Since buying my Hobbyzone Super Cub, I have found that I have been able to really fly my FB Stratos with more authority than just cruising around. I have not turned off the VI, I really don't need it though, but have now put the plane on "hi" rate. What a difference. Looping and doing wingovers on "hi" rate is a kick. I just have to tell my self to have enough altitude to do these stunts. My Super Cub has no VI and I have turned off the ACT and I can honestly say that flying that plane is so much fun I know I have a stupid grin on my face while flying it. Loops, stalls, and wingovers are really fun to do on the Super Cub and I am having a blast with it. I think your next step would be to leave the VI on, but put the plane in "hi" rate mode. The diffference in flight characteristics is amazing.

Originally Posted by jamlizzard

I turned my "VI" off and found out I am not as good as I thought. I just got home from flying and sat down and followed the instructions in the book for turning it off and it seems to be back on now. I can hear the servos twitching as I move the plane around. I have not flown again yet but I am pretty sure it is back on. I hope this helps.

I have heard that if you turn the VI off via the instructions, it will stay off as long as you leave the power on the plane. When you turn the power off on the plane, then turn it on again, it will come up with the VI on again. I think this is probably the way it works but I have NOT heard anyone specifically say that.

I'm a bit concerned that if I turn the VI off on MY plane, that I might not ever be able to turn it on again. I DO want to try flying it with the VI off, but I sure want to turn it back on again, if I want.

Originally Posted by fotoflyer

I have heard that if you turn the VI off via the instructions, it will stay off as long as you leave the power on the plane. When you turn the power off on the plane, then turn it on again, it will come up with the VI on again. I think this is probably the way it works but I have NOT heard anyone specifically say that.

I'm a bit concerned that if I turn the VI off on MY plane, that I might not ever be able to turn it on again. I DO want to try flying it with the VI off, but I sure want to turn it back on again, if I want.

I read that too But that didn't seem to be the case for me. Once i turned off the "VI" it stayed off even after a battery change.

The VI is programmed into the TX so a battery change in the airplane won't reactivate the VI. The VI was designed to be turned on and off. If you can turn it off, you can turn it on again.

just repeat the 'off' procedure.

Originally Posted by marktrott

I have encountered a motor problem that I was wondering if anyone else has experienced yet. I have been flying my Stratos for 5 weeks now and with 4 batteries, I have somewhere around 30-35 hrs of flying time on it so far and I started having a problem with the motor speed control. A couple of nights ago on my 2nd battery of the session, the plane went into a mode where all I could do was turn right and hold it straight. I brought it back in and looked over the rigging and all looked just fine. I then tried to launch it by hand (which is the only way I have been flying my Stratos) and it immediately turned right and nose dived in. After much playing around with the controls and verifying my control rod had not separated again at the splice, I finally determined that at full throttle, the engines were running dramatically different speeds. I diddled about with it for quite awhile until it was almost too dark to fly, and the motor speed on the right motor seemed to come back to full throttle speed better matching the left one and I was able to get a flight out of it that seemed normal for the 15 min flight on that battery and I quit for the night. Went home and did a thorough inspection of the plane and motors and could find nothing. I went out last night and burned 4 batteries and had a great time with no evidence of any issue at all. This afternoon I went out and when I preflighted at full throttle before the first launch, the motors seemed fine, I tossed it into the air and within 30 secs on climb out, it went into the right turn mode in dramatic fashion. I got it back down on the ground without too much of a struggle and once I chased it down, it was obvious the same thing was occurring at full throttle and higher throttle settings. It appears that the left engine speeds is lower that the right engine and not stable and seeking and varying around in speed at a constant throttle setting. Not sure how to isolate it as a motor, ESC or other failure? I disassembled the motor from the cowling tonight and can detect nothing irregular or different between the motors and the symptoms persist. Not sure if I should get another motor first, new control board, wiring, etc.

Thanks for any advice or experiences with this. I am anxious to get my Stratos in the air again. I am having a great time flying this and now that I am more confident with my flying ability with this aircraft, I am starting to turn some of my other friends, sons, etc. onto the hobby. This is a great plane for a first purchase by someone that is interested in getting into the hobby and maybe has not had good luck with the true park flyers. This plane can handle the wind much better than any of the park flyers I have tried and is a lot of fun and relaxing to pilot. Although the wing geometry does not necessarily favor it, I wonder what this design would be like with ailerons. I bet Horizon will head that direction with it, if it isn't already happening.

Happy Flying!

Contact customer suppt. Sounds like you have an equipment problem the would cover.

Originally Posted by fmw

To eliminate torque roll?

Its so you can accuratly yaw even down wind, also, putting the motors on the high wing elimnates almost any chance of damaging the motors or props! Which is very easy to do in say a piper cub or any other puller style especially while learning

Hobbyzone planes are junk in my opinion. very under powered and cheap. I almost gave up when i started to fly because of these things. I got with someone who has been flying for a long time and he pointed me the rite dir and then trained me.

Originally Posted by flyingwing 13

Hobbyzone planes are junk in my opinion. very under powered and cheap. I almost gave up when i started to fly because of these things. I got with someone who has been flying for a long time and he pointed me the rite dir and then trained me.

Thank you for the useful post.

Turning off the VI will only turn off mixing in the transmitter. The motor differential stays on even when VI is off because it is built into the airplane receiver board. -- ggunners

Originally Posted by flyingwing 13

Hobbyzone planes are junk in my opinion. very under powered and cheap. I almost gave up when i started to fly because of these things. I got with someone who has been flying for a long time and he pointed me the rite dir and then trained me.

Well, I would change that to inexpensive, which is obvious from the price. And, some of the HZ planes have been poor. There was one, I think it was called the Firebird Freedom. That one was aweful.

I learned to fly on a HobbyZone Aerobird and taught lots of pilots how to fly on Aerobirds, Aerobird Challengers, Firebirds, T-Hawks, etc. And most of them moved on successfully. The ones that did not weren't plagued by problems with the plane but with a lack of inate ability. This is not for eveyone.

I will say that I had a number of pilots that I trained on Aerobirds who had failed to ever solo on glow planes.

One man's junk is another man's treasure. And for the most part reports seem to be that this plane will be a lot of people's treasure.

My HZ Firebird Stratos is anything but junk. The thing flies great, especially if you take it off "Lo" rate and fly it in "Hi" rate mode. I can do loops and wingovers and really throw this plane around, even in moderate wind. It is very well built for such an inexpensive RTF.

Originally Posted by flyingwing 13

Hobbyzone planes are junk in my opinion. very under powered and cheap. I almost gave up when i started to fly because of these things. I got with someone who has been flying for a long time and he pointed me the rite dir and then trained me.

I don't think that the Stratos fits into the "under powered" category by any means, in my experience.

So how does this plane glide for maybe power off semi glider style flying? Anyone try catching thermals with it or is it too heavy?

Originally Posted by chucksolo69

The VI is programmed into the TX so a battery change in the airplane won't reactivate the VI. The VI was designed to be turned on and off. If you can turn it off, you can turn it on again.

Hmmm.. it's in the rx, not the tx...

http://www.hobbyzonerc.com/ProdInfo/...l_Addendum.pdf