Flight Talk: E-flite Apprentice STS 1.5m...the smartest & best club trainer - ever! 

Filmed using an iPhone 8 (so it's best viewed on a larger monitor/screen and apologies for any focus and/or visibility issues!). Flight begins around the 10:00 mark, and see more video here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-pWTi8ubmf40.html An exciting evolution of the world's favorite club trainer, the E-flite Apprentice STS 1.5m features Spektrum Smart components, SAFE technology, and the option to add SAFE Plus and the Landing Assist Sensor, to make learning to fly easier than ever! Join us on the flight line with Jason Merkle at Willie McCool Regional Park and flying field (www.cityofnorthlasvegas.com/departments/nls_(parks_and_rec)/mccool_regional_park.php) in North Las Vegas, NV to see and learn about the features, flying characteristics and more of the smartest & best club trainer - ever! Please visit www.horizonhobby.com/SearchDisplay?searchTerm=apprentice+sts+1.5&categoryId=&sourceDomain=&storeId=10151&catalogId=10051&langId=-1&pageSize=40&beginIndex=0&sType=SimpleSearch&resultCatEntryType=2&searchTermScope=2&showResultsPage=true&searchSource=Q&sourceDomain=&pageView= for more information on the E-flite® Apprentice STS 1.5m

I found an airplane exactly like this in the bush. No damage, it looks like it landed by itself. I returned it to the owner. He was so happy to get it back.

Dude that's amazing! Not the camera skill but the plane! You guys are really putting out some impressive stuff lately. Well done.

I have about 16 flights on mine. It is my first plane. Today I switched to exp mode and did my first two loops ever, was a lot of fun.

I have the Apprentice S and it helped me understand what a real RC plane does in wind. I still fly it even though I can hover an Edge 540. Great vid.

I first purchased the smaller version of this, the Apprentice 1.2. I got pretty good flying it in an abandoned area near where I live... Kind of my own personal airport! However, I joined a local club that wanted me to learn without using the SAFE technology or the AS3X stabilization so I put in a radio without it. I was learning to fly it that way but foolishly tried to fly on a windy day and I was unable to maintain control of the aircraft and lost it. So, I just purchased this one and I really appreciate this video. I already put the bind and fly version together, bound it to a Spectrum 6E, and then plugged in both the landing assist and the GPS. While I understand why the guys at my club don't want you to use this technology, I think that there are different ways to do things. I learned to fly GA aircraft including an instrument rating in 18 months. I find that learning to fly RC aircraft is much more difficult. If the technology exists, why not use it. I have an Autel Evo 2 Pro which can auto land on the exact spot it took off from. This technology in this particular aircraft allows you to progress from beginner to experienced. One thing to note. While the experienced mode shuts off SAFE, I don't believe it disables the AS3X technology (I believe it is an internal gyro coupled with proprietary hardware) that stabilizes the aircraft particularly in wind. This is why my instructors at the club wanted me to install a different radio. I know an experienced pilot can fly this aircraft with a different radio without stabilization even in the wind, but from my own experience, it is not easy. Both this and the smaller version are pretty light. My point is that I don't recommend doing this. I think this aircraft was designed from the ground up to use the AS3X technology which compensates for the fact that it is light and allows you to fly it in the wind. It is getting pretty cold where I live so I don't know how soon I can take the Apprentice 1.5 on its Maiden flight...but I am looking forward to it using both the GPS and Landing Assist.

Super for beginners. I like it alot. I'll spread the word with this plane

this is going to be my first and hopefully my forever airplane

Great review, absolutely clear about capabilities of the plane, thank you very much!

wow I got back in to the hobby 5 years ago using the Apprentice it was the best trainer then and man is the best by far now.Since then I now have 14 airplanes and fly all the time. . great video

I've own the original E Flite Apprentice 15 e since 2012 with all original electronics except I've crashed it a couple times and needed to replace the fuselage, tail and wing as I was learning to fly since I've owned the plane but not bad for a first timer . I've learned how to fly with the this airplane. I regret selling it back in July 2020. With this new tech with this aircraft makes me more ambitious to fly more everyday. thank you Horizon Hobby for giving this opportunity to learn how to fly an keep up your amazing work. very happy customer of yours.

