????

Fast enough to keep a beginner busy, and when you use a 7-cell pack even faster!
Just read the manual and follow the instructions![img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/img]

i seen a few fellows at my local high school with 2 of em and i can verify that i saw theri top speed to be about 10-15 mph. That is just a guestimate!!

Damn thing moves!!!! If you're new, make sure you have lots of open room (they suggest 600x600 ft field) as they can get ahead of you quite quickly... Good news is I hit 6 trees HARD while learning and only damaged one wing... That XPack battery pack is a riot too...

There are web links on how to upgrade the motor mount with a tie-wrap. I think this saved my ship a few times...[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/img]

I think the Aerobird with the 7 cell pack can hit 25 mph, but I have not clocked it. I fly mine at half throttle most of the time and enjoy10-15 minute flights.

Just curious, or do you have a specific question or concern.

I have the aerobird and am new to the hobby. For some reason, thought the rear ailerons were adjusted properly, the plane kept going left on a rolling start and on a hand launch, just crashed. It was damaged pretty bad and I have been wondering if this plane is ok for beginners or whether I am missing something.

All help and suggetsions are greatly appreciated. I live in Denver Colorado.

I am a beginner and I love my Aerobird. Started in March. I have about 50 flights. I would guess 12 minor crashes and about 6 really major ones. Most of the crashes were due to flying in toooooooo muchhhhh winddddddddd. If you are new, don't fly in anything more than a 5 MPH wind.

Key for new flyers:

ALWAYS LAUNCH INTO THE WIND - OTHERWISE YOU CRASH

Read the whole manual, then read it again.

Always launch at full power - never anything less than full power - give the prop a chance to come up to speed before you hand launch.

Hand launches should be level or only very slightly up. If you throw the plane up at an angle, it will stall and crash most of the time. (at least twice for me) Strong level toss. The plane should almost fly out of your hand.

Check to make sure your tail moveable surfaces are properly alligned. The transmitter and the plane must both be powered up for you to do this. Be sure the trim slides are in the center when you do this. If you make the adjustments without putting the transmitter on, then putting in the battery, any adjustments you make will be wrong. (at least one crash on the power on thing)

Make sure the wing is on straight (that caused one crash for me)

Make sure the battery is fully charged!

ALWAYS LAUNCH INTO THE WIND! (one crash)

Make sure the slides, the trim slides that are around the stick are in the center. Sometime I bumped mine and pushed them off center just before a launch ( that caused at least 3 crashes)

ALWAYS LAND INTO THE WIND (one really bad crash)

These are my starting thoughts.

just got one and first flight right spiral dive on the launch
two halfs of the wing came down the hill
is it safe to fly if the wing is pack taped like the manual said to or should i fork for a new wing

the stock one flys at 20mph says my local shop

Repairing an Aerobird wing with packing tape doesn't really work very well if htere is a crease. It might fly, but at the first real stress, its gonna fold and you are going to crash.

The tape has no body or stiffness of its own and the folded area of the wing has had the foam compressed. Net Net, nothing to resist the next fold. If you open the vinyl and fill the crease with something that is stiff you can get pretty good results, but it is tricky. I tried building foam from a can that you use to seal around windows. Works OK, but very messy.

A better solution is to get something thin but stiff, like a strip piece of wood, but balsa is probably too soft. 1/16th or 1/32 ply, if such a thin ply exists, or a thin piece of plastic would work. Bond it to the wind with double sided tape. A 1" wide piece of plexiglass that is thin might work. It can flex, in fact a bit of flex is good, but it must resist folding. I would say 8" wide would be the minimum width I would suggest, and I would go 2/3-3/4 the length of the wing, say 25" to 30", as a recommendation. Be sure to center it left and right so you don't unbalnce the wing. The bird can handle the weight of a light piece of plastic or wood. I have also seen wood dowels or carbon rods used. Anything that will resist the folding of the wing.

Attach it to the wing with doublesided carpet tape or something that will bond it to the wing. Then use packing tape on top of it to smooth out the air flow. Stretch the tape to create a smooth surface rather than fitting it tight around the edges of the strip or dowel.

If you look at the Firebird XL wing, it has a carbon rod embedded into it when you buy it. Other similar planes, like the T-hawk, have these supports in their wings when they are new.

Give it a try. Don't depend on the tape to keep the crease from folding again.

