In the past I’ve written about two easy-to-fly radio-controlled planes (the Aero Ace Biplane and the Aero Ace Jet) and a radio-controlled car/plane/boat hybrid (the Storm Launcher). This time around I’d like to introduce you to something a little more — um — natural: a radio-controlled insect. Well, to be precise, it’s a radio-controlled dragonfly, and it flies by flapping its wings like a real dragonfly. Really.

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I’m not really sure how to classify the new Storm Launcher from AirHogs. It’s fun to drive around on the ground (even on grass). It’s fun to pilot around on the water. And, most importantly, it’s fun to fly. So, do you classify it as it a car, a boat, or a plane? I guess it’s really all three, which explains why I’ve found it next to other R/C cars, boats, and planes, depending on which store I’m in.

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Sometime near the beginning of summer I bought a little radio-controlled plane from Air Hogs called the Aero Ace. I even wrote up a little post about it here. My opinion of the plane hasn’t really changed since then – it’s fun, it’s easy to fly, and it’s the right price: $20 on sale, $30 normally, and $40 at WalMart (I have no idea why).

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I’ve had a number of radio-controlled planes from AirHogs over the years and, while I guess what they did could technically be called “flying”, they weren’t very controllable and they weren’t a whole lot of fun.

My first AirHogs plane was the Titan. This beast used 4 ducted fans to generate a huge amount of thrust — almost enough to overcome its massive weight and actually allow the plane to fly. I finally got it into the air with a bit of — shall we say — “aeronautic improvisation” (you know, like taping soda straws to the trailing edges of the wings to act as flaps). By the time I made enough tweaks to allow the plane to fly the batteries decided that they didn’t want to hold a charge anymore. It’s blue, it’s too heavy, and it doesn’t fly, so I named it the “Blue Spruce Goose”.

My next AirHogs plane was the SkyWinder. This plane flew, but it was too fast through the air and too tough to control to fly in small areas (like my back yard). Just about the time I was getting some control over the SkyWinder one of the two propellers went flying off during a flight and the SkyWinder came crashing down and broke one of it’s wings. I pieced it back together but it’s sitting down in my basement keeping the Blue Spruce Goose company.

You can understand, then, why I was a bit skeptical when I saw the Air Hogs Aero Ace. Here was a tiny little plane with a tiny little price ($30, but you can find them on sale for $20). I took a chance and have been having a blast ever since.

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