Conference vmszoo::rc

    Ok, I'll start with the demise of the Super Kaos 60. This was my
    second airplane. Up from the Northeast Aerodynamics Train-Air 40
    I learned to fly on. Some people might consider this too big a jump,
    but the Train-Air has a semi-symetrical wing section and I was doing
    fine with the Kaos.
    
    One fine late summer day, I had the Kaos up on about it's 5th flight
    (this is a clue) and decided to do a low (for me) roll. Flying in
    a right to left direction off the end of the field, I was about
    40 feet up and had everything pictured in my mind. Clockwise roll,
    pull up into a steep climb, and turn out to the right. I went into
    the roll, and about 5 second later, the Kaos was burried in the
    ground.
    
    Best as I can figure, here's what happened. Wanting to do everything
    right, I feed in down elevator as the Kaos went inverted. The roll
    rate was rather snappy on the Kaos and I had really banged the stick
    over. I stopped the roll perfectly level, but never got off of the
    down elevator anywhere near soon enough. As soon as the plane came
    level, it pitched down sharply. Being low for me at the time, this
    sudden downward lurch allowed panic (not the plane) to set in. My
    brain just continued on with the pre-programmed plan but at a much
    exagerated rate. I pulled back sharply on the elevator and banked
    sharply to the right AND HELD IT out of panic and inexperience. The 
    Kaos, being the plane that it is, responded with just what I was
    asking of it. It raised it's nose, rolled over on it's back, and
    because I was still holding up elevator (now down), the Kaos very
    obediantly dove into the ground.
    
    CAUSE OF CRASH......PILOT ERROR DUE TO INEXPERIENCE.
    
    WHAT HAVE I LEARNED??????......Don't get COCKY. Stay within your
    means (experience level) and..........NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER
    STOP FLYING THE AIRPLANE. I can remember very clearly watching the
    Kaos from about 10 feet up diving into the ground. I never reacted.
    Had I given full down elevator, the Kaos would be alive today. Well,
    I think it would anyway.
    
    When your going to try new things, even Al Casey's and Eric
    Henderson's leave a few mistakes worth of air underneath them.
    
    Alas poor Kaos, I knew it well.
    
    Steve

    I thought sure Dan Miner or maybe the Snowman woulda' jumped on this
    topic like a duck on a June-bug seeing they have a wealth of pertinent
    experiences to share with us.  ;b^)  Since they didn't, I'll kick
    things off.
    
    In over 27 years of radio modeling, I've been EXTREMELY fortunate in
    having lost/totalled only 4-aircraft, an Aeromaster, a VK Cherokee, an
    Ugly-Stik and a Fliteglass P-51.  Of course, I've had a few more
    crashes than that but those four were the only ones so heavily damaged
    that I attempted no repair, even though a friend _did_ restore the P-51
    and it was still flying up to the last time I knew anything of it a
    coupla' years ago.  I believe strongly in crash avoidance; paying
    attention to what I'm doing and learning from the mistakes of others
    and I believe this is what's led to my success over the years.
    
    Let's talk about these crashes and what was learned from them.  The
    Aeromaster was my favorite airplane up to that point (late-60's) and
    would still be today, had it survived.  I was terribly proud of the way
    it came out; its conventional silk/Silron and dope covering job and
    Randolph Aircraft Dope (full scale stuff bought at the airport) finish
    was the best I'd achieved to that point and the little bipe was
    immaculate.  I lost the ship on about its 50th flight and never really
    knew why.  This was in the days before battery cyclers and at a time
    when battery cycling hadn't even been acknowledged as necessary. 
    Without warning, the plane suddenly began banking over at an ever
    increasing angle 'til it contacted the earth and, today, I'm pretty
    convinced batteries were the culprit but, at the time, I had no way to
    prove it.  Explaining the crash to Ted White, he told me about such
    things as Ni-cad memory and recommended a technique of discharging
    battery packs using a glo-plug as a load, then recharging...the
    rudimentary birth of battery cycling.  I used this method and, when the
    first commercial cycler, the Flite-Life, came on the market, I began
    using it and have _never_ lost a ship to batteries since that time,
    though I've detected numerous bad ones _on_the_ground_ before they
    could cause any damage.
    
    After the Aeromaster, I built a VK Cherokee but modified the fuse and
    cockpit/canopy area extensively to make it kook more a sleek,
    single-seat, streamline-nosed sport ship than a [very] standoff scale
    bird.  On the 4th flight, it suddenly nosed straight in and, while the
    guy, to this day, won't admit it, I'm positive he turned on my
    fregquency and shot me down as he was busily huddled over his model,
    doing one or another adjustments with his Tx in easy reach when I went
    in.  Lesson, be sure you know what others around you are doing and that
    they know what _you_ are doing to avoid such accidents...even if a
    Tx-Impound and frequency control are in effect.
    
    The Fliteglass Mustang was my first real venture into scale and, by the
    standards extant at the time (mid-late 70's), it was a very nice ship.
    All through its life, however, it had a nasty quirk of suddenly
    standing straight up on its left wingtip, just like the first point of
    a 4-point roll.  I chased that gremlin all through the plane, taking
    the radio out and flying it in an Ugly-Stik, replacing the feedback
    pots in the servos with Giezendanner carbon wipers, etc., ad infinitum
    but, every time I thought the problem was solved, it'd come out of the
    blue and rear its threatening head again.  I finally even convinced
    myself that it was just me (how many times have you heard _that_
    before) being too heavy handed on the ailerons so I had dual rate
    ailerons retrofitted to my Pro-Line radio.  I was again convinced that
    this latter action had solved the problem when, one day, the P-51 stood
    up on its left tip and continued rolling, performing a long, lazy
    peel-off right into the ground!  The one thing I'd never done was swap
    servos around or replace the aileron servo and, guess what...the
    aileron servo turned out to be bad!  Lesson: don't mess around with
    servos, if you have the slightest suspicion one is flaky, get it out of
    the plane or on a non-critical control immediately!
    
    Finally, I'd built a brand new Ugly Stik about 6-7 years ago and it was
    a honey!  I wanted another knock-around, fun-fly bird and had installed
    all the hardware for float conversion, etc.  Finishing it just a few
    days before the annual Albuquerque Fun-Fly, I went out after work to
    test fly the Stik and a brand new Pro-Line Custom Competition radio
    (that was intended to, one day, go into the MiG-3.  On the field, the
    radio went absolutely snakesh*t and I had to postpone the test flight
    'til the next evening (which was the night before I planned to leave
    for Albq.).  I replaced the radio with my faithful, 12-year old
    Pro-Line Competition-6 and went out again after work the following day. 
    The flight couldn't have been more perfect; the plane required no trim
    adjustments, the engine purred like a kitten and the combination worked
    to perfection.  I shot a number of touch-and-goes about 8-minutes into
    the flight and nearly left it down on the last one but opted to do
    "just one more."  Famous/fatal last words!  As I came around to final,
    there was a barely perceptible jump to the airplane and I never got
    another signal to it...it continued turning towards the runway in a
    descending, ever tightening turn 'til, at about mach-2.37564, it hit
    the ground and I never saw a plane so totally disintegrated in my life!
    
    Post mortem on the radio revealed that the Zehner diode in the receiver's 
    voltage regulator had shorted to ground, burning the land off the PCB
    and opening the VR circuit.  I immediately packed up all three Pro-Line
    radios I owned, peddled that at the next club auction and bought my
    first Futaba radio and never looked back.  Lesson: components age and,
    even in the most trusty of radios, if it's old, a potential problem
    could be brewing.  I plan to recycle all my radio gear about every
    5-years or so, as hard as that can be to let go of a faithful old
    radio.  
    
    So, that should get us kicked off.  Make sure to share yer' experiences
    with us all...just for the wreckord.
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      	         \|/		|______|__(o/--/  | \	   	       
      | |        00	       <|  ~~~  ____ 04 ---- | --------------------
    |_|_|        (O>o		|\)____/___|\_____|_/	   Adios amigos, Al
      |     \__(O_\_	        |	  |___/	 o	   (The Desert Rat)

    Tom,
    I guess that just supports my argument that if you are able, the
    range check should include a check with the engine run up.  Not
    generally possible with a chopper unless there is a special stand.
    We do not have such at any of our sites.
    Ken

    Just to help validate the point made by the past coupl'a replies,
    lemme' relate a little story.
    
    _Many_ years ago, I was in Albuquerque for their annual fun-fly.  While
    I'd gone through a coupla' hand-me-down junkers honing my flying
    skills, I was flying the first R/C model completely built by myself, a
    Top-Flite Taurus.  As always, the prevailing winds were pretty stiff
    but, having cut my R/C teeth for the most part in the Albq. area, I
    knew that to wait for calmer conditions was not to fly at all.
    
    So, on one flight, I'm up having a ball; still a relative fledgling, I
    nonetheless had progressed to the point of low altitude hot-doggin (the
    Ted White influence, you know).  So, on one low downwind pass, the
    engine quits just as the plane passes me going like a scalded dog!  As
    I've said numerous times in other replies, _not_ landing on the runway
    in Albq. is inviting almost certain disaster as the peripheral area is
    strewn with numerous (and large) rocks and is very sandy (makes a
    Helluva mess out' the engine).  So, not considering that high ground
    speed does'nt necessarily mean proportionally high airspeed and wanting
    to avoid deadsticking into the rough, I hauled the Taurus around in a
    sweeping downwind-to-upwind turn (the dreaded downwind turn).  Ted (as
    always when someone was in trouble) was standing by and kept
    cautioning, "Don't stall it...don't stall it."
    
    I was as careful as I knew how to be to keep the plane flying but, just
    as I rolled level after completing the 180-degree turn, the plane
    finally quit flying and just sort'a dropped to the ground at the edge
    of the asphalt runway like a full can of beer!  "Great Job!" Ted
    shouted as we went over to retrieve the plane...it wasn't all that
    pretty but I'd saved the Taurus from severe damage out in the really
    rough stuff.  The only damage was a bent landing gear strut and a
    broken wing bolt block inside the fuse.
    
    That night, I repaired the very minor damage, cleaned the sand outa the
    engine and was all ready to go again the next day.  Sunday morning, I
    was getting ready for my first flight when Ted came up and suggested I
    do a range check with the engine running.  I did so and discovered I
    couldn't get more than 6' away from the ship before the radio went
    snake!  "I knew it," Ted remarked, "You cracked the receiver crystal in
    that hard landing yesterday."  Fortunately, Ted had the replacement
    crystal along in his stock of repair parts (he was the service/repair
    guru for F&M radios at the time which is what I was flying) and he had
    me going again in jig time but, had I _not_ range checked with the
    engine running, I wouldn't have discovered the problem until I suddenly
    lost control of the plane which might'a run amok through the pits
    and/or spectators or gotten airborne only to destroy itself instantly!
    
    Two things I learned from that experience were: 1.) Anytime the
    airborne has received a considerably harder than normal thump, it
    should be thoroughly checked out by a qualified technician before being
    flown again, and 2.) regularly perform dynamic (engine running) range 
    checks!
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      | |        00	       <|  ~~~  ____ 04 ---- | --------------------
    |_|_|        (O>o		|\)____/___|\_____|_/	   Adios amigos, Al
      |     \__(O_\_	        |	  |___/	 o	   (The Desert Rat)

    Mr. Casey Pointed out that I did a write and not a reply to this topic
    for my input.  So It is now duely posted.....Thanks AL
    
                <<< WEWAND::$56$DUA0:[NOTES$LIBRARY]RC.NOTE;1 >>>
                  -< Welcome To The Radio Control Conference >-
================================================================================
Note 1220.0         Hey thats part of my wing over there....          No replies
CSC32::M_ANTRY                                       22 lines   6-JUN-1990 18:42
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    I had just finished my all Composite flatwing aileron/flap sailplane
    that would eat Gentle Lady's for lunch.  The first flight was in in
    high winds about 20 mph.  The first flight was great.  Went up launch
    just fine (tow hook OK), It didn't need but just a tad of aileron trim(
    built OK)  and when in landing mode with CROW it was perfect (Crow to
    Elevator trim OK)  I flew it slow, I flew it fast all was well.  The
    second flight, with the same winds I put in Launch flaps which is not
    much and launch it.  About 1/2 way up the whinch the top right wing
    skin delaminates and comes completely off the foam core.  The foam core
    was not left with much for a structure so it folds and down she comes. 
    Post Mortum.......
    
    Remember this plane has less than 6"x10" of 1/4" ply in it and thats
    it.  The fuse is Kevlar and the wings were Fiberglass over green foam. 
    It appears that the glass did not have enough epoxy in it or it was not
    viscous enough that it did not adhear to the foam core like it should
    have. The wing flexed enough on launch with flaps that the top skin
    buckled up and let the air in at the leading edge and whooompf off
    comes the skin.  I have glued the 2 pieces of the foam core back
    together and will bag on a new top and bottom skin and be back in
    business.  The fuselage has a minor crack in it and everything else is
    AOK.  Tuff plane considering it went in from that altitude.
    

I won't even include the numerous crashes caused by early learning, such as
low altitude downwind turns.

My first good crash was during the flight of my Kadet Mk. II. One moment it's 
flying fine, the next moment it's on its back and I'm cooling remarking to 
myself "Hmmmm, I didn't do that...". As it began the remorseless spiral to 
the ground I shouted my channel number several times, figuring that was the
most likely problem. Sure enough, after impact, a guy who was walking his
plane up to the flight line realized he was on the same frequency as me. He
even had put his pin up on the board right next to my own! THE MORAL: As Al
Casey said, know who's on your frequency, and it probably doesn't hurt to let
HIM know you're there too.

Second incident was with the same plane. This time, there were only 3 of us 
at the field, all with different channels. While executing a turn, the plane
rolled onto its back. I immediately righted it and figured it was my own fault
because I hadn't been concentrating too hard on flying it. A few seconds later,
as it was making a pass across the field, it again rolled inverted and this
time I knew it wasn't me doing it. I yelled out my channel number (heck, that
was the problem last time, right...?), but no one else was on it. The next 10
seconds was a carnival of trying to keep the plane right side up as it slowly
flew to the end of the field toward the trees. Finally, when it was about 20
feet off the ground and fully inverted, I decided to cut power and hope for
a soft landing. Luck was with me because it did one more half roll and landed
on its gear in tall grass with no more damage than a cracked prop. 

An after crash inspection revealed a broken wire to the potentiometer in the
aileron servo, causing the servo to go to full deflection. THE MORAL: ... I
dunno! How do you prevent this one? Open up every one of your servos and
inspect all wires? Maybe the real moral is when you get in serious trouble,
throttle back to minimize damage (I remembered someone in this notes file
saying that, and I had the presence of mind to follow it.)

My latest "crash" was simple pilot error, very similar to the one Steve 
described for his Kaos. A low altitude 720 degree roll with my Scooter, and
it just got ahead of me, and I over controlled it at full throttle right
into a thorn bush. The good news is, the bush prevented any damage. I was
utterly amazed, just a few thorns stuck in the foam core wing. THE MORAL: Keep
doing those aerobatics at high altitude until you can practically do them in
your sleep!

Dave

    Re: .-2, Mark,
    
    Thanx, pard!  Yer' experience seemed exactly suited to this topic and I
    appreciate yer' movin' it here.  Glad to hear you got out of it with
    enough to restore to airworthiness.  You gonna' resheet the entire wing
    or just the side that failed?  Sounds to me like, if one panel failed,
    the other one just might do the same.
    
