RCU Forums - View Single Post - So there I was... (post your funny crash stories here)
Old 07-22-2005, 10:10 AM
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ProBroJoe
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Default So there I was... (post your funny crash stories here)

...had the DNU! out yesterday and was having a ball tearing up the sky. The first two flights ended with near perfect landings - definitely "keepers" in my book. So by the end of the third flight I was getting pretty cocky with some low, fast passes across the field - you know the kind where you spend half of the pattern diving in a long sweeping dive and the ground is coming up real quick... well, wouldn't ya know it I ran out of fuel just as I was nearing the runway's threshold and about 10 feet off the deck. I had plenty of airspeed so I thought I could pop up, go around and set up for landing. Not a good idea, I got it too far downwind, too low and with no where to go I was forced to ditch it in the bushes at the end I the runway. I couldn't see the plane once it got behind the bushes so all I could do was flare at what I thought was the right time. I heard some light rustling of the bushes and not a horrible Thwump! - so I knew it couldn't have been too bad.

What I saw when I went over to retrieve the plane was hilarious! There it was, pancaked into the bushes unscathed and completely unharmed - I simply refueled and went up again.

Not learning from the last flight I got it low and upwind so I attempted a down-wind landing, it got ugly and I cart-wheeled the DNU! rather hard. It was one of those landings where you just knew something was busted... nope, not a scratch. (However, I decided not to push my luck and called it quits after that.)

The first picture is the runway side of the bushes (my view), and the rest are what I saw when I got there.

Anyway, I just wanted to share a funny story, and maybe start another "funny crash stories" thread...

-Joe
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