I'm glad your bird wasn't too badly damaged. I'm with Sandyt on why it happened, it's easy to panic a little when things get bad. I've just been lucky enough in my 2 years of flying it hasn't happened to me yet. ( Your Eligible Too )

My Club had that same problem of underestimating my flight abilities. They ignored the fact that I had over 380 hours in a 1978 Cessna 150, 1947 Piper J-3 Cub, and a old 1938 Taylorcraft. Some of these smaller planes have the same handling as the full size ones. So when it was my time to Solo a Glow Plane, I passed the same day my lessons began. I'm just glad no one riped my shirt and put cold water on me. I was afraid I was going to get wet for a few hours, but I'm glad it didn't happen.

The Vice-President of our club told me he has seen pilots not be able to fly the small planes that well, do to them not being in the aircraft. That might have been true, however I didn't have a problem with it. I always had in the back of my head to treat planes like a lady... and planes fly fine without our help other than making a few adjustments when needed. In my opinion, if we are honest with ourselves... we know what we can handle.



Peter Dowling aka Luftwaffe Oberst
AMA District II # 865404
Aero Modelers Club
Pulaski, NY