ajis

Since the summer has began I've been working full-time and I've lost a lot of flying time that I normally have when WSU is in session... I fly maybe once a month at best. My best buddy from Purdue Univ. is in town for a couple of weeks, so one of the things we go and do is fly.

I bring my Dura Plane - heaveier for the winds we had yesterday in Kansas, and an excellent if not dispincible trainer.

I take off, trim it out, slow it down and do a few touch and goes. We fill the tank back up, and I offer to let him try. He wasn't so hot about getting it in the air, so I took it off, and brought it in slow.

He's doing pretty good and handling it well. Then as he turns into the wind it flips over on him and then heads for the ground. I reach to grab the transmitter, but to no avail. We heard a loud crunch and busted into laughs at such a picture-perfect spectle.

The engine, an OS Max .40 LA, was trenched into the earth. The impact broke two of the engines' mounts, and sheered off the head of one of the heavy-duty sheet-metal screws. The fuel tank was partially imploded, like a 2-liter bottle that was squeezed then it's cap replaced. The foam wings were amazingly in great shape, but the ailerons were ripped off. The PVC fuselage was shattered, and the aluminum U-beam that comprises a tail had the head of a screw rip a large jagged hole right through it. This screw attached the rear wheels, so they too were gone. The tail was in good shape, but the rudder had come off. The radio equipment is toast - I think. The aileron servo's wire was ripped in half when the wing came off. This pull ripped the receiver which then pulled it away from the switch, pullling the switch in half. The battery also had it's plug ripped out of the switch. At the very best, I only need to replace a servo, a switch, and put a plug back on the battery's wire.

Anyway, gotta work in the morn. Time to sleep.

ajis

Picture 2:

vegas mossie

Did it bounce off of the front of your avatar? LOL Just kidding, that must have been some crash to do all that damage to a dura plane! Are the dura planes easy to repair like the spads? Keep us posted as to the final details. Loren

crosswind

You need to send the Duraplane people those pictures and tell them your idea of crashworthy and theirs seems to differ!

oparatomcat

Since I started flying in January of this year, I can rebuild them in my sleep. I have, so for, destroyed two factory fuses and (got a ten ft. piece of down spout and made eight more fuses) and destroyed four of them. Also lost four spinners in this learning experence. They are very unpredictable in the wind and sink like a brick when throttled back. But, I figure if I ever learn to bring it home in One piece 99% of the time , I can probably fly just about anything. They are fun repairing and CHEAP.

Jay7318713-RCU

Is a DuraPlane as good as a Zagi?

ajis

Haha. No, my Avatar was a different crash.

I know this one isn't very repairable... At least, it would be easier just to shell out $ for a new kit. When the only thing not damaged is a fin and a wing, I'd probably better off starting over.

It has survived quite a few other hard landings and mishandled take-offs, so I will definitely give them credit for that. Although, if anyone can design/create/build a plane that can go from about 2 or 3 mistakes high straight into the ground at full-throttle, then it probably isn't going very fast.

What is a Zagi??

vegas mossie

It is an electric powered flying wing. The motor is mounted on the back with a pusher prop. No landing gear, just fly it until the battery runs out and land on the belly. They are hand launched (you throw them in the air and hit the throttle.) Loren

ajis

Sounds sorta like a SPAD or other compat-style planes. I ordered coroplast and several other materials already so I can build these cheap planes from the SPAD website. I think I can salvage the wings from my previous plane.

ExtraTX

As far as I am concerned, the Zagi slope glider is the best trainer ever. I did a massive dive from really high right into a chain link fence. No damage, just tossed it back out. That is one of a very large number of bad crashes, no damage yet. I think the electric Zagi's are easier to damage because they have the extra battery weight.

The Zagi was my only training before my gas trainer. I flew that by myself no problem. It did great until on about the 10th flight the stab sort of fell off. Cheap foam part. Of course my friend was flying. "Landed" about 10ft from a suburban and shattered. I thought it looked pretty cool, he didn't.
Jon

visioneer_one

My Feedback: (506)

Not so tough? I beg to differ.

One of my flying mates learned to fly (and is still flying) his original Duraplane trainer.

His first crash was the typical newbie one... flew too far away, got disoriented, then WOT into the ground a 1/4-mile away. Bent tailboom, cracked wing, "wrinkled" fuse. He ordered replacement parts, but repaired he original bits while waiting for them to arrive.

Since that crash, he's had the following wrecks:

• Recovered from a flatspin too low and cartwheeled it. Crushed a wingtip, which he fixed.
• Got disoriented while FlipFlopping about and went WOT into a tree. Hard. EEEEEEE*WHAM* <tree moves> Broken prop, minor bend to the tailboom, dented wing LE. He flew it again ~30 minutes after we recovered it from the bush.
• Clipped the edge of one of the three-story buildings bordering our field during a WOT dive. Weird. He caught the edge of the roof facing us, and only the main landing gear hit! It flipped tail-over-nose and fell three stories and hit flat on its back. Bent landing gear, broken prop, bent needle valve. He had it out the following weekend.
• WOT vertical dive from about 60 feet up - he had no control. Broken prop/spinner, bent nose gear, dented wing LE. Fixed and flew again.
• Clipped the scoreboard in the Gap while on a landing approach. The plane was moving pretty slowly, and he caught it with a wingtip. The plane executed a neat pirouette and plopped down on its gear. Small dent in the wing LE.
• Crashed while trying to do a low-speed knife-edge turn inside the field boundary. The plane went in on its side, nose-low. The wing flew off in a graceful arc followed by rubber-band bits; the tail "wagged" in the air as the plane slid to a stop in a cloud of dust. Hilarious. We were flying off of a sandy (read: soft) field... no damage. He had to disassemble his engine as it ate some sand, tho.
• Honorable mention: Midair with my Ultra Stick! Popped a few rubber bands, but that's all. (the Stick suffered a puncture in the covering and a dent in the wingtip rib)

He's still using his original fuselage, wing, tailboom and tailfeathers. He still has the replacement parts from the original crash, but refuses to use them. He says that if he put them on he'd just break them.

I'm inclined to agree

gshepherd83

My Feedback: (2)

had a durapain and killed it in 1 shot!Took off and it started rolling and climbing had absolutely no control. when the little magnum did all it could do, about 80-100 ft , it made the turn and headed for home!! 3000 mph into he ground... broke the fuse in two pieces long ways, broke the carb off,buried he spinner nut about 6 in deep. the aluminum channel would be suitable for a good game of horse-shoe's (is that one word or two ) landing gear was ripped off and bent all to hell,engine mount is history. strangely enough the servo's were mounted with two sided tape but every one had all the mounting holes sheared clean with the body of the servo..? The wing however!! oh that wing...one day I will use it on something that actually flies.btw I never found out what caused it to lose control, but i'm sure it wasnt anything I did