Hey everyone....I was just wondering whats the worst flying plane you have ever flew, and actually got back on the ground in one piece?? I dont mean the worst kit....but the worst plane from bad building, unknown damage, underpowered, anything that made it fly like concrete glider!!! And you managed to get it back to the ground in more or less the same shape it went up in??
Mine was a small (24 inch wingspan) bottom wing plane that my brother in law built about 10 years ago. I cant even remember the name of the kit....I think it was a PT-19 or something...his first bottom wing plane attempt, he had never flew a low wing and asked me to take it up on the maiden flight, (I had flew about 5 flights on a low wing and did'nt want to try it but we were self taught and had no one else to turn to ...sooooo...) we knew nothing about checking the CG and it was BAD tail heavy...it had only three channels (no ailerons). We got it set up and ready and I gave her full throttle, she took off extreamly quick I remember, and climbed with her nose high at first. Then as I tried to turn into a circuit around the runway I noticed the nose wouldnt drop!! she started to stall and I had to apply full down to keep her in flight! She wallowed in near stall, wings stalling and dropping to both sides as I fought the controls to keep her alive. I tried to trim it out on the first circuit but it was no use!!! I fought it around the field for two more laps trying to get it back to the runway to land , missed the runway both times had to go around the third time at full throttle just to keep it in the air.... it looked like a fish trying to catch a bug on top of the water!! On the third lap I made it down to about five feet high and managed to put it into the high weeds at the edge of the runway with only minor damage!! I was sweating profusely, nerves shot, and felt like I had been fighting a swarm of bee's with a stick!! I finely figured out what was wrong with it about a year later and fixed it for him with a little lead weight to the nose....and it flew great after that....... anyone else had a nightmare flight they care to share???
