E-flite Apprentice 15e RTF Aerobatic Trainer w/Spectrum DX5e Radio

I ordered this plane from A Main last Monday, so that I could put it together on Tuesday, and fly it the next day on the 4th of July. This is the first real plane I've ever flown, so I was a little apprehensive about spending $300 bucks on something I might auger straight into the ground at 60mph.

Assembly was very easy. I had to trim some length from the pegs that locate the vertical stabilizer, because they were a little too long, leaving about 1/8 inch of play in the horizontal stabilizer when the screws were all the way bottomed out, but that only took a few seconds.

The nose wheel was not properly aligned with the rudder from the factory, but a like the issue with the stabilizer mount, it took all of 30 seconds to fix.

Fortunately, I read the other review here on A Main prior to ordering, and bought some 30 minute epoxy along with the kit. This is a requirement and should be listed! Epoxying the wings together took just a few minutes, and then I let it set overnight.

If you want to do a lot of flying, I'd recommend buying a real charger. The thing that comes with it is a joke. We have a variety of lipo chargers for our RC cars, so I never even bothered with the included charger. The plane can fly for 20-30 minutes depending on what you're doing, and putting the 3S lipo on a real charger at 5amps charges it right back up before you're even worried about flying again.

On to the flying - this thing flies great! It has so much power, it will jump right off the ground with a 8-10 foot roll out. I had some scary moments on the first few flights due to some light gusts of wind (5-7mph). Being so lightweight, the plane really reacts violently to the breeze.

The plane flies awesome. VERY fast straight line performance for a trainer type, and quick snap rolls, loops, etc. My first attempts at landing were pretty sketchy, because of the cross wind, and I was trying to keep a small amount of throttle to keep the plane from stalling. Once I realized I needed to be a zero throttle, it was a piece of cake. The plane pretty much never stalls, and if for some reason it does, it has

As the day rolled on, my confidence continued to climb (as did my blood alcohol content). The wind was a steady 10+mph, far too much for this plane, but a real kick in the pants to fly in. Heading into a 10mph wind, the plane can take off with approximately 1 foot of roll or less. You just set the plane down, hold full elevator up, and go wide open throttle. It will jump straight into the air and be 40-50 feet high before it's traveled forward more than a few steps. Landing into a strong wind is similar. We were messing around, and had a few instances of touchdown-complete stop-takeoff, all in less than the length of the plane itself.

I couldn't ask for anything more of this plane. I highly recommend it to anybody.

I love my Apprentice, whenever I want simple, stress free relaxing flying I take this plane out. It loops and stall turns well but it's so stable that any other aerobatics are awkward enough to make me laugh everytime. I get 18 to 22min. casual flying time. This is a PERFECT trainer and even though I have faster sport planes and the E-Flite PT-17 Stearman for more of a challange, the Apprentice gives me the simple joy of watching the magic of flight on slow passes right next to me without much concentration or concern of crashing. I would like to see an option of a nylon wing bolt to replace the rubber bands and the plastic nose wheel collar can crack easily if you tighten it a little to much, I replaced mine with a metal one after it cracked. For $300 you get a fantastic deal and a wonderful plane that looks pretty sharp...

I just bought this as my very first RC Airplane after much research. I'm extremely happy with it. I've never flown before (several hours on flight simulator G 5.5) and just completed my 5'th flight session (with multiple takeoffs and landings) with no crashes. Today, I flew in about 10-15 mph wind. It definately felt the wind, and did great in a crosswind landing, although it wasn't that smooth and my part. Very forgiving! One of the aelierons on one of the wing halves came out of the box torn/ripped half way along the length. My LHS replaced it with a brand new one (I'm keeping that one for a spare) and I taped/repaired the broken one with packing tape and I can't tell the difference. I've flown up to 20 minutes so far and the battery was down to 10.75 volts. Very easy to do rolls, loops and other aerobatics, although they do look ackward due to my lack of flying experience. The only other thing that I was dissapointed with is the fact that even though this is a RTF, I didn't find out until assembly time that you need some 30 minute epoxy to glue the 2 wing halves together. That kind of annoyed me, meaning another trip to the LHS. Some people say that they didn't/don't bother with the epoxy, but nonetheless, it doesn't make any mention of the need for it until you are at home putting it together. The bottom of the fuselage, on the back half, has some different type of porous styrofoam that has 3 vent holes drilled in it, which are very weak since there isn't a lot of support/material between each hole. I learned the hard way that they plane should not be picked up in that area, as the bridge section between one set of two holes broke. There wasn't a need to epoxy it, as it still fits together tightly and only gets dispaced by your hand. It's fine while flying and landing since being in a place that isn't hit hardly ever. Basically, I'm extremely happy with the whole kit. I'm only giving it a rating of 4 due to the broken wing upon arrival and the broken styrofoam on the bottom of the fuselage. I would recommend this plane to anybody, especially beginners, in a heartbeak. I'm very pleased. Now, I have to buy a couple of more batteries to extend my flight sessions. Found a couple on Ebay for a smoking price (30C's, not the stock 15C's) for $54.99 shipped.