Does anyone have ideas for a trainer that actually has aerobatic capabilities? Nothing too wild, but a decent airfoil, dual or slightly larger ailerons, etc.... less dihedral, or?

Thanks for any input!

Ernie

Falcon Trading has a new ARF aerobatic trainer. I've seen it and it looks really neat. High wing, low dihedral, semi-symetrical airfoil, dual aileron servos and a great color scheme.

It's called the Midwest Aerobat. See falcon-trading.com.
Jim

Hi Jim,

By golly you are reading my mind....:-) I already started another thread to see if anyone had actually seen or flown this plane.

I did own an Avistar 40 once that had a decent airfoil. I just can't see going back to that again though. They do make a good trainer.....

Thanks a bunch! Oh..... the M. Aerobat looks like it might handle a slightly larger engine too.

Ernie

Ernie:

I don't think a 50-52 two stroke or 61-72 four stroke would bother it at all.

Jim

My Avistar (hobbico) will do the usual trainer stuff pretty well - loops/rolls/cuban 8's - will fly inverted pretty well without totally pushing the stick all the way forward. Will snap roll if you really try hard or find it by accident....

I gap sealed my ailerons and on max deflection it rolls pretty nice for a trainer type plane - probably till the wing splits down the middle that is.

Guy at the club has one he put together totally stock other than he elminated a lot of the dihedral and it seems to make a pretty nice fun fly type plane so far...

Ernie,

A lot of what a person needs in a trianer is determined by his age and physical abilities. If you were in your teens, you could probably learn in a few flights on anything. On the other hand, I have taught people in their 70s that took over a year to get past the trainer. Age, eyesight, reflexes and such have a lot to do with your learning ability of a physical process. It's all hand-eye coordination.

If you can say that you are reasonably good at video games, for example, of a sport like tennis, you'll probably be able to start with a fairly aerobatic plane.

At for planes to learn on that are aerobatic, any of the Sticks would be my choice. With dihedral, they are fairly trainer-like. With a flat wing, they are really aerobatic, except for some roll coupling. With anhedral, they fly like a low wing plane.

Thanks a bunch Ed! Actually I have flown quite a bit and have just assembled an Ultra Stick with a Saito 72. I do miss having a trainer type plane in the stable though and the Aerobat looks like it might fit in nicely. I also had an old Super Stick until it got stolen from my truck canopy last week.

Ernie