Dream-Flight Alula-Trek 90cm

Great little plane for small hills/sand dunes in light winds, ideal for trying small slopes whilst out walking as easy to add to a back pack completely assembled for travelling. I can only say I have not experienced any of the negative comments in some of the reviews and this is my 3rd Alula, all of which are still flying. Why 3 my son and grandson fly with me at times and these are great fun models.

No problem with delivery from Hyperflight though customs handling deleyed it 5 days here in in sweden.
I use: 1S battery, 750mAh, AA shape, boosted to 5v. 2pcs Hitec HS-40 servos. Had to add 10grams to get CG right. Radiomaster Boxer, 4in1, small 4ch receiver.

Great kit , great quality, clear and easy to follow build instructions
Initially I set the control rates acc to instructions but soon reduced ailerons to 9 mm.
I can see that it will float nicely on slopes or thermal.
Its a great plane to bring with you on holidays.
Its not obvious how to hold the plane if you dont discus launch, Any tip ?

I am 75 yo. Have been in this great hobby since I was 10. Met new friends at the age of 72. They taught me the thrill of sailplanes and slope soaring. So happy.
Alula is a great plane to add in my collection and a bit more handy than the Multiplex Heron.
Happy flying, guys.

I’ve had the Alula Trek for only a couple of weeks and flown twice. Assembly was easy plus it seems quite durable. The plane balanced perfectly with battery placement, no weights required. I’m using the (tiny) Radiomaster ER4 ELRS receiver and the recommended 300 mAh NiMH battery. I recently took this out on a sunny November day and had one of the best thermal flights of my life. The Alula seems somewhat challenging to thermal, but when you find good lift it is absolutely amazing and on this day I could easily have flown it out of sight. As others have mentioned control can be a bit twitchy, but proper CG and a decent amount of expo works wonders. This plane is pushing me toward DLGs like nothing else I’ve flown. The Alula is a remarkable design and an extremely fun glider.

I have not received the plane.
Hyper flight tells me that they sent the plane 06.12.22.
Exactly 1 month afterwards to day, I have yeat to receive the plane.

Alula was delivered to Australia approximately one week after the purchase and in excellent condition as it was well-packaged. Easy to assemble and have had lots of fun looking for thermals.

Delivery was great , carbon wing sleeves came out of the epo very disappointing so had to glue , feels very cheap and the decals fall off . Flyers great but the huge lack of spare parts make this a no go for me again . Will not purchase again

Years ago I had a foam moulded Gyr Falcon. I spent quite some time colouring it to look like the real thing. It flew OK but was rather limited as the control was just R/E. I thought I would now try the Alula Trek to keep the Buzzards on the local slope company.

Hyperflight dispatched the model quickly but Parcel Force made a complete hash of the delivery. It was only on the fourth time that it had been out on the van for delivery that I actually received it, a week late. During this time the single box had become somewhat battered. Fortunately the contents had remained intact but this means that I cannot not use the box for storage or transportation!
Upon inspection the mouldings were fairly good except for an area on the underside of each wing where the foam was distorted. This was obviously a result of the moulding process but highlights that quality control is not up to a suitable standard. I will not be trying to correct this finish problem as it will not be obvious when I have completed the feather effect and colouring but it should not have been passed as suitable for sale in this condition.
I have seen others fly this model and do not anticipate any problems in this respect when I have it ready for flight.

The shop is nice and quick in response on questions.
The Alula is ready to fly in less then 15 minutes if servos are prepared.
Flys on rails with CG set correctly at the marks in the wings.
Slopes with low wind.
Slingshot launching needs some training but after a while is fun to do when there is no slope. Getting the most out of one launch and keep it floating is addicting.
Used with Emax ES9051 servos and ELRS Happy model 2 gram receiver.
Using original 4 cell nimh battery with 15 gram nose weight.
For EU customers remind you due to the Brexit you have to pay custom and import duties.

No servos and horns un assembled

This is great to fly and fitting inside a backpack makes it very versatile. However the structural design could be better. The only load path between the fuselage carbon tube to the wing spars is through the foam which soon starts to disintegrate. The magnets that stop the wings rotating are not strong enough: another screw point is needed here. The manual mentions using tape to strengthen the joint and secure the tail, but unless you are careful this will just redistribute the load to some other foam that can't take the load either. With some carbon rods, glue and packing tape I am getting to a more robust state but this could have easily have been designed in by the manufacturer.

