There's no telling when the muse may strike. In the Fall of 2019, Chris Hinson and Ben Fisher were wrapping up a 3 week visit to our factory in China. As is typical, after a few weeks of long days and 'round the clock prototype development, they typically end their trips with a couple days of R&R in Hong Kong or Macau to decompress, enjoy the sights and great food, and do some shopping for their wives. While enjoying some good bourbon in one of the bars of the Galaxy Hotel in Macau, the often-discussed topic of a new biplane design reared its head again. Ideas were thrown around and a rough outline was sketched on a bar napkin. The next day the enthusiasm continued to escalate, prompting Ben to break out his laptop and begin laying down rough ideas in his CAD program. Upon returning to the states, Ben developed the first iteration of the Peregrine and created a unique 1/3 scale 3D printed version of the model (which still sits on Chris' desk). Thus began the long process of building, testing, refining, building, testing, refining, ad nauseum, with multiple prototype Peregrines built stateside in Ben's workshop. Ben offers up this synopsis of the process:
"With the Peregrine, the goal was to create a 3D biplane which is immediately comfortable for the monoplane pilot. Lots of pilots want to try a bipe, but are held back by two things: poor flight performance and time-consuming field assembly. The Peregrine solves both of these problems. It's a rock-solid 3D performer that can play with the best monoplanes. It harriers upright and inverted with confidence and stability, and will do XA tumbles and gyroscopic maneuvers other bipes struggle with. Quick latches on all wing panels mean field assembly is just seconds behind our newest monoplanes.
With the Peregrine, you have a biplane which looks like nothing else, a wild and stylish machine you'll be proud to own and show off. Then fire it up, and rip off a confident 3D flight, low and slow, transition to wild XA, and finish up with smooth precision and one of the easiest landings ever. This is the biplane for monoplane pilots. Only from Extreme Flight."
FEATURES
- Wingspan : 53" (1346mm)
- Lenght : 58" (1473mm)
- Wing area : 705 sq. in.
- Spinner : 76mm (included)
- Weight : 5.5-6lb without battery (2500-2700gr)