Champ RTF Ultra-Micro

Very good beginner plane.
BEWARE:
Do not fly in winds over 3 mph.

Great RTF airplane !!! This little "Champ" might be small but fun to fly. Very stable and great control for a beginner aircraft. Plenty of power to do stunts and loops without any problems. If you're starting out like I am, be sure to get plenty of height before you start any crazy stunts. If you're flying outdoor, be sure to have plenty of room and stay clear of trees. overall, this is a great airplane if you want to get your feet wet in RC flying. The way this little "Champ" handle, its not a bad starter/transition into 3D flying. Lastly, be sure to buy extra batteries, it's cheap and it will save you a few bucks in shipping and handling. Aircraft is very lite in weight, might want to wait for a calm day before taking it out for a spin.

Can't be better...

Awesome airplane. That's the third airplane I've bought and the only one who really works.
If you want something really easy that's what is you looking for.
EASY TO FIX, I crash mine like 99 times or more and still works, my brother in law broke his winds and also tail wind, really easy to fix it, you can fix everything.
DON'T PLAY OVER THE ASPHALT in your first time because there you probably gonna brake it.

If you want to have fun and never break the airplane just have fun over the grass.

The meat and potatoes review:
Overall, I couldn't be more pleased with my new favorite toy! I have yet to have a problem with it. I finally crashed it good enough and snapped the right side of the main wing off next to the fuselage but a bit of tape and glue and off to the blue skies again :)
PACKAGING- great. The box houses everything you need to go out flying with and doubles as a hangar to store and transport the plane in.
PLANE- perfect. Looks great, light but very sturdy. ALL of it's components are repairable or worse case scenario, replaceable. They are also readily available and very affordable. Did I mention, ALL OF THEM? Super easy to fly. Takes off in a few feet or hand launch, can fly it fast or slow(which is what it's actually designed to do), can perform most acrobatic stunts(loops, etc.) and will pretty much land itself. If you really want to just cruise her, you can take her up high and just glide it around. I've had many 20min+ flights on the supplied battery.
There are even different flight modes you can put it in for performance. These are changed in the transmitter(by simply pressing in on the right joystick) and can even be done while in flight. The HIGH RATE(which I believe it comes set in) is for more advanced flight. Basically, it allows full range of motion of the rudder and elevator and it makes the plane turn, etc. quicker and the LOW RATE restricts the range of motion of the surface controls for easier, less responsive flight characteristics. I have flown it in both modes and don't really notice that much of a differnce between the two.
TECHNOLOGY- incredible. Spektrum DSM2 2.4ghz technology rocks! You never have to worry about frequency conflicts and you can fly or drive as many R/C vehicles as you want together without worry(within reason). Basically, once the transmitter is "Bound" to the aircraft, only a good gust wind can take over control of your plane. The rest of the electrical components are really amazing as well. So light, strong and reliable. What more can you ask for? The included 150mAh Lipo battery is great too. Easy to charge, easy to install and take out/off and you can(must) buy a bunch of them and fly FOREVER!
I almost forgot...THE COMPANY- HobbyZone and Horizon Hobby are two great companies(maybe the same one). They have a great website and the few times I've called their customer support they have answered all my questions with a smile on their face(I can tell). Just today I called and they have an awesome feature that if the lines are busy, you put in your phone number and when your turn comes up they'll call you back. The representative call me AN HOUR AFTER THEY CLOSED. How awesome is that?

And now, the down sides:
Nothing is really bad about it. But, I feel like I should put down something so.........
The transmitter is loose in the box after you free it from the zip-tie it and could get loose, damaging the plane. But, a few wire tires put back through the holes to hold it in place has fixed that!
The plane is very light. Can be flown in light winds but don't be stupid, it weighs less than golfball.
A bigger battery wouldn't suck, but the 150mAh is sufficient.
What I'd recommend for it:
GET MORE BATTERIES! Once you fly this baby, you'll probably never want to stop and with the option of buying additional batteries, you never do.
GET THE FOUR PORT CHARGER! This thing is worth almost as much to me as my dog. Junior understands though, he is dog after all you know? Sorry beastie-J, you know I'm joking :)
You could go crazy and get an awesome light kit for it for those dusk into night flights.

So, I hope you find this useful and just do your research. This plane is a no brainer as far as I'm concerned.
My parting words : Do unto others as you would have done unto you. Aloha, Mahalo, Party on Dudes and happy flying.

This is a great little plane used it to mount my key chain camera on and it had no problem with it attached the CG was not even bothered where I placed it. Long flight times on the batteries and the charge time is short. The only reason I gave it 4 starts was the short range of the transmitter best to keep it around 80 yards or less found out the hard way flew mine about 100 yards from me and lost the signal. The plane ended up in a tree was surprised of the durability of the plane not too much damage and flew just fine afterwards. Would recommend this to first time flyers.

This small Champ is just wonderful. I took it out of the box, charged it, hand launched it in my backyard and it was beyond steady. If you didn't touch the controls it would go straight without any hard left or right banks all of a sudden. No trim was needed. It's the best beginner. No matter how many times you crash it, it will keep flying jsut like it did when you got it.

