Don't mess with weed...(s)

[Michael Massey]

I was going to post this merely for the sympathy value but thought some of you might like the warning attached. 

I went to visit my brother a week before I was scheduled to go to a contest in Puyallup, Washington.  We were going to experiment with props.  I took my only contest flyer, a Pathfinder that I normally fly on blacktop.  Since my brother flies on grass, I replaced the nose gear with a longer nose gear so the prop would not tend to "mow" grass on take off.  All is well...

On the second day, about third flight I think...oh, did I mention that the plane tended to come in on me on take off, but ever so slightly...what could go wrong...go wrong...go wrong?  Anyhow, the plane came in, ever so slightly on take off.  I stepped back slightly as I had been doing.  Suddenly, the lines grabbed, ever so strongly, a "tuft" of grass.  The plane lurched straight up, did a half circle around the weed at about 5 to 10 feet from the plane, dove to the ground and broke the whole tail assembly off. 

Well, the break was clean so after I got back home, I epoxied the tail back on (Friday) and left for the contest 6am Saturday.  The plane was untested but actually flew well so all was not lost.  The moral of the story is, I could have spent 10 minutes taking the nose gear off, bending the wheel attachment slightly so the plane would tend to head away from me slightly on take off and none of that would have happened, but I did not.  So, do no under estimate the power of "weed" and very slight sag in lines on take off.

[Fred Cronenwett]

Here in Wichita we have two paved circles and both have a outer paved portion with a center pad, but between those two are some wonderful grass.

zoom in with google or yahoo maps at this location and you will see...

37.640446,-97.281135 (Lat, Long)

During the summer if I don't mow the inner section grass your lines can get snagged by 5" tall grass. I have had my throttled airplanes come in on me multiple times when my lines were stopped cold by a skinny little blade of grass or weed. I understand your frustration. Since I have throttle control I have been able to throttle back before it becomes a problem.

I have to take my lawn mower out to the site and mow really low during the summer if I want to fly otherwise the weeds will win and snag my lines.

Landing softly,
Fred Cronenwett

[John Stiles]

Mowed both my flying fields yesterday, out to about 90'! I generally like it down to about 2"!

[Brian Massey]

What my "Poooor" big brother forgot to mention is that the repair was good enough to win intermediate at Puyallup! I think it's time for him to move to advanced and get out of my way!   

Brian

[Ward Van Duzer]

I hope you wrapped some F/G around that break...

W.

[Mark Scarborough]

I feel your pain!
a couple years back, I built a P-40 based on a Brodak profile. I painted it kinda custom,, ( ok a lot custom) It was looking pretty good, a bit (sic) heavy, but ,,
Took it to Portland unflown, we have winters till may here,, lol,, put in a few flights and it was flying pretty well. My last practice flight before competition began, flying on grass, my lines snagged a dandelion,, in she came, up she went, down she went,, the nose parted company with the plane,, the fuse shattered, it was done,,
It now hangs above my headboard to remind me #1 take pictures BEFORE you fly anything, and #2, make sure you keep your lines high when flying off the grass,, sigh