A New, but Wrecked Plane
08-27-2005, 05:56 PM
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A New, but Wrecked Plane
Today was an interesting day at the field. I flew all my planes just fine, and I really loved the performance of my Tensor 4D, but the most interesting part had to be a mini funtana crash that has resulted in me getting another plane. Of course you can guess that this plane is not new, or in very good shape, but a planes a plane. So after an hour of testing, and setup this plane was finally ready for it's flight. Now this guy who had this plane has already had similar results with another mini, so he was really hoping that this one would perform well. When he took off the plane looked so good, it was so much better than the last time he took it out to the field, but at about 5 minutes of flight, the plane suddenly went into an augering spin. I saw it come down, and it simply didn't pull out, it just slammed into the turf from about 100' up. Although the cause was not really determined, it was either an unrecoverable spin, or possibly an equipment failure, in any case it looked bad. There really wasn't that much to see as to the landing though, because it was behind a small depression. When the pilot finished taking the long walk back, I was really suprised how little damage there was. From doing a 'Pile Driver'-like manuver from 100' up there was almost no damage to the wing, and although the front was throughly smashed, most of it had just bent over backward instead of compressing. So, he just said that I could have it if I wanted it, so I said yes, and now I have another plane. In terms of damage, it has lots of frontal structure damage, although the main firewall is still mostly intact. The main damage is about 1 to 2 inches back from the front of the cowl. I'm not sure if will ever be flyable again, and I don't have any real plans to buy parts for it, but still, its another plane, and a fairly good looking one too.
P.S. I'm sorry I don't have any pictures or videos, because I know thats much more interesting, but there really wasn't and isn't that much to see, just a spin and balsa held together by tape, but thanks for reading anyway.
P.S. I'm sorry I don't have any pictures or videos, because I know thats much more interesting, but there really wasn't and isn't that much to see, just a spin and balsa held together by tape, but thanks for reading anyway.
08-27-2005, 07:42 PM
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RE: A New, but Wrecked Plane
Today was an interesting day at the field. I flew all my planes just fine, and I really loved the performance of my Tensor 4D, but the most interesting part had to be a mini funtana crash that has resulted in me getting another plane. Of course you can guess that this plane is not new, or in very good shape, but a planes a plane. So after an hour of testing, and setup this plane was finally ready for it's flight. Now this guy who had this plane has already had similar results with another mini, so he was really hoping that this one would perform well. When he took off the plane looked so good, it was so much better than the last time he took it out to the field, but at about 5 minutes of flight, the plane suddenly went into an augering spin. I saw it come down, and it simply didn't pull out, it just slammed into the turf from about 100' up. Although the cause was not really determined, it was either an unrecoverable spin, or possibly an equipment failure, in any case it looked bad. There really wasn't that much to see as to the landing though, because it was behind a small depression. When the pilot finished taking the long walk back, I was really suprised how little damage there was. From doing a 'Pile Driver'-like manuver from 100' up there was almost no damage to the wing, and although the front was throughly smashed, most of it had just bent over backward instead of compressing. So, he just said that I could have it if I wanted it, so I said yes, and now I have another plane. In terms of damage, it has lots of frontal structure damage, although the main firewall is still mostly intact. The main damage is about 1 to 2 inches back from the front of the cowl. I'm not sure if will ever be flyable again, and I don't have any real plans to buy parts for it, but still, its another plane, and a fairly good looking one too.
What? All that and then you have to post this?
P.S. I'm sorry I don't have any pictures or videos, because I know thats much more interesting, but there really wasn't and isn't that much to see, just a spin and balsa held together by tape, but thanks for reading anyway.
]Woops
08-29-2005, 07:44 PM
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RE: A New, but Wrecked Plane
Actually; this sort of thing does happen from time to time (more often than you might think), but usually the loosing person strips the wreck and tosses it into the nearest trash can. [:'(]
They are the wealthy or impatient types that either lack the skills to rebuild or the time. . .
If you are at the right place and don't mind the occational cheap shop about dumpster diving & flying trash - well - your fleet can grow rapidly, as can you supply of clevices, control horns, cables etc. All of the little things that add up to big expenses for a newbie.
On of my favorite stories is when I picked up an Ugly Stick and had it flying 6 days later - BETTER THAN BEFORE THE CRASH!
Boy was the original owner pissed. . . he had told everyone that the plane was a piece of Cr**! I was now showing everyone that the plane was just fine - it was the pilot that wasn't up to standard!