    RE: .-1, Dave,
    
    The best defense for yer' first tale is, as you say, make it _YOUR_
    responsibility to KNOW who's on yer' frequency and to make sure that HE
    knows you're on his.  In the second instance, this is a hard one as
    these kind'a failures _can_ pop up out of the blue.  Dynamic range
    testing _might_ flush it out but it might not.  If the airborne unit
    had been in a crash recently, a thorough check out by a qualified tech
    _might_ have revealed it...but maybe not.  This is one of those things
    where ol' Murphy's got'cha by the short hair and sometimes only luck
    saves yer' behind.  In any case, yer' absolutely correct...never stop
    flying the airplane and get the throttle back at once.  This is no
    guaranteed panacea but it frequently minimizes damage from total to
    repairable levels.
						 __
				|      |        / |\	   	       
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      | |        00	       <|  ~~~  ____ 04 ---- | --------------------
    |_|_|        (O>o		|\)____/___|\_____|_/	   Adios amigos, Al
      |     \__(O_\_	        |	  |___/	 o	   (The Desert Rat)

    Re: the sailplane that "Eats Gentle Ladies for Lunch"
    
    I have a Sophisticated Lady that I fly for strictly laid back
    relaxation. Guess what- my wing stays on all the way through the
    launch, so I guess that makes it a "duration ship" !!  :^) :^)
    
    (I couldn't resist! :^)
    
                        __|__                              Regards-
 \________________________O________________________/       Frank.    

    

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				|      |        / |\	   	       
      	         \|/		|______|__(o/--/  | \	   	       
      | |        00	       <|  ~~~  ____ 04 ---- | --------------------
    |_|_|        (O>o		|\)____/___|\_____|_/	   Adios amigos, Al
      |     \__(O_\_	        |	  |___/	 o	   (The Desert Rat)

    I've been fairly fortunate in the five years I've been flying RC.  Bill
    Lewis' instructing got me to soloing with nary a crash (a few props got
    dinged up on landings).  I attribute this to Bill's skill and the good
    advice I got on the proper trainer. (First Step 3 channel)
    
    My first CRASH was a midair of my EZ Laser and a First Step.  I lost. 
    His Gear took off a foot of my wing and the aileron.  I spun in before
    my brain even figured out what happened.  
    
    
    Post Mortum:  I was not confortable with this plane yet and I was
    concentrating too much on what it was doing and not enough on what
    other planes were doing.  The guy that collided with me was less
    experienced than I was so I can't blame him too much.  He lucked out,
    landing with a bent landing gear.
    
    
    My second CRASH was another Midair the first flight of the season the
    following year.  I had made one circuit of the field still trimming out
    my Arrow.  I was rusty and again I was focusing too much on my plane.
    The results were the same as the first madair - I lost again.  I again
    lost half a wing and the aileron and the other guy landed with his
    spinner missing.  He was flying a cub.  This time I throttled back and
    minimized the damage.  I actually glued the wing (foam)together and it
    flew again.  Boy did I learn my lesson about watching the rest of the
    sky with peripheral vision.  
    
    	Both midairs occured with only two planes in the air and I do
    consider it to be partly bad luck on my part.  I know that I am much
    less likely to have it happen again though due to my experience and the
    ability to watch the sky better.  Both midairs were 90 degree impacts
    and to my credit, I was the one in the traffic pattern with the other
    guy comming accross in an adnormal pattern.
    
    
    I also had a crash with my SS40 due to an aileron servo failure.  I had
    just taken off and about the second turn, the ailerons stopped
    responding completely.  I was in an increasing bank over a large
    clearing with trees on either side.  I throttled back and put it into a
    spin since I did not want it to end up in the trees.  It turned out to
    be the right thing to do.  I neutralized the controls at about 10 feet
    and the plane pancaked into the tall grass.  I knew I had just lucked
    out!  I went out and the only damage was a slightly bent gear and some
    scratches in the leading edge covering.  The ailerons still did not
    work.  I replaced the servo and discovered that the motor had a dead
    spot.  I could get the servo to work again by moving the output shaft,
    but I was able to get it to fail if I moved it slowly.  I was damn
    lucky it didn't cost me one of my favorite planes.
    
    
    All of us will crash eventually and I consider myself lucky to have
    flown as much as I have with so few serious crashes.  I do try to keep
    my equipment in good repair, but I could get bitten by many of the bugs
    that have gotten other noters.  This file has helped me greatly.  I
    have often gone home and taken a look at my equipment when I hear of
    someone having a problem with theirs.  This topic could save a plane
    someday!
    
    Charlie
    

    
    	I didn't really get serious about this hobby till 2 years ago. Up
    until that time I had pretty much concentrated on flying a Craft-Aire 
    Piece O' Cake, which I soon modified into an electric glider. Nothing
    too serious happened, other than occasionally cracking a nose block, 
    until I lost the electric in Feb of 88. Post Mortem was inconclusive at
    the time. Flying straight and level motor off, about 100 feet away, the
    motor came on, full right rudder, and in it went.
    
    	Since I soloed my first 4 channel ship in June of 88, I have only 
    had 4 serious crashes, and 3 of those were simply pilot error. Two were
    to the same plane one week apart!!!!!!  I took off with a Super
    Sportster 60, and when reaching with left thumb to adjust elevator trim
    managed to turn off the Tx!! Result was a splintered fuselage and a
    broken wing. Moral: Get plenty of altitude before trimmimg, and NEVER
    reach across the Tx to adjust a trim. One week later I was flying the
    newly repaired SS60, when it went out of control and crashed. Post
    Mortem revealed that the pilot had not replaced the screw in the
    aileron servo holding the servo wheel on!!!
    
    I lost my first Panic in a mid-air. I was able to get the nose
    semi-level and save the engine and radio after losing most of both left
    wings. I had managed to avoid this pilot twice, third time was the
    charm.
    
    Super Panic 2 was lost when I made a bad decision on a low pass, over
    corrected and flew into the ground. Moral here was "always make sure 
    communications are clear between the other pilots in the air at the
    time."
    
    I've had my share of mishaps, but those were the only fatalities. I
    consider my 50' loop from 49' up with the UNIC an "oops" not a real
    crash.

I can attest to the usefulness of having an instructor.

I started out in the hobby in C/L and graduated to RC in High School. I had 
some reasonable building skills and bought a radio through the mail and stuck 
it in a plane. I was one of the few RC pilots in my area (20 years ago) and 
found a reasonable farmer and used his hay field as a crash spot. I got REAL 
good at repairing and finally learned how to fly. I got my best experience 
flying a Graupner Amigo II and this plane is still flyable today (albiet 
greatly repaired) My ballast is epoxy ;^)


I envy you guys today that have someone to get you up 3 mistakes high with a 
trimmed airplane in the first place!

My biggest crash was with a CG Sr. Falcon when I lost the mounting screws on 
my aileron servo. I made a pass over the field and the servo dropped into the 
fuselage and wedged the ailerons full deflection. I didn't throttle back and it 
rolled all the way into the woods/ground. I still have the stab/rudder ;^) The 
wing exploded and the fuse was missing up to the stab. This is one of the 
reasons that I'm always amazed by people that leave their planes buttoned up
from flying session to flying session. I always double check my installation 
after a session due to vibration loosened components. It doesn't take a hard 
landing to loosen things. I'll bet that of the noters in the file, if everyone 
went home and did an inspection of their stuff, we'd have a few servo and 
engine screws missing that hadn't been noticed. I always try to do the 
inspection when I'm not rushing to get out to the field. I do my final cleanup 
at that point also.

    
                  < some of us never listen >
    
      My first and most disastrous, to the plane and to my ego was
     in 1973, Wichita Ks. at a RC field that was set-up by and
     owned (I think) by Beechcraft Corp.. I stopped by often and
     asked lots of questions, everyone said bye a trainer, I said
     to myself, they arn't flying trainers and it looks easy. So I
     scratch built a "Dirty Birdy" from plans. I now know how crazy
     I was,am. I brought her to the field and asked someone to take
     her up. This guy was GOOD. He flew RC piloted vehicles for a 
     LIVING for Beechcraft. Now thats a job. The plane flew ok, there
     were problems, weak nose, bad CG etc. all the things some cocky
     knowitall would never figure out on his own. I then wanted to try
    and he insisted I should get a trainer. Ha Ha I said. Later that
    same day I came back and did try to fly, what I got was up off the
    nice concrete runway about 10 ft, started to porpoise, then a climbing
    left turn at full speed. About 270 degrees later (maybe 15 sec)
    she plowed the field. Totally destroyed. Lost the reciever, engine,
     entire plane and my good mood. The engine I still have today, an
     HP 61 with sn1240, minus the carb that I never found. The engine
     was is brand new. I figure I lost $300.00 out of my pocket and
     about 5 years of the Hobby.
    
      Moral:  how else do I put it.. Listen to the experience and 
              TAKe the advice. costs less, more fun and above all
              a whole lot safer.
    
    (still embarassed)
     kevin p

Actually, it would probably be more appropriate for me to recount
the times I got the plane down in one piece!

Be that as it may, two stick out in my mind; both involving the
Eaglet.  The first one was just after I soloed and was
starting to build confidence.  I made the mistake of taking off
in a little too much wind for my experience.  I got off ok, then
made the downwind turn, and my first mistake.  Since the plane
accellerated its speed relative to the ground, I throttled back
to slow the plane into my comfort range -- that's ok.  But when I
went to turn the plane back upwind (and to land as I'd decided
then it was too much for me) it only rolled over and continued
back downwind.  Three or four of these tries and the plane was
out of my orientation, so on the last one I had no choice but to
let it go in where I could still see it.

Actually that one had a good effect, because during the repair
period I got some glider time with Mark Antry as coach and
learned more in the first session than all the previous Eaglet
time put together.

Then I got Quik Stik into the air and just as I was getting used
to it some Bozo mid-aired me and nuked the plane.  So much for
that.

The last one was when the Eaglet did its final bow.  I took off
and noticed it jump around a little.  Suspecting radio
interference, I turned downwond to bring it back home.  The plane
then seemed to recover ok for a few seconds, then it glitched
again, and again, each time diving to within a few feet of the
ground.  Finally on the last one it was bye bye baby.

I don't know for certain if it was radio interference on a
previously trouble-free channel, or because one of the servos was
a little flaky (I finally fixed the problem last nite), or if it
was just due to the nasty disposition of that particular Eaglet,
but in any case I have not shed a tear.

Al was badgering me into recounting crashes.

I've been flying for about 5 years now an as some of you know I
keep accounts of RC expenses.  Presently I have 30 planes on the
books.  That doesn't mean that I have actually built and flown
30 planes - because a three are just starting expenses
and may never be completed (Harrier, S2A and N9M).

Also some are little rubber powered and glider (non-RC) types (5)

So of the 22 left 3 are under construction (Lovesong, Zero, and Optica).

That leaves 19 to account for.

Three of those were sold at auctions - that is as close to retiring a
plane as I've gotten.

That leaves 16.

4 of those are still flying (one electric and 3 gliders).

That leaves 12 that we can put in the category of crashed and burned.

There is probably a lesson to be learned with each one but Al may have
to edit this to determine what the lesson is (or was).

1st the Falcon 56.  This was my first RC plane so it is no surprise that
is was in several hard landings and "TREE" landings.

What makes is hit trees so often?  I think it is part of learning to
fly in this area.  You need to be 3 mistakes high and it doesn't make
since to be 3 mistakes high straight over your head.  When others start
flying at the same time you tend to move your plane over to some area
that keeps you away from making passes up and down the runway so naturally
you end up over the trees.  The trees are probably 1.5 mistakes high
so you have taken away your safety margin.  The Old buzzard says you can learn
more under 50 feet than over.  Course he is talking about finding and
centering on thermals with gliders but I can't learn much with a power
plane that is WAY out.  

Anyway after several serious crashes with the Falcon 56 if finally met
it's end one day when I was too fast and only one mistake high.  It went
in hard and alto I'm sure I didn't loose radio signal or control response
I was new and became disoriented and POW!.

2nd was a Fun scale P51.  This plane was my first tail dragger (2nd plane)
and was not made to the beginner strength limit's necessary for getting
lots of stick time.  In retrospect I think it flew OK - just couldn't take
a hard landing.  I don't remember how I wiped it out but Kevin can tell you
how not to do the first ever tail dragger take off!

3rd was a DAS Bipe Stick.  Great plane and I got lots of stick time
with it.  I guess you could think of it as a 40 size Panic.  I had
a 45 four stroke in it but eventually upgraded to a OS .45 FSR.  That
was my down fall - it was too fast and one day in Acton I just got disoriented
for a second and I was too fast and too low (one mistake high) POW!

4th was a Sure Flight Cessna 182.  It's first serious crash was because
I flew all day in the winter until the Transmitter battery ran down.
It spun in from about 150 feet.  Easy to fix the foam tho and it was up
again the next weekend.  I got quite a bit of stick time with this plane
and it was fun.  It's final flight was in Acton on a windy day and a gust
literally flipped it over on it's back when it was only up a few feet.
I don't think anybody could have saved that one but the lesson is clear.
Know your limits and don't fly when it is excessively windy.

5th is a Black Baron Special - had many flights with it grossly under powered.
That led to several mishaps.  Twice I lost the wing in mid air and repaired
it.  These can both be traced to poor building and maintenance.  It's final
death came when I put it high in a tree and when we shook it loose it
hit the ground and broke in half.  By this time it was getting heavy from
epoxy repairs.  The reason I went into the trees was because I had dead
sticked and turned down wind.  The wind was pretty fast and it got over
the trees real fast.  The lesson to be learned here it to have a strategy
set up for making turns if you loose your engine (I know I do that a lot).
For instance slope soarers always turn away from the slope.  If you dead
stick you should probably just head into the wind and make a landing
where ever that is at a nice slow ground speed.  If the wind is directly
down the runway and you are up wind - then a straight down wind landing
is probably necessary if you aren't high enough to fly a pattern.  But
if the wind is on your back then at least turn into the wind to make your
pattern (the opposite of what I did with the Black Baron Special).  Etc...

6th is a Coverite Jeep.  Folded the wing because (1) Forgot the wing struts
at home, (2) Had the elevator throw too high so loops were way too tight,
(3) On the down side of a loop I didn't throttle back.  

7th is Wingmaster Ultra light ARF.  Crashed on Hand launch (twice).  There is 
a lesson to be learned here - make sure if you buy anything that you have seen
somebody else fly it.  There are a lot of planes for sale that can't
possibly fly at high altitudes with the supplied engines and in the case
of the Wingmaster it has to take off a long smooth (not grass) runway.
Can't be hand launched because there is no way to hold it that won't put
a torque motion on the airframe when you release it.

8th is the Drifter II.  It's only crashes have been a couple of tree landings
(remember yours Kevin) and wing folds.  Don't know what you can learn
from these except the only way to know for sure how much winch pressure
a wing will take it to build two of them and break the first one so you
get a feel for it :-).  My last wing fold was off a high start.  It was
too windy and really stretched the line almost straight up.  When I finally
wanted to get off the hook I dived for slack when I pulled up BOOM!
If there is a lesson here it is to avoid big time winds with a high start.

9th is a Big Stick 20.  Put it in the trees once while flying rolling 
circles.  Again not high enough considering the 3 mistakes high rule.
Finally crashed when my battery connector (JR) failed.  There is a lesson
here.  I was warned.  It was intermittent and I had fiddled with it just
before the flight.  I convinced myself that I had made it secure - I was
wrong.  Plane was repairable - but I gave it to Dan Miner.  I think he
flew it since then.

10th is a Super Aeromaster.  The first crash (on the 3rd flight) was a down
wind turn that resulted in a stall about 10-15 feet up onto the runway.
Once I flew it without it's canopy (and the lead in the canopy) so
it was tail heavy and I banged up a wing tip on the landing.  And a few
weeks ago I lost the radio signal and it went in hard.  Anybody want to bid
on the pieces?  I haven't determined for sure why the radio failed - it worked
fine on the ground and I have cycled the batteries since - everything checks
out.  It could be that the battery came loose in flight (it was physically
separated at the crash but so was a lot of the airplane).  My best guess
is interference.  I was pointing the antenna directly at the plane and had
2 or 3 other transmitters between me and the plane when it lost it.  Also
it was not a narrow band dual conversion receiver.  

11th and 12th are the Berliner-Joyce P16's.  First I have to say that I never
crashed one of these in the since of hitting a tree or spinning in or...
I've sustained all my damage thru poor landings (most of those dead stick).

