They Claim its "virtually indestructible"....WRONG!!!  
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All Forums >> RC Airplanes >> Crash & Rebuild >> They Claim its "virtually indestructible"....WRONG!!!
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They Claim its "virtually indestructible"....... - 12/18/2007 10:28:14 PM   
UkerDuker



Posts: 905
Joined: 12/30/2003
From: Hendersonville, TN, USA
Status: offline 		Here are some pictures I finally found. It was an DuraPlane Aerobat 40 Kit. These were taken the Fall of 2001 on a disposable camera that I lost, and recently found. Aircraft verses water tower, water tower is areah by one point. Take note of the non-rebuildable engine. It was an OS 46FX.

Mike



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< Message edited by UkerDuker -- 12/18/2007 10:29:55 PM >
       Post #: 1

RE: They Claim its "virtually indestructible"... - 12/19/2007 12:02:06 AM   
LeeHop



Posts: 202
Joined: 4/5/2005
From: Aurora, OR, USA
Status: online 		Mike -

I have an Aerobat that has been through several crashes and continues to survive (with a few patches here and there). Your post inspired me to look up the word "virtually" - it means "almost"
Cheers -
Grasshopper

(in reply to UkerDuker)
       Post #: 2

RE: They Claim its "virtually indestructible"... - 12/19/2007 12:36:11 AM   
meaden



Posts: 620
Joined: 1/27/2006
From: Decatur, GA, USA
Status: offline 		If you hit something hard enough to do that to the engine...I think you went past "virtually."

_____________________________

It was a gravitational altitude correction. AMA 82823

(in reply to LeeHop)
       Post #: 3

RE: They Claim its "virtually indestructible"... - 12/19/2007 12:58:10 AM   
UkerDuker



Posts: 905
Joined: 12/30/2003
From: Hendersonville, TN, USA
Status: offline 		I would have to agree with that meaden. It was pretty spectactular when it hit. It looked like I was throwing myself a "ticker-tape" parade. Parts and pieces went everywhere.

The sad story behind it....

This was my second plane(maiden flight). I had just took off and I knew I had a problem. After alot of practice on the simulator, I recognized my engine was running too rich. I remained calm, I had practiced this many times on my G2 Sim. I started a shallow left turn for the downwind leg. As I was ready to turn base, this huge red/white water tower jumped out and hit my plane with its guide wires. My son (roughly 2 at the time) gave the best response, "UH OH!!!"

I practiced everything except how to avoid the obvious. When I was walking to the remains, I kept thinking, "this is a virtually indestructible plane, this rebuild should be a snap, if there is any damage at all." It took nearly 20 mins to find all the big pieces.

I hope someone can learn a lesson from this. Watch out for the things that seems like a "non-issue". I never thought I would hit that tower.

Mike


(in reply to meaden)
       Post #: 4

RE: They Claim its "virtually indestructible"... - 12/19/2007 2:41:23 AM   
Jburry



Posts: 558
Joined: 7/12/2006
From: Cape Spencer, NB, CANADA
Status: offline 		Ya know, lookin' at the photos, alot of the plane looks rebuildable..... For all the damage that engine took (that's the worst I ever saw, actually), the fuse and wing didn't fair so badly!

I've sure seen alot of more conventional models look alot less repairable after an encounter with much softer obstacles!

Nice job, tho, all the same. Takes quite a hit to shear the entire cylinder from the crank case!

Poor little engine.

J

_____________________________

Revver Bro. #220

(in reply to UkerDuker)
       Post #: 5

RE: They Claim its "virtually indestructible"... - 12/19/2007 3:06:35 AM   
UkerDuker



Posts: 905
Joined: 12/30/2003
From: Hendersonville, TN, USA
Status: offline 		Well, being as new to the hobby as I was, I didnt have the skills to rebuild. Now years later, I see exactly what you are saying. I probably could have replace the PVC fuselage and mounted a new eng. Oh well, I'm glad I got to preserve this memory of my early flying skills. I thought I had lost these pictures.

Now I look back and laugh.

Mike

(in reply to Jburry)
       Post #: 6

RE: They Claim its "virtually indestructible"... - 12/20/2007 2:16:33 AM   
Jon.


 

Posts: 100
Joined: 4/3/2006
From: Brockville, ON, CANADA
Status: offline 		J-B WELD!!!

(in reply to UkerDuker)
       Post #: 7

RE: They Claim its "virtually indestructible"... - 12/20/2007 7:28:42 PM   
RCBruski65


 

Posts: 65
Joined: 7/31/2005
From: Burton, MI, USA
Status: offline 		That's a virtually unrepairable engine for sure. Had a couple of the durabats they actually flew pretty good.

