Radian

I bought this Radian from Big Sky Hobbies on May 20, 2009. I was looking for an electric sailplane that I could use to sharpen my thermal huting abilities at small fields and parks near my home. I don't always have the time or the desire to drive to a larger club field to fly and launch with a winch or hi-start. I was hoping that I would see more air time with this model.

Upon opening the box I found this plug-and-play (PNP) model to be very complete. There was almost no work at all to be done. The things left for me to do were:

• replace the connector on the speed control to a Deans plug.
• install a Futaba FASST receiver and route the two antennas outside the fuselage.
• align the staibilizer and tape to fuselage.
• attach the two clevises to the horns on the rudder and elevator.

First Flights

I went out about 4:30PM on a Saturday afternoon. It was sunny with about an 8MPH wind. I did a quick range check and then launched. The Radian climbs quite well. I was using the recommended 3-cell 1350mAh LiPo for power. After a climb out to 355 feet I cut power and found a thermal right away. Over the next 5-1/2 minutes I climbed just shy of 1000 feet. The model was getting small and was a little down wind. I was wishing it had spoilers at that point. I put in 7 clicks of down elevator trim and started to descend. I ended up with a nearly 12minute flight on the first launch. What a great way to start out with a new model!

The following day was beautiful and I headed back to a nearby field at noon. Using just part of one 1350mAh battery pack I had a flight with five motor runs for a total run time of 4:04 and had 51:00 of flight time. I found lift on all but my second launch. On my fifth and final run of the day I found a real boomer and soared to an altitude of 1999 feet before bringing it down calling it a day. The flight lasted for exactly 22:00. It was a whole lot of fun and I was flying the model just like I had hoped to when I bought it.

My Configuration