FlyZone Switch Review

I have been following your reviews for quite a while and I really enjoyed seeing your review of the Switch both for the content and for the style. It really feels good to get this kind of feedback. Hopefully most customers will feel the same way.

Believe it or not, the Switch initial design begun back in September 2007…

Back then, the new Flyzone product manager, Bing Sheng, and I sat down and discussed what was going to be the new Flyzone plane. I had just finished designing the Reactor and Reactor Bipe for the Great Planes line so I was hot on aerobatic performance, but we wanted the plane to be capable of trainer-like performance too…and that is how the idea of the 2-wing position came about. Because of the level of performance desired, we knew that we needed a good power system and because we wanted the plane to be really special we also knew that we needed to pay attention to all design details. I personally always though that many EPO-type airplanes had too many wires hanging out and that tape was used in too many places. I also did not like visible glue joints or plastic parts sticking out, breaking the hegemony of the surface, so I wanted to keep those to a minimum.

From that point on, we moved quickly. The low wing configuration was designed first, followed by the high wing configuration. I wanted the plane, especially the high wing, to have a very aggressive, modern look so I looked at many modern European composite designs for inspiration. AutoCad drawings (2 and 3-views) were followed by SolidWorks 3D drawings. Then we used our laser cutter and CNC milling machine to create an in-house prototype out of blue and pink insulating foam. The prototype was tested once and again in all configurations and under as many conditions as we could simulate. I am happy to say that, aerodynamically, the only change needed was a slight increase in fin area. It is interesting to note that the prototype weighted 750g [26.5oz] RTF and that we added 25% additional weight to simulate the additional weight of the EPO material. The airfoil chosen allowed us to carry the weight well with still very good flying and landing speeds.

From here on all efforts turned to the manufacturing and marketing processes. Making the plane manufacturable did not take much effort as it was already created with that in mind, but “tuning” the manufacturing process took 4 different samples. There are a lot of things on this plane that make it hard to manufacture. The hidden in-tube wing magnets, the two positions the wing need to fit to perfectly, the removable stab, the hidden wires, the slide through landing gear, the magnetic cowl,…lots of little things that needed to be worked out in detail to make sure that the production run was reasonably fast while still consistent. We even tested several kinds of glues to make sure that what we used would not “yellow out” overtime, thus bringing attention to a glue seam.

Lots of people were involved in this process, and everyone did their best to get this plane done right. They all deserve a pat in the back for their part. In the end we are very happy with what we came up with. I have the first production plane with me and I’ll probably just keep it un-built (as I do with many of my designs) just so I can check it out every once in a while.

I hope that anyone who ends up flying it has as much fun as I did during the design process. This plane was meant to be special, and I think that we achieved that.

Thank you again for your kind words. Have a good one.

Miguel Frontera