franklin_m

I apologized above, but in a continued effort on my side to ratchet back the rhetoric, I will specifically apologize for the comment about matching attorneys with victims. It was unnecessarily provocative and I regret making that statement. I want to thank RJBob for graciously apologizing for his comments, which from my perspective opened a diplomatic channel if you will.

Some have said on here that while I'm not a CD nor a waiver holder, I do have experience that would be useful to the group if I changed my approach. I'm genuinely trying to do that. My hope is by extending this olive branch, it will be met with the positive response that folks said would happen. I'm happy to post my qualifications in the area of aviation operations, aviation safety management, and even management of large and complex operations if indeed there is the interest in capitalizing on these skills.

Sincerely,
Frank

P.S. To answer the direct question, I've crashed five model aircraft of all types since I started flying in 2005. Since there were no injuries, no formal report was required, but rest assured where one required, it would exist. That said, the first was a trainer aircraft that I crashed due to disorientation after flying through the sun's arc. It cashed on private property (club field) and the nearest human was over 100 yards away. The impact point was a soft plowed ground. Repair was nothing more than new wing bolts and cleaning the dirt from the engine. The second aircraft was a scratch built unthrottled hand launched 0.049 racer. That aircraft crashed vertically into the ground resulting in complete destruction. The failure was due to an elevator servo (elevator and aileron only). I was able to keep it airborne away from me for about 2.5 minutes after the failure by managing the lift vector, but ultimately lost control. The nearest human from the impact was about 200 feet, on private uninhabited property where I had permission to fly. The third aircraft was a .40 powered low wing monoplane. It cartwheeled when teaching my son to fly at a club field. It was pilot error on my part - he was overbanked in a level 360 and I allowed him to control it too long before I took over. The nearest person was the two of us, distance approx 100 yards. The fourth and fifth were helicopters - 450 sized. Both crashed on my own property. I was the nearest human at a distance of approx 100 feet. The next nearest human was outside my property line - approx 1/2 mile. The first crash resulted only in breaking the training gear and minor scuff to the blades. The fifth crash was descending into a hover where the mainshaft failed. That resulted in replacement of blades, one servo, gear, tail boom, feathering shaft, and of course the mainshaft itself. I'm lucky to have access to NDT facilities, and they were able to determine that it was metal fatigue due to airframe flex - which was resolved during rebuild with aftermarket reinforcements as well as aftermarket mainshaft made from better material than stock.

I have not crashed, nor damaged, nor been involved in any mishap involving full scale aircraft, nor been subjected to any investigation or allegation regarding full scale flying.