Fly Across

[Motorman]

I've had various planes through the years go slack on the lines and fly across the circle then jerk the handle out of my hand even though I had a death grip on it and I was extending my arm to try and cushion the yank. Just got to thinking if this happened with a big heavy stunt ship while wearing a safety thong wouldn't it pull the hand right off your arm?


MM

[mike londke]

Not stunt but you might get a kick out of this video. Rich engine run on a combat wing so the pilot tried to stuff it in the weeds. Lines caught and hilarity ensued. Pilot will remain nameless.                     

[john e. holliday]

My hand, wrist and arm all hurt for about a week after that happened to me with the Original Nobler in Tulsa one year.   Destroyed inboard wing. 

[Avaiojet]

Did the bellcrank stay in place?

[john e. holliday]

Did the bellcrank stay in place?

Yes the bell crank stayed in place.  In all my years I've only had one bell crank give me a problem.   That was because the post slipped out of the ply wood pads and locked up the controls.  Back in the day I had to pull test carrier plane to over 100 pounds.   That was before they set the limit.   

[Tim Wescott]

I've had various planes through the years go slack on the lines and fly across the circle then jerk the handle out of my hand even though I had a death grip on it and I was extending my arm to try and cushion the yank. Just got to thinking if this happened with a big heavy stunt ship while wearing a safety thong wouldn't it pull the hand right off your arm?

Extending your arm?  As in holding it out as far as you can?

That's the opposite of what you want to do.  The way to stop the plane with the least amount of force is to give yourself the longest distance.  The way to do that is to hold your arm up tight to your body, then let it extend when the plane hits the lines.

This will take some practice to get right -- I suggest either trimming a plane to come in on the lines on command, or perhaps using 2.4GHz radio for rudder control...

[ChrisSarnowski]

Tim,

You can hold your arm straight up extended or off to the side extended (not pointing at the airplane). Then when it hits the end of the lines, your arm rotates at the shoulder joint so that you cushion the sudden line tension.

-Chris

[Motorman]

The way to do that is to hold your arm up tight to your body, then let it extend when the plane hits the lines.

Yeah, that's what I do extend my arm when the plane hits the end of it's rope. I'm looking into tethers that will barely pass the pull test so they'll break before my hand does. I've got enough orthopedic problems.

From what I've seen the plane usually dorks about half way across but sometimes it hits and gets back up again and that's when it'll yank you. Heaven help you if it flys across the full diameter and gets up speed.


MM

[Gerald Arana]

My ARF Smoothie caught a weed on TO and went all the way across the circle. I held my arm out straight, now don't say that was wrong because it was behind the plane or in the opposite direction of flight to give me the most flexability when it hit the end of the lines.
Even though I had a death grip on the handle, the plane jerked the handle out of my hand and crashed. Good thing I had a thong on and I have the scar to prove it! (The handle that is )

Oh well, Jerry

[Ron Cribbs]

My first full size stunter was powered by a Fox .35, I didn't know how to set up for the 4-2 much less fly.  I set the engine way too rich and it was a very windy day to compound the problem. Every time I hit the windward side it would fly across center and it would catch with a very hefty jerk on the other side of the circle. As a new pilot I was scared to death!!!

I filled the tank up with a full 4oz of fuel so you can imagine how much of a pain it was to repeat the scenario for countless laps.

I still fly that old Ringmaster and the Bellcrank is fine. I was using a "Hot Rock" with no thong and I was able to hold on. I can imagine with a very large stunter it would be very hard to hang on, but doable.

Not sure how you can mitigate the problem you are having although there are variables you can control before flight ie: engine run and wind conditions, line obstacles etc. You have been doing this much longer than myself so I am sure you know what to do.

Hopefully your wrist won't break, and I think worst case is you will be taken off your feet, or at least to your knees. That's very worst case...

[Steve Helmick]

I think I've only witnessed one "fly across" in probably 30-40 years of CL flying. That was a jet speed model. They don't accellerate real fast, but it went about 3' and turned left. Monoline, it was. And after it hit the end of the lines, it flew out the fuel on board, and the pilot hung onto it just fine. No pylon to help absorb the load, and the pilot was certainly not close to being athletic or a sturdy sort of guy. Wasn't me, tho I resembled that also!

I would suggest that you use a larger size rope for your safety thong...I believe Paul Walker wrote that he used 1/4" cotton rope from the hardware store...pretty sure that would be cotton clothesline rope. Check ACE Hardware.
  Steve