I may add a support to my new wings from now on.

tanx for theinfo ill use it if i bend the wing but it broke clean in half so i used paking tape to put it together but it said that for chips and dings only
it said nothin for a brake
i must say that the wing feels like i could use it as a bat as far as stiffness goes but im new so i didnt know if it was safe
thanx though

I have a 7 cell battery and a 6 cell. When I switch the two is screws the trim up because the 7 is heavier. Its more that can be adjusted with the controller. So instead of retrimming it everytime and end up spending a battery getting it trimmed I just leave it and it climbs all the time with the small battery. Its a pain because I cant dive to start my loops. Any suggestions?

Also, is their any other batteries that will fit into the plane besides the Hobby Zones. It says you are supposed to get 10 to 15 minutes of flight, but I am lucky to get 6 or 7. Its dissapointing because I have to drive 15 mins to a feild to fly and the batteries are dead in 20 mins. Makes me wanna get a plane with a gas engine really bad.

I had a good one last weekend.

My Aerobird took a minor crash a few weeks ago, on a Saturday. Nothing serious. This plane can
really take punishment. However the wing, which is just a foam wing that
rubber bands onto the plane, had a minor crease right in the center, between
the rubber bands. Looked OK, just superficial.

Sunday comes and the wind is hitting 12-15 MPH. Now I know that this is tough
flying weather, but what the heck, I came to fly, let's fly.

So, I put on the creased wing, with a little reinforcing tape, and send the
bird up. She is doing great. I am up about 150 feet. I have drifted out
over the woods that surround the field, so I decide I want to get back over
open land. I hit the throttle to fight the wind and bring it back to the
clearing. Bad move!

Between the wind and the full throttle, the wing couldn't take it and folded
right in the middle. Down she comes like a duck that has been shot, right
into the woods, maybe 150 yards in.

My buddy and I go charging into the woods.

Now, normally I keep a locator on my plane when it is windy, but on this
particular day, I had put it on my friend's plane because he was new to the
plane and I feared he might get blown into the woods. Ha Ha Ha.

So, we are traipsing through the stickers and weeds and trees looking for the
plane when a hiker comes buy. I ask if he saw the plane. "Oh yes", he says.
" I took it up that trail and put it in the open field because I didn't see
anyone."

So this nice guy has taken my plane 1/4 mile from where it crashes about 90
degrees from where we saw it go down. So I run up the trail..... of course it
splits and I don't know which one he took. I go left and go on for 300 yards
till I come out - no plane.

I go back down the trail and pass they guy again. He had taken the other
trial. So we go up the other tail about 500 yards and come out..... no plane.
But there are a bunch of teens having a picnic. They have my plane.

So I go over to see them. Turns out these are two guys I had spoken to the
previous week about joining the club and they recognized my name on the plane.

So - the moral is:

1) My plane locator goes on my plane

2) only perfect wings in the wind

3) even when you know where it crashed. you don't know where it is.

From crash to recover was about an hour. I have since fixed it. The
Aerobird will fly again. I now call it the Phoenix because it keeps rising
from the Crashes.

Beings your tellng AEROBIRD stories, something funny happened to me today. I was flying in a field. I asked permision but only from the person renting. I fly there regularly. Well it kinda got away from me for a second and flew over top the road and back, this is a busy road. Then a cop pulls in. I thought for sure I was in trouble either for flying over the road or using the field. He pulls up and asks me a billion questions about the plane then watched me. He asked if he can come back tommorow to watch again. And he was on DUTY! This is our tax dollars at work.


[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-blush.gif[/img]

I think that it is wonderful that the local police are interested in public safety and want to make sure what you are doing is safe.

If you have a club, get 'em to join.

Oh, I dont think he was interested in the safety, he just wanted to watch me fly. I dont want to join a club. I live in a desolate area. Closes place for a club is an hour away. I dont want to drive that far every time to fly. Plus why pay the dues when I can fly here. My uncle is a good rc pilot, I just go to his house for tips. If I join a club and see all those cool planes I will just want to spend more money.

If you don't want to be tempted to spend money ( he he ) then you better avoid looking at any of these.