Service from Hyperflight very good.
Dream-Flight Alula-Trek: canopy magnet dropped out and had to be re-glued. The Dreamflight battery pack didn't fit on my plane without removal of some polystyrene from the fuselage and the canopy. A small piece of lead was required in front of the battery to achieve recommended C of G. However, initial flights quite promising and I think the model could be deceptively robust.

Usual excellent service from Hyperflight, within minutes of asking for a recommended glider and all necessary parts to take away for a last minute trip away, Neil had put together a bundle including the Alula Trek, servos and battery. The glider went together very easily - the instructions are the clearest and simplest I have ever seen and the glider was ready in no time. Trimming takes a little time as, being a small flying wing, it is sensitive to even the tiniest change, but once sorted the performance is excellent. I have now flown it in a range of wind strengths and it never disappoints. Highly recommended.

Very happy andre Good plane😊👍

I have followed the manual and all worked fine! 3mm for the elevator and 10mm for the ailerons with 70% exponential. High Rates are too high for me. CG was easy to set. added around 15gr on the nose. Servos require glue cause the provided stickers are not safe enough.
Both elevons arrived a bit bended but with some hand pressure I put them back to position
Tail requires tape as after the first flight I found it loose and shifted back by 5mm

I had first flight on a 10m height sand dune with 18knots wind without a test flight and I prayed not to crash it! But surprisingly it just needed some up elevator and all went smooth

Delivered super fast by Hyperflight, so great service!

Very happy with this plane looking forward to try side-arm launch and catch a thermal

The model arrived very quickly, regardless of potential delivery difficulties owing to the COVID19 situation.

It's a very well made and thought-out product and the instruction manual is maybe the best I've ever seen.

I wouldn't recommend it for a beginner because, although the model is very easy to assemble, it is quite tricky to fly. Difficult to get the CoG and elevator trim right. It needs very little elevator but quite a lot of aileron input - so you need to program that in to radio.

The service from HyperFlight was slick. I ordered the Alula-Trek on a Wednesday from the UK. My Alula arrived on Friday in South Africa and was delivered to me on Monday. It was well packaged and in good order and reasonably priced. I have since assembled it and found the instructions to be very easy to understand. All that remains is to be done is , the CG balance, trim and applying the decals. The bird is already looking like an eagle. I was slightly disappointed as I could not order the decals that look so good on other Alula's and had to design my own. Can't wait to fly!

Lots of fun for the money. Only used one day so far. Slope soaring in crazy winds and crazy turbulente. Can take a lot of beating.
Now with taped leading edge and reinforced front part of canopy it will take even more beating.
This already one of my favourites.

Really good manual.

Fun fun fun, but until you get it sorted, twitchy twitchy twitchy - however, this is what you would expect from what is basically a flying plank with no sweepback.

The go-anywhere performance from this little bundle of fun is evident from the videos, but in spite of its cheapness, ease of build and being virtually indestructible, the Alula is not perhaps the best model for a beginner. For a start, although it is a DLG in the sense that this is the only way to get it into the air, you cannot expect to achieve the launch heights or ease of handling of, say, an Elf. I am amazed that one reviewer claims to get 30-40 metres launch height. I'm more in line with another who said 10 metres, but it's early days yet.

As the Alula is tailless, the relationship between CG and elevon angle is obviously extremely sensitive and some experimentation is necessary to find the ideal settings, which to some extent will be down to personal preferences - but get it slightly wrong and you will have your hands full of self-induced oscillations. However, when it's right, and provided you have dialled in shedloads of elevator expo, the Alula handles just fine. May still need to fine-tune mine.

On one moderately hard launch I was alarmed when the starboard wing detached, but no damage was done and she was ready to fly again in a few minutes - a testament to the model's toughness, if not its integrity. Although each wing is secured by a tiny screw, the addition of tape on the fueslage-wing join gives considerably more security.

Although I haven't yet had the chance to explore its thermalling capabilities, I have no doubt these will be impressive, thanks to its very light wing loading.

I bought the Alula as a bit of light relief from the more serious business of Snipes and, with a few reservations, early flights indicate it should give me what I want - but because of limited launch height, I suspect that most fun will be had as a light wind sloper.

I jumped on the hype wagon and purchased the Alula.. In my opinion it is over priced and really not as nicely moulded as you would expect for the price. Yes it goes together easily but joins are not smooth/level the tiny clamps that hold the wings in place are a terrible idea. My kit was missing one of the small nuts for the wing clamps and one of the wings had damage to the leading edge. I was a bit disappointed and not really too excited with the kit. Ive made good and now glued the wings together.. Would just like to add that Hyperflight delivered quickly and the packaging was excellent as usual..