I crashed it once in the wind and blew the wing off. Even with tape it flew the same. It gets a 2 out of 5 for 3-D, however. No rolls. If you time it right, you can pull some inverted. You can do a loop and a hammer head stall for a short time. I would recommend it to anyone!

Great little plane. I flew RC back in the 80's, so when my 12 yr old wanted to start flying, I started looking at .40 sized gas planes (all I knew....those electric planes were for sissy's :) ). Well, while at Oshkosh this year, he found this plane at the HL tent and had his heart set on it. My thought was 'there's no way a plane worth having is selling for $90". boy was I wrong!

This plane is a fantastic trainer. Very forgiving and can take a ton of abuse. If you're wanting to keep it prestine, then don't fly it, cause it will get banged up. My son kept it in the air 7-8 times a day (only down to recharge) for over a month. I just upgraded him to something larger for Christmas and he already has the skills to take that on. GREAT place to start!

As for the range issues on the transmitter, I've not experienced that. We've had this plan well over 500ft away from us (and 200-300 ft up) without a hiccup in control. I have purchased a new motor for it ($12), cause I think this one's finally reached TBO and not putting out 100%, but with this much time on it, it's worth it!

Almost too simple to fly. The foam isn't very durable, the wing is a little fragile. But, sacrifices must be made to make a true almost out of the box flier. Very stable. A couple of clicks of trim and it flies for 12 minutes at 1/4 throttle just fine. Almost stall proof, due to limited elevator travel and CG. The landing gear is a little weak, but it does save the plane from damage.

You might be needing some spot up paint, as the foam isn't very durable and does tend to shed color and is easy to dent. And I wish the transmitter had a hinged antenna so you could get away from pointing the antenna at the model. I lost linkage on the first flight, probably due to that. The plane landed itself power off and we finished up the flight just fine.

NiHm batteries work well in the supplied charger, which helps save a little bit. 2600 mah size lasts a while. Haven't tried them in the transmitter, but I don't see why not.

BUT I still think it's a remarkable plane and if you can't fly this one, better think of model trains for a hobby.
Fun to throw in the car and fly at lunch in calm air. A football field is more than enough space.

I got the Champ yesterday. I literally could have been flying 3 minutes after opening the box - all I had to do was open the box, put the included AAs in the transmitter, plug in the battery to the plane, and get up in the air.

I'm glad I didn't. The unit I had had a stuck rudder servo. It would go to the far left limit rudder, and then it would stick. So I cut through the tape holding the fuselage together, unplugged the battery, and spun the gear by hand to get it off the limit. Rinse and repeat, and with 10 minutes of work, the plane was 100%.

So this morning I took her out to fly for the first time. She taxis like my Super Sub - pretty straight, though she's got a little tendency to wander left. She took on water wading through mud puddles. Then I put her in the air. Loops are no problem. Get a little air speed, and you can head straight up like a rocket. Fast turns, touch-and-gos, everything goes. With no ailerons, she can't spin, but she can do anything you could expect from a 3-channel bird. Landings are best done under a little power - she has a falling-leaf type unpowered glide pattern, and if she's in the stall-gathering-air-speed phase of that pattern, she can hit the ground harder than you want.

But - I did probably 10 landings in 10 minutes with her, just to get the feel. I'm a beginner, and came in harder than I wanted to several times. But even then, she sat straight up and took right off again. I didn't expect her to be this tough. She's a true beginner's dream come true. Forget about the full-size Super Cub to train on. The Champ will get you ready for the Super Cub at much less cost and crash-induced aggravation.

The reasons the Champ gets 4 stars and not 5 is the transmitter. You get a whole package for under $100, which is cool. But the transmitter is terrible. It\'s accurate and responsive. But: range with brand-new batteries is less than 200ft. I could still hear the prop when I lost control of her, and she glided safely down into a field of 3' high wet grass. Frustrating. The digital trims are a cool idea, but the step is too large. My Champ wanders left. 1 click on the transmitter, and she's turning pretty tight circles to the right. I expect to get a full-on Spektrum 6 DSM2 transmitter in the next few months, so I can add more birds to my hangar. Then range and trim will not be a problem, and I'll use the stock transmitter as my backup DSM2 for micro birds.

This plane is sweet! I haven't had a chance to fly it wet but I drove it around in my basement.... The planes is super responsive. It can take of in about 5 ft I was doing some take off's then just lading it right after I took off. This is my first GOOD plane..... airhog's are not that good compared to this guy. Over all this thing is SWEET!!! oOI

I had the champ out for its' maiden flight last week. What a sweetheart !!!! She will take off in 5-10 feet and climb with authority which really pleased me. Will maintain altitude at 1/4 throttle and I was getting 12 minute flights. Truly amazing for the small battery. She has a great glide rate and will land pretty much by herself. I am flying out of a cul de sac and would recommend this plane as it is more heavily made that the other micro flyers out there.

What a great little plane. My 12 year old son flew this for the first time outside this weekend. It takes off in 5 feet and just wants to climb. At full throttle, loops are a breeze. At half throttle it still wanted to climb. At 1/4 throttle, it was able to cruise and maneuver easily. Landing is as simple as killing the engine and gliding to the ground. Sharp turns are no problem at this point. We actually had to nose it down a little to get it to land. A great little plane. This would be a good plane to use as a trainer. Battery will give long flight times especially at 1/4 throttle.