X-Cwllant,

I had a stab failure many years ago. The tube broke as you indicated. I had a wheels up landing and bent this stab tube a little and straightened it by hand. The stab failed about 3 or 4 flights later. It is the only failure of the three Byron 16's I have owned. These tubes will not take any bending without fatigue setting in......

I was able to land the 16 on just one stab--it was a handful to say the least and due to the forgiveness of the Byron design it allowed me to sort out some flying characteristics before lining it up for a landing. Got it all on video too.........

After that incident, I installed a piece of music wire inside of the hollow tube and epoxied it in place. This keeps the set screw that holds it in place from crushing the tube and loosening over time. I have had that happen also.....and it takes some doing to bend it now. I can hear it coming...a hollow tube is harder to bend than a solid rod....I know the physics, but it doesn't seem to bend as easy now...go figure.....

Guess what X-Cellant, welcome to the world of ducted fan jets and the wonderfull world of RC maintenance........maintenance......maintenance... ......just like the big boys do.....