;e Hyper Taxi is a cross between a stubby
rocket and a stubby airplane. ;e plane comes
complete out of the box with nothing to add.
;e charger is included, so just charge the
battery and bind it to any DSM2 or DSMX
transmitter. ;e plane is made from durable and
light carbon-fiber-reinforced foam. ;e Hyper
Taxi is painted bright yellow with a light gray
underside to make it easy for pilots to orient
the aircraft. Believe me, you will come to rely
on that color separation to keep control of the
plane. Even though the AS3X makes it much
easier to control the Taxi, you still need to be at
least an intermediate pilot to fly this aircraft.
BEFORE THE END OF THE FIRST FLIGHT, I WAS MAKING LOW PASSES RIGHT DOWN ON THE DECK.
;e receiver and AS3X system are all built into this
one small unit.
UNIQUE FEATURES
;e Hyper Taxi comes completely assembled
right out of the box. ;e paint scheme on the
foam is bright and complete and it includes
all kinds of visual reference colors to keep
the plane oriented throughout the flight. For
example, the top of the plane is yellow while the
bottom is a light gray. ;e top has a blue cockpit
bubble and the rudder is the only one with a
checkerboard design. ;e upper and lower
rudder both have red and white squares on
them while the aileron tips have color triangles,
the left is red and the right one is green. All
four tips have the foam reinforced with a small
piece of carbon-fiber rod. ;ere is also a large
carbon-fiber rod connected to each wing for
additional reinforcement all around the plane.
Not much is needed for preparation at the field,
just attach the battery to the plane, turn on
the transmitter, and plug in the pack. Place the Hyper Taxi on the ground
nose up and add throttle—you now have lifto;. Getting the Hyper Taxi in
the air is the easy part—once there, you quickly start using all the visual
marks on the plane to keep it flying in the direction you want it to go. After
flying around for a little while, it was time to try to land this bird. Now I
am not good at hovering an airplane, and of course, that is a requirement
to landing the Hyper Taxi. However, I have to say that with the AS3X
system, it was much easier than I thought it would be.
In the Air
GENERAL FLIGHT PERFORMANCE
Stability: Once I got familiar with flying the Hyper Taxi, I found it to be a
very stable-flying aircraft. Before the end of the first flight, I was making
low passes right down on the deck, something I don’t normally do during
the first flight.
Tracking: ;e AS3X system keeps the Hyper Taxi on track even in the
wind outside. ;e Taxi flies very true, keeping it on track, and it will only
deviate when I input the next direction.
Aerobatics: It will do all kinds of maneuvers and some of them look like
aerobatics to which you are accustomed and others are like nothing
you’ve ever done.
Glide and stall performance: ;is plane does float, but you do need power
to land it the way that it should land. If you do have to land without power,
just keep the nose down until you get close to the ground, then just
flare and the plane will stall out and set down on the pavement without
damage.
PILOT DEBRIEFING
Flying the UMX Hyper Taxi is like flying something from Star Wars, you
are not sure how it stays in the air, but you are having a great time with
it. I enjoy flying the Taxi and find that I am always throwing it in the car
whenever I head to the flying field.
