Airplane 0, Ground 1

[Tim Wescott]

Note to self: outside loops are best finished 5 feet above the ground, not on a circle that projects 1 foot below.

Broke the cowl, the tail, and at the very least sprung some of the sheeting on the wing.

Dang oh dang oh dang.  I really need a spare plane.

[John Castle]

  Mojo sent...

[Paul Taylor]

Get a U-Key 40!
Bring glue to the field.

Prang it, glue it, prang it, glue it.

[Matt Colan]

sounds almost exactly like mine.  Except I lost tension...Hope you can get it back in the air soon.

[Tim Wescott]

sounds almost exactly like mine.  Except I lost tension...Hope you can get it back in the air soon.

Me too.

You at least have an excuse -- I think mine was due purely to pilot error.

I did take your accident into account with the Nobler -- I didn't just pop into a wingover on the first try.  Instead, come the shakeout flights I did one to 45 degrees, then 60, then 70, then 80, then when I was sure it'd do well, overhead (well, as overhead as I can manage, the way I fly).

Then I go and prang the thing on a stupid round outside loop!!!

I think I was distracted -- I was trying to fly the whole beginner's pattern for the first time, and I was probably thinking too far ahead.

Oh well -- at least it's just got a cruddy film covering*.  So there's not much finish work I need to do to restore it to it's original lack of beauty.

* No slight to the folks that do nice film coverings.  This is just like a really nice film covering, only it's wrinkly and the color selection is -- odd.

[Randy Powell]

First rule of the pattern: Stay with the plane. It's hard not to think ahead and you have to do a certain amount of it when judging the wind and such, but as much as possible, stay with the plane, not where the plane is going to be.

[Tim Wescott]

First rule of the pattern: Stay with the plane. It's hard not to think ahead and you have to do a certain amount of it when judging the wind and such, but as much as possible, stay with the plane, not where the plane is going to be.

I know that I know that I know that!

I just need occasional reminding...

[john e. holliday]

If you would like another plane to learn the pattern, go to the Corehouse and checkout what Phil Cartier has.   They can also be easily repaired.  But, stay with it and you will learn.

[Tim Wescott]

If you would like another plane to learn the pattern, go to the Corehouse and checkout what Phil Cartier has.   They can also be easily repaired.  But, stay with it and you will learn.

A semi-scale Sonex Waiex profile, for an OS 25, is in the CAD program.  I'm currently working out enough details to order balsa.  Unfortunately the chief designer (me) is in the middle of a heated argument with the product line manager (me) with the structural engineer (me) wringing his hands on the sideline, over whether it should have 3/32" ribs and no cap strips or 1/16" ribs with capstrips.  Obviously the no-capstrip solution will build faster and be easier to repair.  But it won't be as pretty, or as light...

[don Burke]

Gravity sucks, and always wins!

[don Burke]

.....  Obviously the no-capstrip solution will build faster and be easier to repair.  But it won't be as pretty, or as light...

Nor as strong and resistant to warps.  Go for the capstrips!

[Jerry Leuty]

  Spare planes. The thing is we want all of our creations to be on the front row of appearance judging. Other pilots judge us by the quality of our planes. I remember several years ago at a club meeting in Dallas one of the club officers was really putting down a fellow pilot. Someone asked him what he had against him and he said; "He build crappy airplanes." Wow. But that is just the way it is. Now what to do about it. Go to Home Depot and purchase a 4'X8'X5/8" sheet of the pink foam insulation board. You can make lots of profile fuselages and wing ribs out of the stuff and all for about $10 a sheet. Elmer's glue holds the stuff just fine. CYa will burn it up as well as modeling dope. Build you a few simple but good design profile planes such as the profile Oriental. Put a good FP .35 or .40 on it and go fly the wings off it. Then when you crash and you will...........everything that goes up must eventually come down, you won't hurt quite so bad. Don't put a lot of effort into the finish either. The better it is built but the plainer it looks the more you will fly closer to the ground. After you have gotten comfortable with the pattern then build or have built that world beater and go enter all the contest you like. But get yourself a few extra ordinary planes to go flying with. I too like a nice looking airplane but go look at the planes in the Intermediate line up or even the Advanced pits and see that most are just well flown planes that fly good.

       Have fun will fly.......................Jerry

[minnesotamodeler]

The thing about outside loops is, if you start at the top and go down, the plane will tend to neutralize the controls as it descends--you have to keep feeding it more "down" thru the first half of the loop.

It's easier to learn from inverted, starting at the bottom; or from the backside of a lazy eight.

[Tim Wescott]

The thing about outside loops is, if you start at the top and go down, the plane will tend to neutralize the controls as it descends--you have to keep feeding it more "down" thru the first half of the loop.

It's easier to learn from inverted, starting at the bottom; or from the backside of a lazy eight.

In a very perverse way, knowing that had a big role in the crash.

Why?

Because for the very first time, ever, I was trying to make my way through a pattern -- the beginner's pattern, in this case.  I had intended to do 3-1/2 inside loops, exit inverted, then do 3-1/2 outside loops and go on.  But I only did 3 inside loops.  Instead of flying around, doing half an inside loop, then flying around and doing three outside loops from level, I tried three outside loops from 45 degrees.

I did several things wrong:

• I got flustered
• I didn't just stop and fly level laps until I was unflustered
• I'd never tried an outside loop from 45 degrees before

And I'm not sure if I was all the way up to 45 degrees -- flying with no horizon reference, plus my allergies, was making me a bit dizzy.

What really did it was getting off plan (three and a half loops), and not either aborting the flight entirely and just flying level (or noodling) until the tank ran out or doing something (a half loop) to get back on plan before I tried something drastic.

And... boom.

[Howard Rush]

A common mistake when starting an outside from high, level flight is to give the airplane down and then hold one's arm fixed.  When the airplane gets abeam the arm, it's in neutral.  It's downhill from there.

[Jerry Leuty]

      Ok, there is no earthly reason to get frustrated with this fun hobby. You are not making any money doing this stuff and certainly are not going to impress anybody with your magnificent flying abilities, at least not for now anyway. So chill out. Fly those outside loops at a higher level and then when you are comfortable and your mind is into the flying of that plane you can branch out into getting it at 45 degrees and 5 foot. Until then if you have a near crash then just level out and relax...........time for dinner.

Jerry

[Tim Wescott]

Fly those outside loops at a higher level and then when you are comfortable...

I was!  I just disengaged the brain, without realizing I'd done it!  D'oh!

Good thing I'm comfortable with building & repairing.

[Tim Wescott]

Finally started assessing the damage -- it's not as bad as I thought.  I'll still miss flying it this weekend, but the actual wood damage appears to be limited to things that can be fixed with a bit of CA and finger pressure.  Of course the covering will just get rattier (I am _not_ recovering the whole darn thing for this -- not when I'm probably going to crash again!)

Which is good to know -- had that happened at a contest the only thing I might have lacked would have been some covering material, and now I know I should takes some and an iron (or rolls and rolls of scotch tape!) when I go a-contesting.

[W.D. Roland]

Tim
I never really paid attention to the movements I make with hand/arm when flying but going through things with my eyes closed and imagining the airplane as well as some memories it seems that i keep from the elbow to hand part pointed at(and following) the airplane and do almost all control input with the wrist.
I do know that sometimes in a wing over arm is straight and some times elbow is bent and the lines pass by my face.
This does not mean I never use my arm for input as well.

I think this style may be from prehistoric combat flying when things like flying with lines between your opponents arm and body or over his shoulder was not unusual. Flying against Stublefield and some others required this.