost me in the past, and this time I won't have to build anything. I'll just have to unpack it and turn a few screws.

Just like last time.....and just like the next time, and the next time, and.....