Bind-N-Fly RC airplanes & helicopters
You've more than likely seen the terms Bind-N-Fly or BNF if you've been looking around at rc airplanes or helicopters to buy, but what are they?
The name Bind-N-Fly is a registered trademark for a type of plane and helicopter category from the radio control distributing giants Horizon Hobby, namely of aircraft from the ParkZone, HobbyZone and E-flite ranges.
Essentially, BNF is a natural 'evolution' of the Plug-N-Play (PNP) planes and helicopters available but instead of the PNP configuration of the model being sold in Ready To Fly form but lacking transmitter, receiver and motor battery pack, a Bind-N-Fly aircraft is equipped with a 2.4GHz DSM2 technology compatible receiver, notably from the Spektrum range, and a battery pack.
In other words, a BNF model is closer to an RTF one in terms of what you get in the box, you only need a DSM2 compatible transmitter to complete it.
Above, inside the ParkZone P-51D BL BNF. The AR500 Rx is supplied with this model
Search for Bind-N-Fly aircraft at Red Rocket Hobbies.
Just bind... and fly !
Bind-N-Fly rc airplanes and helicopters are an excellent product in my opinion (I have a few...) and given that 2.4GHz transmitters are becoming more popular and more widely used, it stands to reason that more folks are being attracted to BNF aircraft.
As with a typical Ready To Fly plane or helicopter, there's not much to do to the model other than some very final assembly work and to bind the receiver to your own transmitter. Once this process is complete, usually a few seconds later, you're good to go.
The binding of receiver to transmitter is a fundamental part of flying on a 2.4GHz system, and enables the Rx and Tx to lock together to form the impenetrable signal that has made spread spectrum radio systems so reliable.
The obvious beauty of owning a DSM2 compatible transmitter with multi-model memory is that you can bind a number of models to your single Tx, and so you don't build up a collection of transmitters from RTF purchases.
The binding process should be carried out as per your Tx instructions, but essentially it involves inserting the supplied bind plug (shown right) into the appropriate receiver slot and then switching on your Tx while activating the bind function. On my Spektrum DX6i transmitter, for example, this means holding down the 'Trainer' toggle switch while powering up the Tx.
Power up the receiver and the Tx and Rx will then communicate with each other and bind after a few seconds, successful binding is indicated by the flashing orange LED turning to a solid illumination. Once bound together, you shouldn't need to do it again for that model.
During this binding process the receiver learns the Global Unique Identifier code (GUID) that was programmed in to the transmitter during manufacture. There are 4.2 billion code combinations possible, and this is one of the reasons why spread spectrum rc technology is so secure.
Bind-N-Fly planes & heli examples
The range of BNF aircraft is steadily increasing all the time, and shown below are some current examples...
See the above Bind-N-Fly RC airplanes & helicopters in detail.
'BNF-able' transmitters
To be able to bind and fly you need a DSM2 compatible transmitter from the Spektrum or JR range. At the time of writing this page, the transmitters are...
I can personally recommend Bind-N-Fly rc airplanes and helicopters as a very convenient answer to enjoying some RTF fun, without building up an unnecessary collection of transmitters.
If you're in to flying rc aircraft and see yourself wanting to own more models in the future, invest in one of the above transmitters and put some BNF models on your shopping list!
See some Bind-N-Fly RC airplanes & helicopters in detail.
Related pages
Plug-N-Play airplanes - a definition and examples.
ParkZone rc airplanes - an overview and examples.
Electric rc airplanes - read about them in general.