I found my next rc purchase! Can’t wait to get back into flying. It’s been years

Love watching your videos man. Cover the information needed perfectly and easy to understand. It's appreciated

I see people who have been in the hobby since or even before the Aprentice came out, and they still fly theirs.

I really appreciate this video, I’m looking into the hobby and this is the plane people are telling me to get.

Im located down the street from this park! Im going to purchase this plane and fly there. Thank you!

Excellent demonstration of aircraft and features!

I have The Apprentice STS and love it. I'm learning to also fly at the McCool Airfield in North Las Vegas.

You guys have turned this hobby into a fearless, fun thing!!!-Thx for making it easy to learn!!

I'm new into this hobby, but every time I see a video from you, I just want to buy the whole thing haha.

A great airplane with out any experience in rc planes now i am flighting rc planes and the reason is the Apprentice sts,the video can't saw you the great teacher called Apprentice sts,it takes from zero and teaches you how to flight!!! Great jobE-Flite, HorizonHobby!!!

Great video Jason, I watched it because someone at one of the fields i fly got one to get back into the hobby with and wants me to check it out and test fly it to make sure its all working, i wanted to see how all the modes would work. never flown one with the GPS and landing modes. very cool. been cool to have picture in picture to show the TX when you was doing the landings and all by itself.

Beautiful flying thank you mine will be here in a couple of days

My apprentice got me back into things 6-7 years ago after a 10 year break. The receivers also went into other airplanes to help that learning curve of flying other planes. Now they are collecting dust as the AR636 is better for that. Great first plane though.

Thank you, you’re the best

Awesome Im getting back into rc planes I use to fly with my dad when I was a kid and we use to build them from balsam kits and it took us around 2 years to build some planes. Since Im a drone pilot I needed to get the feel again so I just bought this plane with the upgrades they off like gps and landing assist and Im looking fwd to flying it very soon. Thanks for sharing

Best plane I ever bought! All flights combined, it's been in the air for days! My favourite place to fly is in a forested area with a very narrow gravel road, always gets the blood pumping knowing that I only have one tiny place to land on, where I can't make any mistakes. Edit: I opened up the battery area to take a 5800mAh battery, so it flys for an eternity, and has a little more mass to take on more turbulence. I also added belly and wing strobes which look great when trying to fly more scale.

McCool Fly Field is really nice :) love flying here

Great presentation! Best RC Trainer ever built! I have 3 and train Junior ROTC and CAP High School students.

I just purchased the Apprentice STS 1.5 with the upgrades, the GPS, and Landing Assistance Module as well as larger tires, 3-inch nose gear, and 3.5-inch for the mains. I am pretty new at flying. Most of my flying is done at the DC-RC Field in Boyd's, MD. The field has a paved runway which is pretty long, It runs pretty much north/south. However, there are trees that run along the runway just to the West. There are also trees at the north and south ends of the runway although they are far enough away not to interfere with final approaches from either end. It took a bit of time but I was able to program it to work with the 6E. However, there are a few issues I have had trouble trying to deal with. 1) I am not using a smart battery yet despite selecting inhibit, I am getting a low battery warning at about 50 to 60 percent of the 2200 mAh capacity. I know that my batteries are ok so I don't understand why this is happening and how to fix it. 2) Initially I had it geofenced to the larger circle but my instructor did not initially realize what was happening when it hit the fence and he lost control. Once I explained it, it was not a problem but I turned the geo-fencing off. After I did that we were able to successfully use the autolanding feature one time. We were flying a pattern left to right which meant taking off into a mild breeze out of the north. So, the home point was with the aircraft pointing north. On the subsequent attempts to use the autoland feature, we were flying in the same direction. He tried activating the autoland feature both on the up and downwind legs of the pattern. When he did so, the aircraft headed south but rather than flying on the west side of the runway headed south it headed eastward pretty far south of and he felt as though he could not get control so he went to expert and landed manually. I tried it myself and had a similar experience. It went to far south near the trees and I was concerned it would drop below the tree line and be lost. I am going to try and reset the compass but wonder if there is anything else I should be concerned about.

