Posts: 199
Joined: 12/10/2002 From: Miami, FL, USA Status: offline
I was flying my 1/4 scale Sig clipped wing cub after work one day when a large thunderstorm was about a mile to the west of the approach end of the runway. Notwithstanding the storm, which made the sky to the west quite dark and foreboding, at the field the sun was shining and there was no wind. The sight of my pretty blue and white cub on a base leg in the bright sunshine highlighted against the dark rain clouds has left an indelible image in my mind, indeed a most memorable R/C moment.
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Joined: 8/17/2005 From: Castle Rock,
CO, USA Status: offline
I have a couple (man I haven't flown for 10 years, getting back in now)
My First Trainer was a Fledgling with as little .35 on it.. great little plane..
Last landing of the day after 5 of 6 flights doing loops rolls and generaly messing around. The second the wheels touch the runway the wing flys off the plane leaving the body rolling down the runway like nothing happened.. Crazy.. the front mounting block had come loose and elt the wing go..
About 4 months later the back mounting block came out about 3/4 of the way through a loop.. It didn't get far without a wing..
I still ahve the wing and the plans.. I'll build another to teach the kids to fly.. I think I'm the 3rd or 4th owner of that wing.. It keeps getting passed down to new pilots though the fusalage's never make it
I'll never forget the first time I wiped out my Telemaster.. I was just getting the hang of inverted flight and was making passed down the runway. Ya know it takes about 10 feet to loop out of inverted flight with one of them? I only had 9' It hit so hard it put a hole in the fuel tank and cracked the wing right down the middle.
Thanks got out to Harland Carlson for getting me hooked.
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Posts: 279
Joined: 11/5/2003 From: Fayetteville,
NC, USA Status: offline
I couple flights come to mind
Top of the list would be flying at a Cub Scout Day Camp this summer. A buddy and me flew demonstration flights over lunch for about 200 kids age 6-10 over a football field. They would cheer and yell at the aerobatics. Never had such a wonderful and engaged audience. On one flight I dead sticked a Kadet Senior around a 180 turn to avoid a chain link fence and through the goal posts to a decent landing. Could not do that again with dozen planes.
The Senior has had a charmed life. A year ago or better, soon after I soloed I lost orientation and got confused. The same Kadet Senior fell out of control but I did recover only to go into a tree line. My head dropped and my radio fell to my side. But wait! What's that! A bird, Superman? No! It's the Kadet Senior at the top of a "free style" hammerhead turn on the far side of the trees. Picked up the radio as it headed down and gave full up but it disappeared behind the tree line. A second later it comes out a gap in the trees.
The flight goddess smiles upon beginners and those who help children.
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Joined: 2/1/2003 From: Payson,
AZ, USA Status: offline
When I showed up at the slope soaring sight with my brand new glider newly equiped with an Ek Logictrol "Little Red Brick" and asked if anyone would show me how to do this new RC thing. Launched with a hi-start and about 1/2 way up he handed me the TX and said that was all there was to it. Who said you can't teach yourself to fly ? I already had about 30 years of gummi band, free flight gas on ignition and U-control. Plus 3+ years in the USAAC in B-17's and B-24's so I wasn't totally unaware about what makes airplanes fly. Managed to get it down in one piece and went on flying until I graduated to powered RC. I'll never forget the first flight.
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Joined: 9/25/2002 From: HOUSTON,
TX, USA Status: offline
MANY YEARS AGO, when the QUADRA 35 was a "new item" I had a 1/4 scale J-3 with FLAPS cut into the inboard root of the wings. Quarter Scale was very un-usual then, BudNosen wa just beginning to put out kits for that size, and so the CUB was always the center of attention. A front came through while the CUB was at about 200feet high and UPWIND....so I dropped the flaps and throttled down until the plane was parked solid, no forward movement at all. The wind held steady at 25+ mph and the CUB started to descend, slowly, BACKWARDS..... the MEMORABLE MOMENT happened when this action continued, steady, until the plane touched down right on the middle of the runway and taxied backwards into the tail wheel, straight as an arrow, all the way to the end of the runway. The people that witnessed that, applauded a lot, and to this day, more than 20 years later, STILL ASK ME if I remember the BACKWARD FLIGHT. shudda had a cam-corder that day, but they came out years after that ! not even an 8mm film camera......PS.... IF YOU LOOK CLOSELY YOU WILL SEE HOW THE WIND IS BLOWING THE HAIR RIGHT OFF MY SKULL, that is why the plane sustained backwards flight....this could not be repeated again since the wind seldom sustains that speed for any length of time...!