Last Friday I made structural repairs to my remaining BJ pieces and Saturday
I took it up for a test flight.  Trims were right on - but needed low rates.
Plane seemed pretty sensitive in pitch but the landing was OK.  Looked
bad and I nearly stalled but it was smooth at touch down and no damage.
Sunday I took it to the 495th Scale Fly In and made one flight.  Seemed
real sensitive in pitch and needed a couple three clicks of right aileron.
Flight was terrible sloppy and constant up down but I managed to nurse it
around and put it on the runway smooth.  Then I committed the 11 deadly
sin.  Someplace in this notes file Al has a famous quotation that says
something like "Don't stop flying till the engine stops!".  Anyway
it rolls a few feet in the grass then boom - it balloons up about 4 feet.
Now here is where Al Casey would go to full throttle and slam the rudder
and pull out and everybody would say "Great Save".  But I ain't Al Casey
so I'm trying to put it back down on the runway but it stalls and rolls over
on her side and BOOM - rips the top wing out of the fuselage (AGAIN!).
Worse crash of the meet.  There are several lessons to be learned here.
(1) practice practice practice, (2) be very familiar with your radio (I
was using my JR single stick), (3) the flight ain't over till the plane
is back in the hanger.

You know I love my JR single stick.  It has a 1991 receiver (one that
is on the AMA list) and a gold sticker on the transmitter (from Phoenix
last March) and I have never had a problem with it except for the time
the battery connector failed in the big stick 20.

BUT...

Since I have so many other transmitters and they are all dual sticks
and since I've bought into computer radio technology with multiple
receivers per transmitter - I find that I just don't put any time
on the single stick anymore.  Then when I do I can't find the dual
rate switches and can't just naturally reach for a trim tab etc.

So it is for sale.  I paid $300.  I will sell it for $200 with
4 servos and charger etc.  As a special deal I will throw in
two (count them TWO) Berliner-Joyce P-16's.  Both damaged but can
be made flyable again with a few hours effort.  Both can be made
competitive again with a couple of weeks effort.  I have a servo
embedded in each wing so if you want the wing/and servo I will
have to charge another $15 per servo or subtract 2 servos from the
4 that would come with the JR radio or something.  Bottom line
is I want to clear the BJ's out of my basement and get something
for my single stick.

Any offers?

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

    After Kay bared his soul so completely, I guess I can do the same. 
    BTW, with the ad at the end of that long narrative, I almost felt that
    I had just watched one of those 1/2 commercials on TV for Solo-Flex or
    the like!  :^) :^)
    
    Anyway, I guess I've only had one major crash (if you don't count the
    time I picked up the plane by the tail and it broke off and if you
    don't count the Melody MP I picked up for $26, just to see what it was
    about and which didn't have a snowball's chance in h*ll of flying
    anyway.).
    
    I learned a lot from that crash.  It was a Wanderer (2m beginner's
    glider) that I was launching off an upstart.  It was an early flight
    and I was a bit timid about the launch.  It went up about 30', rolled
    onto it's back and dove in.  Why?  If you don't give an aggressive
    launch from a highstart or upstart you will probably stall and crash. 
    Even first flights need all the power from the start you can impart,
    the hairiness of a plane out of flying trimis easier to manage if you
    have flying speed to play with.
    
    So, even though you want to be timid on that first launch, give it all
    you've got and be prepared to trim on-the-fly.
    
                        __|__                              Regards-
 \________________________O________________________/       Frank.    

    

I had hoped to avoid an entry in this note, but I guess its all part of 
earning your wings.  BTW, how high is "three mistakes"?

Up to now, I had seven successfull flights with varing amounts of help.  
Attempt number eight was also my first try without a hand launch, and 
resulted in a ground loop, so that one doesn't count as a flight, though 
it did more damage than any of my "landings".

As I ran down my mental checklist, prepping the Amptique for takeoff, I 
noted on the range check that the speed control was still burping, but 
the servos were rock solid.  Since I had seven flights with it doing that, 
I shrugged it off and gathered it up for flight number eight.  I snapped 
on my neck strap, walked out onto the field, started my stopwatch for 
elapsed time, started my countdown timer, and hoisted the plane to shoulder 
height.
    
I advanced the throttle, took a couple of steps and launched.  With no 
headwind, the climbout was flatter than before, but it was gaining altitude
and I was starting to relax.  About eighty or a hundred feet out, the 
motor started burping.  I was more annoyed than alarmed until it started 
banking to the right and left stick wasn't producing results.  As the bank
continued, the nose started to drop.  By now I was getting alarmed, and a
little confused.  I was pulling full left and up, yet the plane was still
banking ever farther to the right and now diving at about twenty degrees.
At about ten feet up, I closed the throttle, still holding full left and 
up, and realized that this was probably my last flight of the day.

After the pieces settled, I hung my head sadly.  That's when I noticed 
that the antenna was still neatly collapsed into the transmitter!

I figure that I've earned my black belt in stupidity!  The damage was 
surprisingly minor, confined to the front wing mount dowel, and those 
things which were in front of the battery.  It wouldn't have been so bad, 
but the speed control landed right after the motor, and just before the 
battery, so it wasn't field repairable.  

I may go to a written checklist after this...

    Bob,
    
    Talk about'cher deja-vu.  I was just telling someone, I think it was
    Dan Miner and I _thought_ it was in this topic but I guess not, about
    what to do if you discover you've taken off with the Tx antenna
    collapsed.  Of course, this depends on noticing the faux-pas _before_
    the airplane crashes but, should you ever find yer'self in this
    embarrassing situation again, don't panic, keep yer' eyes on the plane
    and get it turned back toward yer'self immediately, assuming it's
    flying away from you.  Get the plane fairly high and pretty much
    overhead remembering that the propogation pattern from the Tx looks
    like a vertical inverted cone, i.e. the pointed end of the cone emanates 
    from the antenna.  Then holler for someone to assist and instruct them
    to pull the antenna out smartly...not so hard as to damage the antenna
    but as quickly as possible since control will be lost as long as the
    antenna is grounded.  Naturally, yer' dead meat if yer' by yer'self
    but, then again, ya' shouldn't be flying alone, right?!  :B^)
    
    This brings to mind something that happened to a buddy of mine way back
    when at the Albuquerque Fun-Fly.  At the time we were still flying
    on the CB (27 MHz) frequencies which were denoted by a single-colored
    flag attached to the antenna.  Well, this friend, Glenn, didn't have a
    flag on his antenna and every time he got his Tx from impound, someone'd 
    remind him he _really_ should have a flag so others could see at a glance 
    what frequency he was on.  Glenn sez', "Here, I'll fix 'em," as he took an 
    empty green Nieuport cigarette package, poked holes in it and slid it
    onto his antenna to substitute for the green flag he should have been
    using.
    
    Somewhere into the flight, the airplane suddenly went wild and plunged
    into the ground, suffering moderate but repairable damage.  Ted White,
    our radio guru at the time came over to see what was going on and, as
    he walked up, he said, "Look at yer' RF meter...there's yer' problem,
    yer' not getting any signal about half the time."  We looked and, sure
    enough, the output needle was dancing crazily from nothing to fully
    pegged.  Glen shook the Tx, tapped and banged on it and everything he
    did seemed to drive it nutz!  Holding it absolutely still, the needle
    held steady, either at zero or normal but, move it just a bit and went
    ape again.
    
    Finally, I noted that the cigarette-pack Glenn'd flippantly stuck on the
    antenna as a frequency flag had slid clear down to the base of the
    antenna and I mentioned this fact to Ted who, at first, just nodded in
    polite acknowledgement...then, all at once, the recognition struck and
    he said, "Oh Hell, Glenn, _there's_ yer' problem!" as he grabbed the
    cigarette-pack and slid it off the antenna.  Sure enough, the meter
    smoothed out and was rock-solid again.  What'd happened was the foil
    inner wrapper/liner of the cigarette-pack'd shorted the antenna to the
    anodized aluminum transmitter case!  WARNING:  The Surgeon General has
    determined that cigarette smoking may be hazardous to the health of your 
    radio controlled airplane!
						 __
				|      |        / |\	   	       
      	         \|/		|______|__(o/--/  | \	   	       
      | |        00	       <|  ~~~  ____ 04 ---- | --------------------
    |_|_|        (O>o		|\)____/___|\_____|_/	   Adios amigos, Al
      |     \__(O_\_	        |	  |___/	 o	   (The Desert Rat)

    
    Well, I wasn't going to add to this note (because I could fill novels)
    but...
    
    In looking back at learning I must acknowledge that without the
    help of some fellow flyers I probably would have given up. To start
    the first plane I built was a trainer which was scale like in looks
    kind of like a tripacer. It had a spring loaded wing attachment.
    Frankly I'd never advise anyone to but this plane ever. Not knowing
    better I built it on the uneven kitchen table with ambroid. I didn't
    fiberglas the wing center ( I didn't know better). The plane had
    a K & B 40 in it with a Futaba radio. I still have the six channel
    radio. This plane did fly. It had so much lift that we actually
    flew it on trim alone. I was very bad on the tricks. VERY BAD.
    Where we flew there was a stand of pine trees. I got to know these
    trees very well. I flew into them and threw them a number of times.
    After a month of flying this plane I started on the second ship.
    An Andrews H-Ray. A little after a month I needed a new ship as
    I folded the wing in another tree landing. OK, the H-Ray was ready
    so I installed the radio in it. Next day we were back in business.
    
    The first two years of my flying were filled. The typical day was
    to wake up, go to work, get out at 3:00. Go home and build until
    5:00. Then go flying until dark. Then to supper. Home by 9:00 and
    build until 12:00. Sleep and start it all over again. Oh to be single
    again.....
    
    To get back to Volume one of my RC flying..... The H ray flew very
    well. The first flight was great. I got some stick time as yet I
    hadn't landed. The second flight I decided to do a loop. I pulled
    and around she went. As I exited the loop I let off of the controls
    and she continued to loop. So there she was, my brand new plane
    out of control looping her heart away. As she looped she worked
    her was to us and into the only set of telephone poles on the land.
    All that was left was the engine,radio and fuel tank. I had shreaded
    H-Ray. I traveled to TOM"s in Chelmsford and in three days was back
    at the field flying. The post mortune was that I had installed the
    switch  in a cut out of the wing saddle and possible didn't turn
    the switch all of the way on.
    
    
    To be continued.
                                 
    
    Tom

    I don't want to imply that all of my crashes were caused by radio
    failure.  I picked those two examples because I felt there were
    lessons to be learned from them.  This next example also has a lesson
    in it.  It happened about 2BH (before helicopters).  I was flying
    my first trainer, a trainaire 40.  I had been flying for probably
    2 months and was really boring holes in the sky.  I guess the two
    lessons to be learned are 1, don't get too cocky, and two, when
    you first feel good about your progress, make sure you stay 3 mistakes
    high.  I was doing some loops, rolls, etc and all of a sudden I
    found the plane about 15 feet off of the pavement. (This was in
    the parking lot of Rockingham Park (a horse track).  That wasn't
    bad except for the fact that I had become disoriented and the
    plane was inverted.  Much to my dismay, I had to concentrate so
    much on the plane, making sure I didn't give up elevator and dive
    it in the ground, that I didn't notice the lamp pole that jumped
    into the path of my nice trainer.  Due to poor building technique,
    the wing of the plane was not as strong as the lamp post 
    and the wing was cut in half.  However, I did manage a perfect
    one point landing.  The plane touched down on the cylinder head
    and so the plane was not only totaled, but the engine was also
    history.  I have since had several crashes, but I do try to learn
    from my mistakes.

    In order to get my wife to be thoroughly initiated and accustomed
    to my model building I bought and built with her a Top Flite Metric
    sailplane when we got our first apartment together.  We spent months
    on it working evenings  and building the most magnificent Metric
    I have ever seen before or since.  We did it in a shark motif with
    formula U metallic blue and white and clear monocote on the flying
    surfaces painted to look like fins, had a shark mouth that would
    have made any P 47 proud.  Then I made a major dum dum mistake.
     We normally flew from an enormous hill facing the San Francisco
    Bay at Cal State Hayward (I had several other sailplanes).  I was
    used to throwing them off of this near cliff and so did not hesitate
    to do so with our pride an joy.  When it was out over the abyss
    I discovered that it had too much up built into the elevator and
    that I could not get it out with trim.  It also flew faster than
    any of my pervious sailplanes.  The end result was that I stalled
    it between me an the sun and it hit about five feet in front of
    me going about 100+ MPH (it seemed).  Totally toothpicked it, the
    only part remaining was the tail which I still have.  MORAL:  Never
    commit your glider to altitude prior to some hand tossed trims over
    tall (soft) grass.
    
    One more worth mentioning.  I built a Marks Models fun scale Pitts.
    Another beauty, red with pearl white sunburst trimmed in blue, powered
    by an O.S. .28.   Very acrobatic.  I am out flying this thing every
    weekend and spare minute I can get cause it is soooo much fun. 
    It had some quirky tendacies however.  The wings were about 3/8's
    of an inch thick and if the power quit it resembled a brick in flight,
    it just came down, nearly at a 45 degree glideslope.  You had one
    chance to flare if you could get it over pavement.  It would also
    do the wildest snaprolls and lomchevoks I have ever been able to
    do with an RC plane, primarily because the wings would stall at
    your slightest insistence.  This eventually proved the demise of
    the plane.  We had an open invite to the public to watch our planes
    and try to sell some hotdogs and raise some money and I'm out there
    showing off and loving this thing when my brain goes into stand
    by mode and I try a double snap roll going downwind.  My little
    Pitts turns into a leaf and I full power it into smithereens.  MORAL:
    Do downwind acro 5 mistakes high or not at all!
    
    Will

    Well, I must have learned SOMETHING this weekend!!  After all, I did
    participate in not 1, not 2, but 3 crashes!! this weekend....
    
    Hmmm, let's see...
    
    On Saturday, I was flying my Sunshine Hobbies Fokker Eindecker.  I
    had a perfect bomb drop and I was making my low passes for the balloon
    (Rhinebeck practice!!) when I noticed that the engine was sagging a 
    bit.  "It was pretty hot, and I had just leaned it out a bit, so maybe
    I am overheating", I thought.  I'll bring it right in...  Well, I 
    missed the first approach and started to go around...  Just as I
    started my crosswind turn, the engine died.  I was able to make my 
    downwind turn and I headed for the field.  "Hey, I am going to make
    it!", I thought, just a split second before the VERY LAST tree in its
    path grabbed the landing gear!!  It gently flipped into the top
    branches, then tumbled down through the rest.  The only damage was 
    from the last 10 foot drop...  Broken wing mount and broken needle 
    valve.  
    
    Lesson #1 - richen up the engine a tad in hot weather!
    
    On Sunday, I went up to Al Ryder's to fly my Drifter-II.  Flying
    gliders at Al's is kind of interesting in that his field is just big
    enough for the high start.  As a result, you launch and fly the plane
    right at the edge of the field, near his garden, near some trees, a 
    shed, a roto-tiller, a snow blower and a volley ball net.  Well, my
    first landing was in the path in the field, may 30 ft away.  The second
    landing, I decided to bring it in and spot land even closer.....
    Well, all of the sudden I am going to fast, too low with all sorts of
    obstacles...  I decided to turn toward the garden ("heck, I'll just
    have to buy them fresh veggies this summer!") and got about 90 degrees
    through the turn when I "located" the snow blower.  I sheared off the
    outer 1/3rd of the wing...
    
    Lesson #2 - Don't get cute, especially with lots of obstacles around!
    
    So, later in the day, Al and I head over to the Merrimack field to fly
    the G.P. Trainer-40.  I built this plane about 5 years ago, and retired
    it about 3 years ago after a mid-air, repair and some other dings.  I
    gave the plane to Al earlier this year, and it has flown well.  (It 
    floats well too!  We lost it in the Merrimack River 1 night too).
    We had flown it on Saturday and for a couple of flights on Sunday.  It
    was my turn, so I took it up and was ringing it out pretty good...  
    Snap rolls, power spins, outside loops, etc...  After one move, I came
    out of the bottom really hard, and said to Al, "Wow, that really tested 
    the rubber bands.  Whoever built this plane really put it together!!"
    We both laughed.  So then Al asks me to show him how to snap roll into
    a spin.  I talked him through one, then he gained some altitude and
    tried it again.  Only this time, we heard a loud "CRACK" and 1/3 of the
    wing departed the plane.
    
