I was lucky enough to play the role of "test pilot" many times when other fliers in our field got new airplanes and helis,  and this has allowed me to test fly a wide variety of aircraft.

In my experience, the Calmato Sport 40 low wing is the best low wing plane for beginners who are graduating from a high-winger.  The Calmato, originally from Kyosho, comes in both high wing and low wing flavors.  The high-wing is a great absolute beginners plane, and the low-wing is the perfect first low winger. 

The amazing thing about it is that it can last a life time for you.  Obviously it is not built for 3D, but it can do all the rest of the aerobatic moves with grace and precision.  It can handle an great amount of wind, and we have even landed it like a helicopter (straight down) on a very windy day.  It is a lot of fun to play with "touch and go"s, where you make sure the two hind wheels touch down first, and then the front wheel touches down.   It can fly at significant speed, and more importantly, it can fly in a very slow/docile mode also.  It can do landings at a very low speed.

Now there are good quality chinese remakes of them available for great prices (should be around INR4700 including customs duty).  I am not sure which Indian hobby stores carry them (if any). It sure would be a great product for any store to carry.

The calmato comes in bigger sizes also, like 60size. And we have two people in our field who have converted them to EP (electric powered).







Do you have any other recommendations for a low wing ARF trainer which can "grow with you" ?

Well i have three choices:

seagull 40
Excite(Indian made)
Tiger 2(Any version carl goldberg,greatplanes,chinese,phoneix)

First Low wing Jet :

Flycat

Though a late entry but wanted to put in my 2 bit.
I am flying a Tiger sports 40 low wing trainer Phoneix.
Any opinions?

Quote from: flying doc on April 16, 2010, 12:37:27 AM
I am flying a Tiger sports 40 low wing trainer Phoneix.
Any opinions?

You're flying it. Opinion should be yours!

Sure, U are so right Sushil. Opinions generally come from people who know of the choices but for me this is my first and only plane as yet and I love it. Being just a couple of months in this hobby, I was hoping for other opinions from people who have flown planes longer than I have and specifically low wingers.