Well, this past weekend's flying session was not all good for me. My Staggerwing suffered another bad crash. Gonna need another set of wings. No fuselage/tail damage. Small cracks in cowling from twisting moments, motor mount bent, but prop no damaged! No damage to retracts!!!!!!

Was doing a low level, high speed pass down runway, and just as it reached the end of runway, it suddenly quit. (Electric powered!!) Acted like it had hit low voltage cutoff, which I have set to hard, which requires throttle to idle, then back up to reset. But apparently not, as it would not restart. Instead of exchanging energy for altitude, which is proper procedure in high speed engine failure, i attempted "S" turn to return to runway for landing. I also, incorrectly, lowered landing gear almost immediately. DUMB!! [:@] This model does NOT glide well! Ended up hitting the ditch that runs along our access road along the edge of the dike that forms the north edge of our field. It missed clearing the ditch by less than two feet distantance, and about 8 inches altitude. (The ditch is a little over one foot deep.)

I tested batteries after crash, and they tested 98%. The cutout/crash occured just 1 1/2 minutes into flight. Pulled flight log from the Eagle Tree logger when I got home, and it showed that total voltage suddenly dropped to 5 volts, then returned to over 22 volts just before impact, which unplugged power leads because battery tray slid forward when velcro tap tore from mounting. Running 10 cells, 2X51P Impulse 4800mah 20C batteries. 42 volts fully charged. I flew them out in my Waco with no problem, so don't know what happened. Amp draw during high speed pass just before cutout was 65.10 amps. Motor specs for amps are 60 map continueos, 78 amp burst, batteries rated at 92 amp continueos. My logger set to record at 2 times per second. Drop off to zero occured in 1 full second. Voltage went back to 61 for one second, then back down to 5 volts over 3 seconds. Amp draw remained at less than one amp, since hrottle was closed. Need to do ground draw test of the Staggerwing system for more info. Logger is wired in between batteries and ESC, so it gets full info first.

Otherwise, it was a great flying weekend, four other aircraft all had good, multiple flights. [&:]