Multirotor esc vs airplane esc

[Derek]

Just wondering...I bought 4 3520-11 400kv T Motors. The specs say the max amp is 28amp at 100% throttle on 8S. Now, I have some airplane motors that pull 60+ amps on 3S that are similar in size to the T Motors. What's so different between multirotor motors and airplane motors?

I bought 4 Little Bee 40amp Blheli esc's for my multirotor build and they are very tiny compared to any other esc I have. It just blows me away!

[pvolcko]

Lower internal resistance and the windings on the motor are going to result in higher current draw at a given voltage for similarly sized airplane motor vs the t-motor.

I looked up an eflight motor that is about the same size at the t-motor.

tmotor: 400kv, 32mOhm IR, 6S typical setup with a 28A draw on largest recommended prop. While rated for 38A continuous, it is 180seconds only, so a bit of a misnomer calling it a continuous rating.
eflight: 770kv, 20mOhm IR, 3S typical setup with a 35A+ draw on typical setups. Rated for 42A continuous (with no duration caveat) and 60A for bursts of time.