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.