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General control line discussion => Open Forum => Topic started by: steven yampolsky on March 19, 2013, 04:25:22 PM
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Out of curiosity, what is the most unusual object have you hit while flying? I'll start: corner of a building
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You win Steve...
Two questions:
1)Was the building visible?
2)Was the building moving?
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Iron toolbox. Circle center wasn't marked (Boeing Space Center, front lot). Tom Knoppi wasn't happy with me. I didn't figure a TR guy would have a toolbox anyplace close to the circle. I hadn't flown in awhile and all the upright and level laps got me dizzy. I was about ready to fall on my beak. That racing stuff takes some getting used to! LL~ Steve
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A Red Tail Hawk! I'm not sure who hit who though. Feathers flew and there was a dent and spatters of goo on my outboard wing tip. The bird lost. I didn't hear from P.E.T.A. and I'm sure some sort of statute of limitations should have taken over by now.
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Nighthawk. Decapitated by a Goldberg Buster. :)
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My fuel jug? Gawd, I'm so boring.
(Well, and the ground -- that's not "exotic" though).
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Many years ago, I landed a Banshee or a Magician (can't remember) into my tool box.
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Well being an old combat flyer, I'd have to say the ground and my competitors plane.
I know that's not what you were looking for but that's about it for me.
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a cyclone fence,, I was flying and during my flight, a couple kids showed up and started playing catch, and they kept getting closer and closer,ignoring my frantic yelling at them, so I started walking,, while flying,, I took ONE step to many,,
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One of the very best wingover I ever made ended at the top of the circle when a Seagull and my Twister met. Both lost the battle! At that time I was the ouside sponsor for the "Clipped Wings" MAC at the Walla Walla WA, State Prison. Needdless to say I took a great deal of good natured crap from the club members.
Joe
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Combat plane la 25 on bladder straight into the asphalt track we were flying next too. guess we go to close man 75 staright into asphalt motor went to pieces is was great the only thing left was the piston and sleve and the some of the caseing still bolted to the motor mounts. we still laugh over that one.
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A barn swallow with my Jr. Streak. Lots of plane pieces and feathers!
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A volleyball pole.
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At 4000', a duck at 250 kts, oh, you mean while flying model airplanes, nevermind.
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I have an amazing model story for you and it's true.
This Flite Streak, photo below, was my favorite. Green silk, black and white trim. Flaps too and a shortened tail.
A friend and I, I didn't drive at the time, who lived on a farm, a big one, set out to fly the FS.
Picture enough space to fly R/C. Had my U-Reely, lines out and were all set to go.
I have no idea what was on my mind that day, but I forgot to slide the pin lock for the handle on the U-Reely.
Yup, you guessed it. Probably not even one full lap and the handle went ballistic. I did have time to think about grabbing it, but couldn't.
Now here's what beats all. There was this tall silo probably 500 to 600 feet away. Yup, you guessed it again.
The FS did a perfect rainbow arch and hit home smack on the side of that silo. Lines and all.
That was a lesson hard learned.
Charles
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12 years old ,flying my dad's J Walker FireBall with a K&B 35 got too close the the cross country power lines and the fireball became a real fire ball, .luckly i was using a u-realy and that might have saved me ,we found the tank later and it was completly blown apart
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Church groundskeeper drove his car in front of my Cox Cessna 150 in the church parking lot. His windshield hit my plane! I was only 10 yrs. old when it happened and was very traumatized by the incident causing me to fly control line planes into adulthood.
Bob
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Well, flying a CG Buster I hit an overhanging street lamp tearing off the wingtip.
Flying R/C rudder only I landed on a barbed wire fence and sawed of the left wing and most of the left end of the stab.
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Flying in a parking lot a guy drove across ignoring the marked out area while I was flying a Twister. I bounced the plane off the top of his car as he drove through the circle (guess it was fortunate he wasn't driving a convertable with the top down #^). He did keep going. On the up side, it's the only successful touch and go I've ever completed.
James
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Top this one!!!
Phil Spillman was flying my profile Cardinal at night at Brodaks.
After he landed and I was shining my flashlight, I noticed what I thought to be a leaf folded over the stabilizer lead edge.
