in light of the how many planes can you fit in your car thread, im wondering what the average crash rate is for the standard modeler.

the definition of a "crash" is (for standardization, because everyone has their own view of what a crash is)
light crash = break prop, landing gear pop off (if useing nylon bolts) or landing gear rip out if useing metal bolts, overshoot the runway and land in the corn/beans/road/ect but doing little damage. in essence a light crash is just a bad landing
crash = damaged covering from landing in corn/beans/ect (overshoot the runway and mess up your plane), breaking of wings/tail surfaces/fuse/ect. a crash is where the plane comes home in more than one piece, but is still reconizable as a plane, and requires rebuilding/covering work.
total anniliation = plane comes home w/ about half the the material that it went to the field. a crash such as this often destroys the engine/radio/servo's ect, the plane is no longer reconizable and looks more like a pile of sticks and covering (aka firewood)

for me i have a light crash about once a month (every 2 gallons)
a crash about once a year, ive had 2 since i started w/ nitro planes, had a ton when i was flying was teaching myself to fly with little electrics.
no total anniliation crashes yet (knock on wood)
my first crashed resulted in the replacement of my spad trainer's pvc fuse. i had just gotten a computer radio and was messing w/ dual rates, forgot i had the low rates on and went to do a roll about 50 feet above the ground, got about halfway around before i nosed it in around half throttle, inverted, a 10 buck repair and easy fix.
the second crash was w/ a gp rapture, i got it in a really flat spin (for the first time) when i realized i needed to get out of it it just didnt, i knew how to get out of a stall spin but not a flat spin...tried a whole bunch of things before it spiraled into the runway 20 feet infront of me and 20 other people. resulted in the distruction of the right wing and part of the fuse, i repared and its flying better than ever, cost about 15 bucks w/ covering

I have gear train failures that lead to crashes if high frequency vibration isn't isolated. Mounting servos in Shoe Goop seems to help.

High freq [30,000+ rpm 2 strokes] can also crack solder traces prematurely...which also leads to more crashing than flying your 12,000 rpm type of stuff.

At well over 200 feet per second a cracked trace on a RX power buss can cause a plane to fly straight to China.

flying 200 mph stuff your bound to get in trouble way more often that the 60-100 mph sports planes

I am self taught from the start, however I started with small electrics and had alot of hits. However I was always able to fix them up with a little tape.LOL.

When I went to nitro I would fly about 15 to 20 flights a week for about two years before I had my first damage of any type with nitro. By this time I was flying P-51, several bi-wings, sig 4*, etc...... and my first crash was with my first plane ever, NextStar. Hows that happen???????? Anyway that crash was a total lost.

To date I have two crashes under my belt and both went to the trash can.

I have been flying since I was 14, full scale and model, about the time I get comfortable with a model and start doing something stupid is the point that I crash. That being said, I have gone through 10 planes in the last 30 years, some have come in with no landing gear, cartwheel on takeoff or landing... about every 6 months expect a crash. If you don't crash, its because you are not flying. The crashes are just part of the game. There all kinds of things that can go wrong, battery failure (flying too long or lack of a good charge) broke servo gears (pushing everything too hard) radio interference, (flying when/where you should not), and the list goes on and on. With my first plane, CG eagle 56, it weighed 9.3 pounds (with a supertigre .40 abc) and I finally got tired of taking the whole runway to get it airborne. It also depends a lot on how and what you fly.
dan

I really don't fly often when compared to many on rcu..But when I do I usually don't put my more scalish/bigger planes in much danger.. That being said i seldom take home my small foamy until I break it That way I get to enjoy some mellow flights, and live dangerously !

My wife thinks every time I fly

Broke a few props, but have never crashed.

By far.....flying 3D down low with small models that don't have the greatest power to weight numbers is when I crash the most. On the plus side, it's usually just the rudder servo that gets hurt.....3D crashes tend to be tail first.

Over the past 5 years involved with RC, I have only annihilated 2 planes - a small electric foamy I tried to learn on, and my Kadet Senior, thanks to a tree that I was in front of.

Minor crashes, only a few - I cartwheeled my CG Anniversary Cub last time out, but no damage (should have been paying attention to the wind on takeoff...), and broke the prop a few times learning to fly a taildragger. 

I have landed off field a few times trying to perfect deadsticks. No damage there either!

I need to crash a few models soon - models are taking over the house ! ! !

I have had 2 major annilation crashes and about 6-10 crashes, (I think, I don't keep that great of record) in my 4 years of flying and learning to fly. I also don't get to spend that much time at the field.

I have actually crashed, beyond repair, two aircraft. I've dinged several props, pushed the landing gear in on my trainer, and forgot to raise the antenna on my 72 MHz electric powered, but when it came down, it only had minor damage. I landed several long, ending up in the tall grass, or forced a landing that would have been better off just going around and trying again.

I firmly believe that instruction with an instructor using the buddy box has saved many, many crashes. Of course, there are the initial, infantile type of crashes that don't occur because the instructor saves the day, and then there are the numerous crashes that are saved because, during proper training, the instructor teaches emergency procedures that most self taught only learn the hard way.