    We really expected to find just a pile of balsa..  But, as we started
    our search, I looked out into the river, and there it was!  The rest of
    the wing was off the plane, but floating right next to the fuse.  And
    with the way the wind was blowing, all we had to do was wait for it to
    come to shore.  Once we got it, we were amazed at how little damage
    there was...  The front and main gear were sheared off, and the
    bulkhead in the rear of the cabin was trashed by the aileron horns. 
    And that was all that we could find!!!  The wing was obviously a bit
    worse off.  It is repairable, but I think all is going to cut a foam
    wing for it instead... (We also found the other wing piece about 
    3/4 mile upstream, in the river too!)
    
    Looking at the wing, I noticed this black thread on the bottom of the 
    bottom spar.  I asked Al if he had applied carbon fiber to the spar and
    he said yes.  Well, the wing broke about 1/2" in from the end of the
    carbon fiber.  I believe that what happened was that the stress of my
    high-G pullout probably caused the carbon fiber/spar to significant 
    separate.  Then, when Al did the snap roll, it was all over....
    
    Lesson #3 - If you think you may have over-stressed a plane, bring it
    down and check it out.  Although we may not have noticed it, we
    certainly would have had the chance to.
    
    Lesson #4 - If you carbon fiber (or other means of re-inforcement) a
    wing or spar, make sure to include most of the span of the wing.  I
    believe that since there was little or no flex in the wing where there
    was carbon fiber, it allowed us to put a greater load on the outboard 
    section of the wing (which was not similarly reinforced).  Thus, the
    wing gave out at the joint between the two.....
    
    
    All in all, not a very good weekend (and not a very good year!!  2 
    other planes are awaiting landing gear repairs!)  My workshop is now
    over flowing with planes that need to be repaired, in addition to 
    the C-45 and Nieuport planes under construction!!
    
    Ah well, don't they say that bad things happen in threes??  Maybe my 
    luck is about to change.....
    
    cheers,
    jeff
    

    Jeff,
    
    Hey,  You forgot the mosquitoes.....
    
    When I was up in Al's I lost my concentration with them having lunch.
    In fact ended up wearing one of those pullover style nets that Al
    kindly provided.
    
    Interesting weekend though, as you account details. 
    
    I had some woe's as well - hit my favourite _hard_ tree again but this
    time just clipped it. Damage was slight - prop / crack in side of fuse
    where aileron horn hit it, broken flap and ail horn - close though.
    
    I hate breaking a prop now as I like to take a while to balance them
    out well, well must balance another one or two spares I guess.
    
    I am going to start painting trees on my plane or else get some green
    solartrim - problem is .. is there enough room for them !!!
    
    Happy flying,
    
    Eric.
    

  Speaking of mosquitoes (and bugs in general)....


  Last week when I was flying (2 or 3 flights before I bruised the Wot 4) I
had the pleasure of feeling a HUGE bug crawling across my neck as I was about
to land.  It's tough to concentrate on your plane when you know some hideous
black hairy monster is about to crawl down your back and rip your spine out! 8^)



                        Jim 

I made a pass down the field only to have a horse fly decide that the back of my 
hand was lunch. I pointed the plane up and swatted it. I got him but not before 
he got me. Felt like someone put a cigarette butt out on the back of my hand.

He wouldn't have gotten through my leather gloves last winter ;^)

    Re: .26, Eric,
    
    I had an old Ugly-Stik that lasted me a tad over 14 years though it
    went through _many_ altercations, at least two complete rebuilds and no
    fewer than three repaints.  Yer' note reminded me that I began keeping
    a record of these incidents via "kill markers" painted along the
    leading edge of the right wing...just little black silhouettes to
    represent whatever was hit.
    
    By the time the airplane was finally retired for good (following a
    crash caused by aileron flutter), I had the following "kills" recorded:
    
    1. 1-airplane (mid-ground: another plane ran over the tailplane)
    
    2. 3-trees (I landed in two of 'em trying to get into a tight little
       pond we were water flying from...the 3rd one was my brother's after he
       took the plane, fixed it up[ again and flew it another 3-years.)
    
    3. 1-racing pylon (I got over agressive and rolled into the ground
       after the number-1 pylon during the Ugly Stik races we used to have
       here.)
    
    4. 1-sailboat (hit a full size sailboat that'd wandered into our area
       just 3' from the top of its mast while shooting a deadstick onto the
       water at a local lake.)
    
    5. 1-loudspeaker cabinet (hit during landing rollout when trying to fly
       for some disadvantaged kids' Aviation Day out of a postage stamp sized
       field.)
    
    6. 1-building (hit after careening through the loudspeaker mentioned
       above.)
    
    Epilogue:  My brother flew this old campaigner another 3-years after I
    put it to rest so the bird's total life span was in the neighborhood of
    17-years...not bad for something with the potentially short life
    expectancy as our models can have.  When laid to rest for the final
    time, I stripped off the piece of wing fabric that contained the "kill
    markers" and that strip is displayed to this day on my workshop wall.
						 __
				|      |        / |\	   	       
      	         \|/		|______|__(o/--/  | \	   	       
      | |        00	       <|  ~~~  ____ 04 ---- | --------------------
    |_|_|        (O>o		|\)____/___|\_____|_/	   Adios amigos, Al
      |     \__(O_\_	        |	  |___/	 o	   (The Desert Rat)

    
     Couple of years ago, gee it's been that long!, my freind and I had
    just mastered the basics of flight. Emphasis on basics. Well my freind
    had just packed up his Sure-flite Cardinal into his pick-em up truck.
    We were flying by an asphalt road. My firebird was parked behind his
    pick-em up truck. Both our hatches were open. His truck has a cab.
     Well, I hand launch my dura-plane. Start doing the groove. My only
    problem is landing. Cannot get the darn thing down in the same spot
    twice. Well, the engine starts a puking.... Hmmm.. better warn everyone
    that I'm ready to come in. I am NOT that bad, but just in case.
     So the plane really flys like a rock with no engine. Man it ain't
    going to make the field. Call out "heads! I'll try the road". My sight
    ain't that good. I got her coming down in the groove of the road.
    WRONG! It's like LINED UP over the cars. AND loosing altitude. Well the
    Freinds are safe anyway. The dura-plane glides over the 'bird. Thanks
    LORD that's an all glass hatch open. The pick-em up truck doesn't fair
    to well... FORD ranger. BAM!
    Mike W. cries out "YOU..you wrecked my PLANE!!!!"
    
    I cry out "PLANE.@#***$*$* $$$" I think I got your cab"
    
    Mike W. rants " You..you WRECKED my PLANE"
    
     Anyhow, since his cab WAS open the dura-plane landed right in the back
    of his bed. Right on top of his wing. Left tire tracks in fact.
    The dura-plane cleared the cab sides by milla-meters. The only thing
    broke was the spinner. I guess the impact of hitting the front of the
    bed.
    
     I reimbursed Mike the cost of a servo for his alerions. To this day
    we crack up about that. A true R/Cer and friend, more worried 'bout
    his plane than the truck.
    
    -Enjoy...
    Mike Z.

Well, it is time to confess to my dastardly deed.

Last Saturday,  15th  September  1990  (Beware the ides of September? !!), I
decided  to go flying. Not that it has been taking much by way of a decision
making  process  these  days  to go flying, for I go flying just about every
day!!

At any  rate, when I showed up at the field, Charlie Watt was there, as also
Ray  of  Ray's RC. As I set up my plane, black clouds rolled in. I took off.
It  was  windy,  but in seconds, it got really SQUALLY. I got my FS up high,
and watched with baited breath as it was being tossed about by the wind like
an  autumn leaf. Yes, I was seeking the challenge that flying on a windy day
brings out, but perhaps this was too much to handle?

Ray got  his  plane down, and I was the lone sky warrior battling the winds.
Charlie  agreed that I should get the plane down, so I chopped throttle, and
began a loooong glide from what seemed like 5000' altitude. As it descended,
the wings  would  twitch,  going  from  one  catatonic position to the next,
pausing  at  each briefly, making my heart leap as I tried to comprehend its
antics.  Eventually,  the  plane  made it almost to the edge of the field, I
blipped  the  throttle  to  move  those  extra  6 feet, and did a stationary
landing  at  the  edge of the field, only to have the nose tip over and make
the  engine  quit.  I  was  thrilled  at the outcome of the 3 minute flight,
grabbed  my  plane, and stuffed it in my Sentra, taking less than 10 seconds
to  figure  out how to squeeze it in despite having NEVER done it. Necessity
is the mother of invention...

It began  to rain, so I grabbed the rest of my things, threw them in my car,
and decided to wait out the rain gossiping with Charlie in his spacious van.

The sky  cleared, and the sun emerged. The squally conditions were gone, but
it was really windy, for sure. I put in a 16 minute flight, taking advantage
of the wind to hover my plane and even go backwards. Landings needed intense
concentration,  but  the  75 t&g's the previous day's lunch time sure helped
out.  The  squally weather returned, and I had to lie low, only to fly again
after it disappeared. More flights. I even tried some inverted hovering.

Flying the  FS  inverted is really like flying a different plane altogether.
It  can _barely_ climb inverted, if you coax it along and are patient. Also,
the anhedral  makes  it  unstable,  wanting to flip out of turns, which have
often  to  be completed holding opposite aileron to that needed for the turn
to  prevent  the plane from flipping out. Apart from control reversal on the
elevator  and  rudder, perhaps the instability is the biggest reason I enjoy
flying  the  FS  inverted  so  much,  though  it  is  not capable of intense
aerobatics.

On calm  days, when I have the field to myself, I have even done 6 feet high
inverted passes  over  the  field, losing altitude on my turn onto "finals".
Once  you  get  the feel of the a/c, you know just how much altitude it will
lose.  Remember,  since I can barely climb on full down elevator inverted, I
have  to  do the figuring out right, as I cannot "fly myself" out of trouble
if  I  am  too  low,  doing, for instance, an outside loop. I could roll out
though...  In  fact, when I was teaching myself to fly inverted, I would get
into impossible attitudes, lose orientation, and just yank on the stick with
full up  elevator  to get the plane flying right side up, from which I could
mentally  "pick  up"  the plane and resume flying again. A few times, in the
early  stages,  I  have  had close shaves, pulling up elevator and making it
with 10 or 20feet to spare. 

You should  roll out from inverted at low altitudes, and can either roll out
or pull up elevator from high altitudes when you lose it, I had told myself.
Of course,  altitude-apart,  up  elevator  is  the  sure-fire  way to regain
orientation  once  you  have got disconnected from your plane. A week ago, I
absent-mindedly  flew  inverted into the sun that was in the wrong place ( I
am used to flying in the evenings, and this was early afternoon on a wkend),
got blinded,  lost orientation, and held up elevator waiting for my plane to
emerge right  side up. If there ever was an act of faith for me, then it was
those agonising moments, waiting for my plane to emerge, and it did...!!

I digress,  and  prolong  the  suspense.  Another  pilot, Mark Hamilton, was
flying  his  gas  powered  Electric  Cub, that was being tossed about by the
wind,  and  was  doing  a  grrreat job as it flitted about. On one of of his
landing  approaches,  on his 3rd or 4th flight, he smacked into the Tx rack.
Earlier  that  day,  Dave  Walter  lost  his  Sig Kadet, that wanted to keep
banking and turning left for some unknown reason.

Unknown to  me,  my  turn was next, for among the dark, ominous clouds, rode
Yama,  the  lord  of  death, waiting for my FS sitting on his bull. The good
thing  is  that  instead  of  picking  up people to go to heaven or hell, he
decided to pick up my FS. It happened this way.

I had  been  flying for nearly an hour (stick time) that afternoon, battling
the  winds.  I  flew  the  FS  towards  myself,  perpendicular to the field,
inverted,  about  2 ~ 3 trees high, and then turned down wind. The ferocious
wind  reduced  my weak lift the inverted flat bottom wing generated, and the
plane  lost  altitude.  I  wasn't worried, as it always does this. Only this
time, it was more :-) Unfortunately, it was over within seconds, even though
I  made  no  control error, continuing to hold down elevator all the way in,
keeping  wings  level  (inverted),  as  it  ploughed in at 30 degrees to the
ground. When the end was in sight, I believe I chopped throttle, and perhaps
reduced  my  down  elevator  sub-conciously as I pulled back on the throttle
stick.

I saw  the  wing pop-off, so it had to be fine. I wasn't in pain. In fact, I
was  laughing  at the fact that fate had at last caught up with me/my FS. It
was  barely  a 100 feet from me, at the intersection of the two glider paths
at  the  CMRCM  field, and I felt delighted that this time, it didn't take a
helicopter  search,  100  manhours  of  hunting  and  wading through swamps,
fighting thickets and insects, and 70+days to find the beast.

I WAS   ALSO  DELIGHTED  THAT  FOR  THE  FIRST  TIME  IN  MY  2  DECADES  OF
AEROMODELLING,  I HAD POSSESED A PLANE THAT I HAD FLOWN FOR MORE TIME THAN I
HAD SPENT  BUILDING  IT.  This year, the FS has flown for 55 hours air time,
and  including  last  year's  12 hours, puts it at 67 hours air time in all,
exceeding  the  65  hours  I  spent building it. Greater than 100% return on
investment?  Even Wall $treet should feel envious!!!! Besides, the plane has
seen about  300+ flights, and 700+ take-offs and landings! I had got my time
and money's worth for sure, but don't get me wrong - I DIDN'T want the plane
to crash.

Arriving at  the  crash site, I was pleasantly surprised to find the fuse to
be  in  one  piece,  when  I  expected more. The rubber-band mounted l/g had
popped  off,  a  wheel  had  popped off the l/g, the tank had moved forward,
popping  off  the  cover,  a broken prop, 2-of-the-4 dowels were broken. The
servo  bearers  had gotten unglued, but was intact, and there was a crack in
the  fuselage left side, running from the rear end of the wing saddle to the
tail feathers. The engine seemed as solidly mounted as ever! I was impressed
at  the  limited  damage, and my first estimate was that it would take me an
evening's  work  to fix. 5" of the top of the fuse, just behind the wing had
also popped off. Some zap and epoxy work, from what I could tell.

The wing  had  two  4" rips to the covering, and a 6" section of the leading
edge  planking  on  the  right  side  bottom  seems  to have gotten unstuck.
Otherwise, the wing seems to be structurally sound.

I put  on  a new prop, and tried to run the engine dry, but couldn't suck in
any  fuel  by  choking  the  carb!  I couldn't figure out why, since I could
defuel  the tank completely, so the clunk wasn't stuck. Finally I primed the
engine through  the  carb  and ran it dry. Then, as I administered after run
oil, I wondered, gee, why is the carb sitting at an odd angle? The carb body
came off in my hand when I pulled on it! It had broken around the two screws
that mount  it  to the crankcase, though the crankcase seemed fine! No doubt
once  the prop broke, the carb took the brunt of the inverted crash. Charlie
included  a  new  OS 4D carb with his order ($39), so I should be getting it
next Monday. 

My FS  will  be ready to fly before that, but in the mean while, I have used
the  "opportunity"  in the lull in flying to begin building my WOT4. I might
even have the fuse all done by the wkend!

Boy, am  I  glad  that Yama decided to pick up my FS and not me! He was also
nice  enough  not  to  dismember  the body in the process. Did all this have
anything  to  do  with  my conversation with Charlie, in his van, when I was
wondering  if  I should build the WOT4 with rubberbands or bolt on wing, and
he  said that I had never had the rubber bands pop off on my FS and save the
wing? I don't know for sure...

ajai

ps. In retrospect, and with amazing hindsight, I could have saved the FS had
I rolled it out of inverted, but try figuring that out in the few seconds as
it races towards Mama EARTH!

    As long as Ajai mentioned the crash of my Kadet in the last note, I'll
    put a few words in here. 
    
    The plane basically did a left roll immediately after take off while I
    was adding full right rudder and right aileron. I'm quite sure it had
    enough speed to react to the inputs if they had really worked, so my
    first guess was that the aileron servo failed. But Charlie and I
    checked it afterwards and the radio seemed to be working OK, even with
    the engine running. 
    
