How to crash someone else's RC airplane (with photos) LONG

Thanks for sharing, Randy--nice photos from both parts of your day.

The moral is to thoroughly scrutinize all connectors on new planes, no matter who they belong to.

And on formerly crashed planes being returned to service after repair.

Oh, and check servo trays on new and repaired planes.

And be sure to plug ailerons back in after field-work.

Don't ask me how I know so much about all these things. :o(

Marty

The Moral is: ALWAYS do a preflight, especially if someone else built it. Dr.1 Driver "There's a Hun in the sun!"

Nice looking plane & cool crash :) From them pix it looks like there were a bunch of building errors - that aileron hinge looked pretty glue-free. If it hadn't gone in on that dive, it probably would have fallen to bits on its first high-speed snap.

Forgot to mention that I have experienced a person that builds like that. Spend some time in the pits correcting problems, land after one lap to correct problem. 5 laps, loose muffler. Landing, wheel falls off.

Randy Wentzel wrote:

Randy, Your story highlights the effort we MUST put into preflighting a newbie's plane. They come to the field 'ready to fly' with the darnedst things wrong starting from not enough charge in the battery. I ALWAYS ask when the battery was charged and for how long, THEN I put an ESV on it. If it is not at least 4.9 volts, the plane does not fly without a charge to TX and RX batteries. While that is going on, I review the other of a long list of things that beginners do wrong. The least time it takes me to prep a beginners plane for its first flight was 1 hour. I have had several I sent home because the work needed was well beyond field repairs and adjustments.

Thanks for sharing your story.

Heck, I'm still getting the hang of crashing my *own* plane! :)

I had this problem this past weekend. Being very green, I neglected to check all the connections in my trainer after it's first crash. On the second flight, I lost the elevator and it took a nose dive. Turned out that the elevator servo had broken loose during the previous crash.

Some lessons I learn the hard way....

Ok, so with all this input of check this and check that, does someone have a link to a pre-flight inspection list of details for newbies to check on their planes that might include construction checks as well as prep items?

TIA

-Digger

There are a couple of guys in our club who test fly for people who don't feel comfortable flying a new plane. They do a complete pre-flight and sometimes the plane owner is sent home to fix something. Their position is, If it not right, I won't fly it. This has worked out pretty well over the years with one notable exception. A guy who was not a member, didn't know how to fly (We learned later), and nobody knew, brought his first effort out; a 60 size Spitfire. He gave us the "Aw shucks guys, fly my plane and I'll join." This is where "No good goes unpunished" really applies. The pre-flight went OK and the test pilot took it off. Without enough altitude or air speed, the prop, spinner and drive washer exited, stage front. Turning around was out of the question so the test pilot kept it straight. Unfortunately, there was a barbed wire fence at the end of the property line. The plane wouldn't clear, so he had to either put it on the ground or strain it through the fence. He managed to get it on the ground before hitting the fence but the plane suffered some minor damage. The owner first accused the test pilot of intentionally crashing his plane. When that didn't work, he accused him of incompetence. (You should have done a better job of not crashing). Since then, we don't fly planes for non-members, period. Bill

I meant to write that he had wiggled the the "elevator" and noticed that it wasn't connected. The ailerons were working just fine. :)

--Randy

Marty

Well I am one of the few instructors we have in my club here in Denmark. and I often check and fly beginners planes, if they are members or not I dont care, I will help all kinds of people. but one line I always repeat and make sure the owner understands: I will do my verry best !! but if ANY thing happens to your plane, no matter what, I am not to blame !

in most cases bad construction or bad materials or misunderstanding of how to construct stuff are the MOST rare reson to a crash, the more experianced the tester are, he will find 90 % if this problems, but some things are hidden inside the fuselage or inside the wing servo mounting, then bad things happens, so make sure the owner understand the way this stuff works. I recal a senario that went to court !!! about exactly this.. it was a SUPER expencive jet plane, that went to bits and nothing more... so maybe in USA with all the lawers and crasy court cases, it is a good idea to have a prewritten agrement that the owner and tester sign, BEFORE flying ??

sorry for the spelling it was typed rather fast.

Yours Thomas Scherrer

Thanks!

Several Morals come to mind. "Dont fly a stranger's plane" "Dont assume a strange plane is built properly" "Dont fly a stranger's plane"

Must be nice to be in the bucks enough that he could just shrug it off like that. The other two crashes dont seem very mysterious now, do they? I usually test fly my Dad's planes for him but have only flown a stranger's plane once. Meaning somebody that approached me at the field. I have flown other club member's planes on occasion but prefer not to. Might lead to my crashing it. Might lead to me spending more money cos I gotta have one.

Me too!

Kind of wondered about that since you said that you corrected the ailerons near the beginning of the story. You gonna fly his next plane for him?

All disclaimers were said before I flew it. :) I would still fly a stranger's plane, but next time I'll impliment a thorough pre-flight inspection (as suggested). *Stuff* happens, though stuff can be prevented too!

Onward.

--Randy

How about: CHECK EVERYTHING!