Does anyone have a big stik 40 or 60? if so, is this a good seconed sport plane after an Avistar trainer? Please post pics

A Big Stik might be the ideal plane after training on an Avistar. It has similar landing characteristics and it's quite stable, but more aerobatic.

I fly a very similar plane by Thunder Tiger called the Tiger Stick .40 ARF, and I love to post its picture:



The biggest difference between a trainer and a stik is the elevator authority. The elevator doesn't really look much bigger on a stik than it does on a trainer, but it sure flies differently. You can fly inverted relatively easy and perform inverted turns like the Immelmann and the Split-S easily, as well as manuevers like the Cuban Eight.

Stiks are terrific sport planes and great for learning aerobatics. They also fly well off of floats or skis.

Good luck and good shopping!

I have the 60 size with an OS 91 four stroke. It is a bigger step up from a trainer than I expected. I need to set up dual rates to calm it down for a while. No pictures to post; it looks just like the picture on the Great Planes web site.

It's a great second plane. I have had two over the years .
john

I absolutely love mine (.40) - I used it as a second plane and its been awesome! I have it setup as a tail-dragger. You can set this up as a docile ride or more aerobatic depending on your needs. Big thumbs up from me. It has become my "old standard" now. Been through many battles and keeps coming back for more ... one great plane.

-MA

I have a Big Stik 40, and love it. It's my full time flyer. With the stock parts you can mount the enging sideways allowing the exhaust to spew out the bottom of the plane away from the fuselage. The only modification required is bending the throttle pushrod a little.

Mitch

after my avistar i jumped to a UCD 46 and never looked back.......

I definitely agree that stiks are great second planes. A GP Big Stik 60 was my second. I was pretty confident flying my CG Eagle II, but the stik was scary for a few flights. I wasn't used to a plane reacting to inputs with that much authority. It would fly circels around my trainer.

A stick offers increased flight performance from a trainer by getting rid of most or all of the dihedral but continuing to rely on the top wing placement to retain some stability by having the airframe weight slung under the wing.

The great advantages of this are it opens up inverted flight performance and reduces cross wind effects providing the learning pilot with greatly expanded flight characteristics over a trainer.

So good they are, that many experienced pilots continue to enjoy flying sticks considering that the enjoyment comes with such reasonable cost and issues. They are easy to build, maintain, fit and service the motor and fuel tank, and make great platforms to adapt to ones needs and desires.

As AA5BY said, cross wind performance tends to be so good that usually I'm the only one out at the field in 20mph+ winds ( gusting way up from there ) and having no problems at all with the Stiks.

I've let other less experienced pilots fly mine in high winds with a buddy box, and this seems to build a great deal of confidence.

fun
john