sscherin

My Feedback: (1)

One of the guys brought out a new P-51 this weekend..

A bunch of guys spend over an hour going over the thing.. adjusting throws, checking linkages, making sure every surface was set correctly..
They checked over every minor little detail so the maiden would go great..

Then they finally get around to the maiden flight.

She rolled out clean, lifted off and starts slowly rolling left.. then a little faster, Ohh she's going over.. BAM. plows into the grass inverted..

Yup.. Ailerons were reversed..

Damage was minimal.. cracked canopy and broke off the horizontal stab. Easy to fix.

They spent so much time on minor problems they overlooked a big one.

jamie_duff

All for the sake of 6 seconds worth of saying "Up, up - Down, down - Right, right up, left down - Left, left up, right down - Left, left - Right, right" huh?

It's something I've never done, I'm happy to say. That said, from a long family history of aviation it was hammered into me from the very beginning that you ALWAYS do your checks no matter how thoroughly you assume you've been through things previously.

It's sad that it's a cause of more crashes than it has any right to be.

Incidently I always check my rates switches whilst checking control sense. That one was based on first hand experience, after attempting a take-off on low rates once on a model that needed high rates... [:@]

sscherin

My Feedback: (1)

Yeah it is sad.. The strange thing is all these guys are good experienced pilots..
I swear about 6 people looked that thing over and nobody caught it

jamie_duff

I'll bet everyone assumed that someone else would look at the bigger picture.

I'm not suggesting someone noticed and said nothing, just that, like you said, they all got so blinkered looking at minutae that no-one thought to stand back and check the overall package []

aerowoof

I got into the habit along time ago of checking control movement before each flight.It has saved a few planes by showing up a bad rx pack with a shorted cell and a stripped servo gear.

Flyboy Dave

My Feedback: (21)

....it took me about 32 years, but I finally put one up with reversed ailerons about
three years ago....a nice little pylon plane with a Rossi engine. []

Taking things for granted was the cause....it happens all the time. [:@]

FBD.

Adui

([X(] I can see this in my future.. Even though I understand the reason behind, and importance of the checks. I always have the tendency to want to tell the guy "You just flew it last weekend, take her up already!" When I see someone check a plane I know has recently flown OK..

(Fortunately I have the good sense NOT to actually say this to them, they are only following a well thought out procedure that I really really need to learn to follow when I start soloing, for now my instructor does the checks on every plane he puts me up on!)

stinger40

I destroyed a Mini Funtana that had reversed ailerons. Man, I was steamed. I was just too anxious to get into the air to actually check everything. I just made sure they moved. But sadly, it cost me. [] I am an experienced pilot, so I was surprised that I overlooked that, but I NEVER put a plane in the air without checking it over and making sure EVERYTHING MOVES IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION.

meaden

I've noticed it's one of those things that when I "think" about it I'm not sure if it's right. I always have to compare it to another plane just to make myself feel better.

reincarnate

Meaden, just ask the plane what it wants to do. Stand behind it and ask which way it wants to turn. The correct (or incorrect) wing will raise it's hand (aileron) in accordance to stick direction. Then ask the elevator to raise its hand if it wants to go up and fly. The airplane will tell you if it's ready. Sounds stupid but it's effective and always sure.

meaden

LOL...I know, it's a second guessing thing. You know you have it right but there's a gremlin that says no.

jdcool4

My Feedback: (3)

i notice most ppl at my feild just check for movement of everything. And not the which way the controls move compared to the stick. I always check the way the stick moved comparted to the surface. But i still put one in to the ground cuz of reversed ailerons cuz i was on maiden flight. I check all control surfaces they where good but deided that i had to much throw on my ailerons. I went in the radio turned them down didnt recheck after i was in there and crash.

