Gravity...

Gravity will get us all, one fine day......

When I first got into the hobby, my instructor told me not to get mad if a plane crashes. He told me airplanes never die of old age. I have yet to take an airplane out of service because of age. Also, I augered in at a show this summer and the annoucer asked how I felt and I had big smile. A crash is a simple excuse to go get a new one.

A while back I used to build (yes-I did at one time build) nice planes and then be scared to fly them-or else I would fly them and be so tense it was not fun. HERE IS MY READ ON THIS SILLY HOBBY-Never fly what you can't afford to crash. If I can't afford to crash it-I ain't gonna build/purchase it. Life goes on. If you stand back and look at many of the problems a lot of my friends have, my busting up a toy airplane is a very small thing-may be expensive-but still very small. I am still healthy-overweight-and got more to fly. LIFE IS GOOD--NO--LIFE IS GREAT!!! Yall remember that!

It seems some at our field, including me, have trouble with depth perception. I flew my beautiful 4*60 right through our wind sock tower the other day while attempting to land. I would have bet good money I was more than 20 feet away from that @%*# tower.
O well, I have a new kit just waiting for me to build it.

I like your attitude Charles.

I lost my plane when the wings broke in half. I assume right on the epoxied joint. I never found the plane or even a piece of balsa!! I bought the plane used and I assumed again that the builder did the epoxy job right. You know what happens when we assume!

Talking about depth perception, that can be a real issue. I was training my son on our big 8' wingspan senior telemaster. The visual picture of the plane makes it seem that it's closer than it is. He was turning from downwind to base and had a catastrophic collision with a tree . I had no idea it was out that far.

The other 2002 crash came on the maiden of a little profile plane. The horizontal stab was crap I guess . At a moderate speed the stab fluttered for a nanosecond, broke off and the plane was lightly fluttered to the ground. The fuselage broke. I put the plane out with the next day's trash.

-Cheech

I had the wings break in half on an EASY Fly 40. Guessing the "builder" used too quick of an epoxy, and probably not enough. But the "builder" fully believes that it was the plane's fault for not being strong enough to pull that 20G loop at full throttle.

In this case, it wasn't pilot error, but builder error. Yes, it's the same person, just clarifying.

I've said bad things about my "builder" before....I beleive "he" still makes mistakes....

My worst crash was due just to disorentation. Lost that son of a gun in the sun (hey that rimes). I accidently rolled it and when I added a little up elevator. Bad Idea it went about 80 into the ground. STRAIGHT IN!!!!!!!!!! Good thing the ground was soft. got a new carb and was back in buisness.

Hitting the Ground

Inflight disintegration due to aileron flutter.... Trainer 40 going about Mach .95.
Another Red X
Fred

for me it was always pilot error first and a big one that nobody wants to admit is......mods/bashing

Pilot error is THE reason. Radio "shots" is THE excuse. I think Marconi really did get shot down once. Pretty rare after that. I watched a guy tip stall and snap right into the runway 2 weeks ago. He swore someone turned on a trans at the swap meet. Everybody ran around taping all the transmitter switches. It worked for about an hour until another guy tried to fly an obviously tail heavy plane and was also "shot down!"
Tom

Never crashed for any reason other than Pilot Error. Clevis came off-my fault no keeper. Dead on TO, my fault didn't set engine right. 4 point roll at 0 altitude, my fault. Extra large weed extending several feet above the bea field caught the wing, my fault should have hit it with the prop. Turned left went right, My fault backwards ail.

How about plane broke in half in mid air for no reason?

It was hard to land without the forward fuselage.

My first plane crashed on it's first flight because the battery pack came disconnected. It plowed into the ground at full throttle. Turned my $300 RTF into driftwood. I found the battery pack nearby.

I plugged the ailerons in backwards on my WM chickmunk a few months ago. I took off went into a right turn ...it roles the other way and slames into the end of the runway It held up very good! I reenforced all the damaged areas and flew it for a few weeks until I was doing some low aerobatic stuff and the engine died....couldn't get it back in and pounded it pretty hard... that was my falt though. It is still in flying condition but beat quite badly so I put it up. I learnd a big lesson with that plane...I don't know how i didn't notice the ailerons going the wrong way I check them EVERY time now.

Chad

Every single steenking crash was due to a radio hit and none of those other lame reasons are gonna convince me it was anything else, period. yuc yuc yuc !! The very first flight on my Extra 300 I got a radio hit while I was flying too slow on final who ever it was that turned on the radio made my extra snap spin right into the ground honest, I also got a radio hit once when I was practicing reverse control with my ailarons on my SE. But the worst this year was when the guy turned his radio on when I was flying 15 foot circles with my leetle uproar at about 5 feet of altitude, when he turned his radio on it made me push the stick forward when I wanted to pull it backward and the throttle went wide open (Webra speed 50) when I know darn well I pulled back on it. When the guy turned his radio on when I was flying my ultimate huh get this, it completely drained my battery was I mad.

Rockman........

Ya got it ALL wrong man..........

The ONLY reason for any crash is not a radio hit.........

IT'S.............

THEM!!!!!!

ALIENS!!!!!!!!

THEY........take control of your planes......and THEY love to watch 'em..........

CRASH!!!!!!!

the transmitter holder is the reason for crashes! ie, YOURSELF.....

I had 3 catastrophic crashes this year, my first full year in the hobby. They were all 3 my fault and taught me some of those expensive lessons we all have to learn.

Lesson 1: Blue Sky rule, make sure you can see sky between aircraft and objects on ground, unless you are really sure of range. Attempted to put Model Tech Magic thru tree, didn’t work well.

Lesson 2: Gliders stall too. Stalled a very nice glider too close to ground, destroyed it.

Lesson 3: Don’t put up a plane with damage. This is the one that makes me feel the most stupid because it was a decision made on the ground. Bad judgment in the air happens fast and you can make mistakes, but I saw this problem on the ground and thought, “Gee, I will need to fix that when I get home”, as I launched it. The wing failed at an old repair sight, destroyed plane.

I am getting better, I swear.

how about:

in experience with building of first planes.

wrong advice on which plane to fly next.

cg what cg.

using bad arf hardware.

bad radio control at club(shoot down)

the famous midair.

brain fade

the oops(practicing inverted flight)

showing off in front of the crowed

and so on and so on

All comes down to this:
Pilot In Command Error

Crash???

What is that?