Is gas slowly dying?

[JWilliams]

I have only had one electric plane but find myself uninterested in gas. I think it could be fun to tinker with, but that could also be annoying, and mainly given where I fly, noise is a problem.

I know gas still has great duration and power to weight, but for most planes (3d, parkflyers, etc.) is glow slowly going away?

The only exception to my inexperienced interest is in cars, if I ever get a nice RC car I'd like it to be gas because it would add another level of complexity to a 2d vehicle.

[Grasshopper]

As far as my hanger goes, gas (glo) is dead and gone. 13 electric planes and growing. No going back for me.

[firemanbill]

I don't think so. Gas/glow will be around as long as there are folks who fly!

I do think the majority of folks that are getting into the hobby nowadays are going the electric route. I know I did anyway.

[JWilliams]

Originally Posted by firemanbill

I don't think so. Gas/glow will be around as long as there are folks who fly!

I do think the majority of folks that are getting into the hobby nowadays are going the electric route. I know I did anyway.

It'll always be there, but I was thinking it may become somewhat fringe and be at the back of hobby stores or receive less and less traffic to glow internet forums and things...

[firemanbill]

eventully yes. But the guys that have been in the hobby for years that have been flying glow will continue to do so. Say guys that are in there 40's and 50's that have been flying for 20 or 30 years are not going to stop flying glow to get electric stuff. These guys, God willing, will be around flying for another 20 or 30 years at least!

The Electric side will continue to grow though, by leaps and bounds as it has already in the last couple of years. It will continue to be the fastest growing sector of the hobby.

Glow die... not for a while!

[NYCstevo]

Eventually I'd like to build a giant scale areobatic plane and I want it to be gas... I like the realistic sound of the larger engines. Do you think that even with the larger models the majority of flyers will build them electric?

[firemanbill]

No I don't think so. The price for the really big stuff done electric is incredibly expensive!!!

Until the cost equals out between the two the Big stuff will continue to be gas.

[Twizter68]

Glow/gas will stick around, probably as long as you can still get the "Juice"

I have a Giant Scale Corsair waiting in my attic for me to retire and build....and get the $2K engine.....

[Elfwreck]

Hey now,
Neither glow nor gas are dying. They're not even slowing down.
Sure some of us "old timers" have hung up our glow motors for electric, I got tired of the two stroke whine. But plenty haven't, and a fair amount of electric guys are trying glow as they move up to bigger models.

Two guys I often fly with started just this past year with 'leccies and they've both bought wet sporty fourties recently.

I keep looking for something cool to put my O.S. .26 four stroke in, and plan on buying a lager four stroke in the nearish future. Also if I can ever afford it I really want a 100cc gas model. Prolly a Yak...

Electric is growing fast and many folk only see leccies cause they fly rennagade at local parks. But eventually many of them join clubs and then they see more wet power models and a fair number try them out.

The club I'm in is right in the middle of a city.
Alameda Hornet Squadron.com
is the web site, we're right in Alameda next to a popular sports club. we get a lot of lookers and some want to try it out. Of those, some want to fly leccies and some want the roar of wet power.

Most wet power sites are out in the boonies, so folks don't see them and aren't aware that wet power is still an option.

No, glow/gas isn't dying, leccies are just growing fast and swelling our numbers (yea!).
RobII

[rcers]

They're not even slowing down.

Now common - I am a 28+ year pilot - now all electric. Same with 3 of my buddies.

I look at my LHS - and electric is now HALF of the shop - and although both are busy the electric was one display case 2 years ago.

I go to events (not just electric only) and many electrics showing up now - especially on larger ships.

You can't tell me it is not slowing down.

Mike

[Old Man]

I started flying in 1978 and for the past four years my entire fleet has been electric. There is a new eletric only field with in 45 minutes of my house that I am considering joining.

I was considering building another IC plane becasue of the windly conditions in the Austin area but the guys at the local IC field are hard headed IC only jerks. I don't need them or their attitudes.

If I remember correctly (and I am sure someone will correct me if I am wrong) the AMA is looking into a reduced rate parkflyer membership. If the AMA is considering parkflyers, there must be a decline in IC and an upward swing in electrics. After all they need to look at trends for future growth.