Here are a few planes that would be lots of fun and would represent a real
>challenge. Most have videos associated with their links.
>
>Pitts Special Biplane - I really like this one
http://www.hobby-lobby.com/pitts.htm
>
>Crazy Sparrow
http://www.hobby-lobby.com/crazysp.htm
>
>three-d
http://www.hobby-lobby.com/threedee.htm
>
>Firecat
http://www.espritmodel.com/l_firecat.html
>
>Eagle 3D Aerobatic plane - This one looks like a lot of fun
http://www.hobby-lobby.com/eagle.htm
>
>The Chilli
http://www.hobby-lobby.com/chilli.htm
>
>Tipsy Nipper
http://www.hobby-lobby.com/nipper.htm
>
>the CAP232
http://www.hobby-lobby.com/cap232.htm
>
>Sukhoi SU 31 Aerobatic
http://www.hobby-lobby.com/sukhoi.htm
>

I thought all you had was an AEROBIRD. How do you know if the others are good planes?

I have an Aerobird, a Great Planes Spirit 2 Meter Sailplane and, today, I start building an Electrajet.

As for the planes in the links, I have no personal expereience with any of htem. I just thought they looked like cool, fun planes. I especially like the Pitts special and the eagle. May get one of them some day.

You said you didn't want to be tempted to spend money. That's no fun, so I tempted. Label me the RC Airplane Devil. I lead you into temptation. Ha Ha!

This question is aimed at aeajr because I know he has posted some info on this particular problem or problem with motor mount more specifically.

When I first bought my AEROBIRD I did now jack about flying, but I flew it couple of times around the park. Seemed easy enough so I tired to do a loop about 30 feet from the ground, or should I say swimming pool. My plane landed in the pool, it smoked a lot, it didnt work afterwards. So I bought another and since have learned to fly it just fine. The water soaked plane eventually dried out and began working. So I have two planes, flown them both, they worked just fine, even after it went swimming.

I dont know what the point of telling that story other than to explain why I have two of the same plane.

Any way, one of them will not fly level unless I have the flaps tilted about a half inch up. Initially I thought it was something wrong with the tail wing. I bought a new tail wing, same thing. I even tried a different top wing. No help. I can fly it, but I have to pull the lever back the entired time to keep if from nose diving. Its not a major deal because I can fly the other one, but its just bugging the hell out of me because I can't figure out whats wrong with it.

The only thing I could think of that it could be is that the motor might be cocked for some reason. I checked it against the other one and it looks fine. Its a little loose, but so is the one that flies ok. Does anyone have any idea what is wrong?

Thanks,

Wings

The following is from my Tips and Tricks post. See if any of this applies. Let me know what else I can do to help.

Plane Does Not Fly Straight - what could cause this?

Assuming you have not displaced the motor and you are having
problems with the plane turning to one side, check the following:

a) is the wing crooked or too damaged - try a new wing.

b) Check the trim adjustments on the transmitter. They may have been moved from center. Set
them to center and make all adjustments assuming you will fly with the trim
set in the center.

c) Check the tail. The foam is attached to the center plastic brace by small
pieces that punch through the foam. This can loosen up and the tail fin can
move slightly away from the plastic brace in the air which can cause the plane
to turn.

Tape or glue the tail fins to the center plastic brace. Also, look for creases
in the foam. If there is a weak spot, it will
cause the tail to flex causing the plane to turn. mine was creased at the
meeting point where the plastic support meets the tail. Looked fine on the
ground, but it was flexing in the air causing a hard right turn leading to
crashes. Replace the tail.

d) Make sure the moveable surfaces are even with the fixed surfaces on the
tail when the stick is centered and the trim levers are centered. You MUST
check this with the transmitter on and the battery attached. If they are not
even, adjust them with the screws on the control horns. The procedure is in
the manual. RTFM

Note, there is a tiny Phillips head screw on the back of the control horn on
the tail. Tighten it or the spool could unwind while the plane is in the
air, causing a crash. (Guess how I know this!)

e) Check to see that the boom is solidly attached at the body. If this comes
loose, it can move around while the plane is flying causing all kinds of problems. It can also
twist so that the tail is no longer aligned. If the tail boom droops, the plane will tend to nose down.

If you look at where the boom is attached inside there is a pinched area. I
drilled a small hole through the top of that area and through the boom. Then
I put a 4" nylon tie through to help secure the boom. I also put packing tape
around the boom and the back of the body where the boom exits. Between the
two, the boom is well secured.