NorfolkSouthern

I switched receivers on a couple models last night. One was to a scrappy junker I built from an ARF (a botched Great Planes Cessna .40), the other was my good Hobbico Superstar (proven, reliable, over 50 flights, an excellent machine all around that looks almost as new as the day it came out of the box). Anyway, the receivers were switched because the junker was giving me fits, most likely be virtue of its design. So off I went, to the runway with the Superstar. I taxied, and right away I noticed something: the rudder. Yup, reversed. Shut down the motor, checked the ailerons: reversed too. Most definitely, it's a great idea to check the controls before each flight! I saved myself $280.00, plus a couple weeks of salvaging electronics and building another machine. Not only that, I was able to enjoy 20 minutes of relaxation on a full tank.

Bummer about the Mustang, I hope that stuff never happens to me (it can, so I'll keep my humility, thanks).

NorfolkSouthern

F-15 Flameout

I have a few transmitters that store several planes on each of them and before each and every flight, even within the same day - I stand at the tail and go through each control surface as if the plane is flying and I'll lean the direction the plane should be traveling after each input. I know this sounds childish and trivial - but of all the planes I have lost over the years not one was because of an incorrect control surface movement. But, that's just my way of knowing I have the right setup for the right plane at the right time.

8D3

My Feedback: (3)

I lost a Goldberg Extra on its 4th flight because of reversed ailerons.Had 2 planes stored on the computer radio and didnt read up on switching between the 2.I would select Extra1 and the radio would stay w/ Extra2.(Yeah,turn the radio off while on the selected model then back on).anyway,I deleted Extra 1 and atrated all over,setting the throws and such.I couldnt fit the wing on in the crowded room I work in,so off to the field I go,alone.Do a range check and,yep, everythings moving from abot 150' so it ready to go.Fire up and we're off,as soon as its up,it is slowly favoring rolling left,so right input,planes rolls left harder,quick bump of full right stick and,wham.I knew what was wrong before I got to the crash site.So from that point on,I check the direction of everything everytime I get ready to start the engine.Yes,everytime.Overkill,maybe,but when i lost a sweet airplane because of something so stupid on my part,I guess thats my pennance to the Plane Gods.Plus I may discover something like a loose control surface that happened in the previous flight.

ravenatnm

I did it too with my first foamie. After 9 year of flying I became to complacent. I hand launched the thing, it started rolling left, gave it right, it was inverted, I have it more right, it was right side up. Lucky I am good on the elevator. After about 3 rolls I figured out what was wrong. Even though I knew things were reversed I was so freaked out that I did one more roll, then harriered it in for a soft landing (inverted). No damage.

Now I check every plane before every flight. Takes 5 seconds, saves a lot of money on my bigger birds.

vancouverman

Yep...me too. I lost my world Models Worldstar. It was my second airplane and I had been learning split s turnes and emmelmens and hammerhead stall turns for about 50 flights on it and was proud to never even scratched the wing tips on a landing. I was doing great till I had a few weeks away from the airstrip. Was setting up another plane and reversed the ailerons on the futaba computer in the screen. Week later when I went flying I checked everything over and climbed out about 20 feet and rolled upsidown and bashed the fuse in half behing the wings. I will never forget to check that again....knock on wood.


Jay

waydown2low

As far as checking the direction of everything everyone needs to check their radios as well, with the advent of computer radios, we can put alot of models and different mixes into the problem. I run about eight different planes on my JR 8103 and range from park fliers to 30% extra 330's. Every one of my planes run some type of mixing assigned to a certain switch and if you forget to change the model or reset a switch, the end result could be bad. I would guess that five out of the eight planes have the controls set in the same direction so they appear very much the same when sitting on the ground doing control movements. I will not run y-harnesses on any control as I prefer to mix the channels for redundency. After engine start up and holding the plane for warmup, I check every switch, knob, and model name to be sure all is good. I hope this reminds everyone that preflights are not just for the planes, but also for the dummy at the controls, cause there are those that have and those that will, and for us seasoned guys there is only those that will again![:@]

If you can't see it, don't hand me the controls!!!