    Damage to the Kadet was pretty minimal, just a couple nights worth of
    regluing things. I removed the aileron servo from the wing, opened it
    up, and ran it. Seemed to work fine. Buttoned it back up, tried it
    again, and this time, while waving the servo around in the air, it
    sporadically jumped to full deflection then back to neutral. Thinking
    the wires had failed right at the strain relief, I cut off that portion
    of the the wires and resoldered to the circuit board. The problem
    persisted. I noticed that a ground wire is soldered right to the case
    of the motor, and it had corroded and was about to break off. I snipped
    off a piece of it and resoldered. After that, I couldn't reproduce the
    faulty operation, so I nervously proclaimed it "Fixed". I then moved
    that servo to the rudder position, figuring that's the least damaging
    control if it spazzes out again.
    
    After talking with Charlie Watt, I think I'm going to reopen that servo
    and replace all the wires that go to the pot. Considering the behavior
    of the servo, an intermittant connection there is most likely.
    
    This particular radio is a World Engines Expert 7 channel. I've had
    problems with it before: the same servo lost a wire to the pot, causing
    it to go to full deflection. Unfortunately in flight. Luckily, that one
    caused no more damage than a broken prop. I'm not real impressed with
    the servo construction, especially the wiring connections. Has anyone
    else had any problems with Expert gear? I would like to use this
    radio in an Ultra Sport next year, but not if it's going to endanger
    the airplane.
    
    Dave
                            
                                          

    I have had a similar behaviour on a servo once.
    
    After some research it turned out that the potentiometer track was
    fitted to the expoxy plate with very small rivets.
    
    One of them had become slighly loose.
    
    Regards

    I've copied this reply herein as this is where it rightfully belongs
    'mongst the other pitfalls and foibles that befall all of us from time
    to time.	Enjoy Kevin Ladd's narrow escape,	Al
    
    
                <<< WEWAND::$56$DUA0:[NOTES$LIBRARY]RC.NOTE;1 >>>
                  -< Welcome To The Radio Control Conference >-
================================================================================
Note 239.2261             RAMBLIN' WITH THE DESERT RAT              2261 of 2262
KAY::FISHER "Stop and smell the balsa."              46 lines  17-OCT-1990 09:23
                  -< There is a "Little Demon" in all of us. >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>    But, what's this?  Kevin hasn't come forward with the tale of his own
>    accord and "enquiring minds want to know."   So, c'mon, Kay, since
>    Kevin is either indisposed with work or too embarrassed to tell on
>    himself, it falls upon you to rat on yer' buddy and let us in on the
>    story.  

I guess I gave him time enough to do the honorable thing.

At the Orange Airport a couple of week ends ago Kevin was getting
in a practice session with his big Jug.  It was a little windy
and for some reason we had terrific down drafts on the runway.

I know because I threw my HLG Chuperosa out over the tar several
times and it was sinking so fast that I couldn't get back to my feet
so did several landings with my tow hook on the tar.

On Kevin's second flight he was trying to be cool and have the retracts 
come up as soon as he rotated.  Now he has this lame excuse about
7 second servos and extra high air pressure but the fact was he was
hot dogging and the retracts started coming up before he was airborne.

So it dipped a bit (I think the down drafts were helping) and he shortened
the prop, blew off one gear door on the runway and was in the air.  Then we 
hear the engine over revving so he pulls power and touches the tar again.
But it is really cooking so it just scrapes a bit and it's up again. 

By now it's 100 feet past the initial rotation (bounce-ation) and crossing
the runway threshold.  Now heading towards a harmless little bush.
Kevin claims it is a large tree!  Anyway he forces it down in the gravel
road that goes around the runway - before the tree and it ricochets
off the ground and flys another 15-20 feet then slides to a nice gentle
stop 5 feet short of the tree and perhaps 200-250 feet after rotation.

No damage to retracts or wing.  Some fiberglass cracks and lots of scraping
done to the bottom of the Jug and all the little scale do dads were scraped
off.  Dan Miner turned out to be an expert at finding all the little
parts.  Kevin estimated 40 hours to be back in Masters condition.

I have to admit - if he had gotten away with it - the take off would
have been spectacular.  As it was it was a spectacular crash!
Pass the humble pie please.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

    Re: .-1, Kevin,
    
    Anything you'd like to offer in yer' own defense, amigo.....??  :B^)
						 __
				|      |        / |\	   	       
      	         \|/		|______|__(o/--/  | \	   	       
      | |        00	       <|  ~~~  ____ 04 ---- | --------------------
    |_|_|        (O>o		|\)____/___|\_____|_/	   Adios amigos, Al
      |     \__(O_\_	        |	  |___/	 o	   (The Desert Rat)

    This is my first entry into this note, although I'm reasonably sure it
    won't be my last.  Reading it over the past few months has given me
    some preparation for what was to ultimately be my own fortune as well.
    
    Saturday I was at the same fly-in Jeff just talked about in which he
    lost his SS-40.  He had just gone off with Butch, our club president,
    to retrieve his wreckage, when I went up for what had to be my 10th
    flight of the day.  I had been practicing slow fly-bys to get a better
    feeling for how to handle slow flight, and had been making more
    extensive use of the rudder than on any previous flights.  My
    instructor, Mike Stains, has been coaching me on learning to correct
    my approaches using rudder instead of airelerons.  Well, I have to say
    that rudder is tricky, and I am having more trouble learning to turn
    with my left hand than I anticipated.  But it was starting to finally
    come to me, and I made one landing without touching the airlerons, and
    it felt pretty good.
    
    On this last flight of the day, (I hadn't planned it to be), I made my
    final turn into the approach, but wasn't aware that I was out too far. 
    As I worked the rudder, I concentrated too hard on controlling the
    plane without watching where I was putting it.  When it was too late, I
    suddenly realized that it was in the direct path of the tallest tree on
    that side of the field.  Panic set in, and I tried to work the rudder
    to get it out of the way, but something went wrong, and due to the slow
    speed, and the fact that I probably gave it the wrong signal, it hit
    the top of the tree, and immediately stalled.  The tree then had the
    audacity to fling my plane down (about 30 feet) onto the ground.
    
    Damage assessment:  All the monocote on the left half of the wing was
    in shreads, and 5 ribs were split at the leading edge.  The fuse was
    split on both sides from the leading edge of the wing to the engine
    mounts.  Both the breakaway plate and firewall were history owing to
    the fact that the impact with the ground pushed the engine back.  And    
    the spinner was cracked.  Bottom line is that althoh all the damage is
    readily repairable, this is the worst damage the Eagle 2 has suffered
    so far after 120 flights.  I spent about 5 hours repairing last night
    and today, and I estimate another 5 hours to complete it.  
    
    Oh yes, and the windshield was also destroyed.  Unless I can find an
    exact replacement, I'm going to have to get creative and find a way to
    make one out of some flat cellophane.  
    
    So, now I know how it feels to sustain a major crash and recover using
    all those rekitting skills I keep hearing about.
    
    The Eagle2 will fly again, for sure!
    
    One interesting side note to this story is that right after the crash,
    Butch happened to be returing in his van with Jeff's plane, and was the
    first to arrive at the scene of my crash.  He retrieved mine as well,
    so he deserves credit for being a busy "ambulance" driver.
    
    -Joe 
    
    

    Here is how the Hon'ble Charlie Nelson taught me to "wake up" that
    "dead" rudder thumb (since you seemed to have suffered as a
    consquence).
    
    Get the plane up 3 mistakes high (initially), fly straight and level
    into wind, and progressively reduce throttle and increase up elevator,
    until you run out of elevator or throttle, maintaining level flight,
    taking care not to stall. Once you can get through the transient of
    going from full throttle to idle (or near idle), you keep the nose
    pointed into the wind using your left thumb working the rudder all the
    time, as it  hovers (or moves very slowly).
    
    Your engine should have a reliable idle, and remember that it might
    quit after a looong idle session if you open throttle too fast, as it
    can load up. I have hovered for 5+ minutes without any problems on
    numerous occassions.
    
    Once you learn hover, you can try doing a traffic pattern. You have to
    watch out for whether you are going down wind or up wind, and as your
    familiarity with the planes slow flight characteristics grows, you can
    bring it lower. And lower. Until the engine quits and you have to land
    in the middle of a huuuge pricker brush, much to your embarrassment, as
    was the case with me in two instances!! I was trying to play Charlie
    Nelson, and doing some slooow Scaaaale flying, when it happened!
    
    Luckily, I could use a G.I. pipe (used as a wind sock post) as a
    samurai sword to clear my way to the middle of the brush. On another
    occassion, someone had a stepladder, but a loong aluminum ladder to
    throw on the bush and walk up to my plane would have been ideal/quick.
    The plane was unscathed on both occassions.
    
    Btw, Charlie Nelson's grouse is that people graduate from trainers too
    fast, w/o learning slow flight. I have spent many hours at it, and it
    is great fun. Hovering is like flying a kite, with the plane veering to
    one side, then another, sort of like a boat anchored at sea, except
    that you use a radio, and don't have the familiar pull of the string to
    cue you in  - just the visual feedback.
    
    Hope this helps. Have fun. I _know_ it woke up my left thumb for sure.
    
    Good luck.
    
    ajai
    
    

    Jeff,
    	I have seen two Sportsters suffer crashes from elevator horn
    failure due to getting fuel soaked under the horn.  I almost had this
    happen to me (I was noticing that it took more and more up to complete
    a loop) but I checked mine carefully after Dave Hughes had his let go
    on his SS20.  I could move the elevator up and down a half inch without
    moving the pushrod!  I had to use a ply doubler to repair the damage. 
    On most Super Sportsters, the horn is right in the path of the fuel
    glop. (That's how it is on the plans unfortunately.)  If I build
    another one, I will put the elevator pushrod on the other side.  If you
    had lots of time on yours, this might have been what did it in.
    
    Charlie
    

    Hmmmm, I will check...  The tail is basically intact and did not appear 
    to have failed...
    
    jeff
    

    It is with much sadness that I announce the crash of Charlie Nelson's
    Masters quality Waco. The first I had heard of it was during the BS 
    session after last nights meeting. I still don't know exactly when, or
    where for that matter, it happened. I'm assuming it was at the CMRCM
    field.
    
    From what I could gather, Charlie was flying out beyond the tree line
    when he apparently went dead stick. For whatever reason, he had applied
    full throttle and got no response. Naturally, the first thing you do
    is set up a glide and head for the field. Apparently, the Waco was
    already in a shallow turn toward the field so controll inputs seemed
    normal. Also, espically with the Waco, Charlie was holding a fair
    amount of up elevator. All of a sudden, a thick stream of smoke appears
    from the rear of the plane as the 4 stroke suddenly comes back to life.
    
    Now I'm sure you can imagine the surprise this would cause thinking
    your engine was dead. Before Charlie could react, the Waco had
    completed a half loop due to all the up he was holding. Coming out of
    the loop, it went into a spiral and only managed about 1 and a half
    turns before sinking below the tree line. Just no time to sort things
    out. Then that awful sound of airplane striking trees.
    
    They only managed to find the plane just before dark. I guess damage
    was pretty extensive as Charlie was saying he really had to think about
    wether it was rebuildable. The final verdict is that it will be rebuilt
    to first class condition. I'm sure it will be as good as new if not
    better.
    
    As to what happened, what Charlie thought was a dead engine was
    actually his plane in fail safe mode. He was experiencing a radio hit. 
    When he went to full throttle and got no response, he went into
    emergency mode leaving the throttle at the full setting. All other
    control function were set to hold last. When the radio came out of fail
    safe, full throttle took over and the rest is history.

    Re: .-1, Steve,
    
    Should you (or anyone else) run into Charlie, please pass on my
    condolences.  Sh*t happens to all of us from time to time but I know
    Charlie will either restore the damaged ship or build a new one to
    better than new quality.  BTW, Charlie got the highest static score at
    the Masters in Dallas this past September.
						 __
				|      |        / |\	   	       
      	         \|/		|______|__(o/--/  | \	   	       
      | |        00	       <|  ~~~  ____ 04 ---- | --------------------
    |_|_|        (O>o		|\)____/___|\_____|_/	   Adios amigos, Al
      |     \__(O_\_	        |	  |___/	 o	   (The Desert Rat)

    Re: .-2,
    
    I talked to Charlie about the crash a week ago.  It was not his first
    line contest ship, but his previous ship which he uses as a backup.  He
    still likes that one better than his newer one, but he still has done
    very well with the new one.  Charlie plans to restore it to 'better
    than previous' condition this winter.  I'm not sure anyone really knows
    what happened to cause the crash, but a couple others went down that
    day also.
    
    Charlie Watt
    

    The same thought occurred - whether it was his contest plane or his
    practice plane. Good thing it was the latter, if it was inevitable.
    
    ajai
    

    With Charlie, there's little difference between the two.  It sounds
    like the damage is surely repairable so he made out well considering
    what could have happened.
    
    Charlie
    

    RE: LAST SEVERAL,
    
    Charlie's backup ship, if I'm not mistaken, is the one that was his
    first line competition bird 'til it crashed in the rain at the Las
    Vegas Masters in 1987.  He said it'd been repaired several times prior
    to that but you'd never have known it so I'm sure, if he's deemed it
    repairable, it'll come out looking as good or better than when it
    crashed.  Charlie's quite the craftsman!!!!!
						 __
				|      |        / |\	   	       
      	         \|/		|______|__(o/--/  | \	   	       
      | |        00	       <|  ~~~  ____ 04 ---- | --------------------
    |_|_|        (O>o		|\)____/___|\_____|_/	   Adios amigos, Al
      |     \__(O_\_	        |	  |___/	 o	   (The Desert Rat)

Two days ago at Acton I was flying my Chuperosa.

After several hand launches and a three shots off Jim Reith's
upstart with a super strong super short surgical tubing - I turned
everything off and strung out my old upstart.  Then I went and got
the Chuperosa and gave it one last hand toss before going to the
upstart.

Yes - I had the Transmitter and Receiver both OFF.

Got a good hand launch and at maybe 20 feet up it tail slides a bit then
noses straight down...  I needed another 10 or 20 feet for it to pull out
by itself so BOOM.  Javelined into the turf and sheared the wing off of
my brand new nylon wing bolt.  Tail shuddered.

The canopy broke and I had some dents in the wing.  

I really wanted to fly it yesterday so I repaired it the night before
but as I was putting the (now dry) wing back on to pack in the morning
I noticed that I had stripped a gear in my micro servo.

Anyway I fixed that last night and it is ready to crash again today.

I knew it would do that someday - thank God it was with a hand launch and
not off the winch or a slope.  Hope I don't do that again.  The problem
is I got into the habit of leaving the Tx and Rx on for the whole flying
session.  Since with a HLG you tend to be launching every 45 seconds.
This gets me used to not checking before each launch.

And by the say - Steve and Dave - I did also manage to knock my hat off
on one of the hand launches before the crash!

Check list
Tx On?
Rx On?
Watch your head!

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################

    This got sent to me by a friend.  I don't know where it's from, or when
    it was published, or even if it's true.

    There's no mention of the driver.  I don't suppose there was enough left
    of him to identify.

    ************************************************************************
    
    The Arizona (U.S.) Highway Patrol came upon a pile of smoldering
    metal imbedded into the side of a cliff rising above the road, 
    at the apex of a curve. 

    The wreckage resembled the site of an airplane crash, but it was a 
    car.  The type of car was unidentifiable at the scene. 
    
    The boys in the lab finally figured out what it was, and what had
    happened. 

    It seems that a guy had somehow got hold of a JATO unit, (Jet 
    Assisted Take Off, actually a solid-fuel rocket) that is used to give
    heavy military transport planes an extra `push' for taking off from 
    short airfields.  He had driven his Chevy Impala out into the desert, 
    and found a long, straight stretch of road.  Then he attached the JATO 
    unit to his car, jumped in, got up some speed, and fired off the JATO!! 

    Best as they could determine, he was doing somewhere between 250 and 
    300 mph (350-420kph) when he came to that curve.... 
    The brakes were completely burned away, apparently from trying to 
    slow the car.

