The airbrake is designed to reduce the ability for falcons to carry the Roprey. It is especially useful when you are doing high flights or flying in enclosed areas where you need to land the falcon-Rocrow combo nearby.
Once the falcon has caught the prey by the head, flick the switch on the top left side of the transmitter. This releases the wing which will lift from the body at a steep angle hinging upwards about 50o. This destroys the lift over the aerofoil and pushes the model downwards in a descent as steep as 45o. The faster the falcon tries to fly, the more it is forced downwards.
If the falcon has caught the prey by the tail or wing, you do not need to activate the airbrake. She cannot fly forwards with the prey dangling. Do not deploy the airbrake when the falcon is not holding the Roprey – you will have a spectacular crash!
When using the airbrake with hard hitting falcons we recommend the use of a stoop pad (more info coming soon) to cushion the impact.
The Airbrake Kit consists of a hinged cup, spring, steel pin, airbrake servo, spare servo arms and some elastic bands. The kit is easily fitted to the standard Rocrow in a few minutes. The cup is attached to the base of the Rocrows neck held by a steel pin. The wing, secured with the elastic bands, slots into this cup which is spring loaded. At the base of the tail a servo is fitted with a small arm that holds the back edge of the wing down. This servo is controlled with a switch already fitted to your transmitter (remote control).
When this switch is pressed, the servo arm moves to the side and the wing is free to pop up under the pressure of the spring. This stops the wing producing any lift and greatly reduces the falcon's ability to carry the Rocrow.
When the airbrake is fitted, the rubber bands are used in a different way than without. Instead of holding the wing to the whole body, the bands only hold the wing to the hinged cup. This allows for a quick release of the wing using the airbrake switch and makes changing the battery even quicker.
We supply some spare servo arms with each airbrake kit. This small plastic arm is designed to break in an impact so that no strain is put on the gears inside the servo. The arm is easily swapped with one small screw.
As with all flying things, weight is a big factor. The airbrake weighs 35g which is added to the total flying weight of your Roprey though the model is more than powerful enough to carry it. However, the heavier the model is, the more you lose the ability to fly slowly. What that essentially means is that for fast flying raptors, like falcons, the airbrake is perfect, but for raptors such as Harris Hawks where the aim is to fly as slowly as possible, the extra weight of the airbrake can make it tricky.