Doug Cronkhite

My Feedback: (34)

I'm a bit confused that we've yet to see ANY in-flight footage of the airplane.

vbortone

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I agree we need some flying reports.

Vicente "Vince" Bortone

mups53

My Feedback: (41)

I think there as a Youtube video of AJ flying one 2 years ago. M²

BR289

My Feedback: (106)

Those two Vanquishes AJ was flying were the very first prototypes we had ( one electric, one glow )...I flew the glow version and loved it and decided I would rather get into pattern than go back into IMAC.
The one just released flies even better but unfortunately I have to wait for one like the rest of the guys.....
Hopefully we get Plenty on the next container ( and no, I don't know when that is coming yet )

Mastertech

My Feedback: (31)

They want you to have one as bad as you want to have one, it is how they make a living afterall.

Tim

vbortone

My Feedback: (2)

AJ ?a

Ryan Smith

My Feedback: (25)

How much can you really tell from a video?

I got a pull on the prototype at SEFF and was suitably impressed. Having worked now in the development side of the hobby industry, I know the factory that builds these airplanes and to say that I'm impressed with them is an understatement. By far and away the best building I've seen on a mass production scale and some of the best I've seen period, and I've seen a lot of stuff. Couple that quality with a really good design, and you've got a really good airplane.

Let me preface the rest of my post by saying that I don't make my millions with ExtremeFlight, Horizon Hobby pays for my opulent mansion. Chris, Curtis, and Blair are friends of mine, but the ExtremeFlight airplanes I own I paid for. Take what I say from the lens of someone who's a customer, and if (and when) they get one, it's because they sent a check for $650 down to Georgia.

I was lucky to be able to fly the airplane with the Torque motor developed for this airplane, and I was very impressed with it as well. It's 210kV I think, and Chris was swinging a 21x14 prop on it when I flew it. It had very, very good power, I was able to do a snap on an upline and carry momentum and be able to draw a straight line afterwards. I felt that the motor probably would have been better suited to a 20x15 prop, but I think Chris told me that they were still in the single digits for the number of flights on the airplane. I will say that it is content flying at a slower airspeed, and did not exhibit any tendencies to hunt or fall of a line at slower airspeeds. Chris actually asked if pattern guys flew that slow all of the time, I just responded that the airplane was grooving at that airspeed, so that's just where I flew it at. It's not quite as slow as Gerhard Mayr (if anyone has seen him fly), but it's within 10-15% of that, I would say.

There was not any mixing in the radio according to Chris and according to my eyes when I wiggled the controls, so I got a good feel of what it does in normal flight and during rolls. I flew some knife-edge with it, and it did not tuck an appreciable amount either way (in that it flew a long line before it started) in normal airspeed, level knife-edge. I've not ever flown an airplane that has linear coupling or that you could do a tight knife edge loop with and not have some tuck or roll, and unfortunately I didn't try that, but I can say that during the few rolling loops that I did, it felt pretty natural. Roll coupling was very similar to pitch, very slight adverse roll coupling. Again, it was a decent length line before anything was perceptible to me. I think Chris meant it when they said that the airplane was experiencing delays to ensure that it was as close to perfect as possible.

The fuselage has pretty good volume, so the rudder has good power. There was not too much wind, probably 5-7mph blowing in, but it was easy to keep the airplane on line without a bunch of correction. Stall turns have excellent rudder authority, and the airplane will spin with rudder and elevator only. My biggest pet peeve with an airplane is the need to spin with aileron. I guess it's a holdover from my Partners as they spin beautifully with rudder and elevator only, and I still fly and have flown the design since my first pattern contest six years ago. I have flown a lot of newer stuff as well, so I'm not stuck in the stone ages with regard to pattern design. I am just poor, and those airplanes fly superbly.

Rolls were very axial, and it being a center-hinged aileron, it didn't require any differential. Little rudder or elevator correction was necessary in rolls, and was about on par with something like an Integral. Even though the airplane appears to have a little larger wing than has been the trend in F3A in recent years (I forgot to e-mail Chris for specs after SEFF, but I would estimate that it's probably in the neighborhood of 1050 squares, maybe slightly less) snaps were crisp and had a very fast rotation, and good recovery. I think the wing being larger and light (to my highly calibrated hands, I would say 14oz RTF with 9411 and linkage hardware strong enough for a 40% airplane) is a great factor in the airplane's handling qualities. The larger wing area having more lift, and consequently inducing more drag seem to make it happy flying at a slower pace, but it being as light as it is, means less mass located out from the CG and center of pressure so it will develop a rather quick roll rate in snaps.

It has a rather long tail moment, so it tracks very nice lines, but I think the wing is in the correct spot longitudinally, in that it was not cheated forward to create a longer tail moment. I've flown other designs that the wing was a little too far forward on and they were a bear to do a stall turn correctly, even with a further aft CG, and were unpredictable in spin entry. It has a balanced look to it in the air, and has sufficient nose that you can actually see it in flight. Again, going back to the Partners, they have a longer nose than normal, so I've become accustomed to using that as a reference. Elevator power is very linear, and does not change sensitivity with speed.

