Too light for anything over 10 MPH. When its gusty this plane is a handfull. Landings and takeoffs with a cross wind can end in disaster, as what happened today. Itried to take off into the wind, but a gust caught the left wing and flipped it before I could correct and it smacked nose first into the ground. It didnt break aything, but the firewall came off the fuse. Thankfully its stuck on with Silicone. Easy fix though, just a few dabs of silicone and its good as new. That big fin with a cross wind at slow speeds tends to turn it into the wind and is a PITA when landing.

Too QUIET! It makes so little noise that you cant tell if the motor is running or not.

Too short a landing gear. In grass this plane doesnt take off or land well, even with large wheels installed. The motor is pitched down so if it catches grass it will pull itself into the dirt, to help compensate my nose wheel is larger than the mains. Landings are a PITA too on grass as the nose wheel will catch just a little ground the wrong way and cause it to nose over.


Thats all my gripe on the Apprentice, overall a really good plane.

All of that comes with the territory of flying little planes. A .40 size trainer would be much better on all those negatives, but your flying space may not allow for it. I will suggest that you don't do crosswind takeoffs in that plane. Just point the nose into the wind and gun it until you have practiced cross controlling and have a little more experience in knowing how much wind does what to the plane at slow speeds.

Well it didn't start out as a cross wind, it was pointed into the wind, but the ground is rough and it bounced to the right so the combination of the wind and bouncing and a gust at just the wrong moment put it in the wrong attitude which resulted in not enough height to be able to roll it back.
 I also have a Kadet LT40 that I fly, but it is too big for my house, and I dont want to be flying a loud plane near the neighbors, they may complain about the noise.  I never fly over their house, stay at least 100' from their property line, but they may not like the sound of the 4 stroke.

Sounds like the problem isn't so much with the airplane as it is the place you fly.
I am by no means a fan of electirics. I have even flown this plane. I found it to be ok...not my choice for a trainer but ok.
Go somewherer bigger and smoother and I think you'll like the aircraft alot more

Oh I have flown it in much larger areas, it is just pretty windy most of the time.  It is the perfect size plane to fly in my backyard though,If you can call 5 acres a backyard! ,  and I like the plane. I actually like flying it at my house better than I do at my friends because there are no buildings in the way to cause uneven air currents or turbulence across the "runway". <div>
</div><div><div>I made 2 threads on the Apprentice so those who are interested in this plane can see whats good and whats bad about it, and those who have it can also comment on the same. </div><div>Better than one thread that mixes them all up then the negatives can outweigh the positives. </div></div><div> I had 2 prior flights with it last night, both takeoffs were fine, and so were the landings, which for me is unusual since neither one dumped it onto its nose, but touched down smoothly and rolled to a stop. The third takeoff was not so good even though I did have it pointed into the wind.  It hopped at the last moment just before it left the ground, and skewed to the right. I need to smooth out the hoof prints where I fly so I can avoid the bad bounces that helped cause it to veer right last night. <div>
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</div><div>When the wind blows up from the south or from the north flying at my house is good, flying at the field is not. East or West the field is good, home is not.  I think it is a great trainer because it is squirrely in wind, teaches you how to react when it goes where you dont want it to. </div><div>
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The lighter the airplane the more turbulence will bounce you around......You ought to see my field.....wind out of the southwest.....there is a ditch and a line of trees aways from the end of the runway...as you cross that ditch there is a rolling turblence of air that will rock and roll ya until 20 or so feet form the threshold. I am flying an 18 lb airplane. It will rock and roll 40 per centers

I'll bet thats fun!

Instead of having a don't like try something different. Friday I was out flying this little 37 inch Aeroworks Extra 260 in winds over 25 MPH. I thought it was a total hoot. The down wind leg was so fast I thought the wing may break. Turning into the wind was nuts, the plane would come to a stop at half power. Landing was a thrill, it rquired a bunch of inputting down elevator. My buddy was saying bring it in close!! I'm trying!! Bring it in close!! I'm trying. I got it down about 15 feet in front of us and we got to it before the wind took it to another county.
Not quite the same type of plane as yours but just as quiet and every bit as light. I did a review on this plane but the edit never got finished before it got published. There are now 6 of us flying this little plane at my field. Small but it does it all!!
Give one a try!

I have the T34 Eflite too, and the last time I flew it was in 15+ MPH winds, and it was the same thing you described. I bring it in, it slows down and moves back, I give it power it climbs, I eventually got it down, and it rolled 3 feet.  It was a blast.

I've flown a couple of smaller electric powered foam trainers in the wind, and they definitely can be a hand full due to their light weight. It wouldn't come as any surprise that at 10 mph the Apprentice 15E, at 35 ounces with a 58 inch wing, will start to be bounced around due to its light wing loading. But using proper cross wind techniques should help with this (ie. cross controlling with rudder/aileron).


Sounds like you need something like the F-27Q Stryker. I've found mine is a real hoot in the wind yet rock solid!. Using triple rates the controls area set low enough that it flies more like a Kaos than anything. I'm flying more at the football field across the street with my Stryker than I'm spending at the flying field. Not sure the acreage, but there's a nice farm field adjacent to the football field that I overfly to make sure I have room - the Stryker is not what would be classified as parkflyer.

Hogflyer

Heh, not a lot of vertical stab surface there to cause the wing to weathervane around in a wind.

LOL yep, the big fin on the Apprentice really causing it to do that too. My Kadet is like that too and it is a much heavier plane.  I was flying it last night in a fairly strong cross wind, and basically flew it sideways for a bit.  Pretty neat to crab across the sky.