...geronimo ! This morning I tried out the dropping bay of the Art Tech Turbo Porter with a trio of intrepid parachutists. I had tried dropping before, initially with my car keys which seemed like less of a good idea as I watched them spiralling down through the air for what seemed like ages before they actually hit the ground.
And I tried it again with two paratroopers fresh out the pack. The bay works a treat, but it turns out you have to unpack the parachutes somewhat for it to unfurl. It's been a while since I played with parachute men. Anyhow, this morning th edrop worked a treat, with the three carefully packed parachutes blossoming open on cue a fraction of a second after I flipped the switch. The wind was a little stronger than I expected, so the chutes drifted scenically across the field. As it happened, turning the Porter around trying to lose some height in the rather restricted space, I collected one of the parachute party who got snagged onto the wing. I didn't need to search for that one at least...
...flies as good as it should The moments before a plane taking off on its first flight are a bit odd, a mix of trepidation and expectation. Additionally, I find, with the larger planes I wonder to myself whether they will actually get airborne. With the Turbo Porter my fears were unfounded, as this is a very well sorted airplane; it takes off very easily, just easing off the ground on about two thirds throttle and will cruise happily on half power.
The pre-installed flaps have excellent travel with full flaps slowing the Porter down to little more than jogging speed. The large control surfaces also give you instant confidence which, combined with the PC6's unflappable demeanour, makes flying this plane an absolute pleasure. Aerobatics are easy, and any it will stabilise quickly from any incident. Of course, with its scale detail, it also looks great in the air and it's rugged undercarriage makes takeoff and landing very easy. On the subject of undercarriage, I didn't screw in the lower strut mounting, allowing the strut to slide in the mount to give the suspension additional flex which I think works great. Now just to get the paratroopers organised for some air drops using the integrated dropping bay...
...lovely plane & lovely kit The Art Tech PC6 Turbo Porter is a high-quality kit all round - well boxed, accurately moulded and well put together. All the servos and linkages are installed, you just need to connect the tail linkages to the control horns, and all the decals are pre-applied as well which I like as ones like the windows can be tricky.
The servos for the drop cavity (bomb bay) and tow hook are also installed. There's a convenient access hatch on top of the fuselage to get to the tail servos if required at some stage. Overall the Art Tech Turbo Porter looks like an excellent aircraft; now's here's hoping it flies like a PC6 should...