Going back to the construction, I was suitably impressed with the engineering that went into this airplane. I particularly love the way that the nose structure is integrated. It has the main motor box, however it has the longerons that tie into the nose, so the nose isn't just a fiberglass cowling haphazardly grafted to the nose of the airplane. It was designed onto it, as was the structure. The fuse is fully sheeted (as is the entire airplane), much to my delight as I hate open bay construction on anything other than a Lazy Bee or my Sig Rascal. Because it is fully sheeted, it's quiet in the air and there is no covering creating a harmonic vibration. I was happy to see that there are several formers in between the wing trailing edge and the stab, so the fuselage has excellent torsional stiffness. I've always felt that Extreme Flight has had superb engineering, particularly with the airplanes released in the last two years or so, and this is no different. Something that I really got a kick out of were the wing adjusters. I thought they were creative and ingenious, anyway. Instead of Gator-type adjusters for the wings, the adjusters are all wood. There is a plate that has a hole the size of the anti-rotation pin in the wing, and it's held into place with two screws. Where the mounting screws are, there are two slots for vertical adjustment. It was a very simple take on an adjustable wing, and though I didn't jerk on them hard, as it was not my airplane, they appeared to be very sturdy. The stab adjusters are in the stabs, and from what Chris told me, they were similar to Gator adjusters.

The glass work from this factory is superb, and the landing gear really have a beautiful layup and seem to be very strong. I challenge anybody to cover better than this factory, as I think that is something that sets them apart from the rest. All the hardware appeared to be high quality, thought I thought it was a bit overkill for a pattern plane. Not that the extra margin of strength is a bad thing, and the airplane certainly does not need to go on a diet. The one I flew was 11lb, and it flew well. I imagine that a lighter weight airplane would be killer. According to Vic Diaz, his came in around 10lb, and I certainly don't doubt it. Everything looked straight, and I spent a bunch of time poring over the airplane while I was there. Unfortunately, I only got the one flight on the airplane, but it was enough to prove to skeptic Ryan that it was worthy of its stripes.

I think regardless of price point, it's a heck of an airplane. The low price makes it that much sweeter. No, it's not fully composite and painted, but I honestly challenge anybody to prove it to be a detriment. I really like it a lot, and I am very fortunate that Chris allowed me to fly it. I'll be sure to take a picture of the check before I send it to Chris should anyone find one of these in my stable. I am not being compensated for my celebrity endorsement, I'm just truly impressed and thankful that I got to see one in person and fly it.

vquick

My Feedback: (71)

Well I flew the airplane today and fly's really good a 3.5% down mix and some rudder to elevator about 5% I will have some more flying tomorrow with Marcio Jorge. I think I will be flying this one on my contest also I can have George Asteris and Chris Moon they can try the airplane if they want this weekend to get more input about the airplane

Ryan Smith

My Feedback: (25)

My finely calibrated hands didn't fail me! I just saw Vic's post regarding his wing weights.

Cool stuff.

stuntflyr

To VBortone,
Andrew Jesky, I think.
Chris...

Mike Wiz

My Feedback: (2)

That was a thoughtful review Ryan. Thanks for taking the time to type that all up.

Wiz

kochj

\There was a flight report in the AMA magazine about a year or 2- ago.
THis was prior to the final changes though....
700$ plus 200$ shipping...or was it 100$?
FLat rate either way...

rcpattern

My Feedback: (45)

Vince,

I've started a build thread on the e pattern forum. I'll be posting detailed flight reports and if I can locate a good camera, I'll even get a video uploaded to youtube. If all goes well mine should be flying on Sunday or early next week, and then I plan to let a bunch of people get some flights next weekend in Conyngham, PA so guys can draw their own conclusions,

Arch

hezik

Oooooohh.. watch it! I have been saying that for 3 years now, and if there was a 'hezik hanging' right now, lots of EF-fanpeople would battle over who get's to flip the switch :P

However, congrats to the EF people for finally getting it out there, now they'll see how wrong they were in not giving more attention to this plane, for they will probably sell like crazy.

And no, I didn't buy the European stock

They should give me one for free, if it flies good, which I'm sure it will, I'll be honest about it, and that would be good advertisement.. if they get 'hezik' to talk positive about this plane :P

[/quote]

Imo, you shouldn't be starting with mixers off the bat. Especially a downline mixer, I assume you men you have some down elevator mixed to idle throttle? If so, it would be better to reduce incidence on the wing.

What is remarkable, is the price Lindinger asks for it, 750 euro, which is about 1050 dollar. It should be around 650 dollar, which is about 460 euro. However, even at 750 euro, it's still the best deal out there by far.

bem

My Feedback: (1)

It is rather unusual that Lindinger do not ship worldwide on this item, they write: "NO available for following countries: Sweden, Finland, Norway, Belgium, Netherlands, UK, Japan, Australia, Singapore, Far East!"

I suppose it is because Extreme Flight has other distributors in those countries.
If I check the Extreme Flight distributor in for example Sweden they have not VANQUISH F3A 2M listed on their homepage. In such situation it seems difficult to buy one if Youare more or lessforced to buy from a specific reseller close to where You live. I have bought many times from Lindinger before so I was surprised to see this info for VANQUISH F3A 2M. Maybe it is good for Extreme Flight and the main distributors but I'm not sure it will good forthe customers in the long run if this will be more common.

/Bo

MTK

Archie allowed me time on the model. It's priced like entry level but it flies Masters schedule well, even in it's current state of trim. I don't think it would take 25 flights to trim to one's liking.

Of course that assumes that new stock coming from abroad will be pretty similar to the few that came in a couple weeks ago. Quality control will drive this endeavor. I wish EF all the best with its future. They deserve tremendous credit for staying the course on this model, considering how many people screamed foul play. Chris Hinson could have pulled the plug on the project but he didn't. Pattern will benefit and for that I am grateful