Model Airplane News – September 2019

58 ModelAirplaneNews.com

BOTTOM LINE

Overall, the Ranger is designed with ease of assembly in mind. It took less than

20 minutes to completely assemble the plane, and the longest wait time is the

time it takes to charge the flight battery pack. Flight performance is very good,

and the model’s response is mild enough for beginners to be comfortable with. J

FMS RANGER PNP

plane without onboard fl ight stabilization,
the Ranger is easy to fl y and is stable
enough for anyone with minimal fl ight
experience.
Tracking: With its longish tail moment and
healthy vertical fi n and rudder area, this
model tracks nicely through turns and is
pretty much hands-off in straight and level
fl ight in no wind conditions.
Aerobatics: Far from being an aerobatic
aircraft, the Ranger has plenty of power on
a fully charged pack to do basic aerobatic
maneuvers like loops, rolls, and wingovers. It
can also fl y inverted with little eff ort.
Glide and stall performance: Th e Ranger is
lightly loaded, so it is hardly ever in danger
of stalling out of maneuvers. With the power
cut, the model simply lowers its nose and
loses altitude at a good clip. Holding the
elevator all the way back will bring a mild

stall that’s easy to recover from with the

addition of power and releasing the elevator

backpressure. Landings require a little power

to be held in to maintain a steady descent,

and the elevator has plenty of authority for a

nice fl are before touchdown.

PILOT DEBRIEFING

It’s been a long time since I’ve fl own an

airplane with tricycle landing gear. Most of

Water Operations

It takes only a few minutes to switch

from land to water operations, and

with the included water rudder, the

Ranger is at home on any sizable body

of water. We flew off a river from a

convenient boat launch. The positioning

of the floats is pretty much set by the

manufacturer, and we had no trouble

steering and holding a straight course

to take off. With the floats added, the

Ranger still has plenty of performance

to keep any outback bush pilot happy.

Try to make your landing approaches

shallow as a steep descent increases

airspeed that has to be bled off, which

increases your landing distance.

my airplanes are tail-draggers, so I found the

ground handling easy on the hard-packed

clay. Th e nosewheel is fairly small, so if you

fl y off unmaintained grass, it is best to hand-

launch the model. During landings, fl are the

model so that it touches down on the main

gear fi rst.