Jim,

You are correct that there are laws that do state who is responsible for quality/craftsmanship ect... I am just trying to point out that there is a gray area in the fact that once a model crashes it is hard to prove what really went wrong... In the original post the modeler lost a plane do to a servo screws pulling through a balsa mount and causing a crash. I feel bad for the guy and everyone else that crashes a plane... BUT, you cannot prove that the screws pulling through wasnt a result from impact with the ground.. I have been flying for over 20 years and I have crashed more than my share of planes. I have seen servo screws pulled through ply, fiberglass, epoxy, ect ... If your plane hits nose down, the force the rudder puts on the servo and its mounts is tremendous.

Here is a "Whos is responsible" for you...

Me in 1990.. My first BIG plane, 80" Xtra 300 ARF with a BGX1 . Since it was my first BIG ARF I followed the directions to a "T".. Everything was in spec..
On my 8th flight I was feeling real comfortable with this model... Started doing Areobatics... Coming out of a dive I level off and while at full speed I hit my snap switch....DOH!!!.. Down and to the left... I heard a funny noise and the plane started to corkscrew in... I corrected & got it level as soon as I let off the sticks Right back into the corkscrew.. I got it level 3 times and each time when I let off the sticks it went back into the screw.... CRUNCH... 100% total destruction.... Whose to blame?... I was a dummy for hitting my switch at max airspeed.. The wings were held on with a tube, and 2 hooks and 2 dowels to keep it in place... RUBBER BANDS were holding the wings tight against the fuse.... AT the crash scene servos screws were pulled through AND the big item: You could plainly see that when I subjected the model to the DUMMY manuver, the rubber bands stretched and the wing got out of line with the dowel holes in the fuse and when the G-load was gone the bands pulled the wing tight against the fuse with a 25degree difference...... NOW the answer is what?


Did I overstress the airframe?
Was the model not designed right or the manual insuficent?
Did my inexperiance cause the crash because of my dummy snap switch manuver?
OR I should have known to put bolts in the wings?
Did the manuver cause servos to break loose?

WHO KNOWS???......... I personally feel the I caused the crash by hitting the switch at a high rate of speed.... By doing so I forced the wings to come loose pull back out of shape... There are just so many varibles that it is hard to determine Who is actually at fault....

Myron