Yup, this thing glides like a rock.

I took it up for the first time today. I'm running a GMS .47 and the CG ended up being a tad nose heavy at 105mm. I extended the firewall about a half an inch using light plywood to get close to the 4.75" washplate distance from the firewall, which may have contributed to the CG. Anyway, a little nose heavy doesn’t hurt on the first flight.

I couldn't use the stock GMS muffler because it's way too long for the existing Phoenix engine mount in this plane. I ended up bartering a Magnum or OS 40 muffler off a friend of mine to use with the .47. Guess what, I didn't extensively test this setup before flying. When you're flying a "lead sled" that isn't a good idea.

I had no problems taking off even with a little dew on the grass runway. The plane was pretty much trimmed out perfectly and flew like it was on rails. I took it around at around half throttle and was gaining a little altitude to start some low power tests to get an idea of its stall characteristics. As I performed a climbing pass of the runway a sudden loud flutter came from both ailerons. I've never heard it so bad. Those at the field, not already watching, looked up to see if my plane exploded or something. We could clearly see both ailerons fluttering badly. I immediately chopped power to idle and in a panic state told the guy who had just fired up his engine (thanks a bunch buddy) that I was executing an emergency landing. I turned into the downwind and at this time believe the engine quit. I'm not sure because this guy had his engine running right near me, but I'm pretty sure that was the case. I didn't test the engine extensively with the new muffler, but took my time getting the idle and transition right along with a "engine on" range check prior to the flight. So, needless to say this deadstick caught me off guard.

So, here I am with a rock with wings, after a huge control surface flutter situation (remember, at around half throttle), with the plane losing altitude fast in the downwind leg. I was probably still at idle with the throttle stick, but was too overwhelmed at this time to gun it. Besides, I'm under the impression that the engine's dead now. Anyway, the plane violently tip stalled right after I called out the emergency situation. I recovered from the first stall, but now had no idea if the plane was coming toward me or flying away from me (my color perception became diminished due to the plane's relative location to the morning sun). Then she tip stalled again. I'm talking some mean stalls that point the nose straight down. At this time, she was only around fifty feet up. I was overwhelmed and could only watch as the plane spun into the swamp.

A couple of nice gentlemen and I trudged through the swamp to retrieve my wreck. Luckily, or not, the plane found a little creek and was nose first in two feet of water (only the front 20% of the cowl was underwater). The wing had detached along with the plywood fuselage wing mount (so much for the nylon wing bolts performing their magic) and was resting on some light brush, in perfect orientation with the fuselage, about an inch below. I disconnected the servo leads and removed the wing from it's location to inspect it (after turning off power to the reciever and removing the fuselage from the creek). The left aileron servo pushrod had completely popped out of the control horn. The cowl was cracked a little, but that was the extent of the damage. I got home and took the GMS .47 apart and soaked it in oil all day after removing water. The engine was the only part of the aircraft that got wet because the back end of the fuselage was resting on a limb hanging over the water. All of the servos work fine except the two aileron servos. The aileron servo that was detached from the pushrod is running constantly when I turn on the transmitter and receiver. The aileron servo that was still connected is now glitchy and is probably missing some teeth from gears.

After looking at the crash damage and the two aileron servos, I believe the left aileron may have popped loose during the flutter condition I suffered. It’s difficult to tell for sure, but that may explain why the plane was almost unflyable after I chopped power to alleviate the flutter condition I suffered through. In retrospect the plane may have been okay had I kept some power on, but my main goal was to eliminate the flutter so might not have been possible to do so. Anyway, I must add that the plane flew really well at half throttle, but that only lasted for about a minute this first flight.

Has anyone else noticed this flutter of the ailerons? Also, this plane came pre-hinge taped, so I didn’t bother doing it myself.

Here are some pics of this good lookin plane the day before the first flight (I don’t have any post crash pics):