August 19th, 2005
Butterfly: the World’s Smallest Indoor Radio-Controlled Airplane
By Alice Hill
RealTechNews
Mom always said don’t play ball in the house, but no one ever seems to say much about a good paper airplane. In fact, our story on how to to build the best paper airplane in the world, was one of the most popular items on RealTechNews.
Today, we have one for those who want to move beyond paper folding and get serious. It’s called “The Butterfly” and it is billed as “The Living Room Flier” a full radio controlled mini plane you can indeed fly around your living room. The only catch: it’s $239. Don’t step on it!
“The Dream of an R/C airplane that can be piloted in the living room has been realized. This is the world’s lightest and smallest ready to fly R/C Model Fly “missions” during TV Commercials, Indoors, In ANY WEATHER!
“Full Proportional radio control enables you to fly with precision in any room 12′ X 16′. Just add 4-AA batteries to the combination transmitter/charger and you’ll be ready for action anytime Take the Butterfly with you ANYWHERE in it’s own protective aluminum briefcase (included!) You can safely take your Butterfly with you to work, school, holidays - anywhere.” Source: Plantraco Hobbies via Digg PS. We love you Gizmodo!
Robby says:
wonder how loud it is?
August 19th, 2005 at 9:57 am
calaveras says:
where is the power source? Does teh chip hold a charge? Maybe teh wings are capacitors?
August 19th, 2005 at 10:28 am
Tom says:
my guess would be that it’s about as loud as a paper airplane…
unless you’re referring to the crunch when you step on it…
August 19th, 2005 at 10:28 am
rick says:
don’t let your cats see it
August 19th, 2005 at 10:30 am
Ric says:
How much cheaper is it if you don’t want the fancy case?
August 19th, 2005 at 11:03 am
Kirk says:
Go to his site. Link on this page. Shows cool videos and how it charges. Magnetic battery attaching is pretty wild.
August 19th, 2005 at 11:40 am
Jere says:
too bad they don’t include replacement wings and fuselage, you’ll probably need them if you’re not so skilled at catching it mid air
August 19th, 2005 at 2:23 pm
Michael D. Cassidy says:
Very cool.
August 19th, 2005 at 3:20 pm
r2d2 says:
great
August 20th, 2005 at 7:57 pm
Csharp says:
I would like it if they put a small protecter around the chip, like a clear pastic box, just in clase if it hits a wall
August 21st, 2005 at 1:45 am
Tadpole256 says:
I work in a cubicle farm… This thing could be sooooo much fun… What a great idea!
August 21st, 2005 at 9:41 am
rob d - sn0n says:
wouldnt it be semi plausable to make one of these yourself with one of them lame lil RadioShak RC cars for ALOT cheaper then $250 ?
just a random thought.. sorry.. carry on.. :-X
August 21st, 2005 at 9:55 am
roger says:
“wonder how loud it is?” Answer: As loud as your moms farts!
August 21st, 2005 at 12:55 pm
Paul says:
Or you could just buy one of these :
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/Wattage_Micro_Flyer_RTF/m_2124374/tm.htm
PB.
http://paulsbaker.blogspot.com/
August 21st, 2005 at 6:09 pm
dan fleming says:
There is just no justification for the price. You could skip the fancy case and I’ll bet there are no more that 30.00 in actual costs and that’s being generous. I mean, if you sold this thing for 49.95 you’d be asking alot.
August 24th, 2005 at 5:54 am
Bud Kays says:
It is not too noisy - the gears and prop are quite smoothe.
Power Source is LP30 Lithium Polymer Cell - weight 0.9 grams 30mAh capacity.
We don’t sell it without the case.
The other plane mentioned in post #14 weighs about 800% more at over 1 ounce, our Butterfly weighs in at about 3.6 grams flying weight. The Butterfly can do figure-8’s in the livingroom and flies at about 1 m/s.
See it here - with video:
http://www.plantraco.com/hobbies/product_butterfly.html
August 27th, 2005 at 12:59 am
Bud Kays says:
Regarding Price:
3.6 grams flying weight - that’s less than 1/8 of an ounce - less than a sheet of typing paper. This translates to low wing loading and slow flying speeds, so you can fly in your livingroom, or a classroom, or anywhere safely and quietly.
Carbon FIber Propeller
Swiss design 0.2 Mod Gearbox
0.22 gram actuator
0.4 gram proportional receiver 900Mhz - 868Mhz EU
Proportional Transmitter - 900Mhz - Pure digital R/C - not super-regen junk.
