E-Flite Cherokee 1.3M BNF Basic With AS3X and Safe Select

A fun foam-composition staple of general aviation

By Greg Gimlick | [email protected]

Photos provided by the author

THIS IS AS CLOSE to instant satisfaction as I could hope to get. As I unpacked the box, it was clear that the assembly would only require the use of 11 screws and no glue. The parts bag held those and a little antenna that mounts on top of the fuselage. That’s it!

The details molded into the airplane are impressive, and the size of the canopy access to the fuselage innards was massive. I’m always happy when I can get my large hands inside of a model to do whatever eventual maintenance that might arise, so I could see that we were off to a good start.

The full-scale PA-28 Cherokee came off of the assembly line in the early 1960s, and more than 32,000 Cherokees and variants have been produced since then. According to Wikipedia, it’s the fourth most produced airplane in history. This model represents the most popular version with the "Hershey bar wing," which is constant-chord opposed to some later tapered variants.

Loops, rolls, and inverted flight were about what you’d expect from a Cherokee. Stalls were gentle and easily recovered from without a tendency to snap or fall off to one side.

Assembly

If you’re looking for a build project, you’re going to be sorely disappointed. This airplane should take about 20 minutes to assemble, and that’s assuming you take time to read the manual. Please, as always, thoroughly read the manual and any addendums. In my case, there was one addendum that addressed a correction to the manual on flap values.

In usual E-flite fashion, the company provides charts with settings for each of its radios, and I found the sequence easy to follow for my iX14. There is also a QR code in the manual that takes you to a video of a DX6e transmitter being programmed for the Cherokee. It doesn’t get much easier than that.

After you’ve programmed the transmitter, you can begin assembling the Cherokee, which starts with installing the full-flying horizontal stabilizer. There is a tail cover that requires you to remove the three screws to detach it and expose the nifty mechanism that will control the stabilizer. The stabilizer will go in right-side-up or upside down, but it will only fully seat in the mounting bracket if you have it right-side-up.

Be sure to check that it’s fully seated. If the airplane is upside down, the carbon-fiber rod in the stabilizer will be down into the bracket. Secure it with two screws and replace the tail cover.

The nose gear is preinstalled, but you need to attach the main gear to the wing. It will only go in one way, so that’s easy, and it is retained with a cover and two screws each. The wing panels are then attached to the fuselage by inserting the wing tube through the fuselage and sliding each panel fully onto it.

The parts count is small, so there’s no big building project ahead.

A bit of effort tidying up the wires and ensuring that the antenna is clear of them makes a difference.

The horizontal stabilizer is attached to an internal control bracket.

The root of each wing panel has locator pins to help with proper alignment. That is important because they’ve employed a hands-free control connection system on each side. Be sure to carefully align everything and fully seat them so that the connectors make a good connection. When it is seated, two screws secure each side.

The plastic antenna mounts on top of the fuselage to the canopy release mechanism. One screw does the trick and you’ve completed assembly. Be sure to have the antenna mounted so that it sweeps aft for proper orientation. The last step is to attach the propeller and spinner, but I suggest that you do all of the final radio setup and binding first. This ensures that you don’t accidentally have an unexpected motor start should something be incorrectly programmed.

Control Throws and CG

There are no control throws listed, but the setup guide lists settings for high and low rates, plus exponential. I used these and they are fine with whatever the factory settings gives you. They use 10% exponential, and you can increase that after the initial flights. Because my radio allows for three rate settings, I programmed one between the high and low rates for a midrate setting.

The center of gravity (CG) is listed as 120mm from the leading edge at the fuselage, plus or minus 6mm. I have mine set right at the 120mm point, and it’s easily adjusted by moving the battery. Pay attention to where they say "at the fuselage" because the shape of the wing changes a couple of inches out from there, and you’ll measure incorrectly if you don’t. I measured it at the fuselage and extended a line out from there to make it easy to find and hold for checks. The airplane is best balanced with it upside down.

AS3X and SAFE

The receiver is set up at the factory to enable or disable SAFE Select. Because this is an airplane for intermediate to expert fliers, this allows you to decide whether you want SAFE as an option or not. Some people don’t like it, but when I am offered the option of SAFE Select, I opt to enable it. This allows me to either use it or turn it off and just have active AS3X by programming it to a switch. You can make this decision when you first bind the airplane, but you can always rebind it and later choose the mode that you prefer if you change your mind.

On that topic, you can access Forward Programming in your transmitter to adjust the AS3X settings, but the receiver is locked and will not let you adjust the SAFE settings. The stock settings for AS3X gains of 35 for roll, 60 for pitch, and 70 for yaw felt fine, so I did not adjust those.