Thank you for a brill informative video... I've been cutting my teeth on a small powered glider trainer... and without a doubt my first rc club Flyer. will be an Horizon hobby large trainer. with the fab safe technology... thanks again... kind regards Dave...

Great video, Thank you and take care and stay safe.

13 min in the video and all he talked about is the two extra modules, which are not in stock,,, frustrating

Very nice airplane dude, I am like it

Is that the North Las Vegas Field? I miss that field! At least I missed it from before all the houses grew up to the field and complained about our engine noise ;)

Mine will arrive April 17th. Thank you for the review.

man i wish they had this 25 years ago

Thank you !

That's a very "McCool" site for the video, there Horizon! Pretty unexpected, actually, but Eli Field must've been snowed in. :)

I've never flown a plane like that before but I used to fly little RC planes (cheap ones) as a kid and I lost the most of them by flying to far :') the gps mode would have saved me a ton lol

I tried the hobby 4 years ago. It was a tiny plane with safe. I got it up in the air and it literally flew away. The safe controls could not bring it back against the wind. After that disaster, maybe this can work for me.

i got this plane. crashed it a few time but it is soo good to learn that i crash it a lot less thx UwU

awesome....it's cool👍👍👍,...also great feature

I fly mine at my local park. No issues.

So this vid is 3 years old now and I'm wondering if this is still the best, most advanced trainer? If not, what is?

Can u tell me what the differences are between the "S" model vs the "STS" model?

I recently purchased a Apprentice STS 1.5. Can't get it to bind to my DXs transmitter to the Apprentice. The transmitter was previously bonded to my old AeroScout 2.1. Help!

Jason can you show a video on how you do the GPS calibration I do it with my drones but I think it would be a great video to demo this for the gps mod in this plane!! That is a key thing and you dont show it bc you have to once you get the plane on and yes its in the instructions but you should of done a video of the calibration for the gps.. I will explain you prob will want the prop off and then rotate the plane tip over tail two times and then rotate the wings left to right and then it will hit the sats and the gps will be set. but Jason should of showed you this.

Mine wouldn't work with the GPS the throttle started and stopped over and over. Disconnected the GPS and it went perfectly.

Hobby shop does not have gbs module nor the lax sensor. They don't know what am talking about. Want the plane and the 2 extra components.

i want this sooo badd!!!!!!!!!

Great video. How do you turn the plane towards the landing area? My apprentice STS flew away from me and I had to buy another one. Can you please assist as the GPS I bought has yet to work.

Why the flight controlwr A3032 is keep beeping.what is the solution.

I just ordered this plane !!! I Can’t wait to get it. What GPS and sensor for landing do you recommend ??

Hi Jason. Cool video and cool aeroplane with awesome features for beginners. Anyway I got still one question. What happen in case of signal loss, for example wind take it away out of TX range while geo fence isn't active (typical beginner misshap) does it automatically Return to home point? Like for example "Parrot Disco" or any other better drone do? I personally believe that is it technically possible, this is just question what failsafe do in case of signal loss. Thank you for your answer....

How do you bind the GPS module with the plane it's just blinking blue and red

Newb.....if this plane crash....can it be repair or buy a new one?

@HorizonHobbyProducts Have you got instructional videos on how to install the LAS and the Safe Plus GPS?

I bought same aircraft but after assembly the it gives been. How to stop beeb

Need advise on the CG. I understand it's 79.0mm back from the leading edge of wing but how far off of the fuselage? The manual doesn't give a dimension. Not sure I should go as close to the fuselage as possible, 1/2" off, 1" off, or what? Does it matter? Thank you

Ended up in a tree. 15m. During autoland it took the plane a very long approach distance. Didnt see that coming...

