First crash.
05-25-2002, 11:16 PM
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First crash.
I guess it was bound to happen. My first crash. The Rossi in my new Contender has been quite temperamental. This time she decided to quit right over some bushes and trees just off the airfield. With about 50' of altitude, there was not much room for a deadtick. Needless to say the Contender disapperead into the foliage. Followed by a thud. It was quite an adventure trying to find her. Finaly one of the clubmembers found her sitting on top of a bush about 25' into the brush. I have walked right past. By the time I found my way back to the field, the clubmembers had recovered the Contender and she was sitting in the pits. The clubmembers were forming a searchparty to go looking for me. 
Airplane crash damage: 1/2" tear in the leading edge covering. 1 pair of 1/6 scale pilot BVDs.
Pilot damage: several cuts and lacerations from climbing around the brush. Plus several cactus spines extracted from various bodyparts. 1 pair of size 36 BVDs.
Lesson learned: Just because a R6 plug came with the Rossi does not mean it's the best plug for it. Installed a O.S. #8 for the next flight and she has not missed a beat since.
I wish all crashes were this good.
Tom
Airplane crash damage: 1/2" tear in the leading edge covering. 1 pair of 1/6 scale pilot BVDs.
Pilot damage: several cuts and lacerations from climbing around the brush. Plus several cactus spines extracted from various bodyparts. 1 pair of size 36 BVDs.
Lesson learned: Just because a R6 plug came with the Rossi does not mean it's the best plug for it. Installed a O.S. #8 for the next flight and she has not missed a beat since.
I wish all crashes were this good.
Tom
05-28-2002, 01:07 PM
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First crash.
I had a similar crash happen a while back.
I had just put a new OS .46FX on the club trainer and was running it in. I'd already put 4 tanks through it that day and it was running fine - just a little rich with a nice smoke trail.
On the fifth flight, I decided to goof off a bit and flew some basic aerobatics. Loops, rolls, hammerhead turns, inverted, sloppy spins... (this is a trainer, after all)
Then It Happened!
I was slow, inverted, downwind of the field and approx. 75 feet off the deck when the engine sputtered and died. I had enough airspeed to roll it upright, but not enough to make it back to the field. It disappeared behind one of the outbuildings bordering the end of our runway, heading for a road... I decided to put it into the ground rather than potentially cause an auto accident. Full down elevator, held it, listened for impact.
<wind blowing>
<crickets chirping>
<goats baa-ing>
I didn't see or hear it hit but it must be down. Went to retrieve the (assumed) wreckage.
The crash scene defied belief. Perpendicular to the plane's path was a chain-link fence, a three-foot-wide strip of bare earth with one "casha" bush (this is a low, scrubby plant that grows evil inch-long spines. "casha" is its local name), and a stone-lined gulley.
Somehow I had steered the plane squarely into the casha bush. Another foot in any direction (X or Y) and the plane would have been smashed to matchwood.
Damage? Two casha spines poked though the covering of each wing half's LE. Nothing else. Didn't even break the (wood) prop.
I still have the plane. I haven't recovered the holes in the LE - those are proud battlescars.
I had just put a new OS .46FX on the club trainer and was running it in. I'd already put 4 tanks through it that day and it was running fine - just a little rich with a nice smoke trail.
On the fifth flight, I decided to goof off a bit and flew some basic aerobatics. Loops, rolls, hammerhead turns, inverted, sloppy spins... (this is a trainer, after all)
Then It Happened!
I was slow, inverted, downwind of the field and approx. 75 feet off the deck when the engine sputtered and died. I had enough airspeed to roll it upright, but not enough to make it back to the field. It disappeared behind one of the outbuildings bordering the end of our runway, heading for a road... I decided to put it into the ground rather than potentially cause an auto accident. Full down elevator, held it, listened for impact.
<wind blowing>
<crickets chirping>
<goats baa-ing>
I didn't see or hear it hit but it must be down. Went to retrieve the (assumed) wreckage.
The crash scene defied belief. Perpendicular to the plane's path was a chain-link fence, a three-foot-wide strip of bare earth with one "casha" bush (this is a low, scrubby plant that grows evil inch-long spines. "casha" is its local name), and a stone-lined gulley.
Somehow I had steered the plane squarely into the casha bush. Another foot in any direction (X or Y) and the plane would have been smashed to matchwood.
Damage? Two casha spines poked though the covering of each wing half's LE. Nothing else. Didn't even break the (wood) prop.
I still have the plane. I haven't recovered the holes in the LE - those are proud battlescars.
