I was wondering if there is a big difference in the performance between a YAK and an Extra and what the differences are.

The wing shape looks similar. I had a YAK and I thought it tracked very straight and precise. I will not comment on the 3D performance as it was a bit underpowered and heavily wing loaded.

The Brand / Design will make a huge difference. What model Extra? Did you have a particular plane in mind?




General Characterizations

Extra- Clean flying, Tracks great, great snaps, stalls a little quicker, little push inverted usually

Yak- Draggier, constant speed, bigger (more cubic area), Floats a little more, very true flying, docile, Tends to dig into snaps easy, usually hands off inverted

A Yak will normaly KE better than an extra. An Extra will appear to stay on line better than a Yak. A happy modeler has one of each. I'm evan happier cause I have a Katana also.
Each has strong points and you can't say one is better than the other.

Having had quite a few of both, the only real difference I have noticed is that yaks dont carry momentum as well as extras on account of its nose. So a lot more power is required for longer at the top of maneuvers.

I can nearly slow an extra on down lines as well as a yak with a bigger prop. So yaks have the edge if you are after slower down lines.



I think it depends a lot on the individual airframe design. I have little to a lot of coupling on both. I have seen stretched yaks that track better than an extra. etc etc etc

There is a reason you don't see many Yaks flying in the unlimited class of IMAC. I guess it all depends on what you want to do with your airplane.

Bob