Took my Nexstar, and Spacewalker out last Saturday night, no one else at the field so I started to cut loose with both of them, spins, snaps, hammerheads, tail slides and some good inverted with the Spacewalker. Flew till dark and packed it in with a good and a little cocky self esteem.

Sunday headed back out to the field for a big get together/ fund raiser for our club. After several hours I found a time when the field was not so busy, I thought I would take the Nexstar up.
Rolled down the runway and started to climb out and something was not right!

The plane started to veer to the right and was extremely sluggish, and then I started to freeze up on the controls. I kept thinking there is something wrong, servo Prob. wing separating , Batt pack going to hell?

All I wanted to do was to get it over the pit area (especially over a guests brand new $8500 42% Biplane and crash it out in the tall grass.

That’s when a guy standing next to me asked for the radio and got it under control, re trimmed it and handed me back the TX.

All it was, was the rudder trim maxed out from sliding around in the back of the SUV.

Man I felt stupid, and probably looked it to!

I flew it around for a while with my (new instructor) at my side, "I am sure after the take off he was questioning my ability- I would have to", then brought it in for a fair landing.

Feeling bad , I thought I was going to pack it in but I topped off the tank and set it back on the runway and flew for 2 to 3 minutes, and brought it back in for another poor landing.

Pack it in at this time.

I kept thinking to my self " all it was, was out of trim and I was going to ditch it rather then fly it."
And "why did I not notice this on roll out, was the wind counteracting it?"

I guess there are a few lessons I have learned after playing this back over in my head over and over again.

Keep on Flying the plane no matter what, be prepared for it not to respond like it did last time you flew it.
Check the TX visually before taxing.
Don’t get into a habitual pattern of flying your plane," starting from the same place, same approach ECT."

That was probably my 70 flight and I just froze, I felt quite embarrassed, but will get over it soon.-I hope

Hi JB,

No sweat, this stuff happens to everyone at some point in time. Now you know to check this at preflight. One suggestion for later on down the road. Computer Radio! Once your trims are set they are locked. Just make sure you choose the right plane out of the memory or you might end up trying to fly with the ailerons reversed. (ask me how I know)


Darren

I know of what you speak. I lost a plane the same way; my rudder trim tab had shifted to the max probably from transporting it. When using a transmitter with the mechanical or sliding trim tabs, take one last look at the transmitter to ensure the tabs are in the right place before the taxi to the runway. It can't hurt.
DaveB

I would not sweat it that much. It happens. Hopefully you will never have to go through the "I had the transmitter set for the wrong plane" scenario. That gets interesting really quick, especially when 2 planes are setup similiar and all that is off is the trims.

In any case, you knew it was time to pack it up and that's what you did. It's better to know when to do that then to keep going and lose a plane. There's no harm in it, none at all.

jbracing,
Sorry to hear you had a bad day. But that stuff happens. I've been flying for 9 years and I still have bad days too. Don't beat yourself up too much over what happens. The ability to instantly recognize problems like that comes with experience and practice, and even then not everybody can diagnose stuff like that. We've all been there when we started, so nobody is thinking anything bad about you at all. Just get back out there and keep flying, before you know it you'll be the one helping new pilots with the same type of problem.

Ken

I feel your pain. Had to fight messed up trims a few times.
Some tips I discuss when I am working with new folks in my club

1. On any problem, reduce throttle immediately to just enough to maintain minimum climb.
This will take a lot of the urgency out of the problem. Of all things, this is most often forgot, but simplest fix

2. Once slowed down, anaylize the problem step by step. What is the airplane doing? Roll? Pitch? Yaw?
I realize on a high wing trainer type rudder also gives roll. So what was likely happening was you were holding
opposite aileron to counter the trim induced yaw, causing the airplane to side slip as it climbed. This would give the mushy feeling.
Hopefully with the speed off you could tell if it is trying to toll or yaw and input correct trim.


