Overview: ( based on 12 x 15 minute flights )

• Vertical:
  The most noticeable characteristic of the plane is its vertical performance. Its stunning.
  The plane is quite clean in the drag department and very light. This gives the plane enormous performance in the vertical department. 
  
  For reference purposes, 
  With the BME EVO and Mejzlik 27-10 prop, not the strongest power package available, the plane will accelerate out of a Torque Roll and do any number of clean snapping maneuvers. Snap, stop, snap, stop etc until you cant see the plane any more. Much more vertical than a 40% Fiber Classics with a 150.
  In other words, very impressive.
  
  
• Downline:
  As referenced above, the plane is a clean design giving it not a huge amount of drag. Due to this, you need to run a large diameter prop to get slow down lines. Given that most people like large diameter props, this is not an issue. That said, it does represent the only real weakness in flight performance that I have found.
  
  
• Roll:
  The plane has very large ailerons for its scale. They are a hair shy of 5" in chord, extend out to within 1.5" of the wing tip and come to within 4" of the airframe sides.
  This gives the plane very strong roll performance when needed, but interestingly, the plane is not overly roll sensitive as one would suspect. If I had to guess, I would say it's due to the wing tips which the majority of aerobatic planes do not have.
  
  
• Pitch:
  With a CG setup for a compromise between Precision and 3D performance, the plane presents very smoothly. You pretty much set it on course and is stays there. More than enough pitch authority for all maneuvers.
  
  
• Yaw:
  The plane has a large rudder with massive authority.
  For example, Knife Edge Harriers, easy. Tight Knife Edge Loops, easy. Knife Edge Popups, easy ( I've not seen another plane do this well ).
  
  
• Coupling:
  • Roll - None
  • Pitch - 10% mix given 45 degrees of rudder and elevator throw.
    
    
• Precision flight performance:
  • General: The plane is very smooth and stays on heading well. Its a very easy plane to fly.
  • Vertical: With its huge vertical performance, it can easily fly the most complex upline combination maneuvers in any winds.
  • Rolls: Very precise and require very little rudder input in the knife edge sections.
  • Point rolls: Like rolls, very precise.
  • Rolling circles: Very easy with minimal correction needed.
  • Snaps: I haven't figured out the correct technique for all snaps, but in general, there is no over rotation, and the snaps are not overly fast.
    
    
• 3D Flight performance:
  • General: The plane is very capable and can do all the advanced and sequence 3D flight well. 
  • Waterfalls ( Positive, Negative ): Tight and stable.
  • Harriers ( Positive, Negative ): Stable in light wind, but the plane gets moved around a lot in windy conditions. This is due to the extreme light weight.
  • Popups ( Positive, Negative, Knife Edge ): Very stable and tight.
  • 3D Snaps ( Positive, Negative ): Very good with no over rotation.
  • Rolling Harriers: Very easy and smooth with very good roll control.
  • 3D Point Rolls: Again, great roll control makes these easy.
  • Recovery: Due to the planes very light weight, its very easy to recover from a mistake. The plane will not snap out at the wrong moment and is basically very easy to fly.
    
    

Conclusion:

• Pros:
  • Very easy and forgiving.
  • Very strong vertical.
  • Can fly any maneuver and any pattern I have seen.
  • Smooth in the wind in precision flight.
  • Very light flight characteristics.
  • Competitive at any level.
    
• Cons:
  • Can be fast on down lines ( Plan to prop at 27" to 28" ).
  • Gets moved around a lot in 3D in the wind ( light weight ).
  • Very light construction makes the fuse fragile to handle.

Granted its only been 12 flights, eight of which where in the wind, but I really like this plane and would recommend it to anyone who wants a very light 35% plane. Dave and Perry are awesome to deal with however, as word of this plane spreads, the wait list gets longer and production is limited.

Notes: The plane is light and was designed to be light. 
Adding weight, i.e. a motor over 6lb would be a major waste and not at all what was intended for the design. That said, the plane really needs to be propped in the 27 to 28 inch range so a motor capable of swinging props in that size range are a good idea. Here are my suggestions in alphabetical order.

• BME-102 up to 27"
• BME - EVO Up to 28"
• BME - Xtreme 110 Up to 28"
• DA - 100 Up to 28"
• ZDZ - 100 Don't have information on the torque but the weight is good.

If the intent is a 3D plane, I would not suggest singles as the first harmonic in the 3000 to 4000 rpm range ( 3D RPM range ) will be hard on the airframe in the long run. ( my opinion )

Why a DR-109 ?.
I wanted something different. I've had Caps, Extras, 202's etc and just wanted to try something different.

Scale:
The GB version of the plane is modified from scale to better suit its intended propose, but it holds to scale well enough to still be recognizable as a 109.

Weight:
While I don't have the plane finished yet, judging from the weight of the fuse, I think 20 to 21.5 lb if I use the new 3.80lb BME Extreme will be very possible. This is as light as I have seen from a 35% ARC, or 35% anything for that matter.

Overall:
The GB kit is nice. Very light weight and well thought out. As far as being an ARC, it really is. All the surfaces are hinged, beveled and servos mounts installed. The motor box is preinstalled and setup for the motor of choice. All you really need do is finish sand it which I did with a Palm Sander in about 1 hour.