[quote]ORIGINAL: Matthew Allen


WRT the fuselage issue, has anyone devised a pre-emptive fix that definitely works? If I got the Twist I think I would prefer to prevent breakage rather than repair it after the event.
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Matt, there's a sure-fire fix for the Twist and all other birds like it. Get the plane put together, radio and all, then get some of that expanding foam insulator and fill the whole damn plane, from firewall to rear fuse, wing interior too, with it. THEN you can drop it from a 12 story building and it won't hurt anything--much. It won't fly, either, but you won't have to spend much time fixing it.

The plane/plain truth is: the Twist is DESIGNED to break where it does, where it's generally EASY to fix. My pal put his Twist's nose (with an O.S. 61) into the frozen pond Saturday when he bottomed out of a low loop--going down wind! Yesterday he flew that bird again.

The TRUTH for pilots is to learn to fly. Early in this thread I heard about putting nylon bolts in the landing gear, paint-stir sticks in the fuse, and a half dozen other methods to "pre-emtively" FIX the Twist--all of which adds weight, of course. Don't do it. Learn to fly. Yeah, LEARN TO FLY. Focus on landings and don't fly in winds you can't handle. Go by the book's recommended CG until you want to push the envelope (and don't blame the bird when you do!). Know your limitations.

If this sounds harsh, forgive me, but it's all true--and there's damn little truth around in flying. Ask any old hand in this passion of planes and wind and sky. We ALWAYS want to blame something OTHER than ourselves (the wind, the radio, freak signal interference, et al) when it comes to our loves, our FLYING, our Twists.

As the manuals and AMA say, we're not playing with toys. These are highly designed instruments of flight, always dangerous. When you pick up the radio attached to a different bird, THINK and FOCUS. I've flown as many as 5 different airframes in a single flying session. I love that challenge--and I've made my mistakes. The Twist will do loops close to the ground, but when I change to the STurdy Birdy II (square firewall, Super Tigre .51--flies like a bat out of hell, 75 mph), I have to remember that the Birdy will NOT recover from inverted flight, low to the ground, with an outside loop. I have to roll out of it. The U Can Do floats forever; the P-51D lands at 30 mph. The Lanier Dart has to land at 40 mph, I swear. Flies like a brick.

The Twist is well designed and built, usually, but check those joints when you first receive it. Ask Gary, ghee-grose, he flew a Twist for a YEAR without damaging it in any way (huh!). The man knows how to fly. Then he crapped it out--as we all do when we have momentary tunnel-vision, do poor preflights, or simply push the envelope. And the birds, with that much use, tire out, CA hinges break, control arm holes enlarge, constant flex of internal joints, wing, ailerons, tail feathers, finally will give, unless monitored and re-glued from time to time.

Point is, don't destroy the Twist's design. Learn to fly it well.

Build well; preflight, preflight, preflight; practice, practice, practice; fly, fly, FLY!

And that's the TRUTH as I know it.

Jack