I flew my Superstar 40 Friday morning and was having a blast...until I clipped a structure coming back towards to field against a stiff breeze. My depth perception failed me - I thought I was well past the structure when decending. The right wing caught and both wings flew off, while the fuse went down to the grass. The corner of the wing got broken off (a 2x2" triangle), and the front left side of the fuse came apart from the body, such that the firewall was loose.

Incredibly, other than a broken prop, everthing else survived, and Iwas able to rebuild. The wing took a lot of work as I had to cut away a 3x3" square on the corner and rebuild the frame and edges, then Monokote it. However, it turned out great, newly new looking. The front of the fuselage really just needed some 30 minute epoxy and clamping...the wood was all intact. I did have to cut back the Monokote and refinish it a bit.

Iwas very suprised that the motor is actually clamped down on the motor mount, rather than screwed on through the mouting holes on the motor. I'm not entirely certain that I have it put on again the right way, but everything seems to line up..

I took it out again today but not to fly, just to make sure that it is together well and to trim the LG and motor. So far so good, I think she's air worthy again! Famous last words...

Yeah, a lot of the new ARF's and RTF's use that clamp "feature" to install the engine. Just make it square with the motor mounts and you should be ok.

I was flying my Brio 10 Pattern Electric a while back, and was coming in for a landing. I was flying it in a large parking lot and figured I had it made. I had flown other electriccs there before so I was ok.. so I thought.

As I was making my approach, I flew over two trees and then cut the throttle to descend.. then wham.. I hit the branches that the two trees had entertwined in my flight path. I thought I was ok, but depth perception, as with you.... well, you get the picture. Only in my case, all I had left was a pile of broken balsa. It hit pretty hard, I imagine.

So, it happens. Take it in stride and continue on.

CGr.

The hardest part about a repair of any kind is just getting started. Glad you took the initiative to do it, and the persistance to get it done. I think fixing it helps to understand the crash better, and makes you mentally think of how to avoid it and how be more careful. It also makes you less afraid to take on repairs, or make adjustments to make your flights better! Keep up the good work!

Congrats on a successful rebuild..! Many would have ended up in the trash.

Looks like the rebuild was a success...I've had 3 flights since and it is flying well.

Here's a very stupid n00bie moment for you. I flew this morning and was getting a bit frustrated by the poor radio response of the airple...it was jerking around and hard to control. I darned near crashed it before I noticed - I HADN'T PULLED UP THE ANTENNA ON THE TRANSMITTER!!!!!!

As soon as I pulled it up I had great control again, but Holy Hannah what a stupid mistake! I could have easily had a fly away, or not pulled put from a dive, or (as I almost did) not been able to push the elevator during inverted flight! I was actually about 2' off the ground inverted before the elevator control responded enough that I could push it airborne again. I missed a barbed-wire fence by what looked like inches...</p>

It's all about the fun!

Now you just need to recharge your pacemaker!

im surprised you didnt have a heart attack
did you change your underwear yet?