end2end zone
Introduction
At the beginning of the 2014 season, I decided to join a local RC club to get to know good experienced people that would give me advices on the best practices for flying. I also decided to find a flight instructor that would assist me and help me with all the technical details that I am still lacking. When we met, he strongly suggested that I leave the Hobby Zone Super Cub behind and get to a wooden motorized trainer plane like the Avistar Elite .46 ARF by Great Planes, which I did.
I have flown the Avistar Elite .46 for the whole season and I would like to say that my flight instructor was right. It is a wonderful plane for beginners.
Here are some pros and cons about this plane.
Pros
Almost ready to fly
The Avistar Elite comes mostly pre-assembled and only some minor assembly is required (linking both section of the wings together, screwing the horizontal tail and the vertical tail together). The assembly is glue-free: nothing is required for holding the wings together and all control surfaces are pre-hinged.
Bigger and Stronger
The plane look and feels big and strong. The body is made of plywood and covered with Monokote. The total weights of the plane is 6.5 lb and it has a total wingspan of 62.5 in and a total length of 55 in.
Motorized options – Glow or electric
The Avistar Elite is powered by a an O.S. 46AX II glow engine. This engine is quite powerful for the plane and has a pretty good climb rate. The engine operating cost is around 60-75$ per season to fly.
I prefer glow engines to electric ones because the flight time is improved compared to electric flights. Also, there is no need to bring multiple lipo batteries and charge one while you fly with another. With a glow engine, you simply have to refuel and you are good to go again!
(I do like electric engine but only when I am flying a glider. It is another story when used with a glider since most of the time, the engine is not running. A wooden glider would also be way too much heavy! hehe)
If you do however prefer electric engines, the Avistar Elite provides the motor mount for mounting an electric motor.
Big wings
The wings area has a total of 672 in² which is more than enough for the weight of the plane. The size of the wings make the plane really hard to stall which is perfect for learning/practicing take off and landings. The plane is also stable during windy flights.
Good starting point for aerobatics
The Avistar is equipped with a semi-symmetrical wing which allows high stability that only a trainer can provide and the ability to perform basic aerobatics that a flat-wing plane cannot perform.
Optional flaps
The factory wings come pre-equipped with optional flaps that are already pre-hinged to the wings and hold by a little wooden stem. Clevises and control horns for the flaps are already included in the package. You only have to provide 2 servos and install them in each wing to be ready for full-flaps landing.
Quick removable gears
The rear gears locks into place when fully inserted into the body. They can be easily removed by applying pressure on the lock mechanism. You don’t need any tool to install or remove the gears from the plane. I think this is a nice feature since I do have to remove the rear gears for easier transportation and every time I store the plane on its stand.
Cons
Price
The plane is a little bit expansive when compared to the price that I was comfortable to pay for a first trainer. I paid 407$ (tax in) for the whole kit. That is about twice as expensive as my Super Cub LP RTF, mainly because this one is a motorized plane made of wood instead of a brushed motor made of foam. Still, it is not that much considering all the features and the extensibility it offers.
Size does matter
The plane is much more bigger than the Super Cub I used to transport in the trunk of my car. As I said earlier, the plane has a total wingspan of 62.5 in and a total length of 55 in which is considerably long. For instance, it might not fit in the trunk of a sedan car (it does not in mine). It might also hardly fit in the trunk of an hatch back (never tried).
For transportation, I need to set the plane and the wings on the front passenger seat of my car and lie down the seat to get as much space as I can. This sacrifices the back passenger seat so it can be hard to bring the family for a flight session during the afternoon.
Even if the wings can be split in 2 sections, I do not wish to do that since I am afraid that they might get loose or something. It is also much more practical to bring a huge piece of wing than 2 smaller sections. This decision has its own consequences too.
Needs some minor modifications
The plane is build with a good quality material. However, it is still a low cost plane compared to multiple other plane (mostly non-trainers) so the quality of the plane could still be improved a bit. I did had to make minor modifications to the factory settings to get it as I see fit for my needs.
Those modifications would be too heavy for this article so I decided to document all of them in a dedicated post.
Edit: All modifications are covered here.
Finally
Overall, I think the Avistar Elite is a really nice beginner plane. It fits my needs perfectly and is expandable for a longer life time. I have no doubts that I will be flying this plane for at least 2 years (or even 3 years) without having to buy another one.
I you want deeper analysis, here are two good reviews that cover much more than I did:
Great Planes have made quite a good trainer for beginners. Get yours and see you flying in a private club north of Montreal!