LightFlite Twirl

NEW “TWIRL” E-Fest Video! The Twirl autogyro is set to ship in March. This is one very cool plane. There’s something so strange and fascinating about autogyros. It’s cool to see how it floats down after a stall.

GWS Pico Stick with Brushless Power from M-A-E

I just ordered the complete kit on this page. I want something very slow and light for the local park since the present planes I have are just too fast and big for my present experience level. Seeing my son fly the non-threatening You Build It Air Hogs last weekend really showed me the light in terms of what a good plane for the local park would be. Once I become more experienced, I’ll be a lot more comfortable flying the other planes in my fleet. Wow, that’s five planes now that I’ll have:

1. ST Easy Fly – an EasyGlider Electric copy.
2. EasyGlider
3. EasyStar
4. Fik 100 RC Conversion
5. Pico Stick

Yesterday, I had my first flights with the EasyGlider. The first two times I launched the EasyGlider with the Hi-Start, it banked quickly to the right, but from what I learned the previous day from trimming the EasyStar, I adjusted the rudder a bit to the left and subsequent Hi-Start launches went very smoothly. Even with a straight launch, I managed to hit a tree and nose dive a few times, but since the EasyGlider is so light, the crashes only bent the nose a little. I’m sure a balsa model would have been in a lot worse shape. The fun thing about the plane is that both my 5 and 7-year old kids were able to release the EasyGlider off the Hi-Start with success. I hope I can learn to thermal the glider in subsequent flights. I’m also interested now in getting a HLG or DLG so I don’t need the Hi-Start.

I finally had my first successful flight with the Multiplex EasyStar. In previous attempts, the plane kept banking to the right. I tried shifting the battery or manually bending the rudder, but then I decided to shift the default position of the rudder a little bit to the left. After I made that small adjustment, the EasyStar took off on a straight and level climb. I was able to get the EasyStar up to a few hundred feet, but at that altitude, I had problems coming back against the wind, so I tried to decrease altitude. The problem was that I came down too fast and somehow, I ended up in an inverted position and nosedived the plane trying to get back into position. The crash tore off the whole nose of the plane from behind the clips for the canopy. The engine and engine mount were torn off and the propeller was broken in half. The tail was also broken clean through about 3 inches from the end. I’ve been able to glue most everything back into place, but I think I’m going to have to use velcro now to keep in the canopy in place. The flying was fun though, and I was able to use the concept of trimming the rudder the next day when I had to adjust the trim for the EasyGlider. Since the cost for a new EasyStar is relatively low, I may get another once I become more comfortable flying the one I’ve beat up so badly.