Flying

Flyable weather finally arrived after a very long week of waiting, but it was worth the wait. Temperatures were in the low 80s and wind reached gusts of 15 mph, but it was mostly steady around 8 or 9 mph, according to my anemometer.

Club President Mike Everett double-checked all of the controls before the photo runs and handled the controls for those shots. Mike and Wayne Parish, a longtime flying buddy, are always good second opinions when I do these test flights.

The takeoff roll was easy despite some weeds cropping up, and the climbout was uneventful. The first flight was done in SAFE mode, and we all agreed that it was a bit more docile than we preferred, but it did what it was designed to do admirably. A flip of the switch disabled SAFE and we were flying comfortably in AS3X mode, which seemed to be nicely dialed in.

All of the initial flights were completed with the suggested Spektrum Smart Gen 2 4S 2,200 mAh LiPo battery packs. Power is more than adequate and, except for some aerobatic maneuvers, we seldom used more than half throttle. Loops, rolls, and inverted flight were about what you’d expect from a Cherokee and much more than any passenger could hope for. Stalls were gentle and easily recovered from without a tendency to snap or fall off to one side.

The factory-suggested settings provided more than enough throws for comfortable flying in sport or aerobatic regimes.

At a Glance

Specifications

Model type: Semiscale

Skill level: Intermediate to expert

Wingspan: 51.6 inches

Wing area: 482 sq. in.

Airfoil: Flat bottom

Length: 41 inches

Weight: 57.5 ounces with 4S 2,200 mAh LiPo battery

Wing loading: 17.3 ounces per sq. ft.

Radio: Five or six-plus channel

Construction: EPO foam

Price: $299.99

Test-Model Details (Measured)

Motor used: 3536-1000 Kv 14-pole brushless motor (included)

ESC used: Avian 70-amp Smart Lite Brushless ESC; 3S to 6S (included)

Servos: Six A330 9-gram submicro (included)

Battery: 3S or 4S 2,200 to 4,000 mAh LiPo (required)

Propeller: 10 × 7E (included) Radio system: Spektrum iX14 transmitter

Empty weight: 48 ounces

Ready-to-fly weight: 55.8 ounces with 4S 2,200 mAh LiPo battery

Maximum current: Full-throttle vertical climb with 4S pack was 47 amps

Wing loading: 16.66 ounces per sq. ft. (4S 2,200 mAh battery pack); 18.15 ounces per sq. ft. (4S 4,000 mAh pack)

Flight duration: 5 to 6 minutes

Requires: Six-plus-channel transmitter; 3S or 4S battery

Pluses

• Molded, scalelike details; LED navigation lights; strobes; beacon; and landing lights.
• Large top hatch for easy access to the battery area and electronics.
• AS3X and SAFE Select.
• Flyby telemetry.
• Smart Avian 70-amp ESC allows plenty of headroom on current.
• Full-flying horizontal stabilizer/elevator.
• Plug-in wing panels with hands-free servo connection system.
• Easy assembly.
• Solid flight performance.

Minuses

• Antenna attached to hatch latch is easily broken.
• Because the airplane targets advanced pilots, it would be nice if Forward Programming could be unlocked for SAFE adjustments.

Manufacturer/Distributor

E-flite/Horizon Hobby

www.e-fliterc.com

The wing employs built-in plugs for easy connection and locator pins to help perfectly align everything. The wing joiner is not depicted here, but itslides through the fuselage before mounting the wing panels

The main gear is secured to the wing with a plate and two screws. You can also see the flap control horns and wing retaining screws.

Landings were so much fun that we kept going around and doing them over and over. The flaps are effective but don’t surprise you with much pitching up of the nose; I didn’t mix anything in for that. After the airplane was thoroughly run through its paces with the stock 4S setup, I experimented with other battery packs.

The first option that I tried after the 4S pack was a 3S 2,200 mAh battery pack and it did just fine, but I missed the extra oomph of the 4S setup and the duration was reduced. I then tried a 4S 4,000 mAh pack. This added about 5 ounces to the weight of the airplane, but it handled it nicely. Wing loading increased to 18.15 ounces per sq. ft., so that was still a comfortable condition, and the balance was easy to adjust because of the size of the battery compartment. There is a Smart 4S 4,000 battery pack that is an ounce lighter than my pack and I think it would be a nice choice.

Conclusion:

The E-flite Cherokee is beautiful in the air and garnered a lot of attention at the field. The power system is nicely optimized for the model and it could make a nice scale upgrade for an intermediate pilot looking for their next aircraft. Although less expensive 3S packs will work, I recommend the 4S option for the best all-around flight performance and duration. The scalelike detailing is impressive, the assembly time is nothing, and it flew beautifully. What more could I ask for?

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