Project Flight Design Delta vs. Pop Wing

I haven't flown a Pop Wing, but my guess is that it flies better than the PFD Delta. It's EPP and it has a shaped airfoil. How much better, though? Here are some numbers, and it's actually more favorable than I expected:

Pop Wing

Span: 35.4 in
Length: 22.6 in
All Up Weight with a 1200 mah 3 cell: 12.3 ounces


PFD Delta:

Span: 30 in
Length: 20 in
AUW with a 1300mah: 14.25 ounces

My Desert Island Foamy: The Project Flight Design Delta Wing

Every time I build a plane I swear it's my favorite, but this thing might actually be my favorite. It's the Delta Wing by Project Flight Design. The young man who designed it went through 5 or so prototypes before he settled on the perfect dimensions, and let me tell you, this thing is perfect.

What a sweet flier! Fast when you want it to be fast, slow when you want it to be slow... it tracks straight and has a very gentle stall; doesn't fall off and barely sinks. It turns tight; really tight. My favorite thing to do is to fly it up almost too high to see, dive directly down with the throttle cut, and glide it in for a soft landing.

It flies just like the Pop Wings you see on Nitro Planes, but the airframe cost about $4.50 to build.

I built mine completely out of dollar tree foam. I doubled up on peeled foam for the step (3 thicknesses total, and no paper on the step) and covered it with packing tape. I have a Turnigy 1450 Kv motor on one of Dad's Indestructible Motor Mounts, and power it with a 1350 Mah 3 cell battery. Some 9 gram servos, a 30 amp Red Brick speed control, and an Orange Rx receiver ($6!!!) complete the electronics.

At 14 ounces I thought it was going to be porky, but with the throttle off it flies like a slope soarer.

I like the tractor configuration; I don't know why you would want a pusher on one of these type of wings unless you are doing FPV. Maybe there are good reasons.

Check out the build video here.

He has a pusher variant at Flitetest.

The more observant among you will realize that this completely trashes my build schedule. Ah well...

Hobby King Offers $20 Coaxial Heli... 2.4 Ghz!

Here it is.

If this is made to a decent standard, it's the new Syma S107G. It's a Blade Scout at less than half the price. You could fly 15 of them in bright lights past windows and have zero problems.

It includes a full size transmitter, and the battery slides out.

Somebody do a review of this thing!

Here's Hobby King's "review."

Iran's Bavar 2 Flying Machine Gun Boat

Iran is flying 3 squadrons worth of ocean going ground effect vehicles. Armed with a machine gun and surveillance cameras, they can operate in high waves by flying over them rather than crashing though them. Their construction, size and altitude may make them difficult to detect. They top out at 100 knots.

 

Iran claims that they are technologically advanced. Well, their open cockpits and kit plane construction argue against that, but these things are an impressive low-tech answer to our drone fleet. Manned aircraft are cheaper to operate than drones in less developed countries. See Iraq's Cessna Caravan fleet, which function as Predators on the cheap, as an example.

Military analysts mock the craft as flimsy, but if you are familiar at all with the home built community they seem positively robust.

Some sources worry that Iran might strap home-brewed anti-ship missiles on them to threaten Western patrol vessels in the Gulf. It would be a pretty cheap way to sink a very expensive piece of equipment, that's for sure. We 'd obliterate them, of course, but Iranian doctrine isn't to win; it's to make the price of an American victory too high to for us to bare.

This thing pleads for a scale RC model. Goes without saying.

Check out video of this clever little warbird here.

* * *

Image courtesy of the good people of The Islamic Republic of Iran

Young People in RC

 

 

The Problem

 

The average pilot at my local field is over 60 years old. We're keenly aware of the fact; we announce the average age at every club meeting. People get excited when a kid joins because it drops the figure a few years. Still, the fact remains that young people aren't joining the hobby in the numbers we'd like.

The Solution?

 

What to do? I'm starting an RC club at my high school. I teach there, so it's easy for me to put some real time into the project. When we first started up I only managed to snag two real prospects. We were flying simulators and scratch building nutballs and having a ball, but for most kids it seemed like too much work. Enter the Syma Helicopter, the Mini Beetle Quad Copter and the Night Vapor.



At first I let kids fly my Symas, but they didn't take much care with them. Although the Syma is a robust little heli, if it is abused it will eventually break. Kids needed some sense of ownership, I decided, so I bought a bunch of Syma S107G's from Amazon (I have Prime) and sold them at cost to students and teachers. They were gone in a day. Anybody can fly this thing, and it's only $20. What's more, Albert, the student who I taught to fly, learned to fly coaxial helis first and was able to solo a nutball in 6 flights, so the skills are transferrable.

Of course the S107G works on infrared. For the price of two of them you can get a Mini Beetle Quad Copter or a Syma Quad, and those operate on 2.4. They can even fly outside in low wind, and they're very tough. They're easy to fly; rank beginners can hover them in just a few minutes.  This is probably one of the few upsides of hours of video game playing; kids pick up on this quickly. So far two of my Syma pilots have purchased their own quadcopters, and they love them.

Indoor Fun Fly

Our efforts culminated in an indoor fun fly, at which we had 11 student pilots and 3 staff pilots in attendance. Several of the students approached me, wanting to know how they could build a "big" airplane like the ones I fly.

My Father brought his Night Vapor and the kids loved it. All it cost him was a set of landing gear, easily replaced. This thing costs about 2.5 quad copters, or 5 Syma's, but it's a sweetheart. It's easily the easiest plane to fly currently on the market.

Lessons Learned

 

 1. Kids should own their equipment. This promotes responsibility.
2. Have a safety briefing. Make sure kids understand the line of infinity.
3. Discuss RC etiquette. Kids need to know that you do not ask a pilot if you can fly his or her plane. It's rude. Also you don't just grab somebody's equipment and play. Basic manners are important, and people who don't follow them can't fly.
4. Adults, especially staff, need to lead by example (see rule 3).
5. There's nothing like flying a quadcopter through the halls just before passing period to pique a student's interest.

Links

Syma S107G

Mini Beetle Quad Copter

Night Vapor

Cascade Model Aviation Student Club Blog