Well I experienced my first crash. Doing slow approaches when engine cut. Put in right rudder to steer away from pits and just too much up elevator. Did a slow stall. Tried to gt nose down. Landed on wing tip and nose wheel. Requires alittle repair.

Engine dies when I went to idle. Very humid out, so that may have contributed to the problem.

Overall a good day except for the bugs.

Well, look at the bright side: Your first crash wasn't a bad one, and now, you got that "first one" outta the way.

Take a break, lick your wounds for a while, then get out the glue. You'll be back in the air in no time.

Sorry to hear about the crash. If it is any consolation, we have all crashed at one time or another.

If you haven't done so, it would pay you to practice some "dead stick" landings. If you have a sim, do it on that first. Remember, one thing though. If the engine quits, GET THE NOSE OF THE PLANE DOWN and do not let come up above level. You need to keep the flying speed. Also, if you have to turn, use the rudder NOT THE AILERONS.

Just curious as to why you say NOT to use the ailerons ?

At a "slow" glide speed either will/could bring you undone if used too much. Rudder only more likely to cause a stall and spin situation at low speed. Rudder yaws the plane, speeding one wing up relative to the other, therefore creating extra lift on the faster wing therefore roll into a turn, BUT requires opposite rudder to correct or straighten the turn on all but high dihedral or polyhedral wings which puts the plane out of balance again but whilst in a banked turn this time. Remember also that at lower speeds the controls are less effective so rudder would need to be applied for a longer period to produce the desired effect = more time spent out of balance and in a side slip which produces more drag therefore slowing the plane, therefore requiring the nose to be lowered to keep flying speed, therefore reducing the glide distance available.
Aileron increases angle of attack on the down going side and decreases AOA on the up going side, therefore a roll and turn, again, the opposite inputs are req'd to level the wings and stop the turn. Small inputs of aileron will produce almost nill yawing motion and very little difference in stalling speeds over the wings. Due to the almost nill yawing motion the plane stays in balance therefore not increasing drag as in a rudder only turn.
ANY turn in a glide situation will require more altitude to be given up than gliding straight with wings level, so keep all turns in a deadstick situation to a minimum. NEVER turn away from the landing zone unless you have a lot of altitude to play with. S turns will loose alt quickly if needed whilst keeping the landing zone in front of the plane.
NEVER in my days of full scale flying instructing did we teach a student to use rudder only in a glide approach, small aileron inputs was the method to produce a balanced minimum height loss turn in a glide.

The reason I am saying not to use the ailerons is that turning with the ailerons will cause the wings to bank. The banked wings are losing lift due to the angle. That drains the airspeed really quick. In addition, many people automatically add in up elevator to keep the nose up which causes further drag and loss of airspeed. By making the turn with just the rudder, you are minimizing airspeed loss since the main wing remains level still providing lift and the elevator is not raised to cause additional drag and possibly raise the nose.

When you have a "Dead Stick", you have suddenly become a glider pilot, and it is a VERY HEAVY GLIDER.

If you have a sim, try it out and you will see exactly what I am saying.

The plane is already half repaired. I now have to replace two hinges. The crash happened on it's 34th flight.

I'll keep an eye on flight 68!

I used rudder to get it pointing away from pits, I did not use the ailerons. Too low and not enough airspeed. All I have to do was give it a bit up elevator but I got too excited and gave it too much "up".

This is after 33 flights! I botched my first "real" emergency! Makes me wonder about people who solo on their first "day" or solo on their first few flights. Can they keep cool enough to handle an emergency? Sure they get schooled on "dead stick" but what about when they least expect it.

I can tell you a real problem happens fast with little time to think. This is what seperates RC "pilots" from the "stick movers". Right now Im just a stick mover. Maybe after alot of time and experience, I can become a RC pilot, but it's going to take alot more than just "soloing"

Clear Skies

I DONT need to try it out in a sim, I know what happens and the forces involved, you go try it out in a real aeroplane.
You obviously didnt read what I wrote above completely.
Since when did using rudder NOT cause the wings to bank and NOT cause an increase in drag? Turning with rudder alone AND keeping wings level is an uncordinated out of ballance and high in drag way to turn. It requires opposite aileron to keep the wings level which adds more drag.
Maybe you need some glider time to understand.