Hi all. I wasn't sure where to post this, hopefully someone here can benefit from it.

Went to the field Monday. About 60 degrees and perfect flying conditions. It has been too hot for about 2 months straight now. Anyhoo, one of the other members has his scratch built 76" biplane out. He built it about 35 years ago and has a beautiful silk and paint finish. He can't/won't fly it, but he does like to see it fly. He made some aileron and tailwheel mods after another flyer took it up for him earlier.

He has a ST 90 w/13x6 prop. Sounds a little underpropped, but it is running fantastic. Mistake #1?? He asks me to taxi it to check the ground handling as it was real squirrly before. We do a radio check and find the flying surfaces going wacky with the engine at full throttle. That was with the radio near the airplane. The Tx has a short aftermarket anntena, so it can't be collapsed. With the radio away from the plane, everything looks good. That was mistake #2?? Not knowing/trusting the radio.

Ground handling is still a bit squirrly, but I manage to run it straight down the runway a few times. After letting the tailwheel come up, The plane is getting light and gets airborne. I chop the throttle both times and let it settle down. It's looking good so far. So now the owner wants me to get it in the air and he is chomping at the bit to see this fly.

We check the battery, looks adequate. Mistake #3?? Check fuel level, OK. Fire it up and get lined up for take-off. Another straight run down the runway. I let the tailwheel come up and feed in more throttle. Airplane doesn't seem to be accelerating at the rate I am hoping for. Lift off is nice and smooth again, looking good. Now it is climbing and building speed.

All of a sudden it rolls hard right ~ 100 degrees! I bang the ailerons full left and get it leveled. Without any elevator input, it snaps into verticle climb. I feed in down elevator to get leveled out. All I can think of now is get it on the ground. I have no trust in the radio at this point, felt it best to land way out in the field.

Pull the throttle back and nothing happens. Go to full throttle and back to idle, I pull the throttle trim all the way back. After what seems like forever, the engine dies. I am feeling helpless at this point. Had maybe 30' altitude heading straight into the wind, plane looks like it is just hanging there. Now I am thinking stall. I get the nose pointed down a little, coming down OK. Looks like it is going to land in a wind break. Gets lower and lower, start to think of flairing. Now it is a ways out there and judging the flair is tough. The plane hits and flips onto it's back. I am feeling so sick now.

We drive over to pickup the carnage. It's not looking too bad. Landing gear on right side bent up, but that is about all. Now I am feeling better. We get to looking it over and see the left aileron loose. One of the hinges had pulled loose. When it came out of the wing, it deflected causing the roll to the right. The nyrod came loose from the all thread. So the aileron was completely loose and floppy. Mistake 4, not tugging the control surfaces.

We got real lucky yesterday. Sorry for the long post. Hopefully someone may benefit from it, I know I learned a lot.

Cleaning my shorts, MikeB

Mike,
What caused it to pitch straight up and the throttle to quit responding? It sounds like more than just a loose aileron. []

You say that the surfaces went crazy when you did a full throttle radio check, because you were "too close". That should make absolutely no difference whatsoever. ANY time that you see the surfaces going crazy before a flight that is a NO GO situation period. You need to find a definitive cause before you take off. The transmitters proximity to the airplane makes no difference or it least it should not. If it does something is wrong. You should be able to put the transmitter right next to the plane with the antenna extended and it should remain rock solid. I do it everytime I fly without issue.
I am not being critical, I just wanted to emphasize that those things were not "normal". When that happens something is wrong and you should not fly.

Hey Mike,
I'm convinced the plane has a radio problem also. The owner said the plane was being 'swamped' by the TX. The TX has a short antenna and I have never seen them used before. During the preflight, with the engine at full throttle- the control surfaces had a mind of their own. When I walked about 10' away, I now had control. It happened only at full throttle. I did tell the owner he has a definate radio problem, he doesn't agree. Mistake/lesson #5- Don't let someone else convince you it is OK when it is questionable.

