Post by texasrob on Feb 17, 2013 19:20:28 GMT 1
My son and I love flying our Super Cub. My son is brand new to flying so it is the perfect plane. I flew balsas back when I was a teenager, so I am not a beginner, maybe more like an intermediate skilled flyer, so I went ahead and got the new Glasair Sportsman from Hobby Zone as a second plane. I wanted Ailerons and brushless, but wanted to keep the Super Cub stock for my son to continue to learn on. The Glasair is a wonderful plane. I have run four 1300 mah batteries through it now (2 on friday and 2 this morning) and what a joy it is to fly. Very smooth, great scale looks, and the brushless motor provides plenty of power for when you want to buzz yourself or do a little aerobatics. The Glasiar is quite peppy at full throttle (maybe 30% faster than my Super Cub) and really climbs with a neutral elevator, she hums along very nice at 3/4 throttle with a slight climb at neutral elevator and runs nice and straight at half throttle.
The Glasair is larger than the Super Cub, but since it is also noticeably faster, beginners need to take caution. If you are new and learning, you want the throttle at half or lower once you climb up to a safe distance. Overall, it turns wonderfully and smoothly and the 2 axis damping makes for very smooth maneuvers even in moderate winds. The damping is not part of the Virtual Instructor technology and remains on all the time, which is nice as it does not go away if you turn the VI switch off. I flew it 3 times with the VI off since I have moderate experience (Super Cub and iPad Simulator). My last flight, the VI got switched on accidentally. At first I was worried and not sure what was happening since I did not know it was on, it would start turning, but not continue into a steeper turn like it was not receiving input. I thought I might be losing the radio or the receiver. It did this a couple of times when I was turning sharply. It was turning smootly, but not as much as I was throwing the ailerons. I thought to look down and saw the switch was on, so I turned it off and it was back to normal. So, I think new pilots will love the VI. It keeps you from doing anything too aggressive. For the last 5 minutes, I switched to high rates. It did some very nice loops and barrel rolls and smooth inverted flight.
I would recommend this plane highly. Another great hobby zone product. Having the stock Super Cub for my son to continue learning on and me to enjoy, while also having the Glasair will be perfect. As a first plane, I think this would be a great 4-channel choice with the VI and moderate throttle. I think it is also a great 2nd plane for someone who learned on a 3 channel trainer like the super cub and does not want to do an aileron and brushless conversion so they can keep their planes stock. Below is a photo of the two on my wall so you can get an idea of the size in comparison to a Super Cub:
The Glasair is larger than the Super Cub, but since it is also noticeably faster, beginners need to take caution. If you are new and learning, you want the throttle at half or lower once you climb up to a safe distance. Overall, it turns wonderfully and smoothly and the 2 axis damping makes for very smooth maneuvers even in moderate winds. The damping is not part of the Virtual Instructor technology and remains on all the time, which is nice as it does not go away if you turn the VI switch off. I flew it 3 times with the VI off since I have moderate experience (Super Cub and iPad Simulator). My last flight, the VI got switched on accidentally. At first I was worried and not sure what was happening since I did not know it was on, it would start turning, but not continue into a steeper turn like it was not receiving input. I thought I might be losing the radio or the receiver. It did this a couple of times when I was turning sharply. It was turning smootly, but not as much as I was throwing the ailerons. I thought to look down and saw the switch was on, so I turned it off and it was back to normal. So, I think new pilots will love the VI. It keeps you from doing anything too aggressive. For the last 5 minutes, I switched to high rates. It did some very nice loops and barrel rolls and smooth inverted flight.
I would recommend this plane highly. Another great hobby zone product. Having the stock Super Cub for my son to continue learning on and me to enjoy, while also having the Glasair will be perfect. As a first plane, I think this would be a great 4-channel choice with the VI and moderate throttle. I think it is also a great 2nd plane for someone who learned on a 3 channel trainer like the super cub and does not want to do an aileron and brushless conversion so they can keep their planes stock. Below is a photo of the two on my wall so you can get an idea of the size in comparison to a Super Cub:
