Flightplan

Flightplan is published  "online"  by Flightmasters Model Airplane Club, Inc. of Fort Smith, Arkansas.     It's purpose is to inform the membership and to promote interest  in the safe building and flying of model aircraft both in the Fort Smith Area as well as elsewhere.
Volume 41           Number 10                       AMA Charter # 742           IMAA Chapter # 362                         October 2008

This is a special issue!

This issue of the Flightplan is totally devoted to one lengthy article dealing with Electric Power. Many of us may be reluctant to venture into "E-Flight" because we know very little about it.

This person knows what he is talking about, so if your interested in Electric Power ... I hope this will help you!

An Introduction to Electric Power Systems

By Ryan McConnell

(Taken from the Mid Arkansas Radio Control Society's Mish Mash newsletter)


How to choose an E-power setup:

So you want to get into electric airplanes.  Like many you who are terribly confused about what motor, speed control and battery you need, I was once there. Now, however, I have managed to learn more than I ever thought I would want to know about electric setups for R/C airplanes.  So here I will attempt to help you learn what you need to know.  I'm not sure how best to go at this (I tend to go into way too much gory detail about things) so I think I'll have a couple of sections.  Section 1 will be for just the stuff you need to know.  An Intro to electric airplanes if you will.  Then I'll get into advanced stuff in Section 2 for those of you that like such things, or need to know more for what you want to do! So… here goes.

Section 1 - Intro to electric power systems:

Motor Choice --

The first thing that you need to determine is what kind of power you really want out of your airplane.  Is it a trainer type airplane with just enough power to fly around and climb at a 20-30 degree angle?  Or an all out 3d plane that is obscenely overpowered?  The following chart will help you determine what size motor you need based on the type of flying you intend to do with it:


      Type of flying desired:
       Watts required:
Glider type 50-75 watts / lb
Trainer type plane 75-100 watts / lb
Sport / Aerobatic 100-150 watts / lb
3d Power - overpowered! 150+ watts / lb

So you need to choose a motor based on your needs.  Clearly one of the first things you need to know here is what the end weight of your airplane will be?  If you are buying an ARF that is made for electric power it should have a good guideline right on the box.  If you are converting a glow plane to electric this is a little more difficult to figure out.  In this case just get the basic weight of the airframe and then add in the weights of the motor, battery and speed control.

The weights of these are totally dependent on the size of the airplane, and how much power you want for it, so I can't state an average here… but with a little figuring it shouldn't be too hard.

1 pound = 16 ounces.





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