Tales of a Rookie - The Backyard RC Flyer

Hey Guys,

Just a quick one from me,

Recently I bought and crashed a Super Kinetic 815 from HobbyKing, the plane has an incredibly violent tipstall and falls into a spiral very easily, with quite a high stall speed. For very experienced pilots this would be ok, but for someone like me who had never really experienced a tip-stall inherent plane it was a little more challenging. Having said that the stall speed was very high, it met it's demise in a light breeze as I turned into the wind at three quarters throttle. Stalling violently, spiralling, and exploding spectacularly on impact! Sadly I don't have video footage, the plane didnt live long.

The Super Kinetic, due to its flimsy construction and high stall speed, burned away into ashes. But like a pheonix the F22 Raptor (which had earlier been cannibalised so I could build a versa wing, article coming soon!) rose from the ashes. The Raptor is a fantastic plane, great for a second aircraft capable of high speeds and beautiful low passes. The idea stuck me one night, why don't I put the old electronics on the F22, they are just lying around after all. I hastily put it all together one day, seeing as the Raptor was pretty beaten up I didn't really care about looks. As long as it was strong and flew well.

The electronics/parts are:

• 1000kv Motor
• 18a Turnigy Plush ESC
• Hitec Optima 6 Reciever
• 500mah 20c Battery
• 8 by 4 Prop
• 2 Nine Gram Servo's

What came about was an absolutely fantastic backyard flyer, which is the perfect size for flying in the fields out of the back of my house. I don't really mind if the aircraft breaks, as long as the electronics are ok, so I can just have fun with this plane. Trying out manouvers for the first time and executing swooping passes are great fun just after school. It was a little bit blustery today, but the Raptor coped well (It has ample enough power to cope with mild winds):

Moral of the story, nothing is fully broken. A crash is not the end it's just the beginning of something new. Have no fear, the F22 Raptor is here!

Happy Flying!