Just my $0.02

[rclark]

The magazines too are really pushing EP.

Alas at our field, is no go for EP. As said above most are ages 50-90 and will not change. The younger crowd who come to the field are still encourged to fly glow and use Futaba radios. Every time EP comes up, 'expense' enters the conversation and effectively kills the EP idea. So it will take awhile for it to 'take hold' at our field. EP is 'neat' but to 'expensive'. Nice bunch of guys though! Oh well, I will continue flying EP. I enjoy it.

[JWilliams]

Originally Posted by rclark

The magazines too are really pushing EP.

Alas at our field, is no go for EP. As said above most are ages 50-90 and will not change. The younger crowd who come to the field are still encourged to fly glow and use Futaba radios. Every time EP comes up, 'expense' enters the conversation and effectively kills the EP idea. So it will take awhile for it to 'take hold' at our field. EP is 'neat' but to 'expensive'. Nice bunch of guys though! Oh well, I will continue flying EP. I enjoy it.

How are the prices different? I know that with a gas you can skip the motor, the ungodly pricey lipo pack, its associated charger, and ESC, but with gas you'd need the engine and a gas tank at least, plus a smaller pack to power the rec. How do costs differ at the moment (I know electric is coming down quickly).

[Flyingace451]

I'll always love gas planes...even if I can't afford one. I've flown only electric my whole career but there's just something about the sound and throb of a nitro engine that gets the blood pumping. As soon as I can afford a decent glo plane I'm going to get one. Electrics weren't worth a flip a couple of years ago, but now with brushless motors and lipo batteries, most gas planes are being converted or thrown away. Still, many people who never go on these forums still think that electrics suck, only to drop their jaw to see a Funtana 90 have more vertical than theirs, but have an electric motor inside of it.

As a saying at my local club goes, "Come out and smell the methane!"

[spitace]

I think that the old guys will still fly glo, but it is slowly dying with them.

[Tom Moody]

Well, I started flying 3 years ago and met several others at our field that were also just starting with electric. Now I am the only one still only flying electric, the others have all moved to large glow planes or very expensive giant planes with hugh trailers to haul their planes in.

I am 70 years old but the others are all in their late 30's or early 40's. There are several old farts that have just started flying giant planes at our field also. They make so much noise I am looking for some other flying field because the older giant guys are at the field every day all summer long.
I cannot stand the noise those guys planes make.

Tom Moody

[Solid Hit]

I flew wet fuel 30 years ago and gave up until I reemerged a year or so ago into electric.

There are less and less places to fly wet due to size and noise but where there is a club, it is firmly entrenched and not just with the older fliers. Truth be known I still think of the sound and smell get a little yearning. Then I remember the mess and the fact that I just couldn't go outside and throw a plane up. I had to get prepared then clean my stuff for 1/2 an hour before putting it in my car.

Now with the coming of real gas for fuel and that those motors are coming down in size and cost ...... the larger planes are still calling me.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by rcers

Now common - I am a 28+ year pilot - now all electric. Same with 3 of my buddies.

I look at my LHS - and electric is now HALF of the shop - and although both are busy the electric was one display case 2 years ago.

I go to events (not just electric only) and many electrics showing up now - especially on larger ships.

You can't tell me it is not slowing down.

Mike

Hey now,
Doesn't mean gas and glow are slowing down or dying, just that leccies are growing. Sure a lot of beginners are starting with e-power, but many of them do try wet power, also look at the cost of a third scale gaser vs. a third scale leccie, the average person can't afford that amount of cash or you'd see a lot more jets at clubs.
RobII

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by Old Man

...If I remember correctly (and I am sure someone will correct me if I am wrong) the AMA is looking into a reduced rate parkflyer membership. If the AMA is considering parkflyers, there must be a decline in IC and an upward swing in electrics. After all they need to look at trends for future growth.
Just my $0.02

Hey now,
So the AMA is trying to bring in those noobs who are flying in parks, yet another source of revenue. An upswing in leccies does *not* mean a decline in wet power, and we are all the more fools to think that.
Parkiesare going like ukies did in the fifties, folks are flying them *everywhere* so more folks are seeing them and so the leccie ranks are growing. Prety cool, but an end to glow/gas? Don't count on it.
RobII

[Don Sims]

All I say is... death to all slimers... the planes that is not the pilots!