Lithium Polymer Cell and charger - patent pending Bahoma connector
Transmitter connects to computer for use with FMS R/C flightsim - so you can learn to fly on the sim before risking your plane.
Smaller and Slower is harder to do - there is nothing to compare with our Butterfly - and you can re-use the R/C gear to build your own planes from everyday materials around your home, so you’ll be getting your money’s worth.
August 27th, 2005 at 1:15 am
Matt says:
The Plantraco Butterfly is available here in the US without having to pay duties at http://www.redrockethobbies.com/product_p/plabfrtf.htm its a fun rc airplane.
September 6th, 2005 at 8:49 am
dan p says:
I got the plane for my birthday and love. its never broke in a crash only from picking it up. keep some glue with you . you have to have the case so you have a way of carring it. the only problem is my battery dose not make a good connection to the reciver and it shuts off sometimes
October 27th, 2005 at 7:11 pm
kyle jones says:
very interesting. keep the good work! to fetch pair you should be very superb: , Coolblooded Chips Loose or not collective stake becomes big plane in final , Good Tournament becomes Faithful Tournament in final when pair make table give
December 3rd, 2005 at 5:15 pm
111 says:
fuckyou
January 19th, 2006 at 8:34 am
chris says:
hey anyone know if u could get part for the butterfly or like upgrade parts like cabbon fiber or something that does not break easy or has anyone try to put and elevator on theres thanks
March 11th, 2006 at 8:21 pm
Rich says:
I rather fly the nitromodels gas rc plane from nitroplanes.com
March 21st, 2006 at 4:17 am
soldierboy says:
i am in the army and i came across this plane and was amazed
it is fucknin sweet. so i got one and it works great but i crashed it and it was fucked up, so what i did is i ordered thin sheets or carbon fiber and walla it was fixed and it works better than before…now i can crash it all i want its great. its just a recomendation to this company
that way the price will seem more realistick e mail me back and let me know about the carbon fiber thing if your interested
April 4th, 2006 at 11:30 am
Tommyr says:
I ordered one of these on Saturday and can’t wait to get it!
Try an Air Hogs Aero Ace if this one is too much money for you. $30 and is a TON of fun and flys GREAT.
Tom
April 18th, 2006 at 2:52 pm
A follower of Mr. Isaac Cann of UIUC (My Nick Name) says:
Frankly It is too expensive. Surely I am afford to buy it. But if I have to do it, I should prepare to endure 30 bananas for 1 month without changing myself to one of the apes. However, now I wonder if I have this patience..
April 22nd, 2006 at 6:34 am
Tommyr says:
I just got the Butterfly today and this thing is AWESOME! Well worth the money! But it is VERY delicate so be VERY careful with it. It’s QUIET! Yes it costs a bit a of money but it is WORTH IT. Get this plane and WATCH THE VIDEOS you get with it for handling and repairs.
GREAT PRODUCT!!!!
April 25th, 2006 at 4:24 pm
Andrew Pelc says:
why are planes so expensive more than rc cars, i mean wtf is that all about, $239 for that small piece of crap, i rather buy some condoms
July 21st, 2006 at 4:19 pm
howard says:
its hot
November 14th, 2006 at 1:33 am
David says:
I got one of those planes and it is fun but way too much money, I broke it twice and gave up. I started flying one I got off of of Gofast Hobby and it hurts less when it breaks. Its a two motor bi-wing. For the money you can’t go wrong plus I got it up to about 300′. Also just got this little helicopterit is a blast also cheap.
May 13th, 2007 at 11:00 am
BlairDee.info » World’s Smallest RC Plane - I want one!! says:
[…] read more | digg story […]
May 22nd, 2007 at 8:37 am
Meeho says:
it makes a light buzzing sound. runs off a nice little lipo.
August 27th, 2007 at 7:08 am
owner of a butterfly says:
the power source comes from a reacharable battery the size of a finger nail u place it on the chip and thats how it is powered…it holds charge for quite some time…you charge the battary on the remote control and its really conviniate…but i bought mine from a friend so it was cheaper
September 22nd, 2007 at 4:50 am
travel blog » Blog Archive » Butterfly: the Worlds Smallest Indoor Radio-Controlled Airplane says:
[…] Mom always said don t play ball in the house, but no one ever seems to say much about a good paper airplane. In fact, our story on how to to build the best paper airplane in the world, was one of the most popular items on RealTechNews.read more | digg story […]
November 25th, 2007 at 5:23 pm
VW says:
WOW thats the smallest thing iv seen. wheres the engine?
