What just happened?

[Shorts,David]

Anyone able to share stories of completely beyond your control stunt ship destruction?

I'm starting this for help with my morale. I have crashed a few planes before whilst being either stupid or just flying to dang low on pull-outs. But about two weeks ago I was flying my best plane which was already set up, built by an old friend who passed away. It was flying great and I was loving my huge improvements I was making. Then, as near as I can tell, either a line snagged in the short grass on take off, or the up clevice somehow grabbed on the down clevice and locked together in an up position. At any rate the plane went up and over and straight in to my right without me having the slimmest chance of saving it.

This has made me nervous about flying any of my planes, because while I can accept my own stupidity and short comings, I'm having a difficult time accepting things beyond my control, aka gremlins.

i suppose a similar story would be the gentleman this year at VSC who had a blue heron fly through his lines and send a beautiful Hawker Hurricane into the asphalt.

David

[Mike Griffin]

I see you have a new pilot designation on here so I am writing this under the assumption you are just learning to fly stunt.  If I am wrong please disregard this post and I apologize for misunderstanding what you were saying:


David, I have seen some of the very best stunt pilots crash their models.  Things happen, either human error or some sort of mechanical failure, it is inevitable.  We don't want it to and we try hard not to let it happen but sometimes, it just does.

Don't let it get you down.  A good friend of mine who passed away several years ago and who was and expert flier, told me I shouldn't be in this hobby if I did not expect to lose some planes during the learning process.  I have crashed my share, I assure you.

Several years ago, a good friend of mine by the name of Tom Morris, was at a contest down here in Baton Rouge, and I watched him try to take off a new electric powered Cavalier profile that he built  and put it right into the asphalt.  Tom is an expert flier and builder but he had reversed his lines and did not check them before his plane was launched.  It happens,

Brett Buck has written on here extensively about a SIG Skyray and and a OS .20 engine combination that is a great training model.  It flies well and is as resilient as you can get when you are on your journey to becoming a better pilot.

Keep after it...and expect to lose a few along the way.

Mike

[Ken Culbertson]

David:

Crashing is just part of flying.  As you get more experienced, pilot error is replaced by pilot stupidity.  I just took a year to build my first PA ship since returning to the hobby.  I build three "practice ships" and flew the daylights out of them with only one uneventful inverted landing in grass when I got bored at the end of a flight and tried to squeeze in an 8.  Along comes my new PA and it does exactly what yours did.  Bell crank over-centered and locked on full up on takeoff.  Since that can't happen I put in a stop to keep it from happening again.  Next time out it plowed in at the bottom of a cloverleaf because some idiot didn't take the elevator hatch cover off and check the horn after the first crash.

You fly enough you are going to crash in ways you never thought possible.   Some of them will even be your fault and just when you think you have seen it all.....someone gets his motor wires crossed and takes off backwards. 

ken

[Bill Morell]

He who has never crashed has never flown.

[Gary Dowler]

Last year I had completed two flights on a , finally, decently trimmed Shoestring  Stunter. Went for flight 3 and the up elevator line snagged on something on the ground. It turned in on me instantly (lost all control) and went into a weird wingover all on its own and nosed in 1/2 a circle from launch point, and so hard that the plane was destroyed as was my OS20FP. Totally freak occurrence, never seen it before.

Gary

[RC Storick]

I had built 3 P47 and number 3 met its demise 2014 in Memphis. It was on the last loop of the four-leaf that I ran out of fuel. So it would be just like starting a wingover and running out of fuel in the first turn. It went over the top and straight in on the other side. There was no saving it. I scraped it up and bagged it up, threw it in the back of the car for the long ride home. This happened all for 1/2 point to beat John Simpson. It seemed to take twice as long to get home as it did to get there.

[Dave Hull]

Most things you can check and recheck. Some things you can't. I lost 3 planes at the same time a few years ago. Took them to the field and got some nice flights. Everything working good. Put them back into the truck to head over to the hobby shop to pick up some things. Never made it. Got rear ended at a stop light and totaled my truck. One plane got rebuilt. The other two didn't make it.

Divot McSlow

[Clint Ormosen]

Losing a model is no reason lose sleep. Whenever I plant one, I spend about 10 min saying aw#^$%! Then I either fix it or scrap it. Move on.

[Tom Vieira]

all of my fatalities have been a result of trying outside loops without enough altitude....

except for one, i picked the handle up upside down!

[Peter in Fairfax, VA]

One defense is to have a second plane ready to go.  There are a lot of prolific builders here, so finding a built plane is possible.

