In this episode of Flite Test, Josh and Josh talk about the Radian, and the Radian Pro! Both are awesome planes with very versatile features. Watch as Josh and Josh compare the two planes, and see how they fly.
Fellas,
Glad you made this episode to help me make up my mind which version to buy. Clearly the pro is the way to go for me. Flightdeck Log In to reply
I'm a recent returnee/semi-newbie. These are my thoughts after having now flown the Radian a few of times. It's kind of nice, the silent flight thing, but it is rather boring. Also, when I did find a thermal, I didn't like it, and used the old slope soaring trick of flat spins to lose altitude. I did not at all enjoy watching a slowly circling speck virtually directly above me. My aircraft was VERY pitchy out of the box, so I dialled in 35% expos. Still, after trimming, there seems to be a very narrow (almost non existent) elevator envelope for hands-off level flight. With a Lipo Alarm, which I think is a necessity for this kind of aircraft, I flew for 30minutes, had a VERY stiff neck, and yes, sorry, I was bored. Plus, I think it is difficult to land. I have practised landing-approaches with this and it is very tricky. Without ailerons 'circling descents to landing' are unstable and have to be very wide to avoid dropping a wingtip. Normal landing circuits have to be height perfect to have any chance of landing near the pilot. If you're 2 yards too high, then you are going around again. I think I may experiment putting the CofG a bit further forward AND adding Mix to add down elevator to throttle, because adding 50% throttle, for example, just creates a horrible near-stall, nose up, flight characteristic. Maybe I need to try and set up 2 different flight styles on the Tx, powered and unpowered. So I think I have to do a lot more work with my Tx, a Spektrum DX6i. Log In to reply
Radian pilot August 17, 2015
I am also flying 3 channel Radian glider. Now, if you want to fly a 3D model than flying Radian is a really boring event. I myself enjoy it for several reasons. For me, flying any aircraft is going far beyond the RC itself. First, I see a tremendous advance in technology - ability to control a flying thing far away and high in the sky. I see the graciousness of the flight itself. My Radian went through 3 total crashes and is therefore 3 times rebuild. In that process I have glued small pieces of balsa wood on 4 edges of wings (right at the fuselage) so that I can secure wings with crossed rubber bands. I also enjoy the fact that 3 channel Radian is not easy to fly. It floats a lot but the wings must be leveled. At low speed and a steep turn, it will easily stall, pitch down and depending on elevation might not recover and crash. Hand lunch is usually with only 50% of throttle.
It is possible to set Radian for hands off operation. In that case, the CG must be quite precise. Radian than glides in circles either up or down depending on your throttle setting. With Radian, I enjoy the nuances of different settings and resulting flight performance. It is not easy to land because of it's float capabilities when wings are leveled. I plan to add ailerons and flaps just to see changed characteristics of flight.
I am interested in your experience and progress with this glider.
Please, let me know: gvladkara@gmail.com Log In to reply
Josh: Love you buddy but polyhedral means multiple angles (poly) - dihedral = two (di)..... as in a dihedral wing bends once on either side...a gull wing is still technically dihedral. On a polyhedral you have more than two changes eg on the Gentle Lady, where the central wing section is angled up from the fuselage; it has dihedral, then the wing tips flare up again - even more angle - it is a polyhedral wing...... Log In to reply
My first sailplane was a Gentle Lady also, and aside from the powered aspect the Radian flies very similar. The Pro is the way to go after you gain a good sense of the basic and want to progress. Being able to program the different settings gives you great diversity and still allows a stable platform to advance your skills. Thanks Flite Test for the great videos!!! Keep it up and I would love to see more on sailplanes. Log In to reply
Glad you made this episode to help me make up my mind which version to buy. Clearly the pro is the way to go for me. Flightdeck
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I am also flying 3 channel Radian glider. Now, if you want to fly a 3D model than flying Radian is a really boring event. I myself enjoy it for several reasons. For me, flying any aircraft is going far beyond the RC itself. First, I see a tremendous advance in technology - ability to control a flying thing far away and high in the sky. I see the graciousness of the flight itself. My Radian went through 3 total crashes and is therefore 3 times rebuild. In that process I have glued small pieces of balsa wood on 4 edges of wings (right at the fuselage) so that I can secure wings with crossed rubber bands. I also enjoy the fact that 3 channel Radian is not easy to fly. It floats a lot but the wings must be leveled. At low speed and a steep turn, it will easily stall, pitch down and depending on elevation might not recover and crash. Hand lunch is usually with only 50% of throttle.
It is possible to set Radian for hands off operation. In that case, the CG must be quite precise. Radian than glides in circles either up or down depending on your throttle setting. With Radian, I enjoy the nuances of different settings and resulting flight performance. It is not easy to land because of it's float capabilities when wings are leveled. I plan to add ailerons and flaps just to see changed characteristics of flight.
I am interested in your experience and progress with this glider.
Please, let me know: gvladkara@gmail.com
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Good video though helped me decide on the pro.
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