I guess I'm gonna have to give up on tapered wing planes and stay with a constant chord. So far I destroyed a VMar Extra 300L and now my Hanger 9 Cap 232 Sport .40.
Seems like the VMar Extra just fell out of the sky for no reason.
With my Cap, on my third flight, the Saito .72 would not tune to full power, but enough to fly the plane. After about five minutes the engine quit and I made the deadstick like I would my Tiger 2.
BIG MISTAKE! When it flamed out, I had the wind behind me. about 100ft up. I coaxed it 180 degrees to pick up the wind for lift, and when I got it around and heading for me, it dropped like a rock from about 20 feet. Saw the wing fly off and knew I had serious damage. The engine was imbedded in the fiewall at an angle..both control pushrods snapped...servo tray broke loose...canopy crushed and it looked like it was a total loss. The wing was sound, althougn my nylon bolts did not snap like they should and took the wing plate and some of the fuse with them. The fuse aft of the canopy was sound as were the tailfeathers. Don't you hate to see a new plane all crunched? I analyzed it later and decided to keep whatever heading I have and keep the momentum and land as flat as possible with no turns, banks or the like, should I lose the engine. I have deadsticked all my other planes with no damage whatever and was always pleased that I made the runway, but you can not fly the Cap that way. We apparently had a serious tip-stall.

I did not touch it for a few days, as I was about to trash it. Why is it, after we get over the shock, we start trying a little CA to see if it can be joined and rebuilt?

Now that I learned my lesson, I am not going to let it defeat me. I am halfway through the repair and looking for a canopy when Horizon answers my mail. This is a nice ARF, and in the right hands, a good flyer. Hellofa learning experience, tho.
Was a dumb thing to do, but maybe this will make a newbie aware of these flight characteristics.

Were did you have your CG at?
Caps are not very forgiving but thats what makes a Cap such a great aerobatic plane.
Sorry to hear about your loss George !


Doug

Sorry to hear about your Cap. I had a similar experience when I couldn't get my new Magnum 80FS to throttle down in flight. I had to dead stick it in, and didn't make the runway. It ripped the gear off and damaged the cowl, but it was back in the air in no time. One thing you might want to do while you are repairing it is to reinforce the fuse over the horizontal stabilizer. Mine came loose at the glue joint. I'm glade I noticed it before I flew again, as only the Ultracoat was holding it together.

Stomper and Ultra...My CG is good as the plans call for 4- 5/8" back from leading edge and it balances just slightly nose down and no lead. A guy at the field said to move the CG forward for less sensitivity. Would four inches back from LE be a good start? Gonna have to balance it again anyway, with the extra epoxy and ply I added. The plane does not look bad with all the work on the inside of the fuse. When I originally put on the fin and stab I loaded it with epoxy and it feels quite sturdy. I heard of others losing the tail, so I was sure to have it strong. Thanks for your help. Hope to have good reports from here on.

I had a Kyosho .40 sized CAP232 and an H9 1.20 CAP232 and had the occasional dead stick on both. My technique was to try to never give it any up elevator, normally a little down to keep the airspeed up. If I had the altitude I would bring it around for a normal approach otherwise I would land it straight ahead the best I could.

RC...Good advice. That's exactly what I did wrong...tried to keep the nose up and was pulling back on the stick. like I might with a trainer. Altitude would help, where you could lower the nose and maintain the airspeed. Believe I can get it down next time with little damage. Thanks.

I learned the hard way too........... have a GMS120 that dead sticks on me alot. as soon as the engine dies push the nose down and get some air speed OR DIE. I was at about 40 feet and only had 1/3 power and was butterflying the gas to try to get the engine back....then cough cough ....engine stopage.... I tried to drop the nose and bank towards the field but got the CAP SNAP and it was all over. Plane is repairable I'm not even going to take off unless I'm sure the engine is right!!.

CAPS glide like rocks with wings.