All did not go as well as I hoped. Able to get out yesterday afternoon, overcast sky, about 60° and 15 mph winds down the centerline of the runway. Got the ol' MDS .48 up and running. adjusted the idle and was getting good idle and transitions. Left it rich since it is not fully broken in yet. Checked out the radio, and then taxied onto the runway. It was the most scale takeoff I think I have ever done; scale as in a low powered 152. The plane slowly increased speed and I finally gave it some up elevator and it lumbered into the air. It climbed out fairly well and I made the turn to downwind. It was mostly trimmed out, but it needed some right aileron trim so I gave it some. That is when all he!! broke loose. The plane started to roll to the right and left aileron did nothing. The plane quickly inverted so I gave up elevator to complete the unintended split-s. But again it rolled inverted and I was not high enough to recover a secod time. The plane hit mostly vertical and buried the engine about 8 inches into the ground. Looked over the plane and this is the damage.
1. The metal engine mount snapped in half. Guess I need a new one of those.
2. Wing popped off of the fuse, no damage to the wing.
3. Aileron pushrods, one bent, and one lost in the grass, servo horn busted. Servo gears seem ok.
4. Elevator servo tie-wrap busted and servo came loose, servo horn busted. Servo gears seem ok.
5. Not sure about the fuel tank yet.
6. Engine caked with mud.
7. Fuse not damaged at all, just a little dirty.
The plane will fly again once I get a new engine mount for it.
Thoughts on the plane.
1. For the short period of time that it was airborne, it flew nice and stable.
2. Way too underpowered. Maybe it will fly better with a piped YS .60 RE.
3. Cannot blame crash on plane. Not sure what the cause was, but I do intend to rebuild it. There are someone that I want to teach to fly with it.
That is all for now. Will let you know how maiden flight #2 comes out.
Doug