jzinckgra

My Feedback: (11)

Well, I finally got the courage up today to fly my old seamaster. Usually i'd take it out in the boat and fly it from there, but flying right from the shoreline where my parents live made the most sense today. Everything was great- i took off, light winds, circled around for about 3 minutes then heard a sputter. I was too close and had too much altitude to drop in and land so I decided to fly the base leg and do the usual approach. Well just after the sputter, the spinner and prop went flying off and of course the engine over-revved and quit. I thought I had enough altutude and speed to make the final turn and dead stick the landing, but without power, that plane dropped like a rock. Needless to say, with full up elevator, it just wasn't enough to make it through the turn and it hit the water hard. Tore the wing off and broke the tail clean. I had most of it fixed about an hour later, but lost a part to the engine. It's the little cap-like metal thinggie that fits over the prop shaft and protects the bearings behind it. Anyways, I was able to retrieve the spinner and prop with some goggles and a little swim
My lesson for the day was to never turn on a deadstick without altitude. I know this rule, but had I kept gooing straight the plane would have been impossible to see in order to determine when to flare. BTW, I'm thinking the engine backfired in midflight, maybe because of something momentarily clogged the carb and caused the engine to spin clockwise, thereby spinning off the prop nut. This actually happended before I took off, while starting the engine. The cyclinder filled up with too much nitro and when i went to start it, it kicked back and "blew" the spinner and prop right off. After all of this, is there any way to stop an engine from backfiring? It's an older (~8 yeards old) Fox 50 engine. I'm afraid this might happen again.

ThunderAI-RCU

You lost the Trust Washer... easy to replace, sorry she crashed. I had a TF 182 do the same thing.

clear4takeoff

I am a Seamaster flier and am now looking for my third kit to build. I have found out the hard way that these aircraft stall when turning at a surprisingly high speed. "I thought I had plenty of airspeed" is famous last words for these. Mild turns and a gradual descent seem to be the only safe way to land. I do all of my flying at one mile altitude or higher here in New Mexico, so the effect is exagerrated here. Hope you get yours going again. My last one went in (on land of course) when the aileron servo locked up!

jzinckgra

My Feedback: (11)

So then is there any mods that could be done to decrease the stall effect? Other than a thicker airfoil perhaps...?

clear4takeoff

Since I live in the desert, I don't get to see too many seaplanes. I haven't heard of or seen any mods to Seamaster concerning stall characteristics. I just fly mine fast. Doesn't help during a deadstick, but if that happens I just take a long boat ride. good luck and happy flying!