I had an incident last weekend where I selected an airplane that I hadn't flown for a while a Sukhoi 31 programed in on my DX7. Everything looked great, control check, engine idle great, taxi went well. So I took off!!!! Boy what a handful I had!!!! Yikes, GRRRRRRRRR!!!

Once I got the airplane back on the ground trying to figure out what happened........... I finally discovered that perhaps I had intended to made some changes on the TX to the settings , but didn't finish. Perhaps I got interrupted in my task meaning to return to programming, but that didn't happen??????? WHO KNOWS??? It was an exciting flight with a very quick airplane getting it back on the ground safely was a little nerve racking.

Pre-Flight your radio to make sure everything is correct before taking off. I'm going to go step further with making a notebook of what each airplane's settings should be. Lesson learned![]

Food for thought!

Steve, I did the same thing. I was playing with air brakes and gave up. I even made a test plane on the TX so I could fall back. I just forgot to switch back to the good setup. Normal checkout was good. Off I went. I proabably was up four or five minute when the plane went nuts. I got it down in one piece, but it was pure luck, skill had nothing to do with it. I got it back to the bench and tuned things on again and both ailerons were up about 10 degrees. I bumped a slider setup to activate the brakes and I gotta tell you, the plane didn't like it one bit.

Don

Steve.. distractions can be costly. Several years ago, I was reloading for some piston competition in California. I got distracted by a phone call. I was using a Dillon 550 progressive reloader loading up .45 ACP's. When I finished, I had 500 rounds ready, some for practice and some for the competition.

Well, during the practice, I squeezed off the third round of a 5 round magazine and all hell broke loose. The bottom of the magazine flew off, the slide went to half-cock, and the half of the grip that my fingers were wrapped around broke off on the free side.

When I took a look, I saw that the empty cartridge shell was still in the battery, but there was a hole in the bottom of the shell the exact shape of the pressure relief slot (safety slot built into the bottom of the rear of the barrel).

As it turned out, I was using 3.7 grains of Bullseye for my normal load. When the phone rang, I had already charged the cartridge. When I came back, I re-charged the cartridge. So, I had 7.4 grains of Bullseye. Not a good combination. Fortunately, the Colt Goldcup was not damaged in the process. I was lucky. That pressure relief built in the barrel saved the very expensive handgun.

So, it happens in all sorts of disciplines. Just a reminder that we are human and will make mistakes. The best thing we can do is be diligent when we are flying, preparing to fly, or preparing to do anything that is inherently, or somewhat dangerous.

CGr.

Reminds me of an acronym I learned long ago ... far, far, away ...

That is CATS

C = check control surface movement is appropriate
A = check that antenna is extended
T = check throttle works (ie. engine is running properly)
S = check that all transmitter switches are in the appropriate places.

I fly with both a Futaba Super 8, and a Futaba 9 CAP with multiple planes on each transmitter. I think "CATS" before each and every flight before I launch down the runway. It has saved my bacon several times.

Live long, and prosper
Jerry L. Gubka

same thing last sunday. to viedo flying sight threw plan up in air, it is foam plane. woundered why it went straight to pavement. when got back to bench checked settings on transmitter had about 6 notches of downtrim. straight to ground noway to get to upelevaor stick