However - there is a dark side to this story - here on the RCU another fellow told a similar story about pulling a plane out of a dumpster and flying it - the next week the original owner demanded it back!! [X(]
It was one miserable story! I'll try to look it up for you, just look out for the idiots of the world and know when to stand your ground.
They are the wealthy or impatient types that either lack the skills to rebuild or the time. . .
If you are at the right place and don't mind the occational cheap shop about dumpster diving & flying trash - well - your fleet can grow rapidly, as can you supply of clevices, control horns, cables etc. All of the little things that add up to big expenses for a newbie.
On of my favorite stories is when I picked up an Ugly Stick and had it flying 6 days later - BETTER THAN BEFORE THE CRASH!
Boy was the original owner pissed. . . he had told everyone that the plane was a piece of Cr**! I was now showing everyone that the plane was just fine - it was the pilot that wasn't up to standard!
However - there is a dark side to this story - here on the RCU another fellow told a similar story about pulling a plane out of a dumpster and flying it - the next week the original owner demanded it back!! [X(]
It was one miserable story! I'll try to look it up for you, just look out for the idiots of the world and know when to stand your ground.
08-29-2005, 09:37 PM
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RE: A New, but Wrecked Plane
ORIGINAL: bbbair
Actually; this sort of thing does happen from time to time (more often than you might think), but usually the loosing person strips the wreck and tosses it into the nearest trash can. [:'(]
They are the wealthy or impatient types that either lack the skills to rebuild or the time. . .
If you are at the right place and don't mind the occational cheap shop about dumpster diving & flying trash - well - your fleet can grow rapidly, as can you supply of clevices, control horns, cables etc. All of the little things that add up to big expenses for a newbie.
On of my favorite stories is when I picked up an Ugly Stick and had it flying 6 days later - BETTER THAN BEFORE THE CRASH!
Boy was the original owner pissed. . . he had told everyone that the plane was a piece of Cr**! I was now showing everyone that the plane was just fine - it was the pilot that wasn't up to standard!
However - there is a dark side to this story - here on the RCU another fellow told a similar story about pulling a plane out of a dumpster and flying it - the next week the original owner demanded it back!! [X(]
It was one miserable story! I'll try to look it up for you, just look out for the idiots of the world and know when to stand your ground.
Actually; this sort of thing does happen from time to time (more often than you might think), but usually the loosing person strips the wreck and tosses it into the nearest trash can. [:'(]
They are the wealthy or impatient types that either lack the skills to rebuild or the time. . .
If you are at the right place and don't mind the occational cheap shop about dumpster diving & flying trash - well - your fleet can grow rapidly, as can you supply of clevices, control horns, cables etc. All of the little things that add up to big expenses for a newbie.
On of my favorite stories is when I picked up an Ugly Stick and had it flying 6 days later - BETTER THAN BEFORE THE CRASH!
Boy was the original owner pissed. . . he had told everyone that the plane was a piece of Cr**! I was now showing everyone that the plane was just fine - it was the pilot that wasn't up to standard!
However - there is a dark side to this story - here on the RCU another fellow told a similar story about pulling a plane out of a dumpster and flying it - the next week the original owner demanded it back!! [X(]
It was one miserable story! I'll try to look it up for you, just look out for the idiots of the world and know when to stand your ground.
Woops
08-30-2005, 12:02 PM
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RE: A New, but Wrecked Plane
08-30-2005, 12:44 PM
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RE: A New, but Wrecked Plane
08-30-2005, 09:35 PM
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RE: A New, but Wrecked Plane
Yeah man, thats just crazy, I'd just say that its mine now, I don't care how many people he has with him, he can't wrestle the plane out of my hands without breaking it. If the guy tries to break any of the other planes, club will probably ban him, if they are expensive you could sue him and easily get your money back, of course the guy would probably just back off before any of this though.
In terms of repairs, I've added some sheet balsa, glued some of the structure back together. I think I'm missing a few things, but if I had the money I think I could get it flying again. Eventually
In terms of repairs, I've added some sheet balsa, glued some of the structure back together. I think I'm missing a few things, but if I had the money I think I could get it flying again. Eventually
08-30-2005, 09:52 PM
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RE: A New, but Wrecked Plane
ORIGINAL: Beowulf
Nothing makes me madder than the guy who demanded his plane back. I'd post what I thougth of him but let's just say I wouldn't be posting here for a while :P
09-02-2005, 09:30 PM
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RE: A New, but Wrecked Plane
Best thing to do is to re-cover plane and then say you bought it off of Ebay. Your lying of course but it beats the heck out of a
weird situation at the club field.
Dave...
weird situation at the club field.
Dave...
