erm... i had my first solo flight today... sorta


me, my dad and my brother turned up at the flying feild today but found it deserted, but we decided to have a go anyway (im on my 3rd lesson and can land, takeoff, do circuits e.t.c) so i started it up, checked the linkages, taxied down to the airstrip, throttled up and away it went, i flew it around for about a minute then the engine dropped to idle and died, i dropped the nose and banked to the left to bring it round into a steep dive to loose some altitude and gain some speed (so as not to stall it or bring it down too hard), i was just about to pull it up and glide it into the long grass and suddenly it hits a tree (which i thought i was well infront of) and then Cartwheels into a hedgerow

my brother stands behind me saying "i heard a crunch!" and i just stand there, turn off the transmitter, retract the antenna and calmly say "... stupid tree..."

anyway, we walk over to the hedgerow and its wedged a good metre or so in, my brother tries to climb into the bush but its full of thorns, so we go around and try to retrive it from the other side of the bush, we managed to climb amongst the stinging nettles and whatnot and my dad retrived it, brought it back to the road infront of the hedge and tried to figure out what happened...

there was no damage atall, a bit of dirt and shredded leaves in the carb, a little hole in the wing, a few marks and a bent wheel axle but nothing serious. when we got home i checked all the servos, linkages, airframe and ran the engine (which was a bit rich but running fine) and straightened out the wheel axle.

so i did fly... just didnt land as i had wanted... should be flying again this thursday

- Foamy

Errr, well done.
In my book it counts as a solo, ok, not the best solo in the history of the world, but a solo never the less.
One tip, if you have any doubt as to the distance out an object is compared to your plane, keep some daylight between the model and the object. While you can see daylight, you can't hit it. Fly to the right or left or over the object.

Next time out you'll miss that tree.

i couldnt climb else i would stall the plane and then i would be in serious trouble :P

still, i was in full control i just didnt know i was that close to the tree...

If it makes you feel any better a mate of mine with about 20 years experience recently clipped a tree branch with his turbine powered F22.
It flew on OK but when he landed it had leaves in the FOD guard.(A mesh thing over the turbine opening to keep dirt out)
It can happen to anyone.

And you are right to maintain airspeed, good flying.

well all of the trees by our flying field are either past the roads or past our field boundries by far, so i dont ever have to worrie about trees there.
but the other day the same thing happened to me on the flight that i was going to solo on. i did my first takeoff ever and flew it around for about 2 minutes and the engine died. my dad took over on the buddy box though and he just barely missed the pits on the dead stick landing. the wheels were almost touching and the wing was completely over the pits fence. but lucky we were the only ones there. Man i wanted to land the dead stick, it would have been my first solo.