Some lessons we learn come easier than others. As I am in the age minority here I'm sure this is of no great revelation to any of you. I've only been involved in this hobby for only a few months and the knowledge I gain from my hard lessons grows by leaps every day. Yesterday was one of those lessons.
Walt has been instruciting me teaching me to fly these things. We flew my Kadet the other day and had some kind of onboard malfunction that brought us down after a few minuites. Walt seemed to think it might have been the engine dying. Whatever the case, he felt that the Magnum .40 wasn't enough engine to pull us out of a jam and certainly not enough power to have any fun with. So Walt loans me one of his engines, an OS .46 FX. He brings me the engine wich had a 10x9 apc prop on it and suggests tying off the plane and running the old engine then swapping the engines and running it to get a comparison. That got the wheels turning in my head. So I decided to build my own Thrust-o-meter, using an old fish scale I had in my tackle box. I had now completed the make-shift meter, time to make some noise!
I ran the Mag .40 on the 10x6 and got 4.75 lbs Thrust. I ran the OS .46 on the 10x9 that Walt loaned me with the engine and got 4.25 lbs thrust. Ok.....So I swapped the props. I started the engine up, brought it to idle, checked over my rope and other things before opening it up all the way. I inched up the throttle little by little adjusting the air mix along the way until I found the sweet spot....prepare for lift off.
I ran the throttle all the way open gradualy and managed 6.5 lbs thrust on the 10x6 prop before the tail section let go and sent the plane crashing through my carport/garage area. The prop shattered on the wheel of an old car I'm working on. and the tail section was damaged pretty good. As I stood there wide eyed and disbelieving, I was vaguely amused. As no body was hurt and no property was damaged(except my pride) The whole thing became funny.
Walt said the other day"either you become a good pilot or a good builder, cuz if you aint a good pilot you better be a good builder." seems very true for me. Thats ok though. Maybe God wants me to be a good builder before I'm any kind of pilot.
The incident reminded me of when I put a .45 ACP hollowpoint into momma's new carpet, but thats a different story for a different board.
So whats the lesson?....I'm not sure exactly But I'll be alot more careful next time I whip out the old Thrust-o-meter and when I do I'll get it all on video!

Crash