It turned out to be a BAT!
A very dead bat.
Bob Z.
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I took a 35 size CL Stunter to my in-laws to demonstrate CL Flying to my wife's relatives in Illinois. There was a large garden plot next to the house with plenty of room.
Started the engine and took off. My peripheral vision caught sight of a problem. An overhead power line right down the center of the garden! I gave it full down and trimmed about 1/2 inch off the top of the tip rib on the outboard wing. Laying a straight edge against the cut it passes about 6 inches above the bellcrank. Flying 6 inches from a 7,000 volt power line is not recommended!
Now I always look up before taking off,
Clancy
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Why is it that I've hit nothing but the ground?
Cars, powerlines, bats, birds... I wonder what is yet to come... LL~ LL~
Marcus
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Rob Gruber...
Derek
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Flying 1/2A Mouse in Topeka, I was just getting settled in after a pit stop when all of a sudden, I seen something go flying and the mouse slowed down to just barely flying. When engine quit the plane did not even glide, it fell like a rock. All racing stopped. The wings of a small bird were wrapped around the wing of the mouse racer. The other two peices of the poor bird were found on the circle. Does not beat the bat as previously posted and I did not get a refly.
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What a coincidence (with Dick Pacini)...I actually did land a Magician into my tool box !
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I just remembered another one. I was flying a Nobler in a mall parking lot under the lights at night. After a few laps, I must have strayed off my mark a bit and flew the Nobler right into a lamp post. I have never seen a plane stop so quickly. For an instant, it seemed to stick to the post, but then fell to the ground.
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1971, Machinato, Okinawa hit a chain link fence w/a mccoy powered smoothie. Airplane stuck in the fence.
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I had two very nice Brodak Cardinals and shredded both of them flying through tree branches. Needless to say I don't fly anywhere near trees anymore. HB~> HB~> HB~>
Andy
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Early 70's I was flying HalfFast combat wing and I gave it to much up and it turned in at me and passed over my head at 10 ft,as it reached the end of the lines it snapped them off at the handle and turned at me again. The lines wound up in the prop and stopped the motor as the wingtip hit me in the leg as I ran away from it. Plane was OK. It took 10 minutes for the laughing to stop. n1 It is still funny when I think back about it. I think it was at the Jacksonville Vintage combat contest. I later won flying a NoBody.
Ed
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I guess "bat" strikes are more common than I thought. When I was 14 we were flying late into the afternoon during the summer and the sun was setting but we didn't care........ I felt a twang and the engine stopped. When we got to the plane (no damage!) there were parts of a bat still attached to the model.........
BIG Bear
RNMM/AMM
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While flying one day with a friend, my plane was hit. He was up and began to wonder towards where my plane was pitted. I started to yell and motion for him to walk a bit the other way. When he looked over to see what I was trying to tell him, his plane belly flopped on the ground and got a shaft run. It bounced back up in the air and he backed up to maintain line tension, but in doing so it moved him closer to the pit area.
As the plane continue around the circle I could see that the arc was going to carry it very close to my plane and I thought about moving to the back of my plane to catch or stop his before it hit mine. Well, with an ST 51 screaming away and getting closer by the second, I thought that might not be such a good idea as I didn't know how much of the prop might be left, so I stayed put and watched as the inevitable crash occurred.
His inboard wing hit the rudder of my plane, causing his to tip up and plunge vertically into the outboard wing of my plane with the motor still screaming away. I watched in horror as bits and pieces of balsa and covering came spewing out, like a chain saw having its best day. I grabbed his plane and pulled it out of the gaping hole in my wing and got the motor shut down. A two for one flight.
The amazing part was that after checking things over, the only damage to my planes was a hole in the center section sheeting. By some miracle, it missed the spars and ribs. Only thing I had to do was replace a little of the center sheeting and patch the covering.
Larry
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Not exotic but quite annoying. My flying friend Brian Turner, when we were first practicing together, made a height pole about 7ft tall with a crossbar at the centre of the 5ft flying height. We flew on an old wartime bomber drome on the last remaining part of the runway with a clearly marked pilot circle in the middle. As I was flying round there was a bang and 5" of the outboard wing of my oriental vanished as I hit the pole just below the 5ft mark. Brian had positioned the pole very close to the circle and I had drifted about a foot towards it. From that day on, wherever Brian positioned the pole, I would go and move it about 5ft further away.
