FMS - F3A Olympus - 1.4m - Maiden Flights 

He's not an F3A trained pilot.

Yep, it’s not a 3D platform, it’s a really good little F3A pattern plane

AWESOME!!! So glad you're doing it! I'm about your age, and can say for certain, I WISH I would had done this earlier in life. It's so fulfilling, and we really do want to encourage those who are just getting their feet wet - IT IS HARD, but so worth it. You know, as a man, if it's too easy, it's kinda like, who cares? (Am I wrong???) If I have to work at it, it makes it a more full experience. I think this is why some RC "old-timers" hate all these training aids...and I can't blame them for a certain part of their hatred, since they want to help bring up the next generation of RC enthusiasts. Trouble is, life is so dang different than it was 30 years ago - nobody has any time for anything!!! It's tough to get people off a cell phone or tablet, and even though we want you and the rest of our amazing audience watching, we really want them flying...so we see our time together as a time to encourage, and bolster our community. I don't often think about it like this, but when you watch me fly, it's like YOU are the one with me. That's why I love having Megan, my wonderful and amazing wife, filming for me. We get to share this experience, which DOES sometimes start out rocky (we are a married couple, of course) but then you guys get to be the other half for a short time. I hope this helps add some flavor to the experience! Anyway, gotta get going, but thanks for being her, and thanks for taking the "plunge"! - KEEP AT IT!

F3A (or Precision Aerobatics or Pattern) flying is the discipline of performing a set sequence of maneuvers with a model aircraft. Pilots progress through a series of classes with increasing levels of maneuver difficulty, with the top class being “FAI”, a class flown around the world with the same sequences. Yeah, just figured that out form so many helpful comments!!! I had no idea, and feel pretty embarrassed. I SHOULD have known it...but now I do ;)

Hi Brian. I see this plane as a pattern aircraft, not a 3D machine. I would love to see you do a follow up on this concentrating on flying smooth, graceful maneuvers like loops, rolls, knife edge, knife edge circles, inverted, stall turns, etc. Love your channel, thanks!

Yeah, thanks - seems I totally missed that one...pretty embarrassing I missed this, but thanks for the heads up!

I keep hearing this, and hope to fly this plane MORE like it was designed soon ;)

Thanks, and we love it here! Glad you're back with us (or if you never left ;)

You bet!

Anyone with a "camera crew" should definitely know this is a pattern plane and not a "3d" plane.

We hope to do that plane. It's such an amazing piece of engineering!

yep, just figured that out, and YEP, that was embarrassing...but now I know ;) F3A (or Precision Aerobatics or Pattern) flying is the discipline of performing a set sequence of maneuvers with a model aircraft. Pilots progress through a series of classes with increasing levels of maneuver difficulty, with the top class being “FAI”, a class flown around the world with the same sequences.

yeah, AS3X and SAFE are so nice! Hope you enjoy it!

@@BrianPhillipsRC you too brother I know it's kinda your job now.. but hopefully you still having fun with the hobby you're videos helped me so much when I was getting into this hobby so I appreciate you brother

Yeah, we learned this after we filmed our video. Sorry for missing the mark. This was pretty embarrassing for us, but we're always learning in rc & aviation!

We used an AR631 in this... bprc.me/AR631 You can check out the radio setup here... ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-KPFAcKpk4ww.html Hope that helps!

yes - exactly!!!

@@BrianPhillipsRC the best addiction to have. Right behind sailing. 😆 Hope you guys are well. Looking forward to hearing/seeing more about your pond progress. Cheers my friend!

Yes, exactly! You nailed it on the head! Megan and I are lucky to get to spend time together, and it is hard at times ;)

ASAP ;) More to come soon!

