Tip for beginners:

The question is NOT whether you will crash-land or not, but WHEN. And when you do so, remember this advice: KEEP YOUR WINGS LEVEL.

The reason is simple: if you hit the ground with the tip of the wing first, you will probably destroy the wing or damage it badly. You will then hit the ground with the nose, then the other wing then the tail, then start over. In other words, you will do cartwheels with the plane and induce much more damage to it than if you hit the gound with the bottom of the fuse or even the nose. I dove my trainer nose down BADLY and sustained no damage to the wings (the alluminum bar bent but no big deal). Oh, and by the way, do not epoxy your wing halves, some tape to keep them together is fine.

Remember, KEEP YOUR WINGS LEVEL

Luis

Keeping (or getting) the wings level is absolutely key when things start going south, no question about it.

The blanket advice to not epoxy the wing centers isn't a good idea. Some trainers, such as some variants of the Avistar, don't have the metal bar in the wing center, and rely on the epoxy joint between the center ribs for a lot of the strength.

It's not possible to say for sure, but if you had epoxied the wing togeter, you might not have even bent the metal bar or damaged anything in your case. Personally, the movement of the wings I've seen from the "no glue needed" wings worried me a lot more than any possible reduction in damage from the wings moveing seperately. I've seen wings that had a bit of movement from the metal bar, and I suspect the wing would have eventually worn out from this. No way to know, however.

Another problem with some of the no-glue wings is that not all of them have tape or something to hold them together and seal out fuel and oil. If fuel can get in to the wing center section, it will weaken it badly. A good epoxy job will prevent that as well.

Makes sense to keep the wings level before crash. However, unless it a "controlled crashed" the wing leveling may be unattainable. Sounds more likely during a dead stick landing rather than a crash. I agree with Montague as far as permanently gluing the wing halves together. Seems that the only advantage to keeping them separate is it makes a more manageable package for transport. Just my opinion.

I don't think it is possible to use too much epoxy when the plans call for it. I have already heard of several ARFS including a few Avistars that had the wing fold in flight. Some due to excessive loading for the type for airfoil/aircraft and others while in straight and level flight after many previous flights which apparently weakened the join. I myself have an Avistar as my first plane and am always worrying about the wing join as the spar is very small and I can't remember if I used alot of epoxy or not much at all, was my first experience with any type of RC building [:-] My new plane a Seduction Wildstyle has a much larger spar, I used a generous amount of epoxy and then I fiberglassed the join. Just my $.02.

ZK

This has got to be the most wreckless blanket statement I have heard yet. Do not think you can tape the wings in the center on 99% of the planes flying and not have it fold on the first turn. If the wing has a rod that slides into a tube, it is fine, but not many planes are built that way.

Yes, keeping the wings level helps, but for most students, if they can get the wings level when they hit the ground, do you really think they would hit the ground? Its a good goal to shoot for, but not always possible.

Best to build a good strong trainer, get help learning to fly it and when you end up with the inevitable crash, learn to fix it well.

I won't even comment on the "no epoxy" thing, except to say USE IT!

As far as keeping your wings level.... Listen up all you newbies!!!

Getting your wings level just might PREVENT the crash in the first place!!!!!!!

I can't emphasize that strongly enough!

This - once you learn the basics - is the most important thing you must train yourself to do. Listen to the following words, and consider them to be LAW.

Anytime you get in trouble, LEVEL YOUR WINGS.

When you are learning yo fly, you still tend to think in 2 dimentions: Up Down, Left Right.

When your plane is banked at a 90 degree angle (or more) it is very easy to panic, and the first thing your brain thinks of is: PULL UP!!!

If you follow that advice, you will be picking up pieces shortly afterward.

You MUST condition your brain to think: LEVEL THE WINGS!!!

This will save more crashes than any other advice I've ever heard.

Are we talking about just butting the wing halfs up to each other with epoxy in between or epoxy/fiberglass? You've heard of fake free checking. Hobbico has invented fake wing joiners. My Hobbico "something" 40 trainer snapped the light-ply wing joiner on a hard landing. POS (piece of ...) plane if you ask me. It didn't seem right but nothing was said about glassing the center in the instructions. I'm at fault too for believing it wasn't required. In hind sight I'm sure no glass is so they can sell it to beginners.

Here's Hobbico's last semester grades...
Marketting: A
Business Management: A
Basic Art: A
Differential Equations: B
Engineering Ethics: F

Back in the day I had an Airtrinics Newera 20. I loved that plane. It finally bit the dust and the fus was trashed. The wing was fine and I decided to see how stong it really was. I put a brick under each end almost at the tip and stood in the middle. It took more than half my weigth to break the wing. Glassed center and no wing joiner. It broke just to one side of the fiberglass.