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When we were kids a buddy of mine hit a bicycle. The bike lost. ruined the tire and rim. Plane lost the prop. No rider on the bike fortunately. They learned not to park so close.
I hit a garbage dumpster with my stick 60 rc. Darn convenient as there was not much salvageable including the engine.
Ken
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While flying a Buster at a local museum for Canada Day, I flew into a tree and it stuck in the fork of a branch. The moter comtinued to run so I stepped back and she dropped out and I finished the demonstration. The crowd thought it was part of the act! It was an exotic maple tree! LOL H^^
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I decapitated a black bird about 15 yrs. ago with a Enya 35 on a Ringmaster. A clean kill. That engine never skipped a beat.
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Hmm, several to choose from. The most exotic was having my plane hit by a football. There were playing a game on the other side of the fence. I was flying in the parking lot of a church next door. The ground of the parking lot was substantially lower than the football field. Guy with a heck of a leg kicked a field goal that cleared the fence and with the greatest stroke of ill luck I've ever had hit both my plane and me.
Other than that, a couple of bird strikes and once I hit a pole in the west parking lot at Boeing.
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An Exotic Dancer..No wait...that was Howard...
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My pitman Richard Bynum, with a goodyear racer. No, the engine wasn't running but the airplane was probably still going at least 50 mph. Richard kept complaining that I wasn't getting the airplane on the ground quick enough during pits. I kept shortening the shut down distance and I guess richard finally decided that the shut down distance was what he had asked for but chickened out at the last second and tried to jump over the very fast rolling airplane. Richard was 6 ft 5, and weighed about 300 lbs (no kidding). He didn't quiet clear the wings and it took him right off his feet in a complete somersault. Ever see a 300 lb guy do a forward flip...it's not pretty. Fortunately he got up laughing apparently unhurt except for a bruise on the front of both ankles. I just said "Hey Richard was that quick enough". Fortunately I could out run him. Yes, racers are a little crazy!
Randy Cuberly
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My brother in law, and he still married my little sister. He is half Italian does that make him exotic ? The Black Widow spinner left a doozie of a knot in his head.
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Does hitting a friend of mine from Fiji count as "exotic"?
Pat
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Does hitting a friend of mine from Fiji count as "exotic"?
Wow, that's exotic! LL~
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>>I should have hit a Ferrari... <<
I doubt you're insurance company would agree...
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Fort Polk Louisiana, 1964. Launcher had never seen a model airplane let alone launch one. He threw my Johnson 35 powered Flite Streak at me and it flew across the circle breaking the lines on the far side. It continued to fly into the rear window of the Post Commander Generals chauffer driven car and break the window and bounce and land in a ditch. The car stopped long enough for the driver to look around. He did not see the Flite Streak in the ditch. We all ducked down and the car speeded off! We packed up and left. Oh yes, I was in the 551 st M.P. Company and never heard a word about the incident.
Don Boka.
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After seeing all these, I guess Bob's bat strike has to hold the record. I can still go to Shwnee Mission Park late in the day and have fun with the Nighthawks. Have managed a couple of feathers.
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I was flying a WWI Taube RC slow flyer in a hockey rink as part of the entertainment while the Zamboni was prepping the ice between periods. Also on the ice was the team mascot in a hawk costume doing his thing with the crowd. He was whacking the puck off of the wall and one of his shots lofted a little more than he wanted, hit the Plexiglas about 6 feet up and bounced right back over him rising all the way until it was about 20 feet high by the time it got to the center of the rink. As luck would have it my airplane just happened to be liesurely drifting by and managed to end up trying to share the space with that fast moving puck. Airplane broke in half, fell like a dead duck, and the crown cheered wildly. Score - puck 1, Taube 0.
I know it ain't control-line but it is my story and I'm stickin' to it.
Bob Nelson in Iowa
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Yea, but the timing of getting hit by a football that was just kicked for a field goal is pretty weird.
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I once hit a Ringmaster with my Viking, spinner to spinner flying on opposite circles.