Peter

[George Albo]

Hells bells, no such thing as quitting, if anything you should be motivated to overcome the problems.  You're a winner not a quitter. How do I know? You fly Control Line!  Get back on the saddle, have glue on hand and keep at it! Do a line check, control surfaces and linkage check, have second plane at the ready and go have some fun!

[Ken Culbertson]

One defense is to have a second plane ready to go.  There are a lot of prolific builders here, so finding a built plane is possible.

Peter

Let me double down on this one.   There are a thousand things that can go wrong with a plane and for some strange reason we never discover them until we have driven 20 miles to the flying site, rolled out the lines and fueled (for those of you who still like making pipe puddles on the circle).  Always take a second plane if you have one.  The second reason is that when you plant the first one, nothing makes it all better than to have another one to fly before the gremlins start whispering in your ear.

Ken

[proparc]

The ability to crash and come back from it, is part of what makes us special. Stunt flyers are TOUGH!!!  The saying, "When the going gets tough, the tough get going" aptly applies to Stunt Flyers.  We know the risks going in whenever we start a project. But we have to guts, stamina and nerve to do it anyway. 

The first plane I ever built and flew as a child, I lost in a flyaway. I put too many turns of rubber in and that joker was gone! I promptly went home and immediately proceeded to build another. I didn't know it at the time but, those losses were building character.

I have accomplished things in my life that I could have never even hoped to dream about doing, thanks to model aviation and the WONDERFUL people I have met. I have had literally a lifetime to try to find something better than model airplanes, I haven’t found NOTHING that can touch it-nothing.

[FLOYD CARTER]

Just be thankful that our planes are tethered, so that a crash is unlikely to cause personal ijjury.  Contrast this with R/C, where an out-of-control plane has the potential of damage to property or persons.

[Jim Carter]

Just be thankful that our planes are tethered, so that a crash is unlikely to cause personal ijjury.  Contrast this with R/C, where an out-of-control plane has the potential of damage to property or persons.

I agree!  And best of all .... ya' ain't gott'a walk all that far ta' pick up 'da pieces!!     

[Shorts,David]

Thanks guys. Wonderful to hear the encouragement.
I actually flew my fw-190 profile first that day, but in moving it around here and there the belcrank got flipped around and when I did a control check from the center of the circle it looked good (flying over grass so I couldn't see the full throw). When I took off I had about 15% up elevator to 100% up elevator, no level or down at all. And I landed it with great effort. Then I flew my good plane...splat.

Anyhow, I love the idea of having a backup plane. I just need to get my back up to the place where it doesn't feel like a back up anymore. And then get my back up backup to the place where it feels like a regular back up. lol.

Good to hear there are other people who have had unexplained trouble.

[Shorts,David]

...one more thing for Carter, and Carter. I had my R/C wing rip off years ago practicing outside loops and the fuselage did a five hundred foot rainbow through the sky before disintegrating fifteen feet from the street. I'm glad with control line we don't have too many problems with that danger!

[Randy Powell]

Couple of years ago, I had a plane slapped out of the air by the Wind Gods. Sudden, intense downdraft during the hourglass. Instant splattage. Such is life.

[Ken Culbertson]

Couple of years ago, I had a plane slapped out of the air by the Wind Gods. Sudden, intense downdraft during the hourglass. Instant splattage. Such is life.

Who invented the Hourglass anyway?  Bet he owned a Hobby Shop.

Ken

[Trostle]

There is an old saying that goes something like this:

Each flight is one flight closer to its last.

Keith

[Ken Culbertson]

Hi Ken. When George et al were devising the "new" pattern, the hourglass was originally a vertical square eight. The CL board changed it to an hour glass. I don't know who was on the board back in 56, but that's the story I read some time back in MAN or FM.    See how diabolical a committee can be!

I would much rather fly a vertical square 8 than try and make that diabolical 4th corner on a windy day. and that is why my name is not nor probably ever will be on the Walker - trophy or cup.  My one and only competition crash was on that corner.  What is it about being in 4th going into the second round that lowers your IQ?   

Ken

[Shorts,David]

There is an old saying that goes something like this:

Each flight is one flight closer to its last.

Keith

Back in the days of the other modeling hobby, we just about scientifically proved that a blue and white plane outlasts any other color scheme. We also discovered Aireons, which of course are the mythical element that fills airplanes so they can fly. As soon as the aireons leak out or die, the plane will crash.

