Aero Ace &Ultrix

Webpage

by Bill Kuhl

Introduction

Think about how much fun radio controlled model airplane flying would be if you did not have to worry about damaging your airplane in a crash.  With the Aero Ace by Air Hog, this could be reality, at least I have never seen one damaged. All-up weight is slightly less than 20 grams with a wingspan less than 9 inches. The majority of the plane is made from a squeezable foam that will absorb the shock of almost any crash. Control is done entirely by varying the thrust of two electric motors on the back of the wing independently, by radio control.  Also included on this webpage is the Ultrix by Hobbico which is larger and not as crash-resistant.  

Note

It has come to my attention that there are planes that look identical to the Aero Ace, but the performance is very disappointing. I suggest only purchasing the Aero Ace sold by Air Hog.

Aero Ace Jet - New

Just started flying the Aero Ace Jet, flies well, but you will probably need more area for flying than with the Aero Ace biplane.

Where to Find the Aero Ace and Ultrix

Toys-R-Us might have the best price for the Aero Ace at  $29.95, other retailers such as Walmart, Kmart, or Target  might have Aero Ace in their toy departments. There is more chance that the Ultrix could be found in hobby shops.

Larger Ultrix on the left, Aero Ace on the Right.

Side view of Aero Ace 

Ultrix
Results of a straight-in crash, easily repaired. Ultrix uses separate charger powered by C-size batteries.

The Hobbico Ultrix has many similarities to the Aero Ace, but it is vastly different in many ways.  The Ultrix is a larger and much heavier with a weight of 52 grams. You can not fly it in as small of an area as the Aero Ace and it climbs slower.  I flew my Ultrix in a room the size of an average gym and it barely turned tight enough to avoid the walls.  It does seem to fly smoother than the Aero Ace, but still can not stand much of a breeze. The construction is of foam that will break as I found out when wind forced my Ultrix into a dive it would not recover from. Repairs are easily made with foam-safe CA however.

Frequencies

Call me a "CAB".  I labeled the three frequencies with large press-on letters for easy identification.

 Aero Ace is available on three different frequencies, all in the 27 mhz band. Most all radio controlled airplanes were flown on frequencies in the 27 mhz band at one time, but then the CB radio craze hit, and it was thought to be safer to fly on frequencies in the 72 mhz band.  The three different frequencies in the 27 mhz band are labeled; A, B, C so you do not know exactly what the frequency is in mhz. There are six different color combinations for airplanes, so do not assume like I did, that each one is a separate frequency.  The frequency letter should be on the bottom-right corner of the box, so you know what you are buying looking at the front of the box in the store.  To find the frequency letter on the transmitter, look at back of left side of transmitter. On the airplane, it is on the bottom of the nose in front of the switch.  The label is very small so I chose to put large press-on letters on both my planes and transmitters for quick identification.

Frequency location on backside of the transmitter. Frequency of plane in lower-right corner of the box.

 

Charging Aero Ace from transmitter. Frequency label above small switch, charging jack below that.

 Flying

 

Flying outdoors is only possible when it is almost Calm!

Where can you fly it?

 Indoors – the Aero Ace can fly easily inside of any gym. The instructions that came with the plane say you can fly inside of a double-car garage. With skill, no doubt this is possible, but it would be much easier to learn in a larger area.

 Outdoors - Aero Ace can not fly in very much wind at all.  Even as your flying skills improve, flying in wind will not be fun. Light in weight and rather high in drag, the Aero Ace will not penetrate even the lightest breeze.  Most of your outdoor flying will be early morning or evening when the wind is down.  Flying during the day, even if almost calm, you risk you Aero Ace being sucked in a thermal.  I found out the other evening, it can go up in early evening thermal lift.  

Balance

Every Aero Ace I have seen has been slightly tail-heavy and required a small amount of nose weight. I am still trying to find an easy method to apply nose weight that absorbs some shock to the nose but does not fall off. Some people are apply modeling clay to the nose, but this can come off.  Currently I am experimenting with a small amount of solder glued to the nose with foam-safe CA and then a small amount of clay applied over the solder.