Great little glider I have 2 now one old and one new from a flat field to a cliff face you should see the smile upon my face

Neil organised a very quick delivery. The model was well packaged and arrived undamaged. However there were no clevises in the kit. An email to Neil brought a quick response and two clevises were soon with me. The kit assembles quickly and the fit and finish of the parts is excellent. The instruction manual is comprehensive, very clear and very easy to follow. I bought a Hyperflight 300mAh battery and it fits just fine. It too is well assembled and the lead is heavy duty, a quality product. The Alula is fully assembled and the control movements set as per the manual. I've not flown it yet as I've still to decide on the decoration. I'll probably go for a representation of hawk plumage top and bottom. I'm very pleased with the kit and the service provided by Hyperflight.

Another superb model from Hyperflight, very well packaged,& super quick delivery. the Alula is very simple to assemble ,& I was out test flying within the hour, I found a tiny amount of forward balance the best all round setting allowing the bird shape glider to be flown in a considerable breeze. out with the acrilic paint and soon had her looking hawk like! a very pleasing easy to assemble & fly model .a small piece of velcro claw on the wing tip aids launching grip.

Five hours airtime accumulated in just the first couple of outings says it all. I am happy to say the Alula is certainly on my recommended list! I am amazed how good this model is at inverted flight and outside loop manoeuvres - great fun to fly, and it makes a very refreshing change from more serious conventional gliders I am used to. Mine weighs in at 174g with Futaba R2106GF, 2x Dreamflight 4.3g servos, and Dreamflight 300mAh NiMh with an e-flite connector lead. I got a spare battery too. I have flown from the slope so far in winds 8 - 18 mph, using 28g ballast at the windier end.

It is well worth paying very close attention to control throws and rates. I have set 3 rates, independently switched, for elevons/ailerons, and so that the "feel" is nice, easy, and uniform for all of them around "neutral", whichever rate I am using there is no drastic change to smoothness - expo works wonders e.g. I use -100% expo on max throws to ensure similar feel to -50% expo when on minimum. Recommended: use minimum throws for launching and thermalling. 75% of my flying has been on minimum throws. Prior to flying, I was initially concerned regarding range and battery life. No worries so far, the 300mAh gives me at least 2 hours flying and is probably good for nearly 3 with my set-up. R2106GF range is fine too, I have had the model a "speck" in a thermal off the slope.

Great well made and desgined glider, i am very pleased with this kit although i have not flown it yet as it came with a faulty servo.(dreamflght 4.3) after reading hyperflight recomended them after alot of testing one was faulty, no big deal. After a quick call to inform hyperflight i was accused of stripping the gears on installation! REALLY??? I bought from hyperflight because they have a good reputation for customer service! I was also informed that this servo has had many complaints because it is so fragile! even so I bought new kit and expect it to work. hyperflight did offer and exchange in the end but felt they had to accuse me of damaging it first within hours of receiving my order.
my advice would be buy from elsewhere!!!

An extremely well thought out design, with excellent instructions to complete the short and enjoyable assembly process. After assembly, the balance was pretty spot on; to get it perfect, all I needed was a British 5p between the battery and receiver. And the flying? I am a new RC pilot, so please take my comments in perspective: the Alula is very very sensitive in pitch, but once you have mastered the hands on pitch adjustment required whilst flying, it is awesome. Sidearm method of launching is natural, and my 4th launch in the U.K. in March hit a bubble of warm air and I got a minute out of it! Be careful on cliff flying, as I was getting confident and flying it in close enough to catch by hand, but as it weighs nothing, it is susceptible to any turbulence, resulting in a nose first high speed accident. No damage! Go buy, go fly, go high!

Over 1 years use of mine now flying flat field and slope. Ideal for calm winds and gentle flying. Gets pushed around in anything over 8 mph. Ive ended up gluing the wings in place as the fixings were poor as were the hatch magnets. CG is uber critical and the trim very sensitive. Needs very little movement and 70% expo. Very good entry into gliding and slope flying though. Less input the better! I can easily get 30-40 m launch.

On the pro side: Very good in-flight characteristics: predictable without any bad habits, nice glide (a bit on the fast side), signals lift clearly and will fly on the smallest of slopes. Packs up very nicely and compact. Good build and foam quality.