No criticizm taken, hope others may benefit.

MikeB

Make sure the Rx is padded. The vibrations at full throttle may be confusing the crystal

Rule number #1) Never fly someone else's aircraft that I can't replace!! An old Trainer that belongs to someone else would be about the only exception to rule#1. I have friends constantly trying to pass off their radio to me when they have a high-dollar plane in the air. I promptly tell them thanks, but NO THANKS! I just couldn't handle it if something really bad happened while I was the one holding the radio. You said it yourself, "I am feeling so sick now".
I don't want to ever experience what you felt when that plane first went in!! I'm glad for you that it turned out the way it did, it could have been much, much worse.[:@]

I'll suggest the padding idea. Rule #1 sounds good to me also. I told him he would have to get another pilot, I don't want to go through that again.
Thanks, MikeB

Whenever I maiden a plane for someone I always give the plane a thorough pre-flight until I am satisfied that everything I can see is satisfactory. Even then I make sure the owner understands that I take NO responsibility for damages caused due to faults in the plane that turn up in the maiden. If it's pilot error, that's another story. But if he hands you a piece of crap, he gets back a pile of crap. I have been fortunate so far, only one with minor damage because a wheel came off during landing. A couple of scarey ones though.

I do not mind flying someone elses plane at all. However, there are a few rules that I play by.
1. If they ask me to fly their plane but do not directly assume responsibility, I tell the person if you want me to fly it, I am not responsible for what happens up front. It's not being rude but there is a lot of money involved so if they are wanting me to fly it, its on their nickel. I just want to be upfront. They never get offended.[8D]
2. I know my limits and I stay WELL within them.
3. If everything on the ground does not indicate that the plane is in PERFECT flying condition I will not fly it.

So often I want a friend to enjoy flying my plane and I want to put their mind at ease so they can relax and fly.
Here is how I handle it when I am handing MY transmitter to someone else. 1 rule, 1 statement.
I say as I hand the transmitter; "Here buddy, I want you to fly my plane. Take it and have a ball. No matter what happens I will not hold you responsible. If you crash its most likely its going to be due to equipment failure or just bad luck. Either way I am willing to assume all responsibilty so just enjoy yourself."
When I do this, I do not care if they intentionally point it nose down and fly it into the ground, I said what I said and I will stick by it no matter what. No caviots.

You might think I am crazy, but its my plane and my risk to assume. This is not only something I do, but something that has been said to me many, many, many, MANY times. I would never do this with someone if I did not have a very high level of confidence that they would bring my plane home safely. I have never crashed anyone else's plane, and I have never had mine crashed. The only time I ever saw a problem was about 4 years ago, two friends were switching off with an LT40. On one flight the guy who did not own the plane was doing a rolling circle and the wing came off in flight. The plane went straight in and shattered into 1000 pieces. The owner reaffirmed that he was more than willing to take the risk and re assured the other guy that it was ok. It turned out the the wingbolts block was not secured in and had pulled out. No big deal, it was going to happen eventually regardless.

Those are the rules I play by in this situation and they have not failed me yet.

A point of view from the other side.
If I ask someone to fly my plane I know that person is a skilled pilot. I do assume the risk myself because I am sure that any problems will be a result of problems with the plane and not the fault of the pilot (it would have crashed if I had flown it myself anyway)
Glad to hear the damage was not too bad.

WMB,
Glad to hear the plane survived. Servos twitching can be a variety of things; low battery, bad crystal, antenna wire too close to a metal rod, receiver bad, transmitter bad, engine vibration, or interferance from another transmitter or other power source. This can be a nerve racking matter. I would be curious to hear if you discover what the issue actually turnes out to be. Good luck.

I have had problems with radios acting weird when the transmitter is within a foot or so of the reciver antenna but all the problems go away with just a foot of extra distance and they test out fine too 100+ feet with antenna down. no glitches in the air. I think the radio can be swamped at extreme closeness but if it is still swamped at more then 3 feet you have a serious problem