    NOTE:

    Solid-fuel rockets don't have an 'off'... once started, they burn at 
    full thrust 'till the fuel is all gone. 

    Is that what Dan Snow did with his old truck? Has he been totally
    corrupted but the Evil E's "If it won't accelerate vertically, it's 
    underpowered" coachings?

    Re. .49:
    
    I don't know if'n thar's any truth to the JATO story (...this was the
    first I've heard of it) but, it it isn't true, it should be; some
    yahoos'll try almost anything!  I don't know why but, maybe because of
    the "poetic justice" of the end result, it reminds me of an incident
    that occurred a coupla' years ago out towards Lake Pleasant (near Turf
    Soaring School where a number of noters have taken glider rides).
    
    There's a rather large stand of tall Saguaro cacti in the area and
    (against state law) this yo-yo was out in the desert shooting up a
    saguaro with a shotgun.  Best anyone could tell, after his last
    fusilade at the defenseless(?) cactus, the intrepid (if stupid)
    rifleman turned to walk back to his car (probably for more ammo) when
    the 30' desert giant toppled and fell directly on him.  Now, a saguaro
    cactus, in the spring when it's full of stored moisture, can weigh
    several tons so it's anticlimactic for me to state the obvious but the
    guy was killed instantly!  This incident probably did more for the
    preservation of the giant saguaro than millions of $$ worth of public
    service messages ever could've.
						 __
				|      |        / |\	   	       
      	         \|/		|______|__(o/--/  | \	   	       
      | |        00	       <|  ~~~  ____ 04 ---- | --------------------
    |_|_|        (O>o		|\)____/___|\_____|_/	   Adios amigos, Al
      |     \__(O_\_	        |	  |___/	 o	   (The Desert Rat)

    Well, how do I start? After listening to the weather forecast Monday
    night, I ask Kay Fisher and Jim Reith, if they wanted to go flying
    Wednesday since it was suppose to be 60 degrees and sunny. Both said
    replied "yes." There is a soccer field in Acton that we use as our
    private flying field for a glider guiding session. Wednesday came
    but it forgot to bring the 60 degree weather. The temp was some where
    between 45-50 degrees. Since I'm still a beginner, I brought both my
    *new* Gnome as my primary ship and my Gentle Lady as a backup. The way
    I fly, I should probably have several backups! ;^} This would be the
    Gnome's maiden flight after having a new fuse built.
    
    I was the first one to arrive at the field and notice the wind was
    gusting pretty good at times. Well I thought what the heck, might as
    well get the Gnome setup and trim her out. In between the gust, I got
    her trimmed out and decided to try a few hand tosses. Jim Reith had just
    arrived as I gave her the first toss. She flew great and with the wind
    I was getting some good height out of each toss. Kay showed up a few
    minutes later and got his Chuperosa set up to join in the fun. Jim
    wasn't flying, but was going to try this hand towing thing they've
    been talking about.

    Kay was the first guinea pig for Jim hand tow experiment. It worked
    great! I'm sure the wind helped, but I believe they maxed out the line.
    I them do it several times and then decided to give it a try. I had
    built up my confidence with the hand tossing and was feeling pretty
    sure of myself(mistake #1.) I hook up the Gnome, give Jim the signal
    and we're off to the races! I was okay for the first 40(?) feet, but
    the plane started to veer to the right. I over correct and veer to the
    left. Now I'm in trouble. She veers back to the right and the nose
    starts to point down. I save it and finally get the ship off the line.
    The next few "maneuvers" are kind of a blur, but I believe I did the
    following-
		stall
		tumble
		inverted
		fly directly into the sun
		get disoriented
		pull up and stall
		dive
		pull up and stall again 
		dive....crash

    While all this was happening, I was being blown back towards some tall
    trees that border the end of the field. I've already had to climb to
    trees to retrieve the Gentle Lady, and I wasn't going to do it for the
    Gnome. The last dive was to get away from them and I didn't pull up
    quite fast enough. The Gnome went in at about 45 degree angle. I saw
    her hit and puke her guts out. I thought I had broken the fuse in half,
    but when I got to the crash site, damage wasn't that bad. a broken
    bulkhead, minor damage to the canopy, and a broken fin. The bulkhead
    gave away from the force of the wing wanting to continue forward
    momentum and that's what cause the guts(rcvr & battery) to "puke" out.

    I take the plane back to the car and decide to give the Gentle Lady a
    try(mistake #2.) As I'm setting the plane up, Kay says "Don't you think
    it's a little too windy for the Gentle Lady?" Mister Experience says
    "Nahhh" in a macho voice. How soon they forget! I try a couple of easy
    toss to check out the repairs from the last flight and everything looks
    cool. The wind is still gusting and I'm still ignoring it. I hook her
    to the tow line and give Jim the signal. It's a repeat of the last
    attempt. This time I end up behind the trees REAL fast. But, he says
    with the voice of experience, I notice an "open" field behind the trees
    (mistake #3.) I start doing circles trying to put her down while
    watching the ship in between the trees(it's now below tree top level.)

    I finally loose sight of the plane as it goes below the field level.
    I now start the trek to retrieve what I hope is a plane in one piece.
    As I head down the hill from the flying field, I notice the big open
    field is really a marsh with a small river running through it. I think
    with my luck, the plane is on it's way to the sea by now. I head out
    into the marsh and start working my way from high spot to high spot
    looking for anything that resemble my Gentle Lady or it's remains. I'm
    doing pretty good at keeping my feet dry and am about half way out
    when I spot the plane. She's is intact and is "tent-poled" at about a
    30 degree angle at the edge(we're talking less than a foot from the
    water!!!) of the river. The problem is that it's on the wrong side!
    Kay and Jim are now at the edge watching me. It's at this point that I
    step on a "high spot" and go up to my thighs in water. It's f*&^ing
    COLD!!!! A really good day so far and I give both of them a chuckle.
    Never a dull moment with me around!

    I get to the edge of the river and get a close up look at the Gentle
    Lady weed growing out of the river bank. One wing panel is touching the
    surface of the water, but everything else looks okay. Looking down into
    the river, I can't see the bottom and it looks deep! Kay tells me to
    try and jump across it "since I'm already wet." Nice guy, huh? I say
    no thanks and he starts looking up stream for a way to cross. I walk
    @50 yards up and down the "landing site"(it wasn't a crash, just an
    uncontrolled landing ;^} ) looking for a shallow spot to cross. No dice.
    By now my feet are freezing and I decide to work my way back to dry
    land. Jim and I start looking for a small "tree" to use as a grappling
    pole. Most that are usable, are also too rotten. We find one and I
    head back out getting my feet wet again, and again, and again.......
    The "pole" is about two feet short so I decide to find out how deep
    this little river is. At the point directly across from the plane, it's
    SIX FEET DEEP!! Yeah Kay, jump across the river. Jim and Kay suggest
    that we head back to the cars and try to find a way to get to the other
    side. I agree now that my feet are numb and I start thinking about
    hypotherma(water+December+New England == ???.) Luckily, it's about
    50 degrees out side.

    I get in my car to warm my feet up and wait for Jim to get his stuff
    put away. The rescue squad now heads down Route 2 for a short distance
    and pulls off on the other side of the river. We work our way back
    to the spot opposite of where the plane is. Perfect, a short couple of
    jumps from dry spot to dry spot and I'm on my way to retrieve the
    plane. The ship is extracted from the mud and the only damage is the
    left wing panel is broken again(same spot I broke last time I flew
    her.) I couldn't believe how close to the water the plane had "landed."
    I worked my way back, got my feet wet again, and counted my blessings.
    Mountain goat Kay meanwhile, had climb the ridge that border the marsh
    and wanted Jim and I to come up and take a look. Just what I need, a
    quick hike in wet shoes up a steep bank.

     When we reached the top of the ridge,  we were looking down in to a
     large sand pit. So this is what you wanted us to look at Kay. We
     looked around for a few minutes, made some comments about the
     possibility of RC flying in it, then headed back to the cars. Quite
     the lunchtime excitement for me. Did I have fun? Actually, I did
     believe it or not. I did have several good hand tossed flights with
     the Gnome before it went in. I also got to try hand towing. Would
     I do it again? Need you ask!!!!!

     -Lamar

     P.S. Kay, want to explain how your hat, the Chup's fuse, and the
     Chup's wing landed in different spots on that last flight? ;^}
     
     

    Lamar,
    
    Any time you find a glider being towed pointed downwards, the golden
    rule to save the bird is to let go of the string, and it'll come off
    the hook. Someone else mentioned this earlier while introducing hand
    towing...
    
    I realise you weren't doin' the towin' tho'. :-)
    
    ajai

    No who could have been doing the towing ;^)
    
    He popped off before I could. I was walking TOWARDS the plane (giving
    slack) when he finally popped off on his own. He just got squirrelly on
    the tow and couldn't get it back under control. Nothing he could really
    have done since the wind was so gusty. He popped off and headed
    downwind inverted and managed to avoid the treeline which was amazing
    in itself. Reminded me of my kite flying days where the kite tracks
    sideways due to the excessive wind. Kay was probably right about it
    being too windy but I'll give Lamar credit, he came to FLY (and
    wouldn't leave until everything was unflyable ;^) It was getting late
    and he JUST wanted to "take one more flight" ;^) ;^) The swim was extra
    ;^) Didn't spot no 'gators
    
    The big problem with this kind of a launch on this kind of a day is
    that there is NO room downwind to forgive a pop off.  (with your back
    to the trees in Acton)

Now, THAT'S the attitude I like! Keep flying til everything's broken! I adopted
that attitude myself when I started slope flying... it was the only way to get
in reasonable flying time. And it forces you to learn to fly in less than 
perfect conditions. 

Dave

>    Well, how do I start? After listening to the weather forecast Monday
>    night, I ask Kay Fisher and Jim Reith, if they wanted to go flying
>    Wednesday since it was suppose to be 60 degrees and sunny. Both said
...
>    but it forgot to bring the 60 degree weather. The temp was some where
>    between 45-50 degrees. Since I'm still a beginner, I brought both my
...
>    side. I agree now that my feet are numb and I start thinking about
>    hypotherma(water+December+New England == ???.) Luckily, it's about
>    50 degrees out side.

If you ever want an accurate weather report just ask Lamar and assume
the opposite.

50 degrees indeed.  When I got back to work yesterday the thermometer
on our building said 34 degrees.  But hey - what's a 30 degree error
amongst friends :-)

>     P.S. Kay, want to explain how your hat, the Chup's fuse, and the
>     Chup's wing landed in different spots on that last flight? ;^}

Landing in the wind was a challenge - on my last flight I managed to hit
myself with the Chuperosa.  Broke the nylon wing bold.  You know it's
real interesting about those nylon wing bolts.  I never broke one on
the Chuperosa until Jim Reith told me how many he was breaking.  Since
then I have broke one the last two times out.  Course - Jim Reith was
there both times.  The only thing I can figure is that nylon becomes
brittle in the presence if Jim.

Say speaking of RC budgets - let's all ask Jim what RC equipment he
is going to sacrifice in order to pay off that $190 speeding ticket
that he picked up yesterday morning?  Will Lamar help him pay for it
since Jim was rushing to work where he was promised it would be 60 degrees?

Our real mistake was not going to Bose - though a bit chilly
it would have great - and I need a 1 hour slope flight for an LSF goal.

But it was great fun and when I pointed the Chuperosa into the wind
there was some ridge lift kicking up from the road.  I managed my
lowest altitude roll, my first two consecutive loops, and lastly
my first outside loop.  The outside loop was kinda interesting because
with the high winds and my back to the woods the plane out in front
of me.  Certainly with the wind you wouldn't expect it to look
like a circle from the ground.  I was pretty amazed at how much sky
I ate up.  Also equally amazed at how much of that altitude I was
able to regain on the back side of the loop.  

Looks like we won't get a chance to try Jim's hand towing again till
January.  After the holidays on the first day we get one of those
red hot Lamar Phillip's weather forecasts.  Think electric socks?

P.S.  I have been carrying dry socks in my van ever since a glider
      contest two summers ago.  Got to use them yesterday.  Add that
      to your flight box check list.

Bye          --+--
Kay R. Fisher  |
---------------O---------------
################################################################################
     

    Why do you think I started buying them in boxes of 100 ;^)
    
    I hadn't broken any while flying in Marlboro with Dave Walter...
    
    Maybe there's some strange anomaly at the Acton field that causes them
    to deteriorate ;^)
    
    After the two long weekends I should have a new glider to try out. I'm
    going to make every attempt to spend most of my free time in the shop
    during the holidays to get things started for my winter building list
    (which keeps growing even though I haven't been able to start any of
    them)
    
    I plan on 1991 being the year of the glider competitions

    re: .56 (Kay),
>>50 degrees indeed.  When I got back to work yesterday the thermometer
>>on our building said 34 degrees.  But hey - what's a 30 degree error
>>amongst friends :-)
    
    Standing knee deep in ice cold water, it sure felt like it was 50
    degrees outside. Kinda dulls the sense, if ya know what I mean. ;^} ;^}
    But being a transplanted southerner, I guess that's what I get to
    taking what a New England weather forcaster says as the truth(:^}).

    re: .54 (Jim_R)
>>being too windy but I'll give Lamar credit, he came to FLY (and
>>wouldn't leave until everything was unflyable ;^) It was getting late
>>and he JUST wanted to "take one more flight" ;^) ;^) The swim was extra
>>;^) Didn't spot no 'gators
		
    Thanks for the kind words about my "flying" Jim. Like Kay says, "I've
    got the rest of the winter to rebuild!" It's my new motto, "keep flying
    till ya can't!"

    -Lamar

    Since this note has been kind of dead lately, It's my turn to start it
    up.  This actually happened about 4 weeks ago.  I'm finally over the
    shock, enough to tell the story.  History: Christmas present was a
    SuperSportster120, new OS120fs, new Futaba 7UAF.  Total investment of
    about $850 and 200 hours build time.  On the day I went out, Sky partly
    cloudy, almost no wind, beautiful day.  Range check was beautiful,
    engine ran flawlessly.  Taxied out, all eyes watching as I was the only
    flyer in the air.  Takeoff was smooth.  Gained altitude and circled
    back up the field.  Nice and smooth.  Rolled the plane slowly, still no
    sign of problem.  Backed off on the throttle to half, heading back up
    the field again.  About 150' up.  'POP'  planes starts to dive, slight
    right roll,  chopped throttle completely.  Zero response from elevator.
    About a second and a half later, total destruction.  Each elevator had
    it's own servo.  Now all of this took place from the time I took off to
    impact was less than 90 seconds.  It took 6 guys to carry the pieces
    back.  Summary of damage: plane totaled, engine-bent crank shaft,
    broken case, broke carb, damaged intake pipe, three servos stripped
    gears, battery pack damaged, all cable connectors damaged, receiver not
    a scratch.  Only thing left of the plane was the tail feathers. 
    Everything forward of the feathers was no bigger than 1" by 1" pieces. 
    The theories abound but what I think happened was the left elevator
    gave way for whatever reason.  Never lost radio control.  I have never
    seen an airplane explode/demolish like this one did.  Even the tires
    blew up.  I suppose I shouldn't feel too terrible.  This was my second
    crash since learning how to fly 2 years ago.  Still doesn't help the
    wallet.
    
    John--the recovering

    Re: .-1, John,
    
    Very sorry to read of yer' misfortune.  I went through a period where I
    lost three new birds in a row within the first 5-10 flights and I
    became so frustrated I nearly quit the hobby.  That was the one-and-only
    time I ever resorted to an ARF; I bought a new Pro-Line radio, new engine 
    and new Lanier Caprice (rubber ducky as we called 'em), put everything
    together and flew the doggie-doo out of it until my confidence in the 
    equipment was restored.  Only then would I go back to putting so much
    blood/sweat/tears in a built up airplane.  That was some 20-years ago
    and the good news is that I've only lost one airplane since, ironically
    when the radio mentioned above finally failed after almost 13-years of
    faithful service.  
    
