RE: Truth is stranger than fiction in model airplanes
I was flying my Venus 40 one fine Saturday last year. Our field can sometimes have a nasty crosswind that is blocked by a row of trees by the road behind the flight line about 50 yards or so. So, when you either pass the trees, or climb high enough to get above them (not flying over them, but higher than they are), that crosswind can be a pain.
Well, I was taking off and purposefully had a long roll to get it away from where another pilot was working. We were both on the flight line well away from the runway, but for some reason, I wanted to roll longer than normal. Well, I got beyond the tree line and the crosswind hit. The plane suddenly veered to the right rather sharply just as it lifted off, so I hit the rudder... well, I thought it was the rudder. I sort of panicked because it was headed toward some others that were over that way but well behind the flight line.
My brain must have been dyslectic at the time because I hit the aileron instead. The plane was full throttle, did a fast snap roll to inverted because I hit the aileron quickly and realized it was the aileron so stopped the roll but, in hind sight, should have just continued because it was nose high and climbing. Well, I was inverted and still had elevator in after the half roll.
Well, you guessed it. It went in and rather sharply. The wing came off (nylon wing hold-down bolts work great) as the nose hit the ground.
I walked over to that plane and it looked completely intact excep the wing was over about three feet from the point of impact.
I picked the fuselage up and it was sort of like a broken soft boiled egg. The plane still had it's shape, but every piece of balsa in that thing was broken or cracked. When I picked it up from the middle, well, it sort of sagged on both ends in my hands. The thing was held together by the covering. I looked inside and there were splinters of balsa and ply all over the place. Strangely, the wing only had a small dent near where it mounts to the saddle. I still have the wing, sort of a spare.. don't know why.. but I still have it. The rest of the plane was thrown away. (except the engine, tank, RX and servo's of course).