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 If you are looking for something to get you started with RC Flying, the Tower Hobbies Trainer may be just the thing for you. This was my very first plane - the almost 70" wingspan Tower Hobbies Trainer 60. I imported the plane from the Tower Hobbies in 1997, while living in Tanzania (East Africa). It arrived in an ARF kit and I equipped it with the OS 61FX motor that was included in my order. The combination was a bit heavy for a beginner, but the plane was extremely durable and tough, and was tailor made for my rough handling. The huge flat bottom wing made the aircraft very stable at lower speeds.
I lived in a very remote city with only a handful of Westerners around. Unfortunately none of them had ever flown R/C before, so I had to apply all my DIY skills and learn the flying thing myself. I didn't think much of it. How difficult can it be. But the forces of gravity and rules of the sky soon proved me wrong.
As you may very well guess, my first few flights were disastrous (without an instructor). Flying was manageable, but the landings were much less successful. To better describe it, these would be appropriate: nose-dive, cartwheel, stuck in a tree, lost in the underbrush. All this fun wasn’t without tears. Damages varied from broken props to serious wing and fuselage destruction. But every time old-faithful would get back up there and keep flying.
After too many tries, I ended up loosing interest in the hobby while living in Tanzania. The Tower Trainer gathered dust for more than a year before I began flying again after moving to South Africa. This time I did it the right way by joining a club and finding a good instructor. It took me a at least six months and no less than 20 flights to get over the mistakes of those first few haunting flights. During this time the Tower T60 saw more hard landings and some rough take-offs. But the plane was tough as nails and was still looking good by the time I was ready to go solo. Unfortunately, as is the case in this great hobby, nothing lasts forever and the Tower 60 finally met its destiny just before Christmas of ’99. Nevertheless, this aircraft was the perfect choice for me.
As with most R/C flyers who have been out there for a while, the inevitable bad thing had to happen sometime. And so it did with me. The plane had it’s final flight on December 18, 1999, when the six rubber bands that were holding the main wing to the fuselage, broke during a sharp turn, and sent the fuselage like a missile down towards earth at full throttle. All I could do was watch and close the throttle to idle speed - for what I don't know.
The impact scene was horrendous. The fuselage was nothing more than a heap of balsa pieces and left basically nothing to salvage. The fuel tank burst open in four places and the OS 61 FX was buried in a 10cm deep hole in the ground. Two servos had broken gears, the battery pack was bent, and the receiver was dead. On the engine, the remote needle valve was bent and the valve mount broke of the back-plate. The muffler was also ripped of the engine, causing the mounts on both the engine and muffler to break at a few places. The crankshaft seemed fine and although the carburetor came off, it was not damaged. Believe it or not, the engine was salvaged and flew again years later.
I can only end this tale by concluding that I had some of my most exciting experiences with this Tower Hobbies Trainer 60. It is extremely forgiving and still allows for loads of fun. The plane is extremely easy to land because of the flat-bottom airfoil, and the large wing area makes it exceptionally stable.
Lesson learned: never use old rubber bands to keep things together.
Be sure to read about my flying adventures with this plane in Africa.
This story was first written in late 1999
Published on RCBooks.Net on December 9, 2005.
Author: Christi Brown
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