CGRetired

My Feedback: (1)

I have been flying for about a year now, solo'ed last August and have burned quite a few gallons of fuel since then. So, I am not new, but at the same time, I am still a new flyer. I say this because last night, after several flights, I lost it on an aborted approach.

I can still hear my instructor from last year.. make the decision, land or not, but don't sit the fence. Well, I did just that last night, and I had to go out and collect my Aerobat. No, not a lot of damage, the landing carriage bolts (nylon) did their jobs, broke off cleanly, however, the landing gear smacked the fuselage right behind the wing and I have to do a bit of repair to the Fuse. And, the nose gear is bent pretty badly so that will have to be fixed as well.

Problem is when landing, I was coming in a bit on the far end of the runway so I opted to go around, but did not add full throttle right away. It started to go left so my mind said "right turn" but for some reason, I gave it more left. One thing led to another and next think I knew, it was upside down at about 10 feet. I immediately reacted righting it but it was to late, it dropped out and broke off the landing gear bolts.

What's bad about this is I did it before (brain says right turn my hands do left turn). It's a matter of orientation and, as I said, still being new at this, I am still 'in training' and I don't have any doubts about that.

So, all you folks that think you are done after solo.. bad news for you, you are still in training! I (as well as you newbe's) am still learning this art of RC flying and you will probably make the same mistakes as I do. Fortunately, my mistakes result in an hour or two of repairs and I an go back to the field and get in more training. Training.. training.. training. It never ends!

That's my story and I am going to stick with it!![&o]

50%plane

My Feedback: (5)

Sorry about your loss. Have you ever thought about converting it to a tail dragger?

RC-Captain

Sorry about the crash dicksoucy, I had to abort a landing with the plane I crashed 2 and put together 3 times already, you know the rest of the story. One tip I can give you is try using very small stick movements when landing I don't do the three point landing any more I just bring it straight in hot or glide, all depends on the wind. I hope this helps , and GL with the rebuild.


PS pics please................. if you do the walk of shame go all out and display the evidence

bubbagates

My Feedback: (32)

Dick,

Sorry about the crash. It does happen to all of us. I agree with turning it into a taildragger.

You are also correct. Training is an ongoing thing. Although this is a hobby, being a safe pilot will always have you learning something new on most every flight. Yes there are exceptions like just taking your favorite plane up and just shooting touch and goes, which by the way is very relaxing for me and it's not uncommon to burn 2 or 3 16oz tanks just doing that. But with each landing I am actaully grading myself. I have even gotten to the point that I will go to idle from a couple of hundred feet up, right over the end of the runway and sideslip down to a landing. I also practice downwind touch and goes and high speed landings just in case of a deadstick close in where I do not have quite enough room to maneuver around to lose airspeed.

So yes, even doing something to relax you can be made into training, but it's all fun.

I hope you get back flying soon

CGRetired

My Feedback: (1)

Say Bubba. ( and regards to those that suggest tail dragger)

Yeah, I do pretty much the same thing. I usually tank up the once in the air, do some orbits, maneuvers, then after about 5 minutes of flying, I go ahead and do a series of landings/touch and go's in various configurations. I also do the hi altitude, go to idle and land simulating dead stick, although sometimes I just go to the approach then add throttle at about 10 feet in the air and do it all over again.

Regarding the tail dragger.. this plane comes with the ability to use either tail dragger or trike setup. I used the trike from the beginning, but am probably going to convert it over rather than playing with the nose gear any more. Our field is grass and rather bumpy and it is real hard on nose gear. Everybody that fly's out there with trike gear complains about the field and how it eventually tears up the nosegear so I will probably just put on that Sullivan gear that I have laying aound and bite the bullet.

I will then have to bone up on my take-off's again and landing with the tail dragger. My landings tend to bounce so it's more training-training-training.

Dick.

rcuman

I could never land a trike gear plane correctly. I either missed the runway or when I did land on the paved runway I broke the nose gear off even after reinforcing the gear. After buying a tail dragger I started to land on the runway without breaking anything and in general flew better for some odd reason. I have been flying for 3/4 of a year now and have 3 tail draggers Big Stik, Sky Raider Mach 2, and just recently maidened my TF P-47. I have recently acquired a Mig-27 Drone plane that the military uses for target practice and it is going to have trike gear. I hope I can land it as well as my tail draggers. Anyways, try the tail dragger configuration I think you will like it better.

RC-Captain

IMHO , I would not go with a tail dragger on a rough field. If you do keep in mind the smallest resistance on the wheels will almost immediately flip the plane over. Trike gear is the easiest set up to land with not to mention take off with. With trike gear for shorter ROGs all I do is hold the elevator in the up position before letting the engine rip. I have never flipped over a trainer with trike gear .