Learning to Fly

Having flown a fair number of planes without pitch control (no elevator), flying the Aero Ace was very easy for me.  Increasing the throttle will increase the rate of climb, decreasing will do the opposite. Turning sharp will also decrease the rate of climb.  With a thrust vectoring plane you are also reducing the power on one motor whenever you make a turn. Even tight circles might not bring the Aero Ace down without reducing power.  Tighter turns can be done to the right than the left. There are times I cut the power completely to bring the plane down faster, but there is no control when gliding with the Aero Ace.  If the Aero Ace is getting more than 50 feet high, I bring it down so as to not risk going out of range. It is my understanding that when the Aero Ace goes out of range, the power remains at current level, it does not drop. This could easily result in your plane flying out of sight.  

Model Aviation Class Flies the Aero Ace

As part of a model aviation class I was teaching, I had students 8 to 10 years old flying my three Aero Ace planes on different frequencies indoors in a gym.  They had a great time, and did well flying for the most part.  After many, many hits to the walls, the only damage were a few wrinkles in the tail of the plane. I did not use the decals in the hope of saving a little weight, the decals might have added some strength to the tail section.  

As part of the lesson, I brought a Micro Flyer plane and pointed out the differences from the Aero Ace. We discussed how the Aero Ace could survive crashes so well; light weight, props in the rear of the wing, and the type of foam construction. Also talked about the lithium battery that makes the long flights possible.

Tips

My Start in Indoor RC

I started flying RC indoors in the middle 90’s with a plane that used the Twin Turbo radio that was used for RC blimps.  Dave Robelen had an article in Model Aviation Magazine at that time for a plane that could be flown indoors using the Twin Turbo radio. 

 The transmitter setup for the Twin Turbo was not the easiest to use for model airplane flying. The two sticks could go forward or backwards from the neutral point.  To fly you would hold both sticks forward and then quickly drop the stick to neutral for the direction you wish to turn.  If you pulled that stick all the way back it would reverse the thrust for that motor, never tried that.  Probably would have done a spin into the ground.

The only choice in batteries at that time were 50 mah nicad batteries, which did not give very good duration and the power was really marginal. You can see the plane in the background was of a profile frame construction. My friend that designed the plane, also carved some nice wood props. If you did not have a good match for propellers, the plane would not climb at all.  Just the same, we thought it was really great to be able to fly a RC plane indoors.

 Aero Ace and Ultrix use a more conventional transmitter configuration with speed control on the left and turning control on the right.  The speed control is spring loaded to the center which is not needed, I understand some people remove the spring, I do not see it as a big issue.  Right stick does not have a good feel to it either, but it does not really matter.

Twin Turbo Plane Finds New Life With Aero Ace Equipment

AeroAceMods.com has a package deal of three airborne units and a switchable transmitter for $79.95.  When my order arrived, I put the first airborne unit in a plane that my friend had built for the Twin Turbo radio. With only a few minutes work, I had a plane ready to fly.  This plane looked really large set next to the tiny Aero Ace bipe, the wingspan of this plane is 27 inches and it weighs 34 grams, Aero Ace bipe weight is around 19 grams.  Looks can be deceiving, this plane would easily climb to an altitude with only a fraction of the power available.  No Doubt this is because of a lower wing loading with so much wing area.  I now have some 3 mm Depron foam to build my own design plane using the Aero Ace equipment.  Stay tuned....

Really stable flyer. Aero Ace Bipe looks pretty tiny in comparison.

AeroAce Mods.com Order - The Website has Disappeared, maybe the company as well.

Switch between frequencies with the flip of a switch. Aero Ace with light kit held by Tx clip.

Sent in my first order to AeroAce Mods.com recently, order arrived quickly and in perfect shape. Purchased a variety of items, both large and small.  First item I had to try out was their Ultimate Tx, the Aero Ace transmitter that allows switching between all three frequencies by moving a switch on the outside of the transmitter. This is really convenient when you have several planes, Just grab this transmitter and you can fly any of your airplanes. The spring on the speed control side has been removed and the clip to hold the Aero Ace to the transmitter is included.  It really is much nicer flying with the spring removed on the transmitter.

I purchased another Aero Ace with the light kit already installed. Two small colored lights are very bright for their small size.  Hopefully I can get some night pictures of this Aero Ace flying. 

Battery, landing gear, and clip.

 Links

Aero Ace Tips Website

                                                   << Return to AMA Cub / Delta Dart Website >>