Everyone knows that getting quickly into the air with an RC Park Flyer is easy. These small, electric powered model aircraft have opened the world of RC model aviation to anyone who wants to give it a try. Building skills are not needed at all and piloting skills can be minimal. Well, at least near minimal. Anyone can just grab any park flyer model off the shelf, get it ready to fly in about 10 minutes, charge the battery and go out and fly those perfect loops, rolls, Immelman turns and all the other aerobatics the pilot visualized when the purchase was made. Nothing to it, it’s easy.

At least most of the box labels make it seem that way. In reality, so many park flyers are underpowered, cannot be flown in a breeze over 10 mph and lack some basic flight controls that flying them can be a challenge for an experienced RC pilot. Many are harder to fly than a 40-powered RC trainer. To make matters worse, new pilots can take the “park flyer” label seriously and fly these aircraft in small, confined areas like parks and parking lots where there are too many “civilians,” too many parked cars and buildings close at hand.

The usual result is a short, unhappy piloting experience and a really busted up airplane. Can some extremely talented new pilots, with several RC simulator hours, fly park flyers successfully? Yes, a few can. But most can’t. Why? Let us count the ways:

1.       Many are underpowered and cannot quickly climb to an altitude high enough to allow piloting mistakes.

2.       Many lack basic flight controls like aileron and, most importantly, elevator control.

3.       Wind penetration is extremely limited and retaining full control in winds over 10 mph can be extremely difficult.

4.       At first launch, flight trim is almost never neutral, requiring quick trim adjustments while the pilot holds the stick off-center to compensate. A daunting task for a new pilot.

5.       Because power is limited and wing loading fairly high, many park flyers fall out of a turn when the bank angle reaches 60 degrees or more requiring altitude and piloting skill to recover.

6.       Flight times are limited making learning more difficult.

Many pilots might be surprised at number 5. But most Ready-To-Fly (RTF) outdoor park flyers have wing loadings in the 13 to 16 oz. per square foot range (indoor park flyers do have light wing loadings, often under 10 oz. per sq. ft.). That is not a truly light wing loading when a 60-sized trainer like the Alpha 60 has a wing loading just over 17 oz. per square foot. Plus, park flyer wings have a narrow cord, the width of the wing front to rear, and taper sharply near the tips. The sharp taper helps maintain roll control in wind but does tend to make the roll response a little “twitchy,” a highly technical term meaning that the pilot has to continually work to maintain level flight in all but the calmest conditions.

The point is that even the most forgiving electric outdoor park flyer still needs an experienced RC pilot at the controls for the first few flights. Once the box is opened, all manufacturers point this out in their instructions. Sport Aviator gets this question so many times that we wanted to answer it at length here and will repeat it often in upcoming outdoor park flyer reviews.

Hobbico not only stresses the need for a good flying site, having an experienced instructor and flying only in light winds in its directions. To Hobbico’s credit, the included DVD also stresses these points until there can be no misunderstandings.

 
Photo 1    Photo 2

But, what about the FlyZone Aero Voyager by Hobbico? While still requiring an experienced pilot for the first few flights, (instruction after that would still be a good thing), the Aero Voyager makes a serious attempt to function as a complete RC trainer and first airplane. The Aero Voyager solves many of the six points listed above.

The Aero Voyager is powered by two electric motors (photo 1) that minimize problems 1 and 6 above. Each motor provides a good amount of thrust. Working together, they allow the airplane to quickly reach 2-300 ft. high. The motors are angled inwards to help stabilize the aircraft at higher power settings. Since little time at high power settings are needed to reach altitude, at lot of battery capacity remains for extended training flight.

Photo 2 shows that the Aero Voyager has a larger 42 in. wing span. The wing is shaped so that the large 5 in. wing chord is maintained as long as possible. The wing has a constant chord for 27 in. before tapering at each end. Aero Voyager’s wing has about 180 sq. in. (1.25 sq. ft.) of lifting area. At 16.5 oz. total weight, the Aero Voyager’s wing loading is near the very light end at 13.2 oz. per sq. ft. The result is slower flight speeds, better climb, longer flights and lower landing speeds. The wing is also not as sensitive to steep bank angles. Problem # 5 is reduced a lot.

Photo 3

Best of all, the Aero Voyager has full elevator control. Actually, it has elevons. These are twin tail surfaces that function as both a rudder for turns and an elevator for pitch control. Having pitch control moves the Aero Voyager into the realm of a true RC trainer. It also makes wind flying easier and more predictable. Problems 2 and 3 are minimized.

The Aero Voyager seems to be able to handle winds up to about 10-12 mph or so. Hobbico puts a 5 mph wind limit on the Aero Voyager. For a new pilot, this is an excellent guideline. In more experienced hands however, the airplane is better than this limit.

The sleek fuselage and available extra motor power makes reasonable wind penetration possible. The twin, inward-pointing motors stabilize the fuselage when fighting high winds. While no park flyer is truly a high-wind aircraft (20 mph or more) Aero Voyager pilots will be able to fly when other park flyer pilots are just “hangar flying” waiting for the wind to go away.