    All I can say is hang in there.  The hurt and frustration diminish in
    time and you'll charge ahead, continuing to enjoy the hobby/sport.
    
    One question I have is this: if you had a seperate servo driving each
    elevator half, why did the loss of one half cause a fatal crash?  The
    remaining half should've been sufficient to avoid the crash or at least
    minimize it to a level of repairable damage...after all, that's
    _exactly_ why you install redundant controls, right?
						 __
				|      |        / |\	   	       
      	         \|/		|______|__(o/--/  | \	   	       
      | |        00	       <|  ~~~  ____ 04 ---- | --------------------
    |_|_|        (O>o		|\)____/___|\_____|_/	   Adios amigos, Al
      |     \__(O_\_	        |	  |___/	 o	   (The Desert Rat)

    Al,
    
    First, Thanks for the concern.  Your question is one that has plagued
    me since the crash.  Your right, with redundancy I should not have lost
    control as drastically.  Unless when it broke, it broke the arms on the
    servo-(which did happened, when I'm not sure) and jambed the other one.
    Possible but not sure.
    
    May never know,  Already looking for the next plane.  Maybe a
    Sunbird120.
    
    John

    The actual event has been described elsewhere by Dan Weier but, "Just
    for the Wreckord," the fatal maneuver where one pulls full up-elevator
    while flying inverted, thereby diving straight into the turf is
    affectionately known, hereabouts, as "The Dan PArsons Syndrome."  Even
    after 40+ yearrs of RC experience, which goes back into the reed-days,
    Dan has, on a number of occasions within the past 5-years, succumbed to
    this insidious syndrome and "yanked the wrong string" (an old U-Control
    term) and rekitted the victim aircraft.  Dan got so annoyed with himself
    in each such event that we, kiddingly, named the maneuver in his honor.
						 __
				|      |        / |\	   	       
      	         \|/		|______|__(o/--/  | \	   	       
      | |        00	       <|  ~~~  ____ 04 ---- | --------------------
    |_|_|        (O>o		|\)____/___|\_____|_/	   Adios amigos, Al
      |     \__(O_\_	        |	  |___/	 o	   (The Desert Rat)

    Al,

    I betcha I could use the Heli "Invert" swtich on my X-347 to
    autmatically reverse elevator and rudder when inverted.  Perhaps you'de
    like to recommend this radio to Dan?



    Randy

    Re: .59
    
    John,
    	Sorry to hear you had such an unfortunate experience with your
    SS120.  I've been concerned about my elevator ever since I got two
    letters from Great Planes about flutter problems.  They had several
    crashes reported to them very soon after they introduced the SS120 that
    were attributed to elevator /stab failure due to flutter.  Some were
    even documented on video tape.  They had a list of about 10 things to
    be very careful of when building and they sent several replacement
    clevises.  I set mine up with dual servos like you did and carefully
    followed their instructions.  I'm still careful not to dive at full
    throttle with my OS120 Surpass.  I usually only fly at about half to
    three quarters throttle except when climbing.  It sounds like your
    failure occurred at low speed though so flutter is not the likely
    cause.  Also, flutter is usually very loud and obvious.  (and fatal)
    You would have really liked this plane after flying it for awhile.
    Don't let your bad luck get you down.  It can happen to any one of us at
    any time, but fortunately not that often.   I had two midairs in my
    five years of flying and they were within weeks of each other and both
    with only one other plane in the air.  It took me a while to shake that
    off.
    
    Charlie
    

RE: 1218.62 by UPWARD::CASEYA
>> "The Dan Parsons Syndrome."  

    Let's see...  
        Dan Parsons became famous doing this maneuver, 
        Dan Weier recently perfected this maneuver,
        Dan Miner has lost _AT LEAST_ 4 planes doing this maneuver,
        [ has Dan Snow done this too ??? ]

    Maybe this should be renamed "The Dan ________ Syndrome" or simply,
    "The Dan Syndrome".   :-)  :-)  

                       _____
                      |     \
                      |      \                          Silent POWER!
      _        ___________    _________   |            Happy Landings!
     | \      |           |  |         |  |
     |--------|-  SANYO  + ]-|  ASTRO  |--|              - Dan Miner
     |_/      |___________|  |_________|  |
                      |       /           |     " The Earth needs more OZONE,
                      |      /                       not Castor Oil!! "    
                      |_____/

    
          You mean all I have to do is change my first name to prevent anymore
      inverted crashes? Heck, that seems easy enough, and a small price to
      pay for the hobby!
    
                                                        

    OK, sounds like sound logic to me.  ;b^)  So what name do you choose?
    I suggest Wolf Weier since, at roll calls where they call the last name
    first, it'll be real colorful!  :B^)
						 __
				|      |        / |\	   	       
      	         \|/		|______|__(o/--/  | \	   	       
      | |        00	       <|  ~~~  ____ 04 ---- | --------------------
    |_|_|        (O>o		|\)____/___|\_____|_/	   Adios amigos, Al
      |     \__(O_\_	        |	  |___/	 o	   (The Desert Rat)

    
       "Wolf" sounds ok, my only concern is, would that limit my flying
     to ony evenings with a full moon?

						 __
				|      |        / |\	   	       
      	         \|/		|______|__(o/--/  | \	   	       
      | |        00	       <|  ~~~  ____ 04 ---- | --------------------
    |_|_|        (O>o		|\)____/___|\_____|_/	   Adios amigos, Al
      |     \__(O_\_	        |	  |___/	 o	   (The Desert Rat)

    I always thought it was the "D*mn" syndrome. That's what I always hear
    when people call the manuever complete!

    There may be four Dans in the HTA clan but there's only ONE ERIC!
    

Re:

> but there's only ONE ERIC!


    And we're all VERY grateful that's all there is!  ;^}
    

    Well, I guess this belongs here rather than "How was your weekend"...
    
    Yesterday (5/5/91) was an awesome day for gliders in the northeast...
    Winds were light and variable and you could just feel the thermals 
    all over the place.  I had gone full scale flying in the morning and
    got knocked around so much, my buddy (also a RC glider pilot) and I
    decided we were better off flying RC...
    
    I got out at the field at about 12:30 and had an OK flight with my
    Drifter-II (yes Kay, the one with your green tail on it!).  There is
    not enough room at our power field for a full high start, so I was
    flying with a .049 power pod.  After helping a few new people fly, I 
    took her up again..
    
    Well, this time, after the engine quit, I headed out over a nearby 
    parking lot.  Then, just like Thornberg talks about (I just read the 
    book 2 weeks ago!) the tail raised up a bit and it really began to go.
    In no time flat I was much higher than I should have been...  I was
    quickly losing sight, but I was in such awe of it, I just kept
    circling!  I'm yelling at my buddy (who has much better eyesight than
    me) to help me.  He finally meanders over (thinking I was joking),
    looks up, and says Holy *&%^.  I give him the transmitter...
    
    About 5 minutes later, the plane is finally back down to a reasonable 
    altitude and I take the sticks back....  Mike flew it inverted and we
    dialed in about 7 clicks of down trim to get it down!!  That was so
    much fun, I take it back over to the same area again and up I go
    again!!!  Ryder's Sturdy Bridy could have stayed up in this thermal!
    
    So I decide to break out of it and land.  Al had arrived and his
    Hi-start is short enough to lay out in our field.  I figured this would
    be a sure bet for getting my second 5 minute LSF flight.  So I could
    stay on the pilot's line, Al took my plane and the high start line and
    walked it out.  I checked the controls and nodded my head and Al gave
    it a toss......
    
    
    		*******SNAP******
    
    The wingtips met and this missle went sailing by out of control.  The
    plane harpooned the ground at the far end of the field and I just
    stood there for a moment in disbelief...
    
    The nose was buried to about the leading edge, and the entire fuse was
    shattered to the trailing edge... Other than the major failure in the
    wing, it was still intact.  The radio seemed to survive, although I
    need to check the servos out (but since the pushrods got broken with
    the rest of the fuse, they should be ok..)
    
    I suspect that the cause of the failure was the previous flight...  We
    neglected to check out the plane between flights and it is hard to say
    what kind of loads we put it through when we couldn't see it.
    
    The fuse is already back in one piece, with carbon fiber running down
    the sides.  The wing is partially repaired but still in 2 pieces..
    Afterall, I need something to fly in 2 weeks!
    
    interesting experience...
    Cheers,
    jeff
    
    (Yes kay, the tail section survived without a scratch!  You will
    probably see that ugly green in Biddeford!)
    
    

	And another Drifter II bites the dust! I miss the good old days, when
	Kay would try to zoom launch his Drifter on the winch and end up 
	folding its wings. Now he flies planes that would seriously threaten
	a concrete bunker.

	Speaking of wrecks, I was flying at the Wayland site Sunday and got
	involved in a frequency related crash. Paul Desorcy was flying the
	Metrick which I had sold him, and it was on the same channel as my
	Predator handlaunch. We were the only two people having a frequency 
	conflict, so we just checked with each other before flying.

	Well, I had a monster flight with the Predator from a hand toss (like
	Jeff said, I could have thermalled the hood of my car in this lift)
	and the plane was just a little dot and my neck was getting sore, so
	I passed the transmitter to another pilot. I then ran back to my car
	to get a jacket to rest my head on while lying on my back.

	On the way back to the transmitter, I noticed Paul about to hook his
	plane to the hi-start and it didn't even occur to me that he shouldn't
	be flying while I was in the air! Dumb! By now, the Predator was so 
	high it was difficult to see, so while the other pilot was flying it
	I put some down trim in. My luck, just then is when Paul turned on 
	his transmitter. The Predator started going crazy, and I was trying
	to get the trim back at the same time wondering what I could have 
	done to screw it up so.

	Meanwhile, Paul launched the Metrick. It stayed on the line about 5 
	seconds, came off, and dove straight for the trees. He said it went
	in like a missile. Even when I heard the telltale sound of balsa 
	meeting its younger cousin (tree), I STILL didn't make the connection.
	By now, the wildly gyrating Predator was about 200 feet from the ground
	and I was mentally choosing a crash site. I figured I must have busted
	something in a dive, but it LOOKED ok... I called out that it was out of
	control, and that's when Paul figured it out and shut off his 
	transmitter. After bleeding off about 800 feet, I had the plane back
	in control. Whew! Unfortunately, Paul's glider wings were sheered in
	half. But the fuse made out OK.

	I think I'm going to make up a simple frequency board that I can haul
	out when the number of planes and potential conflicts gets high.  It
	forces discipline.

	Dave

    I agree with you. I think we're getting to the point in Acton at
    lunchtime that we need a board. Even if it's just cardboard and magic
    marker on a broom handle. Sorry to hear about Paul's wreck. Similar
    things are bound to happen in Ware before we get the frequency stuff
    passed. At least we can put up a freq board now without haveing the
    kids rip it off the tree on friday night.

    This tale of woe happened two weekends ago at the Merrimack flying
    field.
    
    I was flying my Skytiger which I have been gaining more experience
    with, having accumulated over 60 flights on it.  I like flying this
    plane, and it has been for me the ideal second plane and first low wing
    trainer.  Although I have done a couple of nasty things to it while
    learning how to fly it, most have been easily repairable, including the
    time I broke the two wing spars by landing too far out and crashing
    into a tree laying on the ground.
    
    However two Sundays ago, I had the worst accident to date.  The
    wind had been kicking up all the time I was flying, but I was able to
    keep in control and bring it in successfully.  However, on the 8th
    flight, as I was making the first turn on final approach, a gust of
    wind caused a near stall, or at least the forward progress seemed to
    pause momentarily.  Suddenly, the wing dipped, and I lost sight of it
    behind a tall tree.  From that point on I'm not sure what I did.  I
    think my first instinct was to give it up elevetor and some throttle. 
    A second later I saw it rise up aver the tree line again but as it did
    so, it rolled over belly-up, and since I was still holding up elevetor,
    it simply looped into a tree and crashed with a loud CRACK!
    
    Damn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Felt like a jerk.  Anybody out there ever feel
    like that?  Well, I went a-searching for the remains, but the woods out
    there are real thick, and after an hour and a half I still had not
    found it.  Since it was getting dark, and I was by now quickily
    becoming a seven course meal for the local mosquitos, I left for home
    crestfallen and without my best plane.
    
    That night I called my mentor/instructor, Mike Stains, to tell him my
    tale of woe.  We planned an expedition to find the lost wreckage, and
    without my asking, he volunteered to get out there Monday afternoon to
    see if he could locate it.  Much to my surprise, as I was pulling into
    the access road to the field, out came Mike in his pickup, big smile on
    his face, and he had the bird!  We went over to his place to make the
    exchange and that's when I saw the extent of the damage.  The fuse
    didn't have a sctatch on it, but both tail feathers were loose and
    would have to be removed and re-glued.  The major damage was the
    wing....in four large pieces plus a bunch of toothpicks.  It is
    unrepairable.  
    
    To recover it, Mike actually had to climb way up in a tree, and he
    looked beat, covered with sweat and tree dirt, and mosquito bites.  I
    think we have here an example of someone going far beyond the call of
    duty to help a fellow flier, and I want to publically express my
    gratitude to Mike for going to all that effort to recover my plane.  Do
    I have the world's best instructor, or what?  When most others would
    say, good luck in getting your plane back, Mike goes the extra mile and
    actually jumps right in to do the work.  Boy, I'm impressed, and really
    greatful to Mike.  He will definitely be a saint in aviation heaven.
    
    Postscript:  The tailfeathers are reglued and a new wing kit is on
    order from Tower.  Everything else checked out OK, and all servos,
    radio, control surfaces work.  So other than the wing, it survived
    pretty well.
    
    Back to flying the Eagle 2 for a while.
    
    -Joe, who should build two wings for every plane.

    Joe,
    
    I seem to recall a suggestion to build a second wing.  Sorry, couldn't
    help it.
    
    I have a partially completed Sky Tiger wing if your interested.  Might
    save you some time.
    
    Loren

    This was covered in the DECRCM file but I figure I'll let the rest of
    you in on it.
    
    I lost a plane at the CMRCM field in Westboro MA 2 weeks ago. I was
    following another guy around (this is a combat plane and I was
    practicing follow the leader) when he pulled up to head back to the
    field. I followed him and suddenly found that I was dropping back. I
    had gone deadstick pointed straight up. I completed the loop and was
    heading away at tree top height. I managed to turn back towards the
    field but dropped out of sight part way into the turn. 2 full seconds
    later, I heard it hit. I searched for it that night with the
    transmitter, stirring the sticks but couldn't hear anything (still
    people flying). I went back with my 15 year old son the next day and
    didn't find anything. I went to a 2 day glider contest that weekend and
    on the last round of the first day, didn't make it back to the field.
    Neither did several other fliers (it was a great thermal with killer
    sink behind it). All but one plane was found and mine was found on the
    ground in flyable condition. I did a lot of talking to myself walking
    through those woods. After the second day, I headed back to CMRCM and
    we got another search party started after having another pilot fly the
    same basic pattern with a similar plane (with me directing him from the
    flight station and others out in that area of the field). We searched
    another couple of hours to no avail. The problem is that the area
    around the field is all overgrown with rose bushes. It's a wildlife
    refuge so they want to keep it as natural as possible. Finally, after
    several attempts I went up in a light plane and overflew the area. We
    managed to see something flash in about the right area but couldn't
    identify it. I took some pictures and we headed back. Then came Bob.
    Hurricane Bob that is. While waiting to get the pictures developed, Bob
    blew through (literally). Last night I finally got back to the field
    and headed for the spot shown in the picture. It was located in a 50'
    donut of rose hedge about 8' high. I started hacking my way in and
    after about 45 minutes I hear the local farmer heading my way on his
    tractor. I wave to him and he keeps coming. He stops about 15 feet away
    and picks up my plane and says, "is this it?" It was! My wife had shown
    him the pictures and he had headed in on the tractor.
    
    This incident and the number of planes lost at the CRRC glider contest
    has started a series of talks about beeper/locator circuits. There's
    plans for a beeper now in the DECRCM notesfile that I'll ask the
    designer to move into hear. Many more people will be beeping when lost
    in the future.
    