< Message edited by Barrrick -- 8/20/2005 10:18:54 PM >
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Joined: 2/8/2002 From: Leander,
TX, USA Status: offline
Dago Red, Yours made me laugh, only because I've done that too. It was my first powered flight. Tried it without an instructor since I was flying gliders for 4 years earlier, bad idea. I was on the runway engine idling and noticed the ailerons were backwards. So I switched ch3 and the next thing I heard was the engine go to full throttle. By the time I looked up the plane was about 10' in the air and climbing. At that point I noticed I didnt have control anymore and panicked big time. A so called friend that was with me was rolling on the ground laughing so hard I thought he was gonna stop breathing, would of served him right. Anyway about a minute and a half into all this I noticed my transmitter was turned off. Must of done that when I was startled. So now I have controll and 2 functions reversed. I did manage to get it back to my direction by could not maintain controll when I got close so I intentionally put her in to keep from hitting a parking lot full of cars. That was 12 years ago and even though Im an instructor now my buddy never lets me forget that one flight. Edwin
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Joined: 1/26/2004 From: dover, UNITED KINGDOM Status: offline
My story is a little old, flying alone at the field, a precedent lo-boy, low winger with flaps, my first flapped job. We shared the field with some cows and the farmer kept a bowser that he used to top up the drinking trough. The bowser was situated midway between the strip and the pits. I'm flying round doing low dirty passes as there's no one else there I'm using the whole field, when suddenly the bowser jumped up and there's one hell of a clang.....the foam wings split along the centre line. Funnily enough the Thunder Tiger 42GP was unmarked. That was about six years ago, I've just made up a spare wing set and hopefully will be flying it next week .
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Joined: 10/1/2002 From: Peoria Hts,
IL, USA Status: offline
I think "Most Memorable" can change, over the years. I was tickled when I solo'd, and when I maidened my Meister Corsair it was a major rush. The guys in my club still razz me about the time my WM Ultimate 30 lost the top wing, and I landed it with only the bottom wing in place. (Still flies, even better, now with the top wing incidence a bit negative!) Another big deal (to me) was soloing my first student.
Probably the best story is from my first year flying, the club president and his wife were at the field. We were harrassing his wife, she was taking it all good naturedly, and somehow the topic of watches came up. Evidently this was an inside joke I was not privy to, and the other guys started asking him what time it was. She was laughing and he was complaining that now we'd brought it up, he would probably have to spend money on a watch for his wife. Might not sound like much of a story, but at the time it was hilarious - and one of my favorite memories at the field.
Another was the time a non member brought out a kluged together T-6 with a Fox .45 on it, and talked a senior member into doing the maiden. It was heavy as a pig, and he lifted it off too early, it snapped and broke into pieces. The memorable part was one of the grumpy members who thought the plane was a junker quietly said "Too bad Jim couldn't have snapped it in from a little higher... it's probably repairable..."
Better stop, lest I be accused of merely reminiscing... Dave Olson
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Joined: 1/29/2002 From: Montague,
MI, USA Status: offline
quote:
ORIGINAL: braddock VC
as there's no one else there I'm using the whole field, when suddenly the bowser jumped up and there's one hell of a clang.....the foam wings split along the centre line.
So it's a lot like the last tree that jumped up a grabbed my plane on a bad landing approach.
I was thinking along the lines of a one armed sprinkler contraption. Should have known to keep it simple. I've never heard of a water buffalo either, honey pots I have heard of.
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Joined: 1/26/2004 From: dover, UNITED KINGDOM Status: offline
John, A bowser is a storage tank on wheels, normally used for field replenishment. They have been used for fuelling up aircraft ( but not with water ), in this case the farmer used to tow it back to the farm and refill it, bringing it back to the field to water the cows. I think it holds about 10 or so cubic metres of water.
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Joined: 2/8/2002 From: Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES Status: offline
Memorable moments - had a few, but those that stick most are completing a cross-country event. Three legs of up to 50 minutes each in the back of a pickup truck. When the wheels touch down safely at the end of the third leg, the exhilaration is immeasurable. It is more exciting than your first solo landing, or first flight of a new bird. Got to try it sometime.
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Joined: 5/19/2004 From: Tucson,
AZ, USA Status: offline
Yes - I'm planning to if the timing works out right for once this year.
Sorry John, I was in a hurry, so didn't adequately explain it. LoL about the honey pot! I wouldn't want my plane back after hitting one!
Lots of memorable moments for me, I think my first flight was one, including the crash at the end. I never really had a solo as such(no instructor - I did it the hard way. Every flight was a solo )
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All Forums >> Radios, Batteries, Clubhouse and more >> The Clubhouse >> RE: Your most memorable R/C moments 
RE: Your most memorable R/C moments - 
as there's no one else there I'm using the whole field, when suddenly the bowser jumped up and there's one hell of a clang.....the foam wings split along the centre line. 
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Thanks Braddock VC
