Inverted flight was hands off plus a slight amount of down elevator, upright flight was hands off. Not a spot of trim was needed, as I used a ruler to trim every surface neutral for flight..

Snap rolls were very nice, and inverted flat spin was really nice and floaty. I can see what some people were saying about the spin rate being a little slow, but it's just right for me.

I did throttle off landings from ~50 feet without any problem.. just pointing it down and then flaring up at the last minute.. floated her down right at my feet both times.. I also tried taxing around the grass a bit - good authority there.

Bar none, this is the best plane that I've ever flown in my life.. she has a lot of stable tracking in the wind - it was KIND of gusty out there, and I did notice some wing lifting, but it was completely manageable.. My 38" wingspan Fokker D.VII gets tossed around in the wind like a square of toilet paper, so this is a nice plane to fly around on windy days.

Well, two thumbs up for this fine bird - and two thumbs up for PA!

Let me just say wow! I am impressed with everything about this plane. It hovers better than any plane I own, that is for sure. With the incredibly light wing loading, it floats better than any of the fleet as well. Those winglets also make it knife edge like a dream.

Well after seeing the plane fly,reading everything here on the Rcgroups thread and wanting a plane this size,i got one today.Met Cliff from Atlanta Hobby and took one home from the Toledo show.This plane is everything i thought it would be(I have an Electric Shock already)after looking at all the other planes i was interested in, it was hands down getting the Katana MD.

This plane is SOOOO easy to land it's insane! Just cut the power and it'll glide right down. Then give small blips of power to arrest the descent rate and it'll do a perfect 3 point landing looking like a 40% plane. Guaranteed to put a smile on your dial!  Also with the extremely light weight and super strong landing gear.

I think every single person at the club commented on the KMD.... all amazed at how it flies!
I'm getting better at the hovering, it is SO easy in the KMD (as compared to the Kmini and my Fliton Extra330 60"), I would say just as easy as the Electric Shock, although I do still do it at tree top height in the KMD (not game enough for tail touches yet hehe).
Just as I was sick of all the attention on the KMD at the club someone else turned up with one!! Had a good chat to him, and he was also very happy with it (and this guy has LOTS of electric planes). He gave it a 9.5/10 and said it was the best ARF you can buy.
Well I always find it hard to put into words how a plane flies.... but the KMD really is amazing!

I was among the first to get the Katana MD. It is gorgeous... I can't say enough about it's good qualities. Definitely my favourite plane so far.

Prop hanging and torque rolling this thing is as easy as an indoor foamie. The vertical cg, thrust line and stabs are perfectly lined up by design so it basically harrier rolls axially with very little skill/input required. It will knife edge with only rudder input and zero coupling when you got the cg right on the sweet spot. And wait till you see the elevators and harriers!

I can’t help but repeating what has been said here many times before. What a beauty and what an outstanding technical achievement. The design may be already superhuman; the fabrication is almost non human, like from a different planet. Simply a miracle how al these intricate pieces have been put together. PA must be in big trouble now. How can they ever top this one?

Well, i'm back from my maiden flight, and what can i say...

I flew four packs, and did about ten landings... it was just awesome. That plane is so gentle when set up properly, and touches down like a feather!

You can say all you want, this thing behaves like a trainer! Even better then one. When i almost botched a landing attempt by getting too close to the side of the runway, full throttle and it was free and back in the air! You don't have that kind of power in a trainer, it would have hit the wheat field next to the strip.

I even tried some aerobatics. Just some rolls, loopings and blenders. But it was Awesome with a capital A. Soo much fun!

I'm glad i bought the KMD.

I know I guess I should have gone by the book and did all the trainer stuff but I know how I am and I pick up on stuff too quickly and would have easily have gotten bored. It is amazing how the KMD is my first plane and it is the easiest for me to fly and PA does definitely make a great product.

I finally got to maiden my KMD today. Kind of a record for me. Pulled it out of the box last Sunday and it was ready to fly last night. That says something about the quality of the KMD. It usually takes me a month to assemble an ARF many would build in a weekend.

And, I learned something today.

I CAN fly an airplane with the ailerons REVERSED!!!

I realised it as soon as it left the ground and managed to make one curcuit and then messed up about a foot off the ground. It hit wingtip first and almost cartwheeled. Sent the hatch flying about 10 feet. The KMD survived apparently unscathed. Same landing (if you could call it that  ) would have trashed my Jumping Jack.

Completely not like me! Even planes I've been flying for years I do a control check before every flight. I was so excited to fly it after reading about it for so long, I just plugged it in and off I went.

Anyway, after changing my underwear and doing a little re-programming the 2nd flight was sweet.

I just bought your Katana MD today, and upon opening it and inspecting the details I would just like to compliment you on a job amazingly well done! You have raised the bar for ARF's and ushered in a new era of airplane design. The industry desperately needed a fresh design such as the Katana.

I got to go to the airfield today to watch another pilot fly his Katana. He couldn't stop talking about how it made him feel like a better pilot ( and only after the first day of flying it) because of how easy it made 3D maneuvers. All the pilots stopped to watch when he was flying. It was truly a sight to behold. I got to fly mine later today and it was the best experience in the past 3 years that I have had flying an RC airplane. The effortless harriers, knife edges,water falls and the list goes on and on.  Just wanted to thank you guys and let you know how your innovations are rocking the rc world. Thanks- Sam M.

Hi guys...

I purchased the KMD last September after watching RadioRookie fly it. However it sat in the box until abt 1.5 months ago when I built and starting flying it.