Just a little confused as in a horizon buying you recommend the carbon cub s+ over the apprentice and now you've basically added upgrades to the apprentice to make it do the same as the carbon cub and say this is the best???? As the cub has the flaps already installed, surely its still superior to the apprentice? The only other thing is that the cub is a tail dragger and requires extra skill landing and taking off, but it also has the bigger wheels too, which I'm told is better for landing and on grass. I only ask because I am hoping to get into the hobby when the restriction is lifted from covid 19 and wanting to get the best one for me.

Great video! Recently lost my trainer plane in a tree so I'm thinking of getting another one. Looks like this might be the choice. Also that finger in the shot lol amazing camera work. 100% would watch again

Wet pore camera control didn’t see plan very much

How do you set up the optional GPS & landing sensor? I'm a skilled pilot, but. I'm not able to get the optional components operational. The instructions are very vague. Thank you!

Rtf doesn't come with a battery or charger anymore idk why they call it rtf if it's not ready to fly I just bought an aeroscout 4 days ago and they stopped putting batteries and chargers in rtf versions I get why but don't call it ready to fly if it isn't ready to fly

Can i use the gyro of this airoplane for scratch build rc plane

I've got the plane bound to a dx8 receiver and all the servos seem to work, but the prop only twitches when i turn on the esc and there is no throttle. Any help would be much appreciated.

@HorizonHobbyProducts I am a former pilot of full-scale planes. I let my license expire due to frequent transnational relocations. I have been a wannabe RC-planes’ pilot for some years studying in my own form of “ground school.” I have been shopping for suitable equipment. But the developments have been at such a rapid pace that by the time I settled on one choice, that equipment was overtaken by newer models and features. When I saw this video, this model quickly climbed to the top of the list. So, I quickly ordered it before it became overrun by other models. I have just unboxed it and laid out the parts. I am a great assembler (brag) (brag) (brag)! I wanted to get the jig up and flying yesterday. But a couple of petty tasks have been challenging my assembly skills. I ordered the LAS (=Landing Assistance Sensor) and the Safe Plus (the GPS for Virtual Fence). I have successfully implanted each of them into their designated places - led the cables into the chamber housing the Flight Controller and ‘maschanshwets.’ I know to which designated slot and port into which they must each be plugged. But the challenge is that these plugs and slots are so tiny that it is a challenge to handle them with fingers. The task may require special tools like pincers or miniature nose pliers. Even so, the Flight Controller is fixed in a very inconvenient position. I checked if it would be possible to remove it, plug the cables and push it back into position. I tried moving the Flight Controller with a few ounces of force. But it did not budge. I do not dare apply more force, fearing that such a force may damage the Flight Controller or the chamber or both. I bought the above equipment from Horizon Hobby. They may be top-ranking in design and equipment. But when it comes to Technical Support (pre-sales and after-sales), I rather consult with a nest crazy lobotomized earthworms (and I say that in jest). They operate only in Text-mode and the connection times out in a matter of seconds! Impossible to get Live-help to finish the task. So, I am not out there hanging in the air with my $650+ locked in this neatly arranged pile of junk (until it is airborne). By the way: I am also yet to charge the Spektrum 4000mAh 30C Smart Battery charged with the Spektrum S155 G2 AC Smart Charger. It is supposed to detect the type of battery and configure itself to match the needs of the battery. But it seems to stop charging the battery at 33% power. I will appreciate help in changing this pile of junk into an Identified Flying Object under Human Control.

I just purchased and assembled the E-flite Apprentice STS 1.5m like you have in the video. All is going well but I'm confused about the rubber bands. My kit contained 8 rubber bands for the wings and the instructions state to install 8 rubber bands on the wings. This doesn't seem right because I don't know that I can fit all 8 rubber bands on the 4 posts. So I went out on the internet and it looks like you only installed 4 rubber bands which seems more appropriate. So two questions. 1) how many rubber bands did your STS kit come with? 2) how many rubber bands did your kit instructions specify to install? 4 or 8? Thank you, Jason Boche

Great video thanks. Question the GPS is that a special one for that model?

