I've been a remote-control-airplane enthusiast for years. I've never really been able to get my six-year-old son into it, though: Planes are difficult to control, and he's a bit afraid of breaking the machines I've spent hours putting together.

When the chance for him to try the new Spin Master Air Hogs Switchblade ($69.99 list) came along, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to get him into the hobby. The Switchblade is part helicopter, part plane. It takes off by rotating like a helicopter, but once it's up high enough, you hit the Morph button to cause the wings to align--and it then flies like a plane.

Once you remove the Switchblade from its box (which includes, naturally, those annoying wire-ties), resist the urge to throw away the packaging. One part of the Switchblade looks like packaging material, but you'll need it to assemble the launch base; I had to retrieve it from the trash.

The remote control requires eight triple-A batteries, which are not included. Once we got the batteries installed, we began to charge up the Switchblade. It took about 30 minutes to charge, which gave us time to read the instructions.

We first attempted to fly the Switchblade in our backyard. This was a bad idea; the heli-plane needs to be flown in a football field or larger area. In the backyard, the Switchblade took off from its launching base, but as soon as we morphed it into the plane, it flew into the trees.

At the football field, my son let the Switchblade lift off high into the air. When it was about 20 feet off the ground, he hit Morph. The Switchblade's wings aligned into place. While it did this it dropped down a few feet and then leveled itself.

Using the right joystick, my son was able to steer the Switchblade left and right. He quickly learned that the best way to control the Switchblade was to give it constant throttle in order to keep it in the air and also to give it tiny control inputs. Pushing on the right control too drastically would cause the Switchblade to spin to the ground.

This toy really took a beating. We crashed it into the ground at least 10 times, but there was little damage: some dents in the wing, but nothing that would affect its flight.
My son really enjoys the Switchblade. "It's fun to learn to fly," he told me. Not being afraid to damage it seems to make all the difference in the world.

Post by Tim Smith