Flying Information

PsychedUP
Electrics, A New Setup Style

By Mark Fadely

Evening at IRCHA 2006

   I hope everybody had a good year of flying in 2006. It was an exciting year for me and I’m really glad to be in the hobby right now. There is a lot of development going on and new products are being released at an unprecedented rate. This is especially true with the new electrics. I had a chance to fly the new Miniature Aircraft Razor at IRCHA 06. Wow! Was I impressed. This little 50 size EP really rocks! I put it through some demanding maneuvers and it chewed right threw those and asked for more. Many thanks again to Eric Larson for letting me have a go with the prototype model. The Razor should be available to the public by the time you read this.

Align's 600 in a blue sky over IRCHA

   Align has their 600EP and Thunder Tiger has released a Raptor EP as well. Mikado has the Logo 14, and it has been flown in the 2006 XFC. The 50 size electric market is certainly growing by leaps and bounds. If you haven’t flown one of these machines you really should. They are a blast and the clean raw power is amazing. They perform much like a 90 glow model for first few minutes of a flight. At IRCHA 06 many electrics were demonstrated, signaling the future direction of our hobby.

   With all the hype and great performance of the new electrics a lot of pilots are wondering what direction to go for their next model. The electrics certainly have a lot of nice features but there are some downsides too. You do have to charge the batteries and the power output degrades as the flight progresses. The batteries are expensive and can be damaged in a crash. By the time you invest in all the charging equipment, batteries and other up-front costs of EP powered helis you could have a nice glow machine for less ... but then you have to buy fuel.

   For most of the pilots that fly the new electrics, it’s not so much about cost as it is convenience. They like the fact that you don’t have engine tuning issues or a messy heli to clean up after flying. I have found that most of the pilots that own a 50 size electric also have a glow heli or two as well. Some of the top pilots that I know on the Miniature Aircraft team have a Stratus and a Razor and they like both for different reasons.

   Currently I fly a Tempest FAI w/YS91 power. After I flew against some of the new breed of 90s during this year’s XFC I realized I needed to make a change in my equipment. For 2007 I will be flying a Stratus 90 with OS-SZ power. I also switched to V-Blades in anticipation of needing a really rigid blade for handling some of the new flying styles. I’ve been flying V-Blades for the last couple of months and they are great blades, and they’re tough. Check out the flex in the blade during a scrape in the picture on the front cover!

   There is a new setup that is becoming more popular among top pilots with their 90 size machines. The main thing that is different from previous thinking is the collective pitch has been maxed out at almost 14 degrees! The cyclic pitch is running 8 degrees. These numbers are incredible and this is what’s allowing these super light machines to be thrown around like rag dolls. The new powerful engines and special mufflers are enabling gobs of thrust to be extracted from the machines. You really have to experience how they fly to believe it. Now, everything that impressive comes with a price. The key to making this setup work is collective management. You can have no cyclic input if you are maxed on collective and you have to re-learn how you fly so that you won’t be constantly bogging the engine.

   This type of control setup is definitely not for everyone but I’m going to give a try for next year and see how I like it. The blade noise, super quick movements and the ability to make sudden stops at any speed are what appeals to me. For instance, say you have your machine setup to run at 10 degrees full collective and are using an older less powerful engine and a lower rotor rpm. You will find that there is a large “mush zone” when changing direction. What I mean is that when you get the heli traveling in one direction pretty fast and then you want to really jerk it to a stop, there is a delay or mushiness to the stop. It’s not crisp and precise. The reason is lack of pitch, power and overall weight of the machine. When you fly a really light helicopter that has all of these attributes it opens up a whole new flight envelope for the pilot. Needless to say I’m pretty excited about it! I just need to make sure to bring a couple of extra trash bags to the field to bring my heli home in, (LOL - ED).

   Since it’s time for the flying activities to wind down for most of us I hope this gives you something to get excited about for next season. I hope to see some of you at the EFest in February. That event was a blast last year and it’s going on again in Champaign Illinois (www.gpe-fest.com) just like last year.