I want to consider this equipment together with the Landing Assistance Sensor and Virtual Fence. Can Horizon Hobby deliver it in the RTF set up?

What if i get 4000mah 3c g2 smRt spektrum lipo battery?

Having trouble plugging in the GPS unit - which was does it go ? I have tried both sides up and down and it doesnt seem to 'click' into place and comes out easy. Thanks,

I want to upgrade my Apprentice with a Smart 45amp ESC and the new ar410 receiver , what I would like to know will I get all the Telemetry that I get with my ar620 receiver and smart battery, I am using a DX6 3gen.

The double-sided tape on my rear plastic wing cover is not doing a good job keeping itself flush onto the foam. Do you recommend that I go buy double-sided tape or some glue/epoxy? And do I have to buy from a hobby store for this?

15:54 Ryanair

Jason, your site states that in SAFE intermediate that it reverts to basic/beginner mode under 100ft. Can the TX, ESC or something be programed such that the envelope setting for intermediate remain the same but the 100ft cut-off is eliminated?

Ya know I’ve been looking and looking for a video that shows the set up from start to finish of the assembly and the set up of the brand new never used before Spektrum DXe for the Apprentice STS 1.5 Bind and Fly airplane. Every video stops at the point where it tells what needs to be done to the DXe radio before binding to this safe plus airplane I’m buying soon. Can ya help a newbie out? Please?

where and how did you set the fence mode; circel small, big, airfield, off...?

What if you have gps off .than you fly far away useing a fpv camera. Can you turn on the GPS so the plan can come back on its own?

Got the plane and bound it to my DX6 and I get a strange warning from my EDC???? Any advice???

heres the problem most of the features your describe , would mean I would have to buy the EXTRA gps module, and the landing sensor, which is fine, but no one has it,,, so what do I do? LOL

NBA YOUNGBOY

I practice on rainy days in Real Flight 9.5s with this plane. But IRL, I have the E-Flite Night Timber X. Also, that finger in the camera shot is annoying. lol

Excellent video!! how do you center the rudder and elevator? the instructions are not clear

Lol the cameraman’s finger is on the lends.

I am looking for a trainner. It is discontinued what is its replacement? thanks

Will the STS E-Flight have flaps installed in the future can be a good training option for new and upcoming pilots?

Hello, I'm trying to find one of the older rtf big trainer 60 wing span. Seems I can't find any. Do you have something bigger than this 1.5?

does it come with the gps module

What's the problem when my E-flite apprentice model airplanes flight controls doesn't move fully as soon as I throttle about half throttle, before I throttle flight controls move full motion.

How do you know that your GPS is working when your flying

Is all this features avaible on the aeroscout as well? Only picking that one becuase i dont have that much of areas to practice..

Great plane, have NX10 radio. The plane binds but wants to stay in beginners mode. Aux switch on radio says it’s working but plane stays in one mode with green led lit in windshield. Need help on this

The ad on your website says the flight time is 5 minutes not 10-20 as you claim. So which is it?

I have always put my phone number and a reward notice on all of my planes, just in case.

Having an issue with the Apprentice STS . Tried to bind it with a Spektrum DX7 and could not get it to bind correctly . Then tried to go back and bind it to the original transmitter (DXS) and found that the safety options not working correctly . In beginner / intermediate / advance modes while turning plane upside down , the flaps barely move at all. SO seems like safe select is not working at all . When binding , I would leave bind plug in until after the yellow light goes off , if that helps . Thanks to anyone that can get me back in the air.

Hi I have the carbon cub s+ with the same controller and smart tech. Can I bind the apprentice to the cubs dx6e and if so do i have to rebind my cub when i want to fly that. I gather once bound the flight modes automatically are assigned to the correct switches?

Are the safe plus instructions the same for the HABU STS??