We do have a room...it's called the kitchen - LOL ;)

Yeah, pretty embarrassing, but I think this is kind of a "CLUB" thing, and we don't really do clubs. Thanks for sharing. I appreciate you bringing me into the fold. For what it's worth, we're all learning new stuff, all the time, but YES, it's pretty embarrassing that I didn't know that F3A was a flying discipline, and not a plane TYPE. I probably should have known, but to be frank - that's what we're trying to do here - teach people what they don't but need to know to get flying, and haven't had such an egregious example of NOT knowing ourselves lately (thank God). I think we all sometimes forget from time to time that there's actually a LOT to know, and who exactly was supposed to tell us? In my case, I've been to a few events, but really, even at those events, it wouldn't have occurred to me to even ask. Why would I ask? I didn't know to ask. What we want to do is foster an open dialog with beginners, and returning RC enthusiasts, on how to get a plane in the air, and more or less show what a plane can do. It's unfortunate I didn't realize this was not really a 3D plane. When I started into RC aircraft close to ten years ago, there were a thousand things just like this to know...but not knowing to ask or how to ask. F3A just hadn't made the list yet. Glad to know now, and I can start learning more about it more. Thanks for understanding, and glad you're here with us. P.S. you mentioned that this probably wasn't the best setup (plane or the way I setup the plane?) for F3A PATTERN FLYING - what part would be different - less throws? Less aggressive (negative) EXPO? I'm really curious, and glad you might be able to help. Thanks in advance! Appreciate the help we get all the time from our amazing audience!

@@BrianPhillipsRC well I guess everyone prefer something a lil different as far as setup goes anyways just felt like u were explaining more of a 3d type setup rather than a more controlled precision type setup but again everyone Flys different so it's mostly irrelevant as far as setup. I kno alot of people really take your advise and experiences to make purchases and just felt it wasn't represented as designed and this plane being advertised as a patern plane just threw me off lol but also mad respect for owning it and hey maybe learn some patern flying out of all this lol (and yes patern flying is a very small niche of the hobby and some of those guys get super crazy into setups and expensive planes etc etc they even have counter rotating prop setups to eliminate some P factor because patern is judged on tracking, straight lines, and precision etc however alot of people in the hobby find patern very boring and isn't really advertised so alot of people never heard of it) was mostly just giving u shit;) and this also goes to show u are true to your channel as far as being the "average guy" getting into flying keep doing what your doing just wanted to shoot some laughs your way I was just surprised u never seen those "funny looking" planes with lil wings on top and never knew about them. I'm also not a huge 3d guy I like alot more scale and precision type flying so I do think it's a plane u would enjoy doing big air loops etc

It would be pretty fun too! Gotta do it now!

I was kinda feeling that way, but didn't know if it was just my skills [lack thereof] at 3D vs the plane...so didn't want to make too big a deal out of that detail.

Yeah, and sorry for not knowing. This was pretty embarrassing (missing the F3A thing), but many have chimed in to help me understand this now, and it's much appreciated. Thanks! (+ thanks for the support Brian!!!)

Thanks, and yes, JUST TODAY learned that F3A is a thing - WOW - the hobby has failed me - LOL LOL LOL ;)

Que?

@@BrianPhillipsRC No, that would be asking if my mothers name was Escobar. Or something. And actually, my green one is still in the box! ( green, Irish, O’Toole, Irish, Steve, Irish- or, American, actually)

yes, thanks! I have only recently (today) learned that this was a thing - SUPER EMBARRASSING, right?!??! Oh well, live and learn ;)

No problemo!😃

Hey if it flips around and does crazy crap its a 3d plane.. Lol that's my opinion. Non the less great Review brother.

