Oh, so that's what safety thongs are for!

[david beazley]

I can not be called a re-tred because as a youngster I never flew CL.  I have been flying R/C for 25+ years and am going through a midlife crisis and last fall at the age of 55 took up CL.  I started with a Brodak Clown, and while building that I bought A Flitestreak arf.  After crash/fix/crash/fix/crash/fix/crash/fix/crash of the FS I switched to the Clown and found out why equal amounts of up and down are needed on the elevator.  Yep, a figure 9 out of my first outside loop.  Lesson learned.  Next came a Sig Skyray, with a Evo .36.   Nice combo, all going well except for my occasional yip of down elevator coming out of a horizontal 8.  The broken fuse fixed, all OK.  This past Sunday at our RC field that Charlie [the other guy in our club that flys CL] and I have cut a rough circle, we were once again engaged in the spectacle known as Control Line Sport Flying, when IT  happened. 
I fired up the Evo and as Charlie held the Skyray I walked confidently to the handle, 60' away.  I picked up the handle and gave the nod to Charlie to let 'er go.  The plane rolled about 6' and broke ground.  I noticed that it started coming in on me so I dutifully backed up to gain line tension.  At this point things started moving in slow motion.  The reason the plane came in on me was due to the lines being caught on something in the grass.  As I backed up the lines became free and the plane then hooked to the right.  So far so good, until the plane reached the end of the slack and jerked the handle from my hand!  My first thought is Oh S*** I hope it doesn't hit anyone.  Then I notice that instead of crashing it is making very nice right hand circles and climbing about 10' at each pass, trailing the 60' of lines and my handle!  Over the parking lot, then [thankfully]off behind the RC flight line.
I was amazed as to how long the engine ran with a 2.5oz Acme CL tank all the while making right hand circles!  By the time the engine quit the plane was almost OOS and at least 700' above the ground and about 1/2 mile away.  It landed somewhere in about 500 acres of trees and won't be found any time soon. 
I have seen some pretty remarkable things in 25+ years of RC but if someone told me this was possible for a CL airplane I would have said "No Way".  I have seen some flyaways at the Nat's with combat ships after the lines were cut but they did not last anywhere near the flight time of the Skyray.  They usually just went splat and that was that. 
We now require the use of safety thongs at our club field.  Lesson learned

[Garf]

It's best to not learn this type of lesson the hard way. Thongs have been REQUIRED for quite some time. Now you know why. How are your line sizes?

[Mike Anderson]

I too have seen this happen - it was a 1/2A combat plane, in the middle of a match at a contest in Minneapolis.  Plane, lines and handle making fairly large circles, got into a thermal and continued flying and climbing long after the engine quit running - went OOS  (free-flight-speak for "Out Of Sight") after 15 minutes or so, after flying through the landing pattern at Minneapolis Int'l, and somewhere over downtown Minneapolis but it was STILL climbing - it got too HIGH to see, not too FAR.  We never heard anything about strangers being hit by errant control line models or any other damage caused.

BTW, safety thongs were not required at that time in combat - it was fairly common to change hands in the middle of a match to keep from tangling lines.

Mike A

[Paul Taylor]

Dave,
This reminds me of when my Scrapper got away from me. I was using a thong, but when the plane rolled in and the APC prop cut both lines. Then into free flight. It is a bad feeling.

Sounds like the lines might have caught on some grass and caused the plane to turn in.  Always raise your arm as far as you can over your head to insure the lines are not hung at take off before the plane is released.

No body is ever going to have to tell you to use a thong on your handle.

[david beazley]

Garf,
I had 60' .012 stranded lines on the Skyray.  They should be OK, shouldn't they?

[Steve Holt]

Garf,
I had 60' .012 stranded lines on the Skyray.  They should be OK, shouldn't they?

Not OK!  With the .36, minimum line size for stranded lines is .015.  The AMA rules for next year are changing so that line size is no longer tied to engine displacement, but I think .012 should always be too small for something with a high power .35.  I never tried my Primary Force with .012 lines even when it was powered by a .25.  This was a ball bearing OS 25FSR which has a lot more power than a Fox 35 and the airplane weighed 37 oz, so I stuck with .015 lines.
Steve

[ray copeland]

I too never thought much about flying with a thong, especially in the ball field where i fly anything over 35 foot lines and no one else is around.Last week i was testing a new 1/2 a combat plane on 42 foot lines  when i lost tension on the lines and ran to catch up, that was when the handle jerked out of my hand and smacked me in the back of the head somehow!! The plane landed safely and i had a huge goose egg on the side of my head. Yesterday i picked up the same set of lines connected to a Sull... Instajust handle and the plastic handle fell apart in my hands, busted in pieces. Moral of the story?  I guess wear a thong, and helmet or get a softer handle!!

[john e. holliday]

You guys still have to remind me why we use safety thongs.  Several years ago I was slying my Brodak kit Nobler when it decided to come across the circle after pulling up for the reverse wingover.  The engine was giving me trouble that day and I didn't listen to it.  Came across the circle about head high.  Needless to say the handle was pulled from my grip.  The inboard wing was destroyed, but, nobody got hurt other than my pride and wrist.  The guys are arguing about shut-offs for combat planes, but, I have seen a couple get away and not hurt anybody as the engine shut-off worked.  Having fun,  DOC Holliday

[Wayne Foster]

Garf,
I had 60' .012 stranded lines on the Skyray.  They should be OK, shouldn't they?

Hi David,

As Steve said, the .012 lines are too small for the .36 Skyray.  If you had been wearing a safety thong when your lines caught in the grass, it's a good chance the lines would have broken when the thong stopped the fly away.

It will be interesting to see if the fly aways and crashes increase next year when the line sizes are decreased across the board for all Stunt Models.

I'm glad no one got hurt in your fly away, but would certainly encourage you to at least go to .015 lines.  1/2A Combat requires .012 lines and they usually weigh about 5 or 6 ounces ready to fly.  I imagine your Skyray is a little heavier than that.

Have fun and be safe.

Wayne