FMS Pilatus PC-21 - Review!

The Pilatus PC-21 is an air force training aircraft developed by the Swiss company Pilatus Aircraft Ltd. It's quite a unique modern-looking airplane, what with its fighter canopy, turboprop engine and five-bladed propeller. FMS recently released this plane in RC and have done a great job on it! Alex and Josh checked it out.

The Real Thing

Just like the model, the full-scale Pilatus trainer is a sleek, locked in aeroplane. It's pretty much the pinnacle of fighter trainers. Gone are the days where the new pilot would be introduced to a T-6 Texan or Tiger Moth biplane.

This thing has a high-performance turboprop engine coupled with a five bladed prop. This means it can climb to 10,000ft in an impressive 2 min 35s while remaining docile and predictable at low speeds.

I'm definitely a fan.

The RC Version

So how does the RC Pilatus live up to it's bigger brother? Well, for starters, this one doesn't cost several million dollars. The FMS model comes in at $209.99, so considerably less!

Just like the real PC-21, it comes with a five bladed prop. The PC-21 also includes some sweet features like a retractable undercarriage. On top of this, there are servo driven flaps you can program to different settings.

The primary material of the airframe is high-density EPO. However, this model just doesn't jump out as being made out of foam! It looks incredibly real both in the air and on the ground.

The wingspan is 1100mm (43.3"), so it's not the biggest model in the world. This makes the Pilatus great for transport and storage.

In terms of the battery, the model can run on a 4s from 2600-3300mAh. With a 3300mAh, you can get some decent flight times of around 8-9 minutes. Grabbing a couple of extra batteries might be a good way to increase the number of sorties you fly while at the field. Come down, refuel and away you go again, just like the real thing.

One requirement for flying this airplane is having short grass or a smooth runway for takeoff. Being a scale airplane, the prop is very close to the ground on this model. At Furey field, we had no problems once we'd mowed the grass.

All up, this plane flies like precision aerobatic with a good helping of docile tendencies, much like a trainer. For those intermediate pilots out there wanting to get into more complicated scale airplanes, this model is a great choice. You don't have to constantly worry about crashing meaning you can either relax or put the PC-21 through its paces.