If it flips around and does crazy crap then it's Tail Heavy!! 🤣😂🤣

RIGHTT

Yes, this has been mentioned more than a few times since we published the video. We also pinned a comment, in hopes to help communicate to everyone our apologies, and my embarrassment. This should be listed right at the top of the comments, but it can be easy to miss... Megan and I didn't even know that F3A (pattern flying) was a "thing" - that's how radio silent the F3A community had been prior to our publication of this video. Think about that...nobody ONCE mentioned it, until this video. We've been immersed into this hobby for almost a decade now, and not even ONE mention or memorable enough mention - I suppose it's possible it was mentioned and I didn't see the comment, or understand it well enough to spark my interest. What a failure of the F3A community! This really helps to point out the need for people like us (YOU and us) to come before the world proselytizing for this wonderful hobby...not necessarily just F3A, 3D flying, or some other form of specialized RC experience, but just how to get started, how to setup aircraft and electronics, and how to do it without becoming a "one and done" - a new RC pilot who get the wrong plane for their first plane, then crashed, and quits, never to return to the hobby... We need to be reaching the world of potentially interested people, growing and sharing our love for this hobby. If we don't - IT WILL DIE. If it doesn't totally die, it will get regulated into obscurity, and to be frank, it's already fighting an uphill battle to win enough hearts and minds of the newest generations who demand instant or near instant gratification, and a APP to do EVERYTHING for them. While we were admittedly very embarrassed for having not know about F3A, who's really to blame for our lack of knowledge? Sure, we could have gotten LUCKY and looked something up by accident, but how would we know to look into it? Nobody told us to do it. Nobody invited us to an event. Nobody made a big enough "stink" to spark our interest. It's our job to share our passions with the world, but evidently the F3A community needs some help and encouragement to share their passion! A few key takeaways... 1) We're definitely NOT omniscient and never claimed to be, we learn new things EVER DAY. 2) The F3A community desperately needs to get their mouths opened and SHARE about their discipline. 3) We all bear the burden of sharing what we love about this hobby to help get the word interested. 4) If we fail to do so, our hobby will die OR die with us...we have our work cut out for us!

yes, thanks - we've been attempting to address this comment / question ever since the video published. I didn't even know what F3A was. Sorry about my idiotic comments. Too bad after almost 10 years [back] in RC (& REALLY *LIVING* IT) we haven't had a SINGLE person from any organization tell us about F3A (or any other of these disciplines)...until now.

yes, I just figured that out - kinda embarrassing, but NOW I do ;) F3A (or Precision Aerobatics or Pattern) flying is the discipline of performing a set sequence of maneuvers with a model aircraft. Pilots progress through a series of classes with increasing levels of maneuver difficulty, with the top class being “FAI”, a class flown around the world with the same sequences.

Annoying

@@user-hx8hi1rz5w yes you are

@@user-hx8hi1rz5w are you annoyed cuz you missed being first😜🤪😉

I'm not sure what you wanted me to say, but I guess my personal experience wasn't what you were looking for. Sorry to disappoint. P.S. I kinda make it a point NOT to do research before reviewing a plane. If I find everyone else's position on a plane before I weigh in on it, wouldn't that undermine my experience? Either way, I think this plane is just fine, just kinda on the edge of what I usually like to fly. Hope that was clear, since I really don't want to be misleading to people.

For the benefit of those who didn't know like me... F3A (or Precision Aerobatics or Pattern) flying is the discipline of performing a set sequence of maneuvers with a model aircraft. Pilots progress through a series of classes with increasing levels of maneuver difficulty, with the top class being “FAI”, a class flown around the world with the same sequences. ...yeah, I didn't know that. But to be fair, nobody knows everything, and I try HARD not to pretend to know what I don't. I do think it's fair that one might assume I would know this, given our engagement into the RC hobby, but to be clear, I've never know it. Now I do - learn something new every day!

Brian, don't get me wrong, I think you make great content and I often enjoy hearing your thoughts on the planes, especially those I'm unfamiliar with. I was interested in pattern flying and almost purchased this plane, so I was excited to hear what you thought. I also get that people are overly critical and quick to jump on you when you make mistakes and you can't be an expert on everything. You get hundreds of thousands of views and if this video gives people the wrong impression, or confuses them on what the differences between F3A and 3D flying are, than I'm sure that wasn't what you are going for. It would be cool to see you branch out and give 3D flying a shot with something like an Extreme Flight plane, or entering a F3A precision flying contest. I would LOVE to see you try something like that. This feels similar to someone giving a review on a 90mm EDF who has never flown, or even knows anything about EDF jets. I honestly think the video needs a redo to give it justice. Show us an aresti card and your attempt at flying precision! @@BrianPhillipsRC