November 25th, 2007 at 7:34 pm
Riley Central » » Butterfly: the World’s Smallest Indoor Radio-Controlled Airplane » Blog Archive Alice Hill’s Real Tech News - Independent Tech says:
[…] written by Damien Riley, posted on November 25, 2007 at 10:59 pm, filed under Photo. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Post a comment or leave a trackback:Trackback URL. « Face Dance Video […]
November 25th, 2007 at 9:59 pm
Web 2.0 Announcer says:
Butterfly: the World?s Smallest Indoor Radio-Controlled Airplane…
[…]Mom always said don?t play ball in the house, but no one ever seems to say much about a good paper airplane. In fact, our story on how to to build the best paper airplane in the world, was one of the most popular items on RealTechNews.[…]…
November 26th, 2007 at 2:12 am
Kenneth says:
Ha .. The coolest mini invention i have ever seen for a long time.
November 26th, 2007 at 10:23 pm
Türkçe Haber, Forum, Gazete, Blog ve Güncel Sitelerin Rss Sayfası » Blog Archive » Oturma Odası için Model Uçak says:
[…] Radyo kontrollü mini bir uçak olan Butterfly Livingroom Flyer dünyanın en küçük ve hafif radyo kontrollü uçağı. Oturma odanızda keyifle kullanabilmeniz için $239 harcamanız gerekiyor.etiketler: radyo kontrollü, rc, model uçak, uçak, oyuncak, mini uçak, livingroom flyer, butterfly, butterfly rc plane […]
November 28th, 2007 at 5:14 am
Odi says:
What I want to know is how much flying time do I have before it conks out and makes me wait for it to recharge?
I want at least 10 minutes of fun flying before the show’s over. And I don’t want that time reduced to 5 minutes after a couple of weeks or months.
How much flying time does this thing give me for $239??
Tell me 10 minutes at least… Otherwise, go back to the drawing board please.
November 28th, 2007 at 9:51 am
plantraco says:
You guys can check out our NEW for 2007 MICRO Butterfly.
It’s a 50% scale version of the original Butterfly.
You can see that the new model has a 3.5″ wingspan and weighs even less at about 2.6grams!
http://www.microflight.com/Online-Catalog/Ready-to-Fly-Airplanes/Micro-Butterfly-RTF-Set
As usual, we make no apologies about price - this is no Wal-mart toy - it’s top quality produce - Plantraco is pushing the edge of Micro RC technology and if you like what we do - we appreciate your support.
November 30th, 2007 at 9:27 am
Butterfly Livingroom Flyer says:
[…] Radyo kontrollü mini bir uçak olan Butterfly Livingroom Flyer dünyanın en küçük ve hafif radyo kontrollü uçağı. Oturma odanızda keyifle kullanabilmeniz için $239 harcamanız gerekiyor. […]
December 3rd, 2007 at 10:36 pm
World’s Smallest Airplane | Wolf Window says:
[…] [Learn: RealTechNews] […]
December 14th, 2007 at 8:55 pm
SELINA ZHU says:
Dear Sir or Madam,
Nice to meet you,we avail ourselves of this opportunity to write to you and see if we can establish the business relations by a start of some Practical transactions.
I see from your homepage contains an interested goods”Plantraco Butterfly”,therefore writing to you and hope that I can buy something from yours company. I want to make sure:
l Could you send your goods to BEIJING CHINA?
l If we purchase in batches, can you give me a lower prices?
I can give you a table:
Could you tell me the main items you can export? It would be better if you could send me a few copies of your exports catalogue and cutting samples of various kinds of product for our choice in the E-mail.
Yours faithfully!
SELINA ZHU
DEC.20,2007
December 19th, 2007 at 10:07 pm
World’s Smallest Airplane | Gadget Reviews and Tech Updates says:
[…] [Learn: RealTechNews] […]
December 24th, 2007 at 8:02 pm
futaba connectors says:
That Airplane is a bit too small. The problem is that it takes all the fun out of building a plane. The hobby is all about building and flying what you built. I don’t see where the fun is in flying this little plane! Besides you not going to need any rc connectors like these are you! suppose you’ll save a ton of money!
April 21st, 2008 at 4:42 am
hadeqe says:
where is the place of the battery where did you get that
August 20th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
hadeqe says:
can you teach me how to make it please please
August 20th, 2008 at 6:35 pm