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Last night my wife and I went back to Bed, Bath and Beyond and returned the X-Plane for credit on her charge card. The moral of the story is do not let your wife buy you RC airplanes at a store that specializes in fancy home furnishings. And conversely, don't buy your wife a Valentine's Day present at the hobby shop. For the morbidly curious, I present here a verbatim transcript of some of the more sparkling passages from the X-Plane instruction manual. All spelling and grammer errors are in the original, for once. Key Features: Made of high impact duration material. Unique wing to get best stability and anti-wind in flight. Proportional speed, ascending and descending control. (Incidentally, this is not true) Intelligent lower battery alarm for plane and transmitter. Safety Precautions: Parents, this toy is recommended for children. Adult assemble is required. Avoid hitting people, pets or home furnishings. Cautions: Non-rechargeable batteries are not to be recharged. Do not submerge the toy into water that can damage the electronic assemblies. ( Apparently OK to submerge in water that won't damage it.) Note:. Under the environment with electrostatic discharge, the sample may malfunction and require user to reset the sample. Special Note to Adults: This toy is not intended for children under 3 years old. The charger is not a toy. (This from the instructions to install the bomb dropping mechanism) 1. Set the wafer connector in its housing of the body. 2. Address the wire, then put the releasing mechanism inside. (This from the instructions for the on-board digital camera) Caution: Adult assemble and disassemble are required. Some states may have restrictions on the aerial pictures taken, please contact your retailer for details. Also only take photos of own properties or public areas are recommended to avoid invading privacy. (From the instructions for flying preparation) After charging, plug out of the AC/DC adaptor and Plug of the R/C X-Plane. The specifications of the utilized unit must be adsolutely observed. Playground and Weather selection: a. In a wide open space. b. There is no water pool, high building, trees and high power wire in about 200m x 200m. c. It's better in a sunny day, and in calm wind or slight breeze. d. In order to have runway take off, please make sure the land is smooth and flat. Warm up before flying: a. Check if nose wheel, landing wheel and propeller are properly assembled, and all the fasteners are in good condition, especially the propeller should be in place for safety flight. b. Visual check the wing and body, shall be no deformed. c. Visual check the R/C X-Plane for its antenna, shall not wrap on the propeller, horizontal stabilizer or vertical stabilizer. (From the Flying Instructions) a. Set your R/C X-Plane in playground with a lane no less than 30 meter. b. Face its nose to the wind. Press Throttle Control (Decrease) button on transmitter 3 times and hold, to drive the propeller in maximum power. c. When your R/C X-Plane goes about 6 meters, stroke down the Elevator Control on transmitter to take off. d. When your R/C X-Plane goes about 15 meters high, you can release the accelerating button, let your R/C X-Plane fly in moderate power and goes up. e. You can fly your R/C X-Plane in different way by the combination of Elevator and Rudder Control. f. If the battery in your R/C X-Plane is nearly exhausted, the Speed Indicator on transmitter will blink. In this case, you can decrease your R/C X-Plane to lower power, stroke, stroke..Elevator Control up to let it lower down. When it lowers to about 15 meters, turn its nose toward the wind direction and press "Throttle Control Decrease to stop motor and glide down. Tom H. Nagel Columbus, OH |
