RE: Great Planes CA Hinges cost me my Plane
I was at 1/2 throttle just coming out of a turn and there was no flutter...I had slowed down trying to get a feel for the correct throttle setting for trimming and then it happened...no warning just POW...I thought I had broken the horizontal stab because what I saw was the left half of the stab leave the plane but the 2 people standing with me said the elevator half came off taking the left half of the stab with it. I wish you guys could see the hinge up close...it tells the whole story real well...you can see very plainly where the paper stuff just pulled away from the plastic inner hinge material. But ha..what the hell I have been doing this long enough to tell it was a lesson learned...guess I need to call Superior Balsa and get more wood headed this way. I think pinning the hinges as Floored talked about might have helped but I will never know. I wil use the method that has worked for 30 years, I am sure CA hinges work because I see it all the time at the field...that is what is so puzzling to me...I guess I just made the wrong choise of hinge makers.