I Ain't Got It!
03-29-2004, 04:31 AM
#1
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I Ain't Got It!
How many times have you heard those words? How many of you have been the one yelling them? This afternoon I was the poor soul that watched his plane leaving the area, with no human contact. It ain't fun.
We had a fair wind blowing down the strip, but nothing I hadn't flown in before. I had my blood red GP Big Stik 40 ready to go. It's a converted to a tail dragger now on an alum. gear blank. A fine fun plane, one I had several flights on. We had a crosswind blowing, so I taxied over to the opposite side of the runway. As I turned to staart the take off I misjudged the angle of the wind and I had to correct to the left before running off the runway. There was enough speed for lift off, so I continued on. Then the left wheel hit something just as the plane left the ground. The plane was going up, but the landing gear was on it's way down!
While a buddy retrieved the landing gear I brought the plane around for a look see. Everything looked OK, except for the missing gear. So I decided to go on and fly and make a belly landing on the grass runway when finished.
I sent the plane up into a rolling climb, and then over into a short dive into a recovery to level, then nosed up into another climb. That's when it hit the fan! Something fell off!
What I didn't know was that the bottom of the plane was open where the L. G. ply mount used to be. It looked OK on the "look see" pass, but on the last manuever the battery pack bailed out of the hole! We didn't know for several seconds what it was, but when I pulled the throttle back it kept going, and none of the flight controls responded either! I had a runaway airplane!
The plane was climbing steadily, in wide circles slowly moving away from us. It was about 200 feet high as it passed over some homes and disappeared in a shallow high speed desent behind some trees. We hopped into a pickup and went off to look for it. About a half mile from the strip we saw two people walking out into a pasture behind their house. We got out and followed them, hoping they weren't just out on an afternoon stroll. They weren't.
We were about 100 yards from them when they stopped in front of a herd of cattle and picked up two large red objects, a wing and a fuselage, my blood red Stik! It's banged up and has a few rips and tears, but it will fly again. The people, a man and his daughter were out on their patio and heard the plane's engine and watched it come down. They figured it belonged to some of those strange folks up the road that flew them toy airplanes on Sundays.
We left after thanking them for retreiving my plane. I breathed a large sigh of relief and thanked the man upstairs for not letting it hit anything or anyone. That's a helpless feeling, watching your plane flying away, and knowing it will come down, but not knowing where, when, or with what consequences? There were several children's yard toys in the yard by the house. Sobering to think of an out of control model slaming down into some kids playing out in their back yard, in the country, supposedly safe and secure.
We think of battteries going dead on us, but I never thought that a pack would fall out of a plane! The rest of my planes will undergo a bit of modification, the securing of all airborne battery packs, so it won't happen again. You never know. I don't want to ever watch a model fly away again. Insurance or no insurance, the consequences are too dire.
We had a fair wind blowing down the strip, but nothing I hadn't flown in before. I had my blood red GP Big Stik 40 ready to go. It's a converted to a tail dragger now on an alum. gear blank. A fine fun plane, one I had several flights on. We had a crosswind blowing, so I taxied over to the opposite side of the runway. As I turned to staart the take off I misjudged the angle of the wind and I had to correct to the left before running off the runway. There was enough speed for lift off, so I continued on. Then the left wheel hit something just as the plane left the ground. The plane was going up, but the landing gear was on it's way down!
While a buddy retrieved the landing gear I brought the plane around for a look see. Everything looked OK, except for the missing gear. So I decided to go on and fly and make a belly landing on the grass runway when finished.
I sent the plane up into a rolling climb, and then over into a short dive into a recovery to level, then nosed up into another climb. That's when it hit the fan! Something fell off!
What I didn't know was that the bottom of the plane was open where the L. G. ply mount used to be. It looked OK on the "look see" pass, but on the last manuever the battery pack bailed out of the hole! We didn't know for several seconds what it was, but when I pulled the throttle back it kept going, and none of the flight controls responded either! I had a runaway airplane!