Just ask Bill Byles he saw it happen. W.W.
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It's not all that unusual for two combat planes to hit, but Mel Lyne and I did a little scientific experiment last summer. We determined that if a Nelson .36 strikes a Fora .36 head-on at a closing speed of approximately 240 mph, the Nelson will win. A photo is here: http://flyinglines.org/Combat.html or here: http://flyinglines.org/BG.2012.html
:o
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After the slightly off-topic combat reference, I should reveal that I have bonked at least one toolbox with a racing plane. And, some years ago, my prop surgically removed the elevator of a competitor's plane as I was passing in a four-high stack in a Northwest Sport Race. His plane made a perfect arc over the circle and whacked the ground, while the rest of us motored on to the finish. In my younger days I had nighthawks hit my lines several times, but never a plane. ~^
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I have only hit two objects in my rather lengthy career of screwing up. Neither was all that exotic.
I once landed into my fuel can and took out most of the *inboard* wing, which ought to get me some sort of stupidity bonus points
The other thing I hit was the late Paul Isenhower's left shoulder, outboard wingtip to upper shoulder. It whipped the fuselage and cracked it right near the TE. That was a case where I was right in the center of the pilots circle, Paul was walking well outside the marked outer circle, but they had marked the circle at a 70 foot radius. My fuselage was something like a foot outside the circle and the wing tip about 3 1/2 feet. Had Paul been walking right along the outside of the circle instead of 3 feet away, my spinner would have hit him in about the brain stem or upper neck, very likely killing him. Nobody can say I wasn't at 5 feet. After this, I was completely useless the rest of the day, it took most of the day to stop shaking and I thought I was going to throw up for quite a while.
Subsequently, over the next few years, mysterious wrinkles started appearing in the covering about an inch out on the outboard wing. I didn't think anything of it at the time and for a while afterwards. I flew it at the 93 NATs that way, for example and many other contests. Right before the 94 NATs, on the last flight before we were going to call it a day so we could go pack everything, the outboard wing folded on an outside square loop. That initiated a scramble to install a new wing (David happened to have an Imitation wing that we assembled) in about a day and a half. Got to all put together, repaired everything else with 5 minute and hot stuff (at a room temperature of about 105 degrees, not too much waiting for stuff to set). Bill, David, and I got it Monokoted, got the fuselage painted white at about 2 in the morning. I went home got, about an hour of sleep , threw everything I owned in the car, and set off for Texas at about 10 the next morning. We finished and reassembled it in a Comfort Inn in Albuquerque. I painted the canopy on it with a brush and AeroGloss in the parking lot at appearance judging - and wound up with 14 points. It flew great even in a howling wind and with something like 9 extra ounces - 64 ounces on a mere 610 square inches and a 40VF. Ended up tied for 15th with another disaster special, Mike Pratt's 19-pointer. That was actually pretty good for me at the time.
Only much later did it occur to me that hitting Paul's shoulder probably also cracked the LE wood in the wing, and ultimately the crack travelled through the wing skin. This was a spar-leess foam wing which works fine if you don't hit somebody with it.
Brett
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A very good Frisbee chasing German Shepherd, who jumped 6' into the air and caught a Cox Stuka I was flying for my brother. He caught the plane by the prop and nose- no damage to the dog or plane, but he never wanted anything to do with a plane flying in a circle after that!!
Doug
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Hey there Mr. Don Boka, as far as I am concerned , you get the Blue Ribbon. Anyone that can make a dent in a General's car and get away with it is, IMO, "THE MAN". Love it. y1
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I should say that if not for Dirty Dan chasing me around the circle with his patented stunt knife, I would have hit a parked full sized airplane. But near misses don't count.
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Does anyone recall the story of Dennis Duval's plane flying into a man who walked into the circle?
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Years ago at the old KC City Park, Ken Kriebel was putting up test flight with his fairly new Thunderbird. He started the engine and was launched. Just as he almost made the first lap we heard a thud and turned to see a man on the ground. Was a spectator that was watching the proceedings and when everybody moved back he turned his back to the on coming plane. He only took off the outboard wing and had a terrific headache. A few inches further in and no telling what the prop would have done.