MD-HOBBY E0717 1030mm 4CH RC Airplane PNP for $60 from Banggood - Part 5: In-Flight Emergency & Fire

I am cheap and I like buying and reviewing midsize (i.e. wingspan between 1000-1500mm) RC airplanes that cost less than $100 to get up in the air. This is a particularly important market segment in my opinion, especially for trainer airplanes, because most of the newbies wanting to get into this hobby are not willing to invest more than that. Nevertheless, their first experience is critical in keeping them in the hobby.
Hence, whenever I see a “potential candidate” in this market segment for a reasonable price, I just go ahead and order it. My main goal is to sift through the “duds” in order to get to the “buds”, or in other words to find the gems in the rough. Plus, I extremely enjoy building and flying a wide variety of cheap airplanes; the more the better.
I ordered this airplane kit from Banggood.com when it was on sale (“Flash Deal”) for $59.99 plus $2.99 shipping:
www.banggood.com/E0717-1030mm...
They advertise it as a PNP (plug-and-play or receiver-ready) airplane, but in actuality it is a kit that comes with the motor, ESC (electronic speed control), the servos, and two propellers. The premise is that you can build it up to a PNP-condition with all the materials provided in the box, and you will only need to add a receiver, a transmitter, and a battery in order to get it ready to fly.
So, in theory, you can get this airplane flying for $100 or less if you are a penny-pinching and patient shopper. Here is the math: This plane cost me $62.98 shipped to my door in the U.S. The recommended battery is a 3S 2200mAh LiPo battery, which you can order from HobbyKing for $9.99 (Rhino brand). And a basic Turnigy 5X 5Ch 2.4GHz transmitter and receiver combo costs $26.51 on HobbyKing. You can find similar deals from eBay, Banggood or other online hobby stores as well. (By the way, I am not counting in the charger, since it is an investment that you make one time when getting into this hobby and will use it for years with all your future planes.)
This kit arrived in a basic, unbranded cardboard box. Upon opening it, I was pleasantly surprised by a large sheet of building instructions with color pictures and an English description for each step. It was printed on a high-quality, glossy paper. I am not used to seeing something like this arriving with an inexpensive, no-name kit from China. GREAT START!
The materials used in the construction of this airplane turned out to be really interesting: plastic (polyethylene or polypropylene) fuselage, expanded polystyrene foam (a.k.a. Styrofoam) wings, sheet foam horizontal and vertical stabilizers, and plywood main tray and reinforcement. Do I care? No, as long as it builds well and flies true, I don’t! And we are going to find out soon enough!
In the first episode, I showed the unboxing of this kit and shared my first impressions:
• MD-HOBBY E0717 1030mm ...
In the second episode, I demonstrated the detailed assembly to complete this kit and get it airworthy:
• MD-HOBBY E0717 1030mm ...
In the third episode, I performed its maiden flight in less-than-ideal conditions, in high wind. There was also some aerial drone footage of the airplane during the second half of the video:
• MD-HOBBY E0717 1030mm ...
In the fourth episode, again in high wind, I am moved the center of gravity (CG) further forward and also added dual rates on my radio for a smoother flight with improved control. The footage this time is from a “pilot’s perspective” thanks to an onboard Mobius camera.
• MD-HOBBY E0717 1030mm ...
I got used to the flight characteristics of this airplane quickly and was having so much fun with it, so I could not wait for a calm day and decided to do another flight video. This time around the winds were even worse, but both the airplane and I were doing so well, until… ☹
Thank you very much for watching. If you find this review useful, please consider liking it and subscribing to our channel. And do not forget to hit that notification bell. Stay safe and healthy. Hope to see you on the next video. Cheers!

[@akmalmarzuki8660]

Rate expo for this model.. I am newbie

[@alunspence1026]

Quality control not up to standard,fuselage seems to be made of milk container plastic,motor mount weak,as is front bulkhead.

[@PropsWheels]

I know, I know, but it was fun to build and great fun to fly... I blame my mounting of the motor; it came loose and the prop got stuck in the cowling, which made the ESC to heat up and catch fire. Another video will be coming soon.

[@HM-ke1qm]

A piece of white tape will fix that.

[@PropsWheels]

Or a piece of plastic from a milk jug! :)