I am just learning to fly rc. I am flying a hobbico superstar with a thunder tiger 46. I have an instructor who is helping me. This morning I went out and was practicing by myself. After a few taxi runs I lined the plane up and gassed it. All was good except during the climb out the motor quit. Because of the nature of our field I had to try a hard turn to make it back to the field. I hit a tree pretty hard but the plane is repairable. When I got the plane back and was looking it over I believe I had switched the pressure line and the fuel line. Would the possible reason for the quitting motor even though I had taxied around for a few minutes. Also any one got a good used hobbico superstar 40? for sale?

I would have some serious doubts about the fuel line and pressure line being switched. I don't think that is would be possible to run for more than just a few seconds with the fuel that was trapped in the carburator. There are many more reasons that your plane could have stalled right after lift-off such as not having the high speed needle set rich enough. It could have been that you didn't have the pressure line hooked up and when you took off, there was no pressure in the fuel tank, causing the engine to quit. It may have looked as if you switched the lines because the impact could have knocked the fuel lines off which may make it look as if you had them switched.

My son did the same thing the other day. Lost the engine on takeoff. Got it down no problem though (whew...). If you fill the tank untill fuel comes out the vent (pressure) line I guess there is some fuel traped in the line that will keep the engine running for a while. I was suprised that it would run this long also
Brian

some tanks, those ones with the brass tubes, can have the pipe fully submerged in fuel, you can idle around for quite a while, easpicialy if the back of the tank is raised, but as soon as you take off you use that little bit, and it tilts back, and you die.

I would think that it could run that long if you weren't real careful to get the vent pipe right up against the top of the tank. Even 1/4 of an inch low would give you some run time with the muffler pressure coming back through the pick up line.

I had to laugh when I read your post because it is almost the exact same way I lost my first plane. I was climbing out on takeoff when the engine quit. Had to make a hard left turn but unfortunately the 100 ft pine tree had other ideas. My plane wasn't damaged too bad....that is until I payed a guy to cut it out of the tree for me. It hit the ground pretty hard once he cut the branch!

Jeff

I lost my Hobbico Superstar on take off too. The engine quit on take off but I managed to get it back on the ground without any panic. I brought the plane back to the pits and noticed fuel all over the place....the stopper had come out and the fuel had emptied all over the inside of the plane! I went straight out and bought a Stick I suppose a good a time as any to get off the trainer!

Needless to say, I tried a new club today with a grass runway - I have been spoiled with tarmac runways. I was doing lots of touch and go's with the stick. I was doing fine until the landing gear twisted off. On inspection, the nylon screws had sheared off at the head. Being a grass runway in the wetlands, the runway was bumpy so I guess that was the cause. Anyone know how to get the nylon screws out of the bottom of the plane? I was thinking of heating up a small screw driver, poke it into the nylon and see if I can get enough grip to twist them out.

Oh well, back to the tarmac runways!

Och Aye the Noo!
Flying (Grounded) Scotsman

Tonight I am going to check how far from the top of the tank the fuel vent was. I will let everyone know.
thanks steve

I checked the tank vent to see how close it was to the top of the tank and it seemed real close. Maybe 1/8" or so. I guess maybe the switched lines were not the problem.

just thinking maybe your bottom end is a bit wrong, you been idling around for ages, and the when you gas it, it went wrong.. maybe it was rich and choked ( lots of smoke as you throttled? ) or was lean, getting real hot then full throttle was too much for it ( engine revs drop with no spluttering )

Sometimes different color tubing helps in this area. that is if you can remember wha color goes where. At least they are not all the same color.

Randy

yep, i do that, but for some reason only on the planes i have open tanks on anyway LOL leave the carb line clear so you can see the fuel go though and any bubbles..
i also have the pressure line long, the fill one short and the carb just the right lenght, i also use a thinner tube for fill. so i rarely get confused.
theres lots of clunk reasons to cut... if its too short you run out of fuel too soon, if its bent over after heavy landing or if too long and bent over with vibration it'll mean you can draw fuel at idle but cant get enough though at full revs.
not saying you got this wrong.. but best clunk set up is about 1/16th inch away from the back of the tank when you hold it up, you should be able to shake it without it touching the bottom, but be close enough to see the end though the opace plastic.
make sure the brass tubes havent cut the lines on your tank, i also find the brass breaks, i had the fill pipes on my diamond dust snap a few weeks ago inside the tank, landed with nice rattle. ive also seen the clunk break up!

You also have to be careful you get the right type of fuel tubing. One of the "kids" at the local hobby shop sold me some fuel line from their bulk supplies. Turns out he sold me some Gas fuel line as opposed to glow. It didn't take long before I was having engine reliablility problems on an engine that had previously ran flawlessly. Once I tore down the carb and flushed it out it ran fine again. Some things you just have to learn the hard way.

Jeff

sometimes it is best when you have a take off engine failure to try and land straight ahead insted of trying to ge back to the field.. many full scale pilots have died trying to make low speed turns back to an airfield. might do alot less damage trying this next time.

Cheers,

FW

I appreciate all of the feedback. I am checking the tank... going with two color lines...I am also wondering if I just loaded up the motor taxing around... I did not clear it before I began the flight.