    The plane was the first I've lost off-field in twenty years of flying.
    I lost two planes in three days. Of course the throw away combat plane
    had my PCM flight pack in it 8^) I found all my lift upwind on that
    sunday 8^) And, finally, contrary to many things I had heard, it is
    possible to spot a plane from the air. Take pictures because you'll
    always question your memory when you get back on the ground. I lucked
    out because the plane went in in a glide and the bushes were sturdy
    enough to keep it on top when it hit. I was 15' away and working
    towards the plane when the farmer picked it up and I never saw it until
    he held it overhead. The plane was in good condition and the radio gear
    all worked with a fresh battery pack. The beeper gets installed this
    weekend!

    Whew ! What a saga. I'm glad to hear you got 'er back ok, Jim.
    Just think, even a hurricane can't keep a Gremlin down.
    I've wondered in idle moments what those things look like, it's
    probably best that I don't know.
    
    Terry

    Since you asked...
    
    Picture an old C/L Combat Cat with elevons instead of the boom mounted
    elevator and a square PVC fuselage with the radio in it. add two fixed
    rudders on the  back end of the fuselage and throw an OS .25FP on the
    front. 3lbs that's surprisingly stable. Lots of fun and expendable so
    people try things that they wouldn't with more expensive planes. They
    survive amazing crashes to fly again. But you need to be able to mix
    elevons on your radio or use a mixer. $15 plane that took 10 hours to
    build and 14 days to find in the bushes 8^)
    
    For those unaware of what a Combat Cat is picture a 4' wing with a
    symetrical airfoil, straight leading edge and tapered trailing edge
    with an engine mounted far enough forward to balance 1.75 inches from
    the LE.

    Last Saturday I managed to put my Skytiger into the upper reaches of a
    hugh tree at the Merrimack field after loosing power way out in a stiff 
    cross wind.  There's no way I or anyone I have talked to can climb this
    tree without the aid of some professional equipment.  Does anyone know
    a tree climber with the right equipment who might do the job for me?
    
    Please let me know ASAP as the engine will begin to rust soon if I
    don't get it down.
    
    Thanks for any leads anyone can give me.
    
    Regards,
    Joe

    How about a .60-sized heli with a string and hook?
    
    (Just a thought!)

    
    
    I have not flown in a few years, but I did learn some lessons.
    Some of these lessons were derived from my 5 "crashes", some
    from the demise of others' crafts. I have always been wimpy
    and have never lost or totalled a plane. No guts, no glory.
    
    	Some obvious stuff...
    	1.  Always perform a long distance radio check at the field.
    	2.  Always make sure the fuel is not old.
    	3.  Always run 1/2 a tank and invert the plane in your hands 
    	    to make sure it won't stall out.
    	4.  If it's even slightly windy, drink beer or something instead 
    	    of flying.
    	5.  Make sure others with your frequency understand the
    	    concern clearly.
    	6.  Let your plane sit for awhile "on" and see if any servos
    	    jiggle while your transmitter is off.
    	7.  Make sure that repairs are as strong or stronger than the
    	    original without being too heavy.
    	8.  Make sure that all pushrods and other servos are indeed
    	    sturdy after fixing what appears to be the only damage.
    	9.  Check that your surface hinges are strong and do not have weeds
    	    stuck in them.
    	10. Listen to your servos and ensure that they are not straining
    	    against something. I have seen aileron servos get denied
    	    full throw by banging pushrods into balsa after the wing
    	    shifted only slightly.
    	12. Check all wire connections by opening up connectors and
    	    cleaning fuel and dust out of them. Wiggle them during
    	    power up and make sure they are not intermittent. Do
    	    not crash anyone by blindly turning on your transmitter
    	    during these checks.
    	13. Put the sunglasses on before you need them desperately.
    	14. Put many return address stickers in your plane.
    	15. Turn both the transmitter and receiver "on" before throwing the 
    	    glider.
    	16. Use fliberglass cloth and epoxy at all wing roots.
    	17. Clean all of the slippery fuel from your hands before throwing
    	    powered gliders, etc.
    	18. Make sure that pushrod sleeves are attached to the fuselage
    	    at several strategic points so that they don't wander around
    	    in flight and adjust tail surfaces or allow flutter.
    	19. Check center of gravity, etc with full and empty tank.
    	20. Wrap batteries, etc in baggies and foam. Pack them tight
    	    to minimize weight shifts.
    	21. Have at least an alledged expert check your batteries. Even
    	    "new" NiCads can be crummy - as can non-solder conenctions.
    	22. Work your way up to stressful maneuvers. Sometimes you can
    	    be warned that the plane cannot handle it. I have seen planes
    	    that revealed stress cracks after a flight. I have seen
    	    planes reveal large stress cracks during flight. This
    	    particular case was a kid with an Super Kaos that had
    	    wing repair from the week before. He was torqing the
    	    poor thing through brutal snap rolls at high altitude.
    	    Then we noticed his wing was in two pieces and fluttering
    	    gently down. The fuselage was nose down and about 210 MPH
    	    (and still full throttle). The engine was 4 inches down in hard
    	    packed clay with servos close behind...
    	

	It would still be around if ...
    
    	(shniff)
    

	.... I would have decided to go parasailing instead of flying model
	     airplanes
    

	.... I wouldn't have done that "just one last flight"
    

	.... there wouldn't have been those spectators whatching just me 
	     flying (there was no other one around) and me trying to impress
	     them
    

    
	.... I wouldn't have done that spin
    

	.... I wouldn't have tried to recover that spin with ailerons. 
    
    	Damm I, I've done so many spins till now and never ever happened 
    	this before. This time I really wanted to recover fast instead of 
    	waiting that one turn that the CAP20 needed to recover a spin. 
    
    	What I did ?
	
    	After 3 perfect previous flights I wanted to spin and recover 
	relatively late. Usually the CAP needed one turn when the controls
	where back to normal. And this time I wanted to recover faster and
	used the ailerons. What happened ?  The CAP just kept spinning till
	impact  -  thud - 24 pounds.

	It's different to see a plane like this on the ground (looked pretty
	much the same as Jack Buckley's ex-CAP10B). The ZG62 was burried in
	the ground, the nose of the plane to the cannopy fragments, the 
	rest of the fuse pretty much intact except one elevator half. The other
	half, that broke once and got remounted, stayed in place. The wings 
	broke in basically two pieces, with many smaller parts gone. 

	Repairable ?  Well, maybe the fuselage. But because the wings were
	on the heavy side anyway I would build a new one. Some day. Hopefully
	the ZG62 did survive, don't know yet. Need a little more time to
    	look at it.  But there's annother project waiting that would
	need this engine.... after I finished building my house (do you
    	hear this, Jim C. ?  -  JJJiiiimmmmmmm ???)



	I really liked this one,   Bernd

>        .. after I finished building my house (do you
>    	hear this, Jim C. ?  -  JJJiiiimmmmmmm ???)



     I hear you Bernd! 


     But what you've got to get straight is the fact that R/C enthusiasts do
not build HOUSES....they build WORKSHOPS that has living quarters attached 
to them!

                8^)


    Mine is completed...now I just have to get everything straightened out and
put away.  That might require some modifications to my workshop...like adding
some work benches..... and shelves.... and lights..... and electric....
 outlets and......

                      8^)

    
    Jim, with your experience I hear every word exactly.
    
    Are 350 square feet enough for an appropriate workshop ?  Since I'm
    pretty limited currently (space wise) the workshop should be the first
    room to be completed - I just need s.o. to finish the house then ???
    
    Bernd
    

350 feet is plenty of room for a bedroom... How big is the rest of the workshop?

    I know : the only better workshop than a 'big workshop' is 
    
    
    
    
    			an even bigger workshop  !!!!!      8^)

    This seemed by the title a good place to put this. Last night I went
    out flying my thermal glider (algebra 1000 3M span) It was dead calm so
    we weren't getting much height off the bungee(hi start) but once up it
    was so calm just floating about all went well till I joined the tree
    club! All my own fault flying toward myself corrected wrong way!
    
    Luckily no damage apart from a scuff on the nose! I hit the trunk of
    the tree with the nose and as it was only floating about just scuffed
    the nose and dropped into the bushes below!
    
    Who else is a member of the tree club perhaps we should have a separate
    topic for it! There must be loads of us out here!
    
    Richard 

I've brushed two trees this past week while practicing for the Nats. I was able 
to continue to fly my 2 meter after the incident but my Alcyone needed some 
minor repairs due to landing on a set of bleachers after spinning around a tree 
brushed wingtip. The Acton lunchtime crowd has several divisions. There's a small 
tree group, a smaller telephone wire group, a swamp group, a large soccer goal 
group, and an exclusive (thus far, knock on wood) Telephone pole landing group.
All from one field at lunchtime the last two years. I personally belong to all 
the groups except the telephone pole landing group (but I'm heading down at 
lunch to try again 8^)

Then there's the RC combat mid-air and then stick the wreckage in the pond/river
group. This has a chapter in Merrimac as well as Westboro

At the club field the other day I witnessed the demise of two lovely models, 
not mine (phew!), but painful to watch anyway. The first was a lovely Partenavia 
twin that stalled on take-off (pilot admits to rusty thumbs), so not much to 
learn there (apart from take off faster!). 

The second was a Precedent Bi-fly which belongs (belonged) to John, my 
instructor. He'd helped the guy with the Partenavia, and was a bit upset by the 
crash, so maybe he wasn't paying as much attention as usual. As the plane took 
off the top wing came loose. The cabane on the Bi-fly is similar in style to 
that on the Ultimate, that is it's triangular, with one central fixing point on 
the top wing. This means that if your stuts come loose (for whatever reason) 
then the wing is free to pivot.  This makes for kind of ummm.... interesting 
flying! 

Greatly to John's credit he managed three quarters of a circuit before the 
(fairly) inevitable happened, and we had our second cloud of balsa dust that 
afternoon! The plane's pretty badly damaged, it came down hard! This was a real 
shame, John had made a beautiful job of the kit, and now he's not sure it's 
repairable.

Anyway, we had the usual post-mortem, and decided that the cabane design could 
be better. If it had been a square shape, not triangular, then the plane would 
probably have been OK. We also agreed that we ought to check our plane's a lot 
more carefully on the ground in future. Bet we don't!

It may seem a little unfair to report other people's prangs, but none of mine 
(and there have been plenty) have been original or stylish enough to be worth 
reporting, and I know the guys involved won't mind.


Cheers

Nigel.

Best thing to do is to pick up all the pieces and set the wreckage aside.
What looks iffy after a crash can sometimes prove quite repairable on a 
winter night with a fresh perspective. I've repaired a couple of ship 
which I hade written off when I picked them up. I't never as bad as the 
pile looks initially (not to imply that every crash is repairable)

Maybe you can see better when the tears have dried..... 8^)

Nigel

When you've come to grips with it being a total write-off, you can then 
see it as better than a start from scratch.

    The Ulimate (By CG), had to upgrade its pylon design for the to wing
    because of in-flight failures.
    
    Maybe it's the Dan Weier factor creeping in. Fixed wings become
    rotors and all that.
    
    TGIF
    
    Evl-1

    Reading this note sure makes me feel better... I suppose, as others
    have said, that deriving comfort from the grief of others is not
    exactly right.  On the other hand, safety in numbers.
    
    I spent all last week putting together my first 4-channel trainer,
    an Eagle II.  A beautiful bird it was - white over red.  I had
    even developed (what were to me) new building techniques to get those
    (expletive) ailerons to work correctly.  It was perfectly aligned -
    a first in my life.
    
    I taxied around a little bit to get the feel and see how bad the
    nosewheel was - hmm, not bad.  This crosswind is pretty nasty, though.
    No problem... (see note on self-mutilation ploys).
    
    I went for it.  I went into a takeoff roll.  After it got light, I
    gave it up elevator for the maiden voyage.  It weathervaned to the
    right.  No problem - I expected it.  However, it ballooned like crazy
    and I was still up-elevator'ing.  Stalled it, it broke over and went
    straight in.  Turned it into little, brightly covered, pieces of
    kindling.
    
    I shouldn'ta, I shouldn'ta.  Bad thumb, bad thumb.  Maybe I'm not
    ready to have my thumbs bronzed quite yet.
    
    
    					Dave()
    
                                              
    

I'm depressed......

Wednesday I was flying my little white un-named trainer. I bought this 
second-hand, it had been buit from plans, and it flew a treat. I was doing a few 
aero's, loops, rolls, that kind of stuff, when the wing folded...... THUD. 
Luckily there was no-one in the area at the time, so all I had was a bust 
'plane. I think that the problem was just old-age (know the feeling!), so I 
decided not to bother with a rebuild.

Saturday was OK, had a few flights with my Mascot. No worries, and the weather 
was beautiful, so I thought I'd fly my Electra-fly. I was soon into a beauty of 
a thermal, this is a bit new to me so I was having a really good time. I flew 
about for a while, just circling gently in the rising air when the wing 
folded...... THUD. This is the third or fourth EF wing I've seen that's failed 
in the same damn place - just outside the wing joining tube. Conclusion: bad 
design.

Sunday I took my Mascot back to the field. Lined up for takeoff, it swung a bit 
on the run, and I know I should have shut the throttle.... I should never try to 
haul it into the air.... I know all this, so why did I do it? Well, I did, and 
the inevitable happened. It stalled in and cartwheeled up the strip shedding 
bits of wood all the way. It looks like another write off, mainly because I've 
never really liked that plnane anyway, and now I have a good reason to bin it!

So, now I'm taking a half-day's leave to go and raid my local shop for a new 
kit, haven't decided what yet, but I need something I can build quick, I'm 
supposed to be in a competition a week on Wednesday!

Why do we do this to ourselves....... 8^)

Cheers

Nigel.

    
    a year ago or so I bought a terrible looking trainer for my brother in
    law and invested two weeks in new sheeting, sanding painting and
    installing enging and radio gear. On it's second test flight it folded
    the wing when trying to balance dynamically (just pushing the stick
    forward and releasing). I trashed the plane and the money....
    
    
    Bernd
    

    Last night my Super Aeromaster, a veteran of some 60 flights without a
    significant mishap, lost its virginity.  Here's an oft repeated tale of
    woe from the folks who fly in New England where the horizon is 75 feet
    above the ground (read tree line).  Especially my club field in
    Merrimack NH, where I learned how to fly, and which has been pronounced
    "unflyable" by many pilots.
    
    I was on my second flight of the night.  On this particular flight, I
    was doing a lot of snap roll practice high up.  When the time came to
    think about landing, I did what I usually do, and made a low, slow
    fly-by.  Just as I went to power up for the go-around, engine dies. 
    Its about 35 feet high, just over the lowest trees at the edge of the
    runway, nose pointed slightly up, going straight away from the field,
    and travelling quite slow.  I'm sure many of you can relate to this
    dilemma.
    
    The choices were: 1) keep it on course and let it glide further out
    over the forest to eventually land in a tree; 2) try to make a quick
    turn and bring it back to the field and risk stalling it into the trees
    below.  Neither choice particularly thrilling.  My instinctive reaction
    was to do the quick turn and get it back.  Due to the slow speed, the
    aileron turn I tried to make didn't turn it fast enough, and it made a
    wide 180 degree turn right into the waiting branches of a tall tree.
    
    Post mortum:  The only significant damage was the top wing got sheared
    off just left of center!  Everything else is in good shape, and the
    prop didn't even break.  The wing is repairable.  Given the slow speed,
    I got off easy.
    
    Discussions with some of the other club members after the crash led me
    to believe that I might have been better off using a rudder turn to
    kick the tail around more quickly at slow speed, although, that might
    have been followed by a wing stall and snap.  I'll never know, but I'm
    still second guessing.  The irony is that my turn was a good one and
    the plane was still flying when it hit the tree.  If the tree hadn't
    been there, I would have made it back to the field, with the
    possibility of a hard landing and bent gear.
    
    The engine stall (I think this is the first time) might have been caused 
    by all the high speed gyrations, but more likely, it needs a good 
    cleaning, so with everything torn down for the repair, the engine will 
    get a well deserved cleaning.
    
    Signing off,
    Joe