This is whats left of my Diamond 2500 Power Glider. This plane has a wing that is a pain in the ass to put together. The servo wire connections snag or come undone, the two halves sandwich together, but never quite meet well. I spent about 20 minutes getting her together, powered her up and checked the servos, walked to the flightline and checked again, and the left aileron wasn't working. Set it down, took it apart and spent another 10 minutes putting it back together. Checked control surfaces, powered her up and launched. She rolled a bit right, climbed level, I input a left roll and she rolled right. I realized the ailerons were reversed and input a right roll to roll left, and she rolled even harder to the right, and slammed HARD into the ground. She shred herself completely. The motor sheared off and landed 10 yards away. Post crash I confirmed the ailerons were reversed. I looked but I did not see...
The nose is gone...
The force of the crash sheared off the ailerons, and warped the flaps. The tail snapped clean off. I have never demolished a plane so thoroughly (heli's yes, example below). She is unrepairable...
My beloved C-47 also crashed on her fourth flight of the day. She was in level flight about 50 feet up, when she did an uncommanded right roll and spun into the ground. She was near the Bermuda triangle of our field where many a plane has mysteriously gone haywire... My DX8 had 4.6V (NiCAD) which should have been fine, but we wonder if there is something over there that interferes with our signals. She was the second plane of the day to do this, both of us accomplished pilots. She should be in bits, but she only smashed her nose, cracked the left wing near tthe root, broke both cowls and damaged both motor shafts. Fixable, but damn...
This is what happens when you try to nose in hover because tail in got too easy... and you lose control. It reminded me why I love-hate helis. She flew awesome, got her perfectly tracking, flew several packs in hover and moved her around with great control. On her fifth pack I decided to turn her nose in, and she started to get away from me... BAM... have to start all over again. At least the servos survived... Need to replace the tail boom...
and replace the main shaft, feathering shaft, and rebuild and reset up the CCPM, set up a set of new main blades. One mistake, hours of work... Its like golf: one awesome drive makes you forget all the pain and keeps you in the game. Nothing like flying a perfectly tuned heli to make you forget the Groundhog Day feeling of rebuilding her yet again.
The day didn't completely suck... I flew the Sabre jet, the Ultimate and the Pulse a half dozen times each and had a rockin' time! No more flying until after Turkey Day!
Phew, glad this one had pics. I don't understand most of them that don't have pics! Sorry it was lots of crashing today. At least you have the talent to repair them.
ReplyDeleteOh and I really like that rug, too!
Maria's new dining room is coming together, that's the brand new rug!
ReplyDeleteThe glider was avoidable... I teach students to LOOK, not just move the controls. My frustration with the wing distracted me, but it was all my fault and AVOIDABLE! Not sure what the heck happened with the C-47... The heli was me getting cocky, just stupid. 2 outta 3 fixable.
Amazing how quickly it all goes wrong when learning nose in..... a split second later its a crumpled heap on the ground, with the motor screaming!
ReplyDeleteSo true... I can do it on the sim, but in real life I get freaked out, start over controlling and thinking instead of reacting, and the gyrations and pilot induced oscillations get worse and worse. Then, just like you said, it becomes one screaming crumped heap in an instant!
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