[Dan McEntee]

   What just happened? THE ST. LOUIS  BLUES WON THE WESTERN DIVISION TITLE!!!!  Now bring on the Bruins!!! I've been waiting 50 some odd years for the Cup to come to town for a long stay!!!!! I got to go to a Blues game the first year they were in town in 1967 and been a fan ever since. The river is coming back up and gonna flood Buder park again so might as well keep watching some hockey!!

  Type at you later,
  Dan McEntee

[Tim Wescott]

Hey David:

Yes, sometimes things just happen.  But there's some things that I routinely do that you could have done to reduce the chance of that particular crash.

I have crashed recently -- a few times several years ago trying to learn to stunt left-handed, and then recently while test-flying a much-repaired trainer.  But I haven't crashed one of my "real" competition ships for about five years of active flying.

At the shop, I make sure that the plane is straight, balanced, and that the engine is set up to run reliably (or motor, if you swing that way).  I make sure that the controls move freely, without any sticking (I accept some sticking when the leadouts don't have tension on them, which seems to happen more often -- it hasn't bitten me yet).  I build my lines per the AMA rule book, with the exception of how I swage the line ends if I'm using ferrules.

At the field, I preflight before I get to the circle:

• I make sure the controls move freely
• I make sure my lines are untangled and free of serious kinks (and note mild ones, and build new lines back at the shop if they're developing)
• When I put on the handle, I make sure the controls move the correct way, and freely
• I make sure that line connectors won't bind one another.  I'm not as good at this as some other folks in the area -- some people slip fuel tubing over their line connectors, so they cannot get tangled.  I have crashed a plane from tangled line connectors, so I should be better about this -- but I haven't done it for years, so...

Once the engine is started, I preflight again:

• Always always always, before I launch I wiggle the handle to verify that the controls move the right way.  If you can't see the controls from the pilot's position, you can usually see the way the plane "wants" to move with the prop blast, or you can arrange with your pit man to indicate which way the elevator is moving (it's best to prearrange something that cannot be mistaken.)
• In grass, I try to get a feel for the presence of pretty little flowers or seed heads that snag lines.  If I have any suspicion that they're there, I'll hold my hand up when launching to keep the lines out of the grass, even if it means an ugly takeoff

I dunno if this helps.  Keep up the good work none the less.

[Ken Culbertson]

Hey David:

Yes, sometimes things just happen.  But there's some things that I routinely do that you could have done to reduce the chance of that particular crash.

I have crashed recently -- a few times several years ago trying to learn to stunt left-handed, and then recently while test-flying a much-repaired trainer.  But I haven't crashed one of my "real" competition ships for about five years of active flying.

At the shop, I make sure that the plane is straight, balanced, and that the engine is set up to run reliably (or motor, if you swing that way).  I make sure that the controls move freely, without any sticking (I accept some sticking when the leadouts don't have tension on them, which seems to happen more often -- it hasn't bitten me yet).  I build my lines per the AMA rule book, with the exception of how I swage the line ends if I'm using ferrules.

At the field, I preflight before I get to the circle:

• I make sure the controls move freely
• I make sure my lines are untangled and free of serious kinks (and note mild ones, and build new lines back at the shop if they're developing)
• When I put on the handle, I make sure the controls move the correct way, and freely
• I make sure that line connectors won't bind one another.  I'm not as good at this as some other folks in the area -- some people slip fuel tubing over their line connectors, so they cannot get tangled.  I have crashed a plane from tangled line connectors, so I should be better about this -- but I haven't done it for years, so...

Once the engine is started, I preflight again:

• Always always always, before I launch I wiggle the handle to verify that the controls move the right way.  If you can't see the controls from the pilot's position, you can usually see the way the plane "wants" to move with the prop blast, or you can arrange with your pit man to indicate which way the elevator is moving (it's best to prearrange something that cannot be mistaken.)
• In grass, I try to get a feel for the presence of pretty little flowers or seed heads that snag lines.  If I have any suspicion that they're there, I'll hold my hand up when launching to keep the lines out of the grass, even if it means an ugly takeoff

I dunno if this helps.  Keep up the good work none the less.

I would like to add one more item to your list.  It you have adjustable horns, remove the hatches in the shop and make sure they are tight (don't do it at the field, you will drop the screws in the grass and never find them).  I recently had an elevator horn come lose in flight and started self adjusting my elevator from 45 degrees to 15 degrees travel somewhere after the hourglass.  Fortunately the only damage was to the cowl, landing gear and prop.  Totally avoidable. 

Ken