My basic skills are flying straight, stall turns, rolls, loops, hovers, torque rolls, rolling circles, inverted fig 8s, immelmans, etc...all done as close as possible with good safety margin to spectators, but low to the ground...I enjoy flying low!

First impression flying the KMD for the 1st time with the recommended low rates / expo was overall an OK......for my taste, the aileron response was SPOT on, with the elevator being VERY sensitive to input and the rudder a bit on the slower side.

Since then, I have had abt 200 flights (last week alone was abt 100 - took annual leave just to tame this monster!)...my skills grew exponentially to being able to do inverted harriers fig 8s, harrier rolling circles and latest is strainght line rolling harriers (still learning to do this better)....had a couple of hard landings recovernig too low, enuff to break the landing gear but the nothing else broke! Still have a lot more to learn...... with the KMD.

Im now flying full rates with ever decreasing expo to get the response faster...started out with 100% expo on the elevators, down to 55% now. With constant tweaking of the setup, the KMD feels so much better in all of it axis now.

I have to say from the bottom of my heart that I have not had such an awakening! My zest to fly is at an all time high, more so because I can get my flying skills improving week after week! I have to say that this plane's capability, robustness and everything else has enabled me to rekindled my love to fly! I have slowed down for the last 2 years mainly becos I could not find something suitable to 'fit' my needs, Im a low weight freak (scratch build a 64" funfly with a wingloading of 8 oz per sq ft !!)..the KMD with its low wing loading really fits my requirement!

I hope to have more great adventures with the KMD and kudos to PA for putting this awesome piece of engineering togather!

On the same note, the build of this plane is out of the world, breezed thru the assembly portion.

PA, u have my support.

I might post a video out in the near future

regards

PS: RR, thanks for pestering me to fly the KMD and for helping me fix my Addiction and for all the help / tips! If it was not for you, I might not have come back to fly with so much 'drive'! Thanks buddy!

PPS: PA, if u are reading this....RR has done so much to support the local pilots who fly PA planes, he doesnt even charge for the repairs and assembly that he does, late night support calls, spare parts support, etc.

PPPS: I have an unbuilt Katana Mini too!

The Katana was a revelation to me- handles sweet enough for anybody coming off a trainer, tracks beautifully, does absolutely anything you tell it to do and has the power to get you out of any trouble you might get into- provided you still know which way is up.

This is a plane which will give you plenty of things to learn and do.... and develop your skills as an r/c flyer. With my own Kat I feel for the first time that the premium is all on me- there are NO hardware issues and it's all about developing the software now. In the past I've had planes the couldn't roll (Easystar), couldn't fly inverted or knife-edge (Nemo), or in fact couldn't do anything much (World Models Katana) and unlike sailing, flying is inherently boring if all you can do is fly circuits. Here is something that'll let you explore stuff you'd never dream of doing in a 777 (or indeed anything if you happen to sit in it) and occupy yourself over the next couple years, developing and getting better and better at r/c flying..... oh.. and it probably has the durability to stay with you as you g up the learning curve too.

So here's looking forward to the maiden flight...... I'm sure it'll be as pleasant a surprise for you as it was for me!

I started the weekend with 94 flights on the Katana, added 8 more yesterday morning bringing it up to 102.

So another 11 flights were added in the evening and another 11 this morning and so the Kat stands at 124 flights old. These latest 30 flights were longer too since I was flying a less demanding flight profile of climbout-harrier-climbout-harrier than the previous high-speed wingborne stuff AND I'm flying with the CG a lot further back than before meaning I can fly slower and with less throttle so I've only started thinking of landing after 10 minutes of flying instead of my usual 5 to 7. So those last 30 flights were 300 minutes or 5 hours worth of flying meaning the plane has now spent at least 14 hours airborne. More actually since the 5-7 and 10 minutes don't include the landing approaches (and aborted landings with resultant flyaround too).

The thing is... the plane flies just as well as it did on her maiden flight and she's still looking pretty spick and span. Amazing..... chuckability, performance and durability all in one..... and no vices to work around while flying either!

WHAT a plane!! I LOVE IT!!!!

Darth

Man the thing rips up the sky. I was zooming around looping, rolling snapping and stuff amazed at how tight and quick all of the maneuvres were for such a big plane. Then I realised I was on low rates. HOLY CRAP it's mad on high rates. Snap rolls are absolutely blinding and it loops and just about catches its own tail. Maddddd. My favourite thing this arvo was going vertical non stop and rolling all the way up as far as I dared. Talk about unlimited vertical.
Flying like this the KMD absolutely rips holes in the sky. It's fast and agile. Unlimited rolling climbs, flat spins, knife edge spins, blenders, snap rolls, inverted passes all done with ease

My KMD is still my favourite flyer closely followed by my AMR and probably soon to be out classed by my new MX (still to be assembled)

Ive had My katana md for about 3yrs now, with the thrust 30 motor and I can say my plane's been through alot. No major crashes, just some dumb thumbs, but still after all this it still flys straight as an arrow, most likely due to the carbon/balsa infusion. The motor is also perfect, never overheats and has worked flawless.

I owned a Katana MD and enjoyed assembling and flying it. One of the neatest features was the included throw gauge! It made setting up the max deflection for the control surfaces a SNAP!

OK so life happened and it took a few weeks longer, but I got out for my maiden flights with my KMD today!

WOW!

It really does fly like a much bigger plane!

I bought my Katana MD for a number of reasons, so it's hard to say what I like "best":
- Light weight and "floaty" yet robust
- Completeness of ARF and ability to buy the complete iPA for a discount AND get everything you need
- Beautiful color schemes
- Flies very smooth and precise

Alan