This past year has been, easily, our best yet. Any and all credit belongs to you, the community. We only exist because you continue to support us and what we do. We owe all of you a thousand thank yous. As we move into 2015 we wanted to update you guys on our future plans!
We sent out a survery to some Flite Testers asking various questions about what they would like to see from us, past store experiences, etc.
We got an overwhelming amount of responses! This episode is intended to give insight to how we plan to make Flite Test better based on these responses and also to answer a few questions sent to us on Facebook.
One of the biggest issues people were having with our store is the fact we don't sell electronics packs for our own models. This is something that has been whispered about for a while and now the time is right. Enough of you spoke up and in 2015 we will be working with a few different companies to put together electronics packs that you can get directly from us. The Flite Test Store will be your one stop shop for all you favorite Flite Test designs!
This will definitely be a slow process with plenty of trial-and-error in the mix, but we want to make your store experience is as painless a possible if we can.
We absolutely love the foam board that we use for our planes and want to be able to get it to our friends overseas!
In the works right now is our very own Flite Test Foam! It will be the same Adams foam you've worked with before except we will be working with the company directly to customize the foam into the perfect material for model plane building.
This will hopefully help out our international friends who find it difficult to find a match to the stuff we get here in the states. Farther in the future, we do hope to sell this in our own store after we work out how to get it to all you Flite Testers not in the US.
Along with these additions to the store, we want to improve the store itself. In just a few months, our store will turn 1 year old! We think it's time it grew up a little.
We have plans to improve the general store experience and make it easer to find your way even if you have never flown a plane before.
We noticed over the holiday many customers were buying planes for their loved ones with no knowledge of model avation themselves. The store revamp will help guide those non-pilots.
With 2 episodes a week, articles for days, and a weekly podcast, we are surprised people aren't sick of us yet! We constantly hear from the community they just simply want more Flite Test.
We are happy to say that FT Extra has offically launched. It is a way for you FT addicts to get content everyday of the week.
On the off days we don't release an offical episode we will be posting to this new page with behind-the-scenes videos, clips of us goofing around the shop, pretty much the stuff too dumb to put into the episodes but we think you still might get some entertainment out of.
While the show is funded by the support you give us from the store, the FT Extra content will be funded by optional donations.
This page will be accessable by anybody even if you choose not to donate. We wanted to provide an avenue for people who may not have enough money to get a plane but still want to support.
The page is currently LIVE! You can watch us be weird at flitetest.com/extra
One of our favorite things about the hobby is the way that it brings people together. The majory of our work is because of this reason. Flying planes is great, but it's what it ultimately does for the relationships between people that is important.
Our good friend Lee is heading up a project called FT Connections. This is still in it's infant stages, but we want to try and bring Flite Test to more people in more ways. FT Connections is a program to help bring Flite Test into schools, youth centers, churches, clubs, and pretty much anywere people want to learn about flight.
Very good things will be coming on the horizion. Keep your ears open for more.
Lastly, the store survey reinforced something that we already knew needed attention and that was international shipping rates. We worked as much magic as we could and negotiated better rates for you international Flite Testers. On average, shipping is about $10 USD cheaper than it was before and even some of you Americans may notice a slight decrease in your shipping costs. We are still looking to continue success with this issue with a more permanent solution in the future. We owe all of you who payed essentially double for a Flite Test plane a huge amount of thanks for your patience and support.
Along with our store survey we asked Facebook for some questions you'd like to ask Josh and Alex. Here are a few that we saw were popular.
The consensus with 250mm quads is the more important place to put your money is in the electronics. The frame's price will determine it's durability but not it's performance.
Alex suggests checking out the specs for popular quads on the market to get a sense of the parts you might be looking for.
It's the same with cooking yourself a nice meal. You'd rather spend more for quality ingredients than a really nice plate.
As we have tried in the past, we want to get you guys something new every month if we can. You can definitely expect to see a ton of great swappable designs in 2015.
We got an overwhelming outcry for the larger version of Peter's Mini Guinea, the Cargo Twin. I think it's safe to say you will probably be flying your own before the end of next year. Also, if you are interested in Peter's VTOL tech, you should keep your eyes posted for more.
We do love our Flite Test gear and want you to love it too! Along with the shirts, hats, mugs, and other swag in our store we will be adding more options for clothing along with the awesome jackets you see Josh and Alex sporting in the episodes.
Last but not least, the people want to know about Flite Fest 2015! We can't express how amazing this event was for us (and you too hopefully) and are extremely excited to see what happens this year!
FLITE FEST 2015 WILL BE JULY 9th - JULY 12th!
The planning stages are just begining and you can rest assured you will be hearing a lot more from us once we get closer to this summer.
As many of you remember space was extremely tight last year so preregistration will be as important as ever if you don't want to miss out this year. Preregistration has no official date yet but we will most certainly be blasing our site and social media once we figure it out.
Let us know what you guys want to see at this years event!
We are eternally thankful for everything you have done to get us this far. Here's to a Happy New Year!