The plane was climbing steadily, in wide circles slowly moving away from us. It was about 200 feet high as it passed over some homes and disappeared in a shallow high speed desent behind some trees. We hopped into a pickup and went off to look for it. About a half mile from the strip we saw two people walking out into a pasture behind their house. We got out and followed them, hoping they weren't just out on an afternoon stroll. They weren't.
We were about 100 yards from them when they stopped in front of a herd of cattle and picked up two large red objects, a wing and a fuselage, my blood red Stik! It's banged up and has a few rips and tears, but it will fly again. The people, a man and his daughter were out on their patio and heard the plane's engine and watched it come down. They figured it belonged to some of those strange folks up the road that flew them toy airplanes on Sundays.
We left after thanking them for retreiving my plane. I breathed a large sigh of relief and thanked the man upstairs for not letting it hit anything or anyone. That's a helpless feeling, watching your plane flying away, and knowing it will come down, but not knowing where, when, or with what consequences? There were several children's yard toys in the yard by the house. Sobering to think of an out of control model slaming down into some kids playing out in their back yard, in the country, supposedly safe and secure.
We think of battteries going dead on us, but I never thought that a pack would fall out of a plane! The rest of my planes will undergo a bit of modification, the securing of all airborne battery packs, so it won't happen again. You never know. I don't want to ever watch a model fly away again. Insurance or no insurance, the consequences are too dire.
03-29-2004, 07:39 AM
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RE: I Ain't Got It!
Well I'm gald no one was hurt, and nothing was damaged, ....AND... you got your plane back!
I hope you learned the moral of the story:
Never leave the hanger with something open, cause you never know what will fall out!
I hope you learned the moral of the story:
Never leave the hanger with something open, cause you never know what will fall out!
03-29-2004, 08:16 AM
#3
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RE: I Ain't Got It!
I saw a near similar situation once, ended a bit better though.
AN older gentleman at our club was flying his 1/4 scale Cub, which had an operational door and window on the cabin that seldom remained securely closed. He had done a couple of slow, lazy rolls and loops when we noticed something hanging from the open door. He did a low 'n slow flyby, and sure enough the pack was dangling by it's wires out the door. [8D]
He was able to bring it around and set it down, but if his "aerobatics" had been more in line with your Stik, that might not have been the end of the story.
Dennis-
AN older gentleman at our club was flying his 1/4 scale Cub, which had an operational door and window on the cabin that seldom remained securely closed. He had done a couple of slow, lazy rolls and loops when we noticed something hanging from the open door. He did a low 'n slow flyby, and sure enough the pack was dangling by it's wires out the door. [8D]
He was able to bring it around and set it down, but if his "aerobatics" had been more in line with your Stik, that might not have been the end of the story.
Dennis-
03-29-2004, 10:36 AM
#4
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RE: I Ain't Got It!
Wow, great story. Something very similar happened to me about two months ago. I was doing touch and go's on a 20 degree day. My landing gear bolts are nylon, and I hadn't treated these bolts yet. On one approach, I landed a little too hot, and *snap* off come my dural gear. I poured the coals to the Saito 100, and flew around with my new 'retracts' for a bit. After about 10 minutes, I put her in a snowdrift alongside the field. Beautiful belly landing with the snow shooting up over the wings and everything. It wasn't until I got back to the pits that I found 1 screw left holding my chin hatch on...and it was halfway pulled through it's hole! Battery is right on the other side of the chin hatch. If that hatch would've blown open, my battery pack would've been my first 'bomb drop'.
I like new things in this hobby, but I'll take them one at a time, and only when I plan for it!
I like new things in this hobby, but I'll take them one at a time, and only when I plan for it!
03-29-2004, 12:03 PM
#5
RE: I Ain't Got It!
Well, I sure am happy nothing happened and you got your airplane back.
