I've had many different hobbies through the years, ranging from photography to camping, model-building to flying
planes, and several others. Flying models has always been my favorite and control-line (CL) aerobatic flying, in
particular, is my favorite part of flying in general - I've been doing this since I was 7 years old. Control-line flying
is one of the "older" methods of model control (dates from just after WW2) - the pilot controls the plane via 2
(sometimes 3) wires that exit the aircraft's left wing and connect to a control handle that the pilot holds. In this
manner, the plane is actually anchored to the ground at all times (through the pilot) and, depending on the plane,
never goes more than 65 feet high or 65 feet away from the pilot. I still have my very first CL airplane, a Cox
PT-19 with .049 TeeDee engine. Plane's colored blue and yellow and flies like a plastic trainer should (lousy) but I
get it out once-in-awhile, just for grins.
These pages highlight a few of my favorite CL planes.
I guess I'd have to say the Sterling Skylark is my all-time favorite CL plane to fly, and I've had several of these
big, heavy monsters over the years. Four of them are highlighted in the Skylark pages.
My #2 favorite CL plane over the years has to be my Midwest P-63 King Cobra. It's a "profile" plane, the fuselage
is solid wood and only 1/2" thick (or less). This plane's unique in several ways - it's the only "tricycle gear" CL plane
I've ever had and it's also the only plane I've ever had that is capable of touching down at full speed, under power.
Talk about a blast! Try touching a plane onto the ground at full speed, and keeping it there until you're ready to lift
off again. There's nothing like it anywhere.
There are a lot of other good planes here; the Midwest Cosmic Wind - a truly wonderful aerobatic plane, the SIG
Banshee & Akromaster - both good aerobatic types, and a bunch of others.
Go ahead, take the tour. Just below is a directory that lists my planes. Every page of the Hobby Shack has a
duplicate copy of this directory so you can skip from page to page and plane to plane.
Enjoy!
planes, and several others. Flying models has always been my favorite and control-line (CL) aerobatic flying, in
particular, is my favorite part of flying in general - I've been doing this since I was 7 years old. Control-line flying
is one of the "older" methods of model control (dates from just after WW2) - the pilot controls the plane via 2
(sometimes 3) wires that exit the aircraft's left wing and connect to a control handle that the pilot holds. In this
manner, the plane is actually anchored to the ground at all times (through the pilot) and, depending on the plane,
never goes more than 65 feet high or 65 feet away from the pilot. I still have my very first CL airplane, a Cox
PT-19 with .049 TeeDee engine. Plane's colored blue and yellow and flies like a plastic trainer should (lousy) but I
get it out once-in-awhile, just for grins.
These pages highlight a few of my favorite CL planes.
I guess I'd have to say the Sterling Skylark is my all-time favorite CL plane to fly, and I've had several of these
big, heavy monsters over the years. Four of them are highlighted in the Skylark pages.
My #2 favorite CL plane over the years has to be my Midwest P-63 King Cobra. It's a "profile" plane, the fuselage
is solid wood and only 1/2" thick (or less). This plane's unique in several ways - it's the only "tricycle gear" CL plane
I've ever had and it's also the only plane I've ever had that is capable of touching down at full speed, under power.
Talk about a blast! Try touching a plane onto the ground at full speed, and keeping it there until you're ready to lift
off again. There's nothing like it anywhere.
There are a lot of other good planes here; the Midwest Cosmic Wind - a truly wonderful aerobatic plane, the SIG
Banshee & Akromaster - both good aerobatic types, and a bunch of others.
Go ahead, take the tour. Just below is a directory that lists my planes. Every page of the Hobby Shack has a
duplicate copy of this directory so you can skip from page to page and plane to plane.
Enjoy!
| Model Airplane Flying Control-Line Flying |
|
