Hey ok I get to the feild (a local canefeild) fire up the engine taxi around a second to warm up with the Avistar. Line it up with the headland and gun it. She rose to the sky beautifully. On a practice approach over the headland the engine decides it has run long enough and decides to take a break, luckily it made this decision over the *runway* so i set it down nicely, get the plane and remember that the glow plus is the same one I broke it in with so I changed the glow plug to a new one. Line it up gun it....... Then it pulls to the right hard without me touching the rudder. So ok the engine stayed running. Line it back up. It stayed going straight and then veered right again and went vertical came back down on the spinner cartwheeled and then stopped. Run over no damage except the engine got wreched to the left pushing againt the cowl cheek. Then it hit me all this time starting the engine with an electric starter, one similar bad landing, and never tightening the engine srews. We wondered what was making that sound...... So the whole engine was just goin from side to side at its hearts content. The local plane expert fixed it good as new. Moral of the story being in to R/C is optional, maintanence is mandatory.

keep em flyin

Funny reading this post - today my engine mount (don't know the proper name for it) came loose The plane was making the oddest noise.. Luckily my instructor noticed this while we were practicing taxiing.
Photoniq.

Glad your plane is okay. This is a good reminder of the importance of a detailed pre-flight inspection

I have definately had more crashes due to equipment than pilot error.

Proper maintainance of your aircraft is very important. Given the stresses that the vibration of the motor, as well as flight stress, can cause parts to work loose and fail at the worst possible time. A good preflight check is always in order. Remember to check before EACH flight not just the first one of the day.

Luke[8D]

me being a real aircraft mechanic i have learned there are 2 kinds of maintenance. There is corrective maintenance, which is fixing it or replacing it when it breaks, and there is preventative maintence, which is maintenance you do to your aircraft to keep it from breaking. I try to keep all my RC maintenance at the preventative level. I also go over and inspect EVERYTHING the night before a day of flying. I check all screws, nuts, bolts, wire connections, linkages, whatever, the night before i go out.

sean

I try to check everything, too, but just realized I haven't checked anything on my WM Ultimate 30 for a year or so.

This plane was a little finicky, at first, and I actually landed it missing the top wing, once. Had to fix the wing support, and haven't touched anything since (well, once, the muffler) in about 150 flights. Let me tell you, though, at first it was every flight! Here's why.

They supplied a metric screw and blind nut to secure the bottom wing. Every flight, the darn thing would work loose. In desperation, I cut a length of fuel tubing, slid over the screw on the blind nut side, and snugged it down. I've carried it around (or hung it in the garage) fully assembled, since then! Never look at the servos, engine mount, or linkages (except externally) - which is rather a departure, for me.

I guess after the wing quit coming loose, and after checking all the other stuff and finding nothing wrong, I've just become lax. Maybe I'll go out to the garage now, and go over it. All my other planes get the critical eye, each time I assemble them.

Good thread.
Dave Olson

It's always a good idea to preflight the aircraft before each flight. It only takes a second. Grab the propellor and see if you can shake the engine. If it moves, then tighten it. Check the control surfaces (gentle tug to check the hinges and a wiggle to check for play). Same thing for the wheels and gear. I do this religously and it's paid off on 2 occasions. The first time I saved my GP Decathalon from certain death. When checking my rudder in preparation for my second flight of the day I noticed that only 1 of the 4 CA hinges holding it on were still intact. The second time, I found that 2 of the 4 screws holding the right aileron servo on my 1/4 scale Fly Baby were gone. Just think of all the time and money you have invested in your model. It only takes 30-60 seconds to do a decent preflight on a model.

that is soo true!!!! one plane that i was about to fly i did a preflight check on it and the whole motor mount and firewall had come loose, so my instructor showed me the problem qucikly....(i was about to start the motor) and i guess that the epoxy that had been holding it on there finally gave up holding the plane together...[:'(]

well, anyways....it saved me a few cuts and scrapes so i was happy!!

[link=http://jimsrc.com/preflight.html]good guide to a successful flight.[/link]