RCM Hooker
 

About a year and a half ago, I received a phone call from a flying buddy asking if I would be interested in having a "RCM Hooker" built for $180. What a bargain was my response. We had a mutual flying friend who offered to build us one each. Approximately 6 months later, I had my framed up Hooker. I promptly placed the Hooker in the man cave where she gathered dust for another 9-10 months.

An unfortunate set of conditions lead to a fatal crash of my Great Planes Big Stik 60, and I found myself with only a Pantera helicopter to fly (the Pantera is a great .50 class helicopter by the way!!). The reality is that most of my flying time has been devoted to helicopters for the past 3 years and even my Big Stik had only received limited flight time. For whatever reason, the fact that I didn't have a .61 sized plank available to fly started getting on my last nerve, so I decided to get the Hooker finished up and into the air.

I was able to maiden the Hooker Saturday morning 6/23/12, and quickly fell in love with her! She's an awesome flying airplane and quite the aerobat! I couldn't find a lot of information about the hooker other than it's specs. I did find one flight report that had a fairly decent flight review, but noticed something that made me scratch my head a bit. I have seen the RCM Hooker being flown by other pilots at other fileds back int he 80's and I recalled that there wasn't much the Hooker couldn't do. The flight report mentioned that the Hooker didn't snap or spin well. That simply did not match up with what I had witnessed of the aircraft "back in the day".

I was very pleased to find that not only does the Hooker snap and spin, she does both very well. Entry into either is instant and recovery is just as quick. She's got an extremely thick airfoil, thus lots of drag so this is an airplane that will easily allow you to take off, perform a 1/2 reverse cuban eight to turn around and land gently on the runway from which she just departed. Rolling maneuvers are a breeze, Stall turns are effortless, she feels nice and comfortable at all times. You can drag her in from the boonies on a long low nose high approach by keeping the engine rpm up. You can also set up a high, nose down approach and set her down at a relatively slow speed due to her ability to slow down so well. The Hooker has extremely docile flight characteristics and requires substantial surface throws to make her feel at home in aerobatic situations. She has absolutely no tendency to be twitchy or unsettled. She's graceful in all that she does, but the snap rolls can be rather violent if that's how you prefer to do them.

The Hooker is a more capable aerobat than the Big Stik .60, but at a price of being a little heavier wing loaded model. She's still extremely easy to land, but she doesn't have the "float" that the Big Stik does at slow speeds. Being about the same weight as a Big Stik .60, but with 290 less square inches of wing area, she can't stay in the air with the Big Stik in the extreme low speed envelope. She is every bit as easy to land, but does require more rpm during the approach than a Big Stik. In every other respect, I feel that the Hooker is a far more capable aircraft. She's no 3D machine, but a fantastic barnstormer that instills confidence to the pilot and entices the pilot to do maneuvers down low where they can be appreciated! She doesn't gain speed like crazy on down lines which gives the pilot time to complete maneuvers without worrying about smacking the ground. She's a real sweetheart and a joy to fly!

http://images.rcuniverse.com/gallery.../lg-232574.jpg


http://images.rcuniverse.com/gallery.../lg-232575.jpg

RE: RCM Hooker
 

My wife dosen't mind me buying new airplanes from time to time, BUT if I told her "I just spent $180 on a 'hooker' I knew from 'back in the day' and 'I fell in love with her' ", I would have some "splaining" to do!!!

RE: RCM Hooker
 

P.S., nice looking plane with a great covering design. Where in Georiga is "Resaca", I can't find it on a map ??

RE: RCM Hooker
 

Located north of Calhoun, Ga. and south of Dalton Ga. I'm a member of the Dalton RC Fliers club and our field is located in Dalton. The name of the model has made for some rather humorous comments and more than a few jeers from less informed members of the church :) Thanks for the compliments about the color scheme. I've really developed a love/hate relationship with Monokote and it's inconsistency from one roll to another. The covering job looks much better from 10 feet away than it does from 2 feet away :eek:

RE: RCM Hooker
 

Thanks, I found it on the map. Not too far from my current club, Taildraggers in Cartersville Ga. Our field is also on church property so I would change the name of the plane to "looker" if I had one! ........have fun

RE: RCM Hooker
 

Very nice looking model and guess what, the covering job looks okay from where I am standing :) I see that you have wing end plates installed and I have just recently been experimenting with some on my GP Big Stik 60.

Karol

RE: RCM Hooker
 

I am flying a Hooker in Chattanooga. OS 60 ax as a tail dragger. I agree with your flight analysis. I have the RCM plans if you have any questions.

RE: RCM Hooker
 

Bluelt, We're planning on having a fly in on September 29th. Nothing fancy, just hoping to get a field full of pilots and airplanes. I'd love to see you at our fly in with your Hooker! Our field is a bit tight on the east end of the runway, but the west end is wide open. Those of us who fly in Dalton are pretty comfortable with downwind landings, but with the Hooker, you'd have no problem doing a left hand pattern, short field approach. All you need to do is make sure you turn within the field and not let the airplane drift out into the hungry treeline just off the east end of the runway :)

I'm originally from Chattanooga, and my RC life prior to 1996 was spent as a member of the CRCC. I was asked to judge in your clubs recent SPA contest, and man did I have a blast at the event! Hope to be able to meet you soon. It would be cool to have 2 Hookers in the air!!!

RE: RCM Hooker
 

cmgtfly = Better late than never i guess - I just read your post, so I missed thefly in. Look forward to seeing your Hooker. I flew mine today (3 Dec) If you judged the SPA at CRCC - I was flying the 40 size Compensator in Novice. Mike Robinson knows me. Later

what are the chance you could copy the build instructions and send them to me? I think I can get a set of plans off of the net.

Well some 4 years later and I'm enjoying Hooker #2. I refer to her as the "Super Hooker". Deviations from RCM plans include a fairly massive rudder, (stolen, and modified from an Extra 300) that extends the sub fin, conventional tail dragging gear instead of tricycle, extra large bomb shaped wing tip plates, and an O.S. .91 four stroke instead of the trusty O.S. .61 FSR. The plans call for a significant amount of down thrust as well as some right thrust. I shimmed the mount on this one to have no down thrust, and only a smidge, (a southern term meaning "barely noticeable") of right thrust. Wing incidence is +1.0 degrees instead of +1.25 on my first Hooker.

I'm extremely happy with the flight performance!! Unlimited vertical. From take off, I can literally go ballistic until she's out of sight. The extra large wingtip plates must be acting as significant side force generators, because this Super Hooker will knife edge very well, although she does pull to the lift vector, so some down elevator is needed to maintain headings. She's super smooth and graceful unless you peg the corners of the sticks, then she will reward you with instant snap rolls in what ever direction you input, and stops immediately upon centering the sticks. The O.S. .91 Surpass provides an intoxicating amount of power for this airframe, allowing her to be hot dogged with ease.

Love the mods you did to this kit! I have one of these stored away for the right time to build. Always wanted to try one and got lucky enough to find a kit a year or so ago! Prob. will go with either an OS .32SX on a pipe or an OS .46FX/AX on a pipe for power.