The Porpoise

When you apply power the plane starts to climb then noses up, then the nose
drops and it does it all over again. The problem is that the tail needs to be
trimmed. There are two screws on the tail. The procedure is in your
instruction book. RTFM

Thanks for your reply. However, I have tried all that. The boom was loose before. I readjusted and put epoxy glue. It is secure now. But maybe you are right in the fact that it is something with the boom. I noticed that the boom will slide in and out slightly. I pulled my out as far as it would go where it was tight. I measured it and compared to my other one. It was the same, give or take a couple mm. Then I epoxy glued it. But I did fly it after I did all this and it was fine. All the suddon its not fine...

I just find it odd. My other plane works perfect.


I may not get to mess with it much this holiday weekend and it is supposed to rain and storm here the whole time. Bummer.

OK, let's work this through:

If setting the rudervator surfaces up, evenly, a little allows the plane to fly straight then something about the attitude of the tail is wrong. I have this problem too, but I caused it. When I reset the tail I must have put it n slightly rotated to one side. So I have to have the right rudervator surface up sligtly when I set the trim to zero at the tail. I have two other planes, so I am not flying the Aerobird as much as I used to. This works for me. Frankly if the adjustment makes the bird fly straight, then that can work for you if you can't find and fix the problem.

As I understand it, both of your rudervators are up slightly and evenly to get it to fly right. So, surface adjust ment can compensate. This tells us for certain that we have an allignment problem which is putting the tail too low relative to the body, or the tail itself is mounted with the back of the tail down too far.

Here are the possible causes:

Boom Droop

When you epoxied the boom back in, it was not PERFECTLY straight. The tail portion must have been slightly down. This would cause the plane to nose down. You can fix this by remounting the boom, or raising the back of the tail slightly using the orange screws. Or, but setting the rudervators up slightly all the time, but the last is the least desirable.

Or, the body is slightly bent where the boom is attached so that, even if you put the boom into the body right, the body is bent slightly so that the boom is drooping relative to the motor thrust line.

Putting both surfaces up, or raising the back of the tail wing using the orange screws would compensate.

OR - Tail incidence is wrong.

Your tail is not adjusted properly. the front is too high or the back too low inducing a drag at the bottm rear, again causing the nose down ocndition. Putting the surfaces up would compensate. Following the adjustment procedures in the manual should help you make that adjustment. It takes a fair amount of time, patience and a calm day. There is no other way to do it. You have to fly it, adjust the orange screws and fly again. Anytime you take the tail off you have to do this. No way around it. I think this is where your problem lies. This would also be the easiest way to compensate for a slightly sagged boom that you don't want to reset.

You could have a center of gravity problem, but I doubt it would be this severe.

I am out of ideas. These are what I would focus upon. You say you did them and I am saying, based on your statements, this is where your problem lies. Do it again. Focus on the orange screws on the tail.

ya, I did them.

I removed the entired tail last night. Now I have to figure out how to get all the epoxy off withought damaging the boom. It is getting a little difficult to have modivation to mess with it when my other one is working fine. But I will keep playing with it until I figure it out or get sick of trying.


I have another questions, may seem stupid, but I dont know the answer. Whey do you need 4 channels for a gas plane as opposed to three for electric? Would the speed regulator just operate a servo for the carburetor. Confused as to where the fourth is needed. Can someone tell me?

There is no difference between the way an electric flies and how a fuel plane flies. So a fourth channel is not required on a fuel plane any more than it is on an electric plane.

Having said that, the fuel planes tend to be larger, heavier and more powerful. They also tend to fly faster than electrics and have higher wing loadings. Having the 4th channel makes the plane more manauverable. It gives you throttle, rudder, elevator and ailerons. Electrics can have exactly the same channels.

Having said that, many electrics, like the Aerobird, are aimed at a lower price point and a market that typically learns to fly on its own, or with more informal training, often in school yards and sports fields. Having only three channels makes these planes simpler, lower cost, lighter and easier to fly, though not as manauverable as a four channel plane.


There are plenty of 4 channel electric planes.

umm, are you sure you know what you're talking about?

The guy at the hobby store says you need 4 channels for a gas plane. And everyone I've looked at via the internet, hobby store and magazines require 4 channels. And the planes I am looking at are trainers with basic up down right left function.

I am fully aware that many electric planes have more than 3 channels. I am new at the hobby but have a very good understanding of basic physics as I am an engineer. My question should have been phrased "Do all fuel planes require ailerons?"

By the way, I found out what was wrong with the aerobird. There is a place where the boom actually clips into on the inside of the fuselage to keep boom from falling down. I did not have the boom in the groove, thus the boom was free to move, even with the epoxy.