You all will have to forgive me for holding back. It has taken me a few days to get over our loss.

For those of you that have been following our build, we got the Black Baron Special up and in the air for its maiden flight on July 3rd. Our instructor/test pilot had advised us that we would probably get a little roll to the right on takeoff due to a slight warp in our wing. No Prob, just warp it in the opposite direction and heat it up to shrink the covering. That was basically the only thing we had that was not expected .

On takeoff, the airplane did indeed try to roll right, and that was corrected with trim. We had to tone down our control throws a bit (thank you, computer radio) and we added exponential to soften it up a bit. Our instructor was very pleased with the plane. We had Eva take the controls first. The plane flew like a dream! The Irvine .53 was more than enough for it (unlimited vertical!), and it ran quiet and like a sewing machine. I flew it next and we decided to call it a day. A great and successful one at that.

July 4th. Headed back up to the field to fly it again. Eva couldn't make it. My instructor let me do the takeoff and it tracked very well. Straight out, up and into the pattern a few passes, figure 8's, loops, and aileron rolls. This thing flies great! So smooth. Very solid. The engine just lopes along!

My instructor must have been VERY impressed. He decided to show me how to do a split S, and an immelman. I did them, too. Not perfect, but quite respectable I would say. They just needed to be polished up a bit. My instructor then showed me how to do a 1/2 Cuban 8. I responded in kind. Gave it some throttle... up, up, back over the top... inverted coming down at 45 degrees nose low. Almost perfect! But then I started to hunt the elevator![X(]

Airplane was upside down, coming at me. Everything was backward! I started getting nervous and I told my instructor he had the airplane! But... too late! Into the dirt. Upside down. More than 45 nose low. Power on.[]

The airplane was totaled.[&o]

My instructor really felt bad. Eva was in total disbelief when I told her about it. (I think a little pissed, too!)

We salvaged the engine. Haven't fired it up yet, but it's on an LT-40 ARF we just finished. Cleaned it up very well. Turns nice and smooth.

We saved the radio equipment, too. Looks like it will all live to fly again.

For those of you who said we should have picked up a real trainer, You were probably right. I think that probably would have been a wise move. I do think that the cause of my crash was a combination of my instructor trusting me too much and me having too much confidence in myself. I also gave him the airplane in probably THE worst position possible. This event has been something to learn from.

I have decided that I need to use the sim to get very familiar with any maneuver before I try it at the field. I have also decided I am going to perfect the basics before moving on to advanced stuff for fun. I'm not as good as I thought I was!

Steve, I'm looking for a Black Baron Special, too. The second one is going to stay in the box for a while. We're going to fly the wings off this LT-40 (not literally, I hope!).

BTW, if you do build a Black Baron Special, hang an Irvine .53 on it. It's awesome!

Wish we had stills of our flights to show you. We only got it on video and I don't know how to post it for you.