Hobby Zone Firebird Commander

The ads make it look so simple. If you get one, get an extra battery. The flight times with the battery packs are adequate, but you will have to wait 45 minutes between flights while the battery pack recharges. His attention span may not stand that delay.

Get an instructor. Go the the local hobby shop. Find a local club. Someone that has RC airplane experience. My 18 year old son had to have a Fighterbird for Xmas. He flew RC 10 years ago for s ahort while.Found out that his "skill" level of flying was right back at the novice stage.

These planes are very forgiving from the crash damage standpoint compared to balsa planes. That is a huge advantage for the beginner. Still need an instructor to help, IMHO.

Good Luck.

John

Try flying the model on the FMS simulator freeware:

Simulator Links

Game Controllers Firebird FMS File

The Firebird commander appears to be nothing more than another variant of the normal Firebird & Firebird XL. I have the XL. If you can drive an RC car with normal skill you can fly a Firebird. It has only two controls - Throttle & Rudder. Left stick is throttle- More power it climbs. Right stick - simply steers left or right. When the battery drops down you will lose throttle and motor, but will be able to use the rudder to steer it back to you. If it is like the XL it will come with a reasonable instruction book and a video. You will need a good size open field for the new flyer to get the feel of controling the bird, but I doubt if many folks require an instructor to master these birds. The main draw back is going to be, once mastered, there is very little you can do with a Firebird except fly it around in circles and patterns like a rc car. The other thing to remember is that a Firebird is an excellent way to introduce a novice to flying, but it will not give them 1/10 of the skills needed to fly a real rudder, elevator glider or powerd model. Therefore I beleive the Firebird is an excellent way to see if a person has an interest in flying and give them an early success with minimum expense. If this is someones latest "thing of the week" and the phase goes you have spent only

1/3 of what it would take to set them up in a more advanced starters RC airplane or glider. If they get hooked then spend the money for the advanced starters RC airplane or glider, club and instructor. The Firebird will be an excellent second/back-up bird to fly, which is what mine is used for.

All IMHO

Bob Ruth

Instructor? Nah. I learned to fly on a variant of the firebird, called the swallow

It was different in that it had actual electronics in it (real servos,speed control, reciever) and was controlled by a throttle on/off switch, rudder and elevator, making it fly more like a real plane. It could do loops and hammerheads.

I taught myself to fly with it fine. Sure I crashed it, but who doesn't? And it was very tough and easy to fix when I did crash. The first two flights ended in crashes, the third and I was flying around just fine.

If you took it to a club they would probably tell you to take back that "toy" and spend a grand on a 40 trainer and then come back. Just learn to fly it yourself, that's what it's for.

Thanks people for your advice and opinions.

June

Hobbyzone also makes a varient called the Aerobird which is capable of mild aerobatics as you have described. It has throttle, rudder, and elevator control. Although a bit more difficult for beginners to learn than the Commander, it is still quite crash resistant, thus many people have had success using this as their first plane with no instructor. Check out this link for more information.

Brian Gaither Red's Hangar One

I flew planes and helis years ago, and a friend saw the fighterbird ad and liked the look, so we just ordered 3 of these on Sunday, the shop had one in stock, so we took that away, and the other 2 will be sent later.

I was really impressed with the whole thing, everything you need comes in the box, even tx batteries, and a car charger. We had the battery on charge as we drove back, and stopped in a field to fly the plane. Literally it took 2 minutes from opening the box to flying, we didn't even need to open the instructions.

The control system is super simple, power makes you climb, and rudder makes you turn. The plane is so light that it glides very well, I think anyone could fly this as long as they start in a large open space with light or no wind.

Landnig is just a case of gently losing height and maknig sure you have plenty of space as it comes down very gently, blips of throttle flatten out the glide, so I landed it by my feet even on the first attempt.

I can see that after basic flight is mastered, there is not much to do with this, but it is still great fun, and nice and simple/easy for a casual flyer, also the fighterbird has the ultrasonic attachment for dogfighting, which I hope will be great fun when we have 3 planes flying, so I expect this will hold our interest for a lot longer.

Obviously an extra battery will be useful, to get more flying in a trip, but as something you can just throw in the car and have a quick fly on a nice evening, I think this kind of plane is perfect !

Of course you can spend a load more money and get a proper 3 channel trainer, but as a bit of fun, or to get someone started in RC aircraft, this looked great to me !

James.

Hi James,

On vacation this summer I bought the Aerobird (HobbyZone product). I am new to the hobby of air RC, but I just love the little plane. It has a 380 variable speed motor with elevons. It climbs, loops, tailslides, and whatever else you can make it do. As you said, it must be flown in little (less than 10-12 mph) wind or no wind. I'm impressed with the little thing.

James I am happy you have had good sucess with the Firebird, as I own a hobby shop and I sell Hobbyzone products. I am just wondering what part of the world your in? Also I have had people though who have charged the battery while driving and the battery has blown up on them from too much current going thru to the battery. Have you found this also?? Bill

Mrsteed464,

Maybe HobbyZone needs to issue a warning about that. Cars/trucks generate a slightly higher voltage when running than when off. Check one with a volt meter. --

Jim Lilly - Team Z

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