I am an advanced flyer in both gas, and electric flightm, however,it has been a while since i have flown any aircraft taht are designed around learnding the basics. ately a friend of mine has become interested in joinig the sport, and i hae decide to help him out, and ry to reduce the amount of painful crashes, that normally occur when learning, i learned on a hobbyzone firebird, and a wattage piper cub 180, however for him i want to have a 4 channel aircraft, with steerable tryicle landing gear, and some looks, the aircraft doenst necessarily have to be really dumb, however i need a smooth flyer that he can handle, a faster aircraft would be nice, however its notnecessary, so far ive found an aircraft that fits all my needs but ailerons, it can be found at this address http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXJMH8&P=7 ,he is not looking to spend more then 200 dollars on a RTF plane like this, and i would like to have it easily repairable, if anybody has an idea of where i could get a plane fitting my description, i would greatly appreciate it.

There is no "best first plane" -- there are way too many variables in student capability, financial circumstances & flying environment, for a single aircraft to cover the whole shebang.

There are, however, LOTS of good first planes for lots of different folks.

We need specific information about each prospective student to make meaningfull recommendations.

In the case of your friend, you are already making a choice for him -- small electric -- that may or may not be a good choice.

Tell us more.

my friend is very much into real-life avation, and has his pilots licence, he has flown rc aircraft, however, he has yet to accomplish a solo flight, he manages to do basic ovals and figure 8s, however, he needs an aircraft that is stable, has all 4 channels (throttle, elevator, rudder, yaw, ailerons, steerable tricycle landing gear) i have seen many models such as his, however becaus i was at the tme more itrested in the f-18 doing passes, i never fully asked about them, for those who still dont understand what im lookin 4-
1. smooth flying, good looking plane
2. under 200 dollars rtf
3. all 4 channels, including steerable tricycle landing gear
4. small, electric (no place to fly but school yards)
5. cheap and easy to repair

being a full scale pilot usually makes RC HARDER to pick up then someone without rc experience. yeah they have the knowledge of how a wing works, but they also have the hours of seat of the pants feeling, and have no concept of control reversal.


beauty is in the eye of the beholder... I assume you probably mean scale.


lots of parkflyers under that range, although if you purchase a couple batteries and a decent charger you will be well over anyway.


Your selection just was narrowed down to zero (or maybe 1) very few park flyers have 4 channels, and none that I know of have steerable trike gear. Why do you want this anyway? it is useless unless you have a paved runway, it will not work on grass for a small electric. You will be hand launching anytime you are on grass.


see above.... You also need a VERY large school yard. people greatly underestimate the space required to fly safely, even small electrics.


most park flyers are fairly durable, but repair usually consists of buying new parts.

thanks fo your help, however i have seen many aircraft like this before, however i can seem to find the brand, or name of the aircraft, i am willing to build a kit, or arf, however i dont know where to start, ive checked gws, and horizon hobby, and am pretty sure hobbypeople doesnt carry anything such as this... I did find an aircraft that matches my needs, however it is large, fast, and expensive, if i could downsize this, it would make me a happy camper... its at this address, it also happens to be my favorite real life prop aircraft aircraft built, but something like this in a smaller version will do nicely. So you know im not hopeing for a free ride, i am searching my buns off, im just hoping somebody can speak up, and help bring my search to a quick close. http://www.rcuniverse.com/product_gu...product_id=668


Thanks again!

unfortuantely i cant seem to find any aircraft with steerable tricycle landing gear, i would prefer this, because he will eventually be stepping up into my advance 40, and i was hoping for him to get used to the arrangement of the landing gear, but unfortunately the only aircraft that have this are homebuilts, or larger aircraft. Also i prefer having the ability to taxi around, personally whe i was first learing, i loved to do nice touch and goes, and patterns(incluing full taxi) my plane however was a tail dragger, and a little hard to control, which ended up costing me a few wings, and a set of landing gear. I have now opened my serch to include tail draggersr with a steerable tail wheel, which is not to uncommon, i do have a nice place to takeoff, and land, and taxi, and nice chalk to mark off taxiways, and runways. I am wiling to accept any aircraft that can fly nicely, however my friend insists in having a respecatble airplane. I do own a charger, and some batteries, and for a while thiswill be okay, because he will only fly with me for the first few months. I know of a few airplanes that fit my description now, however i still would like some opinions

I'd recommend the Hobbico Avistar, personally. I find it easier to fly than a "trainer" with a lot of dihedral, but it is stable and will land almost as slowly. It has excellent wind penetration, a wider flight envelope than most trainers, and will fly well with an inexpensive bushing-based engine like the OS .40LA, but will light it up if you spend a bit more for a .46-.48 ball-bearing engine. The monocote covered version is easy to repair as well. Uses a four channel radio and four standard servos.

thanx, however to fly such a craft, i either must join ama, and go to a flying site, or drive 80 miles to the middle of nowhere to fly, and i personally dont thave that time. So i realy would prefer to have him flying a cheap electric, stepping up straight into gas is a really stupid idea, the speed is triple that of an electric, and when you have no buddy box system, its a really hard thing to do.. thanks for the info tho

i doubt you'll find a 4 channel rtf for 200 bucks new.... perhaps e-bay. a typical trainner the gas engine will run 100 for a 40 la.
good luck

Ok I actually did read your thread, most all parkflyers,,this is what your talking about in small electric are not that realistic looking and as smokingcrater stated I have never seen one with steerable nose gear...check out the parkflyer or electric forums if you have seen the plane you want,maybe they can help...I flew at a schoolyard with a GWS plane and there was plenty of room...$200? check out the Parkzone models their ad usually shows up over in the electric forums...no experience with them myself but they come with radios...a personal observation, I wouldnt suggest MegaTech.....Rog

Jet mech- like i said before i am looking for electric aircraft, and im sure i can find one compatable with my standards, a little suggestion is to read the thread before posting....

Flyinrog- Thankyou for all your help, i found exactly what i needed( though it isnt steerable tricycle landing gear, its able to have a tail wheel attached) its the best iv found so far.. its at this address if you are curious about what i picked- http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine/a...article_id=443
He and i both hank you for your recommendations.

-Thanks for all your help guys, i dunno where id be without you.

Hi Paladin. It's me again. You seem to have a lot of good advise, and I like what you are recommending. I think I am going to get the Avistar RTF. I have the Superstar EP 3 channel to fly on the farm fields but I would prefer less dihedral when an instructor teaches me. Also I want to learn about nitro planes and fly them. Thank you and good flying. Mike