Aeromodelling

When anyone can

become a pilot

Because the paper planes time is over.

Model aircrafts are made of:

Balsa wood
Plywood

or

High-density Polystyrene

You can build it

From scratch
You can build your plane only
with plans, or with nothing at
all!

With a wood kit

Higher precision (laser) and
saves time

Starting from an
almost-ready-to-fly
kit
Built in less than 10-20 hours

Adding electronics
Servomechanisms
Receiver

On/off button
LED (Light-Emitting Diode)
Retractable landing gear
Flaps
Bomb bay doors
Remote camera

The verb fly is often misused by people who practice

aeromodelling

A lot of types of aircrafts

Free flight aircrafts
R/C aircrafts:
Basic ones
Scale models
Aerobatic airplanes

F3A
3-D

Helicopters
Gliders
Jets

Free flight models

No need for external control

Powered or not (rubber-

band, engine, )
Very stable

Basic R/C planes

Quite slow
Not able to do advanced

aerobatics
Ideal for learning purpose

Scale models
Look like real aircrafts
Usually bigger than usual
For flight dynamics
To enjoy having a scale
model
Quite impressive

F3A planes

F3A is like figure skating

for R/C planes

Imposed maneuvers in a
specific order
During competitions, each
maneuver is graded
independently from the
others

3D aerobatics planes
Complex maneuvers that

usual aircrafts cannot do

Larger control surfaces
Higher thrust-to-weight

ratio -> very powerful

In competition, the goal

for the pilot is to show his

skill

Helicopters
There also exists:
Scale helicopters
3D helicopters
F3A helicopters -> F3C

Gliders
The goal is to fly as long

as possible without the

use of any engine or
other propulsion mean
To take off:
Use another plane
Can have a small electric

engine

Jets
Very high speed
Very hard to control

Very impressive
Very expensive

Because your neighbors dont want to be hit by a plane

On specific areas
Because of:
Noise
Pollution
Risks
In France:
FFAM website