Laser 200 crash
05-28-2002, 02:36 AM
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Laser 200 crash
Well, I got a chance to fly for the first time in a few weeks today and was having a ball with my 1/4 scale Laser 200 when something happened on my fourth flight of the day. I'm still not exactly sure what happened, but I think I know.
I was just flying around in the pattern, practicing big loops, doing (bad) Hammerheads, etc. I was the only guy up, so it was all clear for me to play. I was running low on fuel, so I starting to think about coming in. I made a couple of more fast laps, and on one of my last planned laps, I pulled into a steeply banked turn to turn around when suddenly the plane dove for planet earth and drilled in. My poor, overweight little Laser was toast...
I think what happened is the plane snapped due to too tight a turn on that last turn. I've noted in the past that the plane had a tendency to snap-roll with too much elevator input, and ironically I was thinking during its final flight that I needed to reduce the elevator throw a little. It had unexpectedly snap-rolled in a previous flight as I pushed over a on vertical line and I had time to recover it before anything bad happened. Over the past dozen flights, I've had three or four unexpected snap-rolls due to excess elevator at high speed.
This time, on the steeply banked turn at about 75' of altitude, it snapped, ended up pointed straight down and I throttled back and pulled up elevator to try and save it and it snapped again and went in, nose first about 100 yards from the end of the runway. Fortunately (or maybe not), it crashed in the land side of the field, as the other end of the pattern would have been over Lake Jordan. It buried the spinner in the dirt, crushed the fuse all the way to the turtledeck, destroyed the spinner and light backplate, bent the Gator soft mount backplate, damaged the battery pack, crushed the fuel tank and bent the wing tube into a 'V'. Total loss.
Amazingly, the YS FZ120 seems OK, although I'm going to send it in to be checked out. The radio and servos also seem to be OK, but I need to find a way to test them before I trust them in a new plane.
I guess I need a new avatar now...
This was my first crash in a couple of years, so I guess I was due. Oddly, I'm not too upset, probably because of the difficulties I've had with this kit over the past couple of years. Now I need to hurry up and finish my G-202 and be more careful on my turns!
I was just flying around in the pattern, practicing big loops, doing (bad) Hammerheads, etc. I was the only guy up, so it was all clear for me to play. I was running low on fuel, so I starting to think about coming in. I made a couple of more fast laps, and on one of my last planned laps, I pulled into a steeply banked turn to turn around when suddenly the plane dove for planet earth and drilled in. My poor, overweight little Laser was toast...
I think what happened is the plane snapped due to too tight a turn on that last turn. I've noted in the past that the plane had a tendency to snap-roll with too much elevator input, and ironically I was thinking during its final flight that I needed to reduce the elevator throw a little. It had unexpectedly snap-rolled in a previous flight as I pushed over a on vertical line and I had time to recover it before anything bad happened. Over the past dozen flights, I've had three or four unexpected snap-rolls due to excess elevator at high speed.
This time, on the steeply banked turn at about 75' of altitude, it snapped, ended up pointed straight down and I throttled back and pulled up elevator to try and save it and it snapped again and went in, nose first about 100 yards from the end of the runway. Fortunately (or maybe not), it crashed in the land side of the field, as the other end of the pattern would have been over Lake Jordan. It buried the spinner in the dirt, crushed the fuse all the way to the turtledeck, destroyed the spinner and light backplate, bent the Gator soft mount backplate, damaged the battery pack, crushed the fuel tank and bent the wing tube into a 'V'. Total loss.
Amazingly, the YS FZ120 seems OK, although I'm going to send it in to be checked out. The radio and servos also seem to be OK, but I need to find a way to test them before I trust them in a new plane.
I guess I need a new avatar now...
This was my first crash in a couple of years, so I guess I was due. Oddly, I'm not too upset, probably because of the difficulties I've had with this kit over the past couple of years. Now I need to hurry up and finish my G-202 and be more careful on my turns!
05-28-2002, 03:41 AM
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Laser 200 crash
That's a bad one.
A good way to check your receiver/servos/switches/battery is to connect them up and rubberband them to the side of a Dremmel, then turn it on and see if the vibrations have any effect on your radio gear.
Jet
A good way to check your receiver/servos/switches/battery is to connect them up and rubberband them to the side of a Dremmel, then turn it on and see if the vibrations have any effect on your radio gear.
Jet
05-28-2002, 10:49 AM
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Laser 200 crash
Yeah, when I do something, I go all out...
I've actually been in surprisingly good spirits about the whole thing. This plane was truly a love/hate thing...it flew great (except for the high-speed snap tendencies), but I had to build two fuses for it over the course of about 10 months because the kit version was way overweight. Before I even tried to fly it, I built the new fuse with so many lightening holes it looked like swiss cheese. Even with the 1.5lb lighter fuse, the plane was still 10lbs dry. I had to upgrade the engine from a FZ91 to the FZ120 to get good performance. It flew very true, but it always felt heavy in the air and it's weight probably contributed to its demise.
At least I love to build...I need a new home for my YS FZ120. Any ideas?
I've actually been in surprisingly good spirits about the whole thing. This plane was truly a love/hate thing...it flew great (except for the high-speed snap tendencies), but I had to build two fuses for it over the course of about 10 months because the kit version was way overweight. Before I even tried to fly it, I built the new fuse with so many lightening holes it looked like swiss cheese. Even with the 1.5lb lighter fuse, the plane was still 10lbs dry. I had to upgrade the engine from a FZ91 to the FZ120 to get good performance. It flew very true, but it always felt heavy in the air and it's weight probably contributed to its demise.
At least I love to build...I need a new home for my YS FZ120. Any ideas?