On the con side: not possible to get a decent DLG/SAL launch! I have been able to get it to about 10 meters, but the construction cannot withstand the presure and stress from the swing. I have had to resecure the spar (it came loose from the plastic that should keep it in place), re-glue the horn on the elevons and the wings keep fluttering (going loose from the magnets - and, yes, this is with tape on the wing). All these damages have happened during the throw/launch-phase. The problem seems to be the detachable wings - a construction that is very weak and puts pressure on the bars, horns and spars during launch. But as this is a major plus (compact) I do not want to permanently fix the wings in order to mend the launch problem. In conclusion: performance from flat field is weak (at best) due to the launch problem. Still this is a better glider than the Libelle (which is absolutely awful), but none of them offers the flat field performance that you get from even an over-weighted DLG.

Had the mk1 and thought it was time to replace it, and I was not disappointed. Built in a few hours at the most and out to the slope for a perfect maiden!!

My second Alula (the first is probably still floating in the sea after I accidentally launched inverted!). The new version is even more delightful to build, taking about 45 minutes from start to finish. The only problem was the supplied 4.3g servos jittered like crazy with various FrSky X-series receivers I tried. In the end I reverted to an MPX RX-5 Light which is in any case a much easier install than the FrSky X4R. I have yet to fly it but if it's anything like my first, I don't anticipate any issues.

First i would like to thank Hyperflight for fast delivery my alula arrived within 2 days of ordering in perfect condition... What a fantastic plane never flown a wing type before thought it was going to be harder than it was for some reason fly's like a dream in light to moderate winds build is very straight forward took me about 2 hours that's including applying my decals might buy another as a spare :)

The dreamflite alula is a fantastic little plane so responsive and very good at thermaling find lift and away you go fantastic plane very fast delivery no complaints with my purchase

Thought I'd give this very attractive 'bird' a try and have not been disappointed.
Build couldn't be simpler, but as it was my first attempt at something like this I found getting the flight trim slightly more difficult than the instructions would have you believe, but I've finally got it about right; I think.
Need some better weather and a chance to put the trimming flights to the test in earnest.
Very pleased so far.

I went through a number of dlg planes (hk mini, dreamflight libelle) but Alula Trek (after few hours of getting used to) proven to be the most reliable, the most roughbust plane I ever had. Can take a lot of beating, can survive adding more and more pennies to the nose as a balast (i noticed that the CoG is actually a bit further to the nose than recommended -takes 3 pennies to balance right with HiTec Minima receiver on board :)).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ke69sH_gnJo

To start with a great service form Hyperflight and speedy delivery. What a brilliant little glider, easy to put together and very portable with the wings and tail simply disconnecting. But the best thing is how unbelievably tough it is. Had a couple of very hard nose first landings and it shakes them off without any damage. That plastic skid/reinforcement was an inspired piece of design. Gives you great confidence and means you can fly virtually anywhere. Flying is a joy, on a flat field with a slight breeze it just floats, with a bit of ballast on a slope it can handle a decent breeze and stays up forever. Has completely sold me on DLG.

This really is a great little plane to take with you just about anywhere, it's easy to fly and very relaxing in light winds on the slope. It does go fine in harder conditions but as the excellent instructions point out you will need to add a bit of ballast. The service from Hyperflight is second to none and I highly recommend them.

2nd Review following Summer Holiday

Packing so wonderfully small and securely, I packed this along with my Elf for a road trip to the pyrenees. And just as well. It was too windy for the elf, and the Alula allowed me two blissful slope soaring sessions. The assembly on site is blisteringly quick and simple (the aileron push rods can fall off when assembling so keep an eye out there) and the plane took some very dramatic crashes with only the slightest of marks.

I am very glad I purchased one and would urge you to too.

What can I say; the new Alula Trek is amazing! This is my third Alula, and it has definitely improved in several ways.
Great fun even on a flat field, but on a slope , in light wind , it comes into its own.
The build is super easy too. I'm going to order a spare soon, just to keep on the shelf. I've passed my previous versions onto friends, now a little beaten up but still flying. LOVE THIS PLANE :)

This my second Alula and if it is as good as the first one I will be well pleased. The kit is well presented and everything fits so build is easy and quick. Not sure how robust the magnet connectors on the wing will work out but will probably reinforce with tape. Like the colourful decal set an improvement on the original.

After 18months into the hobby via the Elf and a Vagabond, I was drawn to this for hiking trips in the mountains due to its collapsability. I have not been disappointed.

The kit goes together seamlessly and the manual deserves every bit of praise it gets. Of course the kit isn't as perfectly aligned as the Elf, but for what it is, and its price, it is great.

Maiden had the rates far too high (refer to the manual), and the dunes were a bit turbulent to properly enjoy this bird, but I am reassured that it was the purchase to make for the summer. Time shall tell how it fares.

She isn't nearly as efficient as the Elf, but so much more portable.