ChrisKnee

When I first started flying, I had to travel a long way to the flying field, which I hated. I knew of a new residential area nearby where the roads had been laid out and asphalted and there was a "lot" of free space. So I decided to try fly there, since it was only minutes from home.

The spot I chose was open to the front and left hand side. On the right side there was a tree that I figured was far enough away to not present any problems to land over. The wind was from left to right.

I enjoyed taking off from the perfectly smooth road and soon I was flying. At this point I must point out that I was flying a trainer and I was able to just land a plane without damage. After a successful flight, I did a few passes before landing and it suddenly felt like my flying space has gotten smaller. Why was that damn tree so close now? Anyway I made my final turn to line up with the runway (the road) when all of a sudden, my plane (as it was passing in front of the tree) disappeared! Huh?

I walked over to the tree and there was my plane, a Graupner Taxi (version 1) parked behind this tree (the tree trunk was a good two feet in diameter). The plane was on its wheels. The propeller was not even broken. Just the right wing was a little skewed forward. No other scratches to the fuselage or tail feathers. So far so good. Oh, and yes, the left wing panel was gone! Not there at all! Around the plane (like confetti) were the wing ribs and parts from the left wing. The wing was held on with rubber bands - maybe a few too many in this case. I always like to make damn certain of stuff! This was my first big "crash" of an RC plane. It was quite a shock - especially since I knew how much time and effort I had put into this plane. (If anyone knows the Graupner kit, you know it is a lot of work).

All's well that ends well, I think is the saying.

I took all the parts home and this gave me the incentive to modify the plane like I felt it should have be designed. The original plane had NO AILERONS! Even at my tender age of 15, I knew that was crap. I rebuilt the left wing panel and built scale (Cessna) like ailerons into the wings. I also reduced the ridiculous and goofy looking large dihedral to a few degrees (again Cessna 172 style). I operated the ailerons with internal push rods and bell-cranks and was able to drive the system with one servo mounted centrally in the wing. My Hinode radio servo was too big to lie sideways. (This was along time ago)! The new wing flew exactly like I wanted it to. Activating roll no longer affected the heading of the plane, making landings much easier.

I am also more aware of damn trees too!