Ready to Fly RC Airplanes

Buy'em, Charge'em, and go Fly'em!

Ready to Fly RC Airplanes are the most convenient and quickest way to get a new RC airplane in the air. These airplanes are literally flight worthy right out of the box. All you have to do is charge the batteries and you're ready for the maiden voyage!

Ready to Fly Airplanes are also know as RTF RC airplanes. The vast majority of RTF RC airplanes are electric powered. Electric RTF airplanes most always come with batteries and a charger.

There are a few glow powered ready to fly RC airplanes available. These come with the electronics and a nitro engine already installed. Unfortunately they don't come with a tank of fuel. You will have to purchacse the RC Airplane Fuel separately.

Types of Ready to Fly RC Airplanes

RTF RC Airplanes VS. ARF's & Kits

In order to fully appreciate the convenience of RTF RC airplanes, let me explain how ready to fly RC airplanes are different than Almost Ready to Fly airplanes (ARF's) and RC Airplane Kits.

RC Airplane Kits

Back in the old days, if you wanted to fly an RC airplane you had to build your plane from a kit. An RC airplane kit is basically a box of pre-cut balsa parts and a set of directions.

Building kits are fun, but it takes a lot of time and work. Depending on your experience and the difficulty of the kit, it could take anywhere from a couple of weeks to several months to complete a kit.

Almost Ready to Fly Airplanes (ARF's)

Let me tell you, "almost" is a relative term! Relative to spending months building a kit, then I'd agree that an ARF is "almost ready to fly". But it still can take anywhere from a couple of days up to a week to get an ARF ready for the sky!

ARF's are most always balsa wood type planes that can be powered by either an electric motor or glow engine. An ARF comes with the fuselage and wings fully built and covered.

An ARF requires that you glue the wings together and install the horizontal and vertical stabs, along with installing the hinges for the control surfaces. You have to install the landing gear, wheel pants, cowling etc. You also have in install the radio system, control rods, and power plant.

Ready to Fly RC Airplanes(ARF's)

If you're looking to get into the sky with the least amount of time and fuss, an RTF RC airplane is clearly the right choice. All you have to do is charge the batteries and go fly! That's it!

The popularity of electric RTF RC airplanes has really taken off recently. The shear simplicity, convenience, and relatively low cost have lead to tons of more people joining this wonderful hobby over the past few years.

Electric Park Flyers

As with any type of RC airplane, it is always best to get help from an experienced flyer when learning to fly. However, if you don't have the luxury of joining a club or getting the assistance from an experienced RC pilot, it is possible to learn to fly on your own with electric park flyers.

Below is a sample of the types of park flyers available. Visit the park flyers page for more a more in depth description of various electric ready to fly RC airplanes.

Sport Type RTF RC Airplanes

There are tons of stand off scale cubs and other types of sports planes available as RTF RC Airplanes.

Again, if you don't have an experienced pilot to show you the ropes, it is possible to learn to fly on your own with a high winged ready to fly electric RC airplanes such as one of these cubs.

But if you're a new pilot, save the mid and low wing planes for when you have some experience under your belt.

Warbird RTF RC Airplanes

Are you looking for an electric powered warbird? It seems that more and more of these guys hit the market each day. Some of these birds with brushless motors and lipo batteries can literally burn up the sky! These guys are not designed for beginner pilots.

Electric Jet RTF RC Airplanes

Both ducted fan and pusher type RTF electric jets are available. You can also choose between fighter jets and commercial jets.

These ready to fly RC Airplanes are definitely a blast to fly, just make sure you have enough experience to handle them! A beginner could probably handle the Diabolo or A7 tornado, but I'd suggest starting out with something a little tamer.

Ready to Fly Nitro Trainers

Trainers are about the only kind of nitro powered ready to fly RC airplane, and even they are sort of a rare breed.

These planes come with the engine and electronics installed and ready to go. This saves about a week's worth of assembly time. So if you're really pinched for time and want to learn to fly nitro planes, these are perfect for you.

Hobbico's Nexstar is pretty much the Cadillac of ready to fly Nitro Trainers. It comes with a simulator. It has on-board sensors that monitor the model's attitude and adjusts the roll and pitch to keep the plane flying level. It also has a few other odds and ends that other trainers don't have.

Radio Comparison

The Hanger 9 Alpha 40 is the only nitro powered ready to fly RC airplane listed below that comes with Spektrum’s DX5e 5-channel spread spectrum radio system as opposed to the 4 channel 72MHz system of the Nexstar. In my opinion (for nearly the same price), the radio system of the Alpha outweighs all of the extras on the Nextstar.

All the rest of the below ready to fly RC trainers come with conventional 72Mhz radio system.

Engine Comparison

The Hanger 9 Alpha 40 comes with the Evolution Power Trainer System. The Nexstar has an OS FX Series Engine. The Nitro Air Strike has a Megatech M-46 Engine. All of these are good powerful ball bearing supported engines.

The Hobbico Superstar Select comes with a O.S 40LA engine. The LA Series of engines do not have ball bearings. This means that the engine with this airplane will not be as powerful as the engines in the planes mentioned above.

The Hobbistar 60 is a little bit larger than the others, and has a O.S. 65LA Engine. Again, since there are no bearings in the engine, this airplane will not have the pep as the first three planes mentioned.

If you're a new pilot, please make sure you get the help from an experienced pilot before trying to fly one of these guys.