[GeekGod]

I predict that the electrics will become 80% more powerful in the next three years. With this I also predict that charging technology will make huge leaps as well.

So with this I give "wetties" 3 more years until there just isnt any more reasons not to use electric. But we'll see.

Oh! I feel safe saying this on an electric only forum

[Flyingace451]

The only "slimers" I know of are the people that hate electric planes to the core. Those guys are such old farts you want to kick them in the pelvis and watch it break...I hate those guys. You pull out a flat plate foamy to throw around and they start to tell you how it's not a real plane and how you must be poor because you don't have a gasser with you. I'm sorry, but most older people I know deserve to grow older and go into the ground, because nothing decent comes out of their mouth. If they crash a plane "The plane sucked anyway". If I greet them at the LHS "I don't need your help so stop bugging me". Most of you guys on the forums are great, it's the un social people that really get annoying like that. And don't get me started on what the older gas flyers say when you pull out a heli...

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by JWilliams

How are the prices different? I know that with a gas you can skip the motor, the ungodly pricey lipo pack, its associated charger, and ESC, but with gas you'd need the engine and a gas tank at least, plus a smaller pack to power the rec. How do costs differ at the moment (I know electric is coming down quickly).

Hey now,
Fair question, lets look at it.
Glow:
ARF Trainer, $100.-$160
"Basic" computor radio, Optic six is around $190. with servos
.46 glow engine, $55-$165
Ground Support (starter, pump, ignightor battery) $60.-$90.
Gallon of fuel, $9. (5 percent)
total low end: $414.
Total high end524

Electric:
ARF trainer, $55-$150
"basic" computor radio, $190
"decent" brushless motor, $90 (E-Flite, Axi etc.)
ESC, $45-$135
Charger, $125 (Triton, Astro 109, etc.)
Batteries, $80-$170 Thunder power 2100 3s or 42003s2p one pack.
Total low end585
Total high end770

Yeah, I guess there's a price difference there. And with this estimate you're only getting one flight per hour.
Sure, you could go cheaper with leccies by buying chinese no name stuff, but you could go cheaper with glow by flying half As too.
RobII

[TeslaWinger]

I couldn't imagine driving for 45 minutes to fly a quiet electric and a chance to wait for my channel to be clear- and have to deal with someone's ego- when all I wanted to do was relax and fly with my limited free time!

Unless someone actually sees your plane in the air they won't even know you are there! There is a lot to be said for flying in your own yard (assuming you have one...) or at the nearest open area. I don't need to drive to the hinterlands just to fly, with 4 excellent fields less than a mile from here for my largest planes- which are E gliders.

About 6 yrs ago after flying electric very successfully, I decided to try a glo motor on a flying wing I had since it would be easier to mount on a pylon than an electric and the battery. It was the last time I went to the field and couldn't fly since it wouldn't start. I threw it in the trash and never regretted it!

Of course if you require multiple hp, electric will be very expensive and gas would be hard to beat, as Bill said- but I don't need a model that size to have fun.

Just like the thousands of grass field airports that have disapeared due to receding undeveloped land and noise issues, they will need to drive further and further until it no longer is fun enough (or too costly in terms of gas and time) to bother with!

OLD MAN, if the AMA wants to continue they will have to realize that a (relatively) slow and light electric is not the same risk as a flaming jet and price participation accordingly. They might find themselves irrelevant if they are geared for the waning market (in terms of participation!)

Fly safe
TW

[B.L.E.]

Well, here we are in the 21st century and some people still ride horses, shoot rifles that you load by pouring gunpowder down the barrel, hunt with bows and arrows, sail wooden boats powered by wind, write with fountain pens, keep old steam trains running, and even fly control line and free flight model airplanes. My bold prediction is that decades from now, people will still be doing all these things in addition to flying "traditional" RC planes built from balsa and powered by glow engines. Why? Because this is a hobby! Because the scent of burning castor oil is perfume to their noses and the sound is music to their ears. Because they simply love glow engines! And I say, more power to them! It's their hobby, let them enjoy it!