When I was learning, my instructor saw something fly off from my LT40. He immediately told me to land it. I wanted to continue to fly, but landed it as I have a great deal of respect for him. Turned out it was the fuel hatch. We continued to talk and of course I ask why he wanted me to immediately land? He stated "If something comes off land so you can inspect the plane. You can always go up again. Safety is the most important aspect of flying. If it ain't right don't fly it."
I'm not ragging on you, but I'm really happy my instructor instilled good habits in me.
John
When I was learning, my instructor saw something fly off from my LT40. He immediately told me to land it. I wanted to continue to fly, but landed it as I have a great deal of respect for him. Turned out it was the fuel hatch. We continued to talk and of course I ask why he wanted me to immediately land? He stated "If something comes off land so you can inspect the plane. You can always go up again. Safety is the most important aspect of flying. If it ain't right don't fly it."
I'm not ragging on you, but I'm really happy my instructor instilled good habits in me.
John
03-29-2004, 12:32 PM
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RE: I Ain't Got It!
I agree with Norton. The answer is not modifying your planes, it is land if something falls off or seems amiss. This is a good post for others to vicariously learn from your experiance as stuff falling off is a pretty common occurance.
03-29-2004, 12:50 PM
#7
RE: I Ain't Got It!
Those words "I aint got it" remind me of "Incomming". I dont know if I should duck, dive, or just wait for the kasplat and prey I'm not hit.
Good story. I had a plane fly away from me a few years ago never to be seen again. I didn't do a battery check and it had a broken connector that I kinda repaired. I sweated for a long time that I wouldn't get a phone call stating that my plane had damaged or hurt someone. Since I never had known what caused the loss of control, either a weak battery of a poor connector, I am now very faithful of pre-flights and always get the plane down as soon as something out of the ordinary comes up. Just like what I was taught flying a full scale, I don't assume anything.
Scott
Good story. I had a plane fly away from me a few years ago never to be seen again. I didn't do a battery check and it had a broken connector that I kinda repaired. I sweated for a long time that I wouldn't get a phone call stating that my plane had damaged or hurt someone. Since I never had known what caused the loss of control, either a weak battery of a poor connector, I am now very faithful of pre-flights and always get the plane down as soon as something out of the ordinary comes up. Just like what I was taught flying a full scale, I don't assume anything.
Scott
03-30-2004, 10:46 AM
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RE: I Ain't Got It!
Three times, the worst was hearing it while flying with my Dad in his ultralight...........actually it went like this, I look at the ground coming up REAL fast on final, and I look over at him and he's looking out the window watching the ground coming up REAL fast, and yells to me "I don't have the aircraft!" Funny- he never let me land the damn thing before. After we arrived (imagine touching down on a grass field @ 80+ mph, a wild ride fo' sho') he said "I thought you had it." I said "I thought you had it." Yeah we still fly together.............
Jetts
Jetts
03-30-2004, 03:16 PM
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RE: I Ain't Got It!
I had a stik/gear problem a few years ago... One of my landing gear bolts viberated out in the air, and the second bolt only came part of the way out.... my landing gear was spinning underneath my stik... still attached by the one bolt.... It was pretty cool to the spectators... I broke my prop when I tried to land, the gear rotated to the outside as the model flared...
another story about a battery pack... I didn't witness this one, just heard about it.... a flying buddy was testing a friends Bucker Jungman, and during a Lomcevak (sp?) ,a very extreme
Lomcevak, the battery back was ejected out of the Jungman, and was hanging out the side of the model when they landed.... they had 'wire tied' the battery connection to the switch, it saved the model.
another story about a battery pack... I didn't witness this one, just heard about it.... a flying buddy was testing a friends Bucker Jungman, and during a Lomcevak (sp?) ,a very extreme
Lomcevak, the battery back was ejected out of the Jungman, and was hanging out the side of the model when they landed.... they had 'wire tied' the battery connection to the switch, it saved the model.