(in reply to Jon.)
       Post #: 8

RE: They Claim its "virtually indestructible"... - 12/22/2007 5:52:18 AM   
UkerDuker



Posts: 905
Joined: 12/30/2003
From: Hendersonville, TN, USA
Status: offline 		Now, the one thing I did leave out...... This is a great plane. I was just very in-experienced when I destroyed this one. In any crash, you have to evaluate what happened. I recognized the problem and tried to take the correct action. I was doing everything right except watching where I was going. I simply took too wide of a turn.

I would still recommend this plane to beginner pilots.

Mike


(in reply to RCBruski65)
       Post #: 9

RE: They Claim its "virtually indestructible"... - 12/28/2007 3:37:35 AM   
victorzamora


 

Posts: 589
Joined: 10/16/2006
From: Mt. Airy, NC, USA
Status: offline 		As long as they fly far away from jumping water towers, right? Too many times have I had (or seen) a tree jump, a wall move, a line swerve, or the ground catch my plane. In tennis, I'm sure that the ball would've been in if the line wouldn't have moved. The wall moved, causing my brother to wreck the car. A tree grew instantaneously behind the same car just so I could wreck it. Plenty of times has that attempt at a nice, low harrier been thwarted by my arch-nemesis (and best friend): the ground!

I'll tell ya, those things jump . It's all part of a conspiracy though, the balsa gods are out to get us and no one wants us knowing

(in reply to UkerDuker)
       Post #: 10

RE: They Claim its "virtually indestructible"... - 12/28/2007 1:12:56 PM   
CGRetired



Posts: 4168
Joined: 9/14/2004
From: Galloway, NJ, USA
Status: offline 		Yes... and mother wind has helped destroy a couple of mine. That and the lack of experience when I first started combined to make my Skylark 56 a pile of balsa. The wind was down the center line.. good.. so I came in for a landing and retarted the throttle to idle. Bad move. The strong wind just flipped that thing over and actually made it climb, inverted, to about 100 feet and head in the opposite direction. I was to inexperienced to realize that all I really needed to do was hit the throttle, right it, turn it around, and come back in, this time with more thorttle. But.. noooo... I never even added throttle. I just watched this thing going away from me and tried to fly it without adding throttle.. next thing I knew, it headed straight down in a fast spiral and I heard it hit from about 300 yards away. Pain!!!!

Same thing happened later, about three years later.. after I gained all that experience.. to my Venus 40. Taking off, the crosswind caught it, vaned it to turn right into the flight line.. no good, so I reacted with left rudder.. right? Well, that's what was supposed to happen. In my case, a tad bit of dislexia hit and I used the right hand instead.. you guessed it. Aileron roll to inverted while climbing out on take off at full throttle with an OS 50 FX. Instantly upside down and smack.. right into the ground. The wing popped off and was just fine. Upon first observation, I thought I was ok.. it looked intact.. but when I picked it up, all the balsa and ply in the fuselage was broken. The only thing holding it together was the covering.

CGr

< Message edited by CGRetired -- 12/28/2007 1:13:22 PM >

_____________________________

Skylark 70 - OS 75 AX; Venus II - OS 1.20 AX; Tiger 120 - OS 1.20 AX; Protege - OS .75 AX. Airtronics - Spektrum. AMA 705964. Semper Paratus!

(in reply to victorzamora)
       Post #: 11

RE: They Claim its "virtually indestructible"... - 1/4/2008 8:16:16 AM   
SFMMcoasters


 

Posts: 52
Joined: 12/18/2007
From: La Verne, CA, USA
Status: offline 		My durabat 40 has been a gift from god in all my experience. I crashed that plane into telephone wires, had the wing and body separate and each freefall down about 70 feet straight onto concrete. Flew the plane about 10 minutes later after adding some new rubber bands, and fixing the hinges on the rudder.

(in reply to CGRetired)
       Post #: 12

RE: They Claim its "virtually indestructible"... - 1/4/2008 12:51:34 PM   
UkerDuker



Posts: 905
Joined: 12/30/2003
From: Hendersonville, TN, USA
Status: offline 		I agree, this is a great little plane. My piloting skills just got the better of me on the maiden flight. I would still recommend this plane to new and upcoming pilots.

Mike

(in reply to SFMMcoasters)
       Post #: 13

RE: They Claim its "virtually indestructible"... - 1/30/2008 1:04:45 AM   
smithth


 

Posts: 38
Joined: 1/14/2005
From: Newport News, VA, USA
Status: offline 		For all those who would like to see the tower that Mike hit, here it is. Just so happens that I hit that same tower and this was all that was left of my plane. Mike I think you were there when I had my incident. I never found the radio or battery and only found 2 servos. One of which was ruined. Engine actually survived. Makes for a funny story.

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