All I can say is that this plane is sooo agile compared to my Pico slow flyer. Then again pretty much any plane would be in comparison wouldn't it? Had about 20 low elevation crashes before I got the hang of it. Good thing the Sporty is somewhat durable. Can't wait to give it another go after work today!!

Hey 177:

I'm sitting here looking at the Bay Area Wind Patterns site and wondering where you're planning on flying a Sporty after work today -- it's blowing at least 10 knots just about everywhere around here! Where do you fly? I find the Sporty to be quite a handful. (Mine is set up as a full house ship with the "370" motor and 3.67:1 gear box.) How about getting together for some Sporty formation flying?

Neil

P.S.: Welcome to the E Zone!

[This message has been edited by Neil Morse (edited 05-14-2001).]

I was just sitting outside eating lunch and was thinking the same thing about the wind.. I took the plane down to a school baseball field down the street from my house. The field is surrounded by trees and is sort of sunken down. The wind wasn't too bad there, however, a few gusts almost took my plane into some trees earlier. Also, the field is a bit small for the sporty. I didn't realize the sporty would be as fast as it was.. Where do you fly? Formation flying you say? I'm still trying to get the hang of flying this thing straight!! =P

177:

Drop me an email if you like and I'll send you a list of great places to fly around here. Unfortunately, on a day like today there's not much chance of finding a place for light weight powered planes. On the other hand, it's a great day for slope gliding!

Neil

Interesting thread on the Spoty. This plane is not for the beginner and I agree that it is quite the handful. I built mine stock with no dihedral and elevator and aileron only. I used the stock motor and gearbox with a 7 cell 270ma nicad. This combination seems to give good performance with acceptable flight time and keeps the all up weight as low as possible. The plane flys well in light wind and will do most manuvers. Flys well inverted. Hand launching is a real joke and my first two attempts were complete failures. Very durable plane though. I have many years flying experiance and a lot of 1/4 and 1/2A R/C flying. This plane is a good value for what you get I think.

Mine seems to hand launch OK. I originally had the same stock A/E configuration and flew it with 7-cell 280s. I believe it weighed 8.3 Oz in that mode. I am now flying it with an AF 010/Jeti/7-cell 650s at 9.5 Oz. This combination is more powerful and quieter than stock. I would like to have more power yet so I am thinking of increasing the cell count or gearing the 010. Both configs come out nose heavy so I left out the gear.

My Sporty hand launches fine. I think the problem at first was that I wasn't giving it a hard enough throw and my plane would struggle to reach cruising speeds. Now that I throw my plane harder it takes off just fine. Now all I need to do is master my turns and watch out for those trees! Already hit one and luckily bounced off the branch and somehow recovered the plane to land softly on the ground! All this in the presence of my brother busting up behind me..

This Sporty must have an affinity for the trees. I landed mine in a tree also and was wondering what to do. I did not want to call home for help as I would never hear the end of it. Luckily a friend that flies electrics showed up right then. I asked him to watch the plane while I ran out and bought a couple of PVC pipes and couplers and the rest is history.