biam

[&o]went to the field today, had two relaxing flights with my cub,then I was going to rip up the sky with the old tower trainer. The battery had recently been cycled so, I thought all was well. Imediatly after takeoff I had no control, I did get the throttle chopped and tried to get turned back for a landing, no such luck[:@] It was heading for a roadway so I hit down elevator and hoped for the best[X(] Ended up right beside the road in the ditch. A later investigation revealed that the battery was the culprit,bad part about it was that the plane was equipped with a volt watch on the outside of fuselage,all I had to do was check it before flying, the morel of the story is, dont take any thing for granted[&o]

dredhea

My Feedback: (13)

It's sometimes amazing how we think we are being very careful and doing everything right, only to find that we have overlooked a very basic step and it costs an airframe. I hope the damage was minimal.

JollyPopper

My Feedback: (6)

Yeah, I hope the damage was minimal too. I think the Tower trainers are one of the very best out there.

biam

The fuselage is toast up to the forward sction of the wing saddle, some leading edge damage on the wing. Iwas going to trash it till I went to the tower web site and seen that the trainer is not available in a kit form[&o] May have to rebuild.

hookedonrc

Good advice. I remember going to the field with my 4*60 and my trainer for an easy day of flying. I got to the field and ready to fire up the 4* and as always, I checked the battery level...oops nothing there. After checking, I discovered either I had left the switch in the ON position or accidently hit it when loading it up in the truck. I figure it was the first reason. Thanks to my instructor that never let me start an engine before checking the voltage in my battery.