The goal of this article is to show people that flying low-end, low-cost underpowered plane can really be fun, and to inspire anyone who either don't have enough resources or skills to fly more advanced plane to keep flying their "trainers"; and to show that it doesn't need to be just flying around in a circle and polishing skills (while saving money) before proceeding with their RC careers.
I do believe that in times when leading brands feed us with "all purpose trainer planes" that gets bigger, more powerful, more gadgets-packed and more expensive every season, the message of deriving tons of fun and experience from "as cheap as you can get while still looking like actual plane" plane is more than worth sharing at each and every opportunity.
The motor/ESC combo on this particular plane was never particularily powerful, and it went trough a lot in it's history; but it does have one huge advantage: it's CHEAP. Well, that doesn't stop me from having tons of FUN!
And all this just after my friend did his first full "solo" flights (from take-off to landing) on that very same plane, zero time buddy-box whatsoever.
Yes, the plane truly is underpowered. The recommended setup for FT Simple Storch calls for 280w motor (power pack C). I'm using old 140w motor that a) came from HK, b) hit the ground (hard) many times when it was one of four powering my first DIY quad, and c) went under the water equally many times when testing my floats (on the very same plane).
I'm really sorry for all those who can't watch the video. Unfortunately, what such underpowered plane can do looks very nice on the motion picture; but it's not something you actually can represent on the still image. Still images can't show short take-offs and landings, because they don't look any different from regular ones. Still images can't show how the loop/roll/hammerhead/inverted flight looks like (and how fun it is), because any particular moment from any of the aforementioned aerobatic figures doesn't look any different from a moment of the other figure; so much so you can't really tell what are you looking at without elaborated description.
What you can see on the video is some clever combination of wind, flaps, smooth airfoil and the right camera angle ("vertical climb")...
... and then careful energy management (and WOT all the time) to keep the speed high enough for other aerobatics:
You can notice what I have in mind in the last 20 seconds of the aerobatic flight: I purposefully let the speed bleed off after the last climb out, and then brought the plane down in "normal flight" (which is rather slow for this plane). And, of course, the flight ended with (very) short landing:
In my personal opinion, FT Simple Storch - even with cheap electronics - is the most smile-inducing, fun-providing and skill-honing plane in the world. Even though it has the lowest power-to weight ration of my entire fleet, the fun-to-price ratio reaches way above anything I know. And on top of that, being able to bring your flight skills level literally from "ground zero" up to the point of this type of flying proves this plane is truly a PERFECT TRAINER. Thank you, FliteTest crew, for this amazing creation.
Good Luck, and Have Fun!
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