Fun to hear that you are close to giving it a go. The radian pro is not aerobatic. It served a useful purpose for me early on because it had a motor, was simple to set up and fly, and was slow and stable. With the motor you can fly it up high and then practice gliding back down, catching thermals etc. The desert would be great for thermals and with practice you could probably land it on a sandy or paved roadway to avoid stacking it into rocks. With a motor you can also fly your way out of crashing if you lose lift while learning to slope. I remember crashing and breaking things a lot early on and wish I had started off with a pusher prop like the Bixler style planes.

@@28th_St_Air Nice and thank you. I am getting closer all the time and I have both powered and pure slope planes. I have flown thermal duration gliders for many years and yes we get some boomers, my highest climb out was 3200 ft and I have lost gliders before, but that was the thrill to me and my friends. Lol! My buddy hit 5240 ft LOS that was impressive! I'm tired of looking up lol! I want eye level action powered by the wind... It will happen soon for sure! Thanks buddy, I appreciate the info.

Thanks! The video and audio syncing can be fun but it takes a lot more time to make and this is one of the reasons I’ve not made many other videos in a while.

The Trek is a good plane to start with if you want to spend more time flying than building and fixing your own planes. You’ll only operate the right stick of your controller to fly it so it doesn’t train you for rudder control. Another way to get in a ton of flying with zero crash consequences is to use the Picasim app. It’s a great way to build muscle memory

@@28th_St_Air Very cool and I can fly! Lol! I have 30cc and 56cc 3D gassers, Large scale aerobatic planes and several gliders warmliners pylon racers and a whole bunch of other things that fly! Lol! Yes I do like that it's foam because I'm in the desert it will get torn up out here! Thanks, are you still flying?

Del Mar, CA USA

I believe it was a spectrum 6i

Thank you, i bought a ready kit with servos and recommended 4 channel receiver from spektrum. I can’t really find the way to plug everything in the way that I can program the flaps. I wonder if i’m doing something wrong or if I definitely need a new 6 channel receiver. I’m new to this and it’s my first build with programming. Thank you for your help!!!

@@kubaskaw3034 does your transmitter have a flaps switch? I’ve not taken a look at a four channel receiver lately to know if they typically have a flaps switch or not. Even if your transmitter doesn’t have a flap switch, if it has a way to program a couple mixes you can still reproduce some of the settings I outlined. I can now see that I was using a spectrum dx8 tansmitter in the video. I initially bought a DX6i transmitter, but quickly learned that there were some planes where it was convenient to have more than 6 channels and that an 8 channel transmitter was much more versatile. I haven’t bought a transmitter in a very long time, but no, there’s some really cool digital ones out there now with all kinds of convenient features for mixing settings. If you buy another transmitter, I’d recommend getting one with at least eight channels. It’ll cover you now and for all the other types of planes you get into over the next few years.

not sure I understand the Gas reference

Yo Rich where you at? Give me a holler Sometimes it will be good to catch up. All the t900s asking about you. You are missed bro

Yes a 1500 3s is beyond overkill. look for some 450mAh NiMh batteries as they are small, charge easily, and last a long time. I’ve used them for years in my dream flight Alula and ahi gliders

I just watch the video after not seeing it for sometime and am reminded again about how insanely fast these birds are. The video doesn’t do them justice. They move as if there is no friction in the air on them.

@@28th_St_Air Like sky torpedoes, you mean? LOL.

Hi I did not put any covering on the wings or rudder other than the colored packing tape strips on the underside of the wings to help with seeing which side is up or down during rolls. The plane is best if kept nice and light so I would not recommend covering with tape or other shrink film. I used to put shrink film on some planes but it ends up only looking good for the short time and then gets dinged up. Foam safe paint is better. good luck

Same radio, same issues...can't get it sorted...

Paul Gross I may have figured it out. Make a new model as an Acro rather than Sailplane. I named mine Libelle Test. In Acro set up, you can fiddle to your hearts content with the settings in the video. I’ve almost have it sorted. Try it and let me know if you get any closer. You can email me [email protected] maybe we can work it out together. Lol

Jeffrey O'Regan I’d recommend going with something like their simple soarer if you could find examples of where someone put ailerons on the wings. Either that or google for “photon foam board glider” or “Weasel glider”or check out Andrew Newton’s You Tube channel for lots of ideas for DYI slope planes.

thanks for the kind words. there Was a time that I was using the heat shrink laminate films you can get in various hobby stores but I found that it did not hold up very well when the plane would hit the ground or strike other objects. You’ll find some other videos on KZbin about it, but you can get foam safe acrylic paints and paint the features on the plane pretty easily either with a brush or with spray. I used black sharpie to decorate my alula for a feather effect, but would opt for paint next time for a cleaner look. good luck!

great to meet you too and am happy to hear that you are enjoying it so much. you’ll never look at a hillside the same or ignore a windy day again. if you’ve yet to get the Windy App, it’s super useful for seeing which hillsides are slope worthy on any given day. see you again soon.

N. Obody I’m not a professional videographer but I do make an effort to edit my videos more than most who post slope soaring videos. If the volume was to loud when you listened to it sorry, but you can always turn the volume down.

Jonnathan Hilliard hi It has been a very long time since I flew the plane and have since given it to someone else. I don’t remember how much the battery weighed, but I can give you some advice about how to set it up. With only two servos and the receiver, The best batteries I’ve found for this type of plane are 350 to 480 mAh nickel metal hydride batteries. NiMh. these are perfect because they are small, don’t need a BEC to limit voltage and are simple to charge. you can fly for 20-30 min easily on these batteries. use the center of gravity marks on the plane to balance it after putting in the battery, receiver and any other components. you may need some extra nose weight depending on how much glue you put on the build. have fun!

@@28th_St_Air Awesome! thanks much for the tips !

Jon Hilliard it would make sense that the thicker foam has more weight that would require some extra nose weight to get it to balance out. It will need more wind speed to fly like 10mph+, but it will be able to tackle higher wind when the time comes. Be sure to try some test glides off of some forgiving hillsides first before committing to any plane swallowing cliffs or rocky canyons :)

@@28th_St_Air Is that nice flying spot somewhere near ( north ) of torrey pines? del mar? I'll be down near SD sometime this summer and I'd like to visit if I can. Is the access/parking difficult/ safe with the train lines there?

@@jonnathanhilliard5684 yes its north of TP. it’s a good spot. Just mind the trains and keep 3+ feet back from the edge of the cliffs because they are really unstable. Parking along 6th, 7th St, or at the north end of TPines and fly anywhere north of the bridge. Best to fly from the track level and not higher up cause upper level has no safe places to land. Landing is often just a controlled stop in the plants. Have fun!

del mar south of 6th st. I’ve not watched this in a while and just did again. cray how much the cliffs have erroded since this vid. some places lost 10ft-20ft of bluff top after the rain from 2018-2019. still a nice place to fly but you’ve got to keep back from bluff edges cause it’s pretty unstable.

Stephen Jones coincidentally, just last week, i just had my second encounter with what is probably the same bird. the little bugger is very persistent

AEROERGO it was extremely windy in this video which is why the plane had so much lift at the edge of the cliff. it could easily climb up to 300+ feet in less than a minute on this day. the wing has a wide cord and thin profile so it’s good at going fast and has plenty of wing surface for even modestly windy 6-7mph days. on this day it was at least 20mph.