3. Preflight! Cannot stress this one enough. In my days of non computer radios and manual trims I finally forced
myself into a prefight routine to verify control direction and overall centering. More part of an overall "get my brain in
flying mode" than a case of expecting controls to have reversed, etc....
Now I have a larger issue that preflight takes care of. Using a computer radio such as my Futaba 9CAFS, I have the capability
to store 36 models. I actually have about 14 that are flight capable. Add in pretty much everything I fly has dual aileron servos and sometimes flaps
that must be properly plugged in.
After losing a brand new U-Can-Do to reversed aileron travel (I mislabled the aileron extensions I leave plugged into receiver when
I finished initial setup and disassembly), and catching myself with the start shaft in my Raptor heli with the radio set on Funtana90, I
now have a pretty rigid preflight routine.
Before every flight
- check that radio is on correct channel assignment before turning on, and I have frequency pinned on freq. control board
- Power up radio and verify model name matches what I am planning to fly
- Verify elevator, rudder and ailerons move in correct direction. (This sounds too stupid to actually need to be checked, but doing this
would have saved my U-Can-Do, as the reversed servo plugs caused opposite aileron travel). For heli, add in check throttle/collective mixing working and
gyro coming up in heading hold mode
- Verify all contols are centered, or have correct offset for trimming that model
- Verify low rates/take off rates are set on radio, and any other mixes I do not want on take off are de-selected, such as elevator/flap,
rudder/elevator and such.
- verify throttle in proper start position
- Start engine and hopefully not have to tune.
- Verify control movement while engine running, just to sort out vibration induced issues.


4. Protecting your radio. Does not matter if it is a non computer 4 channel, or a high end computer radio, a transmitter case saves a lot of problems.
My Dad has been flying as long as I have, and still throws his radios in back of the Yukon with the planes. I have watched him fight trim issues
just like you.

5. Digital trims! Someone else already mentioned, but as you progress, go to a computer radio with digital trims. I thgink the Hitec Optic 6
is a fantastic radio for the price, and these days the 9C is getting pretty affordable as well.

Glad you got it back in one piece


jim

I had an interesting one just about a week ago. Got to the the field and found that my RX switch had been bumped on in transit. Since is is only a 10 min drive from home I knew I should be OK to fly a couple of times w/o trouble and there were only 2 of us on field and no ESV. On the second flight as the plane gained distance it began to act strange and I immediately brought it back and landed. It flew OK in close. When I got back to the pits I also could not remember for a FACT if I had ever extended my antenna or not nor could the other guy. 2 possible goofs in one day, time to go home for sure. Didn't even check the batteries when I got home, just put it all on charge to be sure.

we all have off days,doesn't matter if your state of mind is good or that you had a normal day/days leading up to going to the field.why the heck is that?it is reassuring to know that everyone at one time or other has them too..........i used to think maybe it is bad karma,or that one kid that put a curse on me that day 40 years ago for teasing...lol.there is nothing more disheartening to get to the field and find out that your transmitter is sitting where you left it just inside the garage door where you put things to remind yourself to take to the field,and worse that the field is almost 40 miles away.you just look at your buddies and say OH I'm not gonna fly today cause i forgot to charge my transmitter,and they say i have a quick charger so you whisper to them i left my radio at home,they very LOUDLY say hey guys dippy left his radio at home good for a few laughs.i did purchase a computer radio they make life so much easier...happy flying

Why can't they make a radio that will remember to charge itself or jump in the car on it's own?

I think the only "curse" I ever saw actually work was the "mother's curse". You know the one. It goes something like this. "I hope that when you grow up and have children of your own they act just like you do" Well I have 2 grown daughters and they sure did/do still act like I used too, especially the oldest. When the oldest would spend time with my mother when she was younger Mom would say that it was like having me home again....Poor Mom, she had to deal with 2 of me over the years YIKES

No worries jbracing, it happens allot more than most people will admit too.

Don't sweat it jbracing... the only people who haven't done something similar are the people who have not flown more than a few times....

... it won't be the first or last time... just wait until you try flying with the wrong airplane selected in your computer radio [:@] .... or with the ailerons reversed [:@] .... or with the ailerons just not plugged in []....

...but of course, I'm only speaking hypothetically. I've never, ever done any of those....

Try firing up your P-51, flying the snot out of it for 10 min and land, only to find out you never removed the glow driver![X(]

Thanks for the replies, felt better after each post I read!

Hey !!! if you don't make a mistake, you must not be doing anything !!!! ENJOY !!! RED