AMD BAe Hawk - Gutted
Well yesterday was the maiden day. All the usuall nerves. Range check done, everything double checked, again.
1 final cigarette for the nerves then fired up the engine and taxied out, turned my beauty into the light headwind then, deep breath, power to 80% to get her rolling then 100%.Away she went perfect tracking, applied gentle up elevator,just enough to raise just the nose then let airspeed increase to make her unstick from terraferma. Heart banging away, still just a tad of elevator she lifted beautifully, scale like. I held the elevator, only a very small amount until i thought, yes the negative stuff starts her, the rate of climb would be perfect to let the speed increase just right, no more than 10-15 degrees. At this point i released the back pressure on the elevator, as soon as i did this she dropped suddenly and fast, thankfully i must of ony been 5-10 feet off the ground, she slammed her belly hard back to earth, instantly the gear ripped off and she came to a stop in just a couple to yards. My heart dived,(sad hey its a model plane but i love them even after 20yrs of it). When i arrived at the plane the under side of the wing was ripped to shreds with both gear understandedly torn away and the nose gear likewise,a real mess. Packed up my stuff with my dad and a silent drive home.
Initially because of alot a problems with my other jet with glitching, a put it down to this but now ive pondered over the dew seconds of time numerous time i put it down to the neutral positioning of the elevator. I recently read the review of the new turbine version in jet magazine and i remember to author having to hold elevator nearly full for his maiden, the trailing edge level with the flat area on the top of the fuselage. Looking back if id only kept pressure on the elevator, mmmmmmmmmm. Anyway the planes hidden away in the garage so i cant look at it for now,maybe il dig her out in a day to have a proper look at the damage.
My final thought here is I suppose where in elevator neutral position on the amd hawk, not for my knowledge but for others, being a little odd in charactor I probably wont touch her again for months. Anyway, out with the notepad and coffee, time to ponder on the next project.
Signing off,
Gutted Nick.