Everyone will ding a prop or two, or make a hard landing, or as previously said, make a bad judgement on a landing that they should have gone around on, but that comes with experience with or without an instructor, but ususally quicker with the help of an instructor.

CGr.

Istarted flying in July. Did the buddy box thing with a .40 sized trainer and soloed in two long days. In August, I got a Tiger II and had a flyaway with it after about three weeks. I'm rebuilding it now. Got a GP Ugly Stik .40, destroyed it on the third flight, wood and covering flying everywhere. Bought an Escapade in late September and lost it to a radio glitch (Don't use metal connector on the throttle arm.) Bought another one, as Ireally liked the way it flew. I flew that one for about a month then landed it short in the bean field, total loss. Was back to flying the trainer. I was flying a low approach and pushed the throttle up, the engine sped up and the airplane started to climb out. It then abruptly rolled over on it's back and nosed in hard. Toothpicks! Retired the futaba 72mHz radio and went with 2.4 GHz

A guy at the club gave me an old .25 sized trainer which I flew for a month while completing my Extra. The Extra flies really nice, but it didn't like low and slow on final, ripped the gear out. That's fixed and I also have a pseudo-pattern plane, the Seabee, which Ireally like too. I'm being more careful flying these now, I'm tired of losing airplanes. Ialso have a Relvolver, which a buddy maidened for me. It's really nice, but Iwon't fly it until I get better at it, as it's REALLY fast.

In six months, I put together 8 airplanes and and crashed 6 of them. NOW, I'm ready for my "wear them out" phase. lol

I have lots of light crashes. Learning 3d is best done down low, that way the damage is minimal.

If I can get through a whole season without a total annilation crash or three, I'm either:

- Not flying as often as I would like.
- Incapacitated.
- Penniless.


I rarely get broken props or break landing gear on hard landings nowadays.

Most of my crashes are due to pushing things too hard, pre-flight mistakes, or being too far out and not listening to the timer beeping.

When I was flying regularly I probably averaged a hard landing or 2 a month but no complete destruction. It has been awhile since I destroyed anything. I took a few year break from the hobby but when i got back into it about 3 years ago I started out with SPAD's to keep it cheap. I destroyed a few of those just being stupid and abusing them but as I got more serious into the hobby I worked really hard to improve my reflexes and hone my flying skills. I can't tell you how many touch and go's, intentional dead sticks, and basic maneuver practices I have done. It really does help though. i think one of the most neglected parts of our hobby is the art of landing and energy management. I can't tell you how many times I have watched people take off and do amazing maneuvers and put on quite a show but then have to make 3 passes for llanding then end up trying to force the plane on the runway and end up in the weeds. Most crashes i have seen have been on landing or deadstick, when people dont properly manage their energy.

Sorry to get on a soapbox. it just amazes me how the most dangerous protion of the flight is also the most neglected.

tell me about it, a lot of people really dont know how to land, most get the model down in one piece but if you put a fueljug in the middle of the runway and tell someone to hit it while landing i will bet most couldnt do it.,
a lot dont know how to takeoff either, which isnt as critical because we throw huge engines in our models which will pull us out of our horrible takeoff manuvers.
today i went to the field only to find between 1 and 6 inches of snow, it drifts so its all over the place (no snow at my house, it all melted), i just connected a few of the flatter spots together to make a runway 8 feet wide and 75 feet long (wingspan is 5 feet so that only gives me 1.5 feet on each side before i hit the shoveled snow) . maidened a ultraport 60 today useing that runway. was flying my gp fapture on half that runway before i cleared it for the ultrasport.. most people couldnt even get close to the tiny runway i was landing on, granted their was little wind. i can fly pattern and 3d ok, not great but ok im still learning the complex menuvers (rolling harrier/circle/ect). the one thing i can do is land, engine on, deadstick, no elevator servo,ect. i program my tx so my slider switch is flaps/spoilerons so i can flip it up and down very quick thus i dont need elevator the ailerons will get the plane down, i have practiced this in case of emergency, 3d planes are very easy to do it with, the regular sports models are a lot harder but its doable.
the key to landing is practice, put an empty fuel jug on the runway and practice hitting it, once you can get it 4/5 times your getting good, , use a small engine for your plane to understand how slow the plane can actually fly (learn to fly the plane not engine the plane), and learn to read all the signs the airplane is giving you when its stalling/ect

In 10 years of flying ...
One spectacular midair collision resulting in the airframe being converted to wood chips and confetti.
About six severe but repairable crashes, three by dumb thumbs, one by battery failure, one by a servo failure and another midair.
Countless minor crashes that were easily repaired.

Crashing and repairing is just part of the hobby.

I've been flying for over 38 years and I have crashed more planes than I can remember. Most early crashes was due to the AM radios we had back then. Other crashes were due to testing the upper speed limits, stress testing, and designing of my own planes.

I'm one of the people who can take alot of planes (4 or more - 2 .40 size and 2+ .60 size) to the field at once. I've been doing that now for about 2 years. I'm actually only 7-10 minutes from the field (which is huge) so I can get alot of flying in during any given day. Thankfully in that same time frame (2 years), every airplane has returned home in one piece with no crashes. Now the 60 size hangar 9 planes have had issues with the landing gear. But they usually never make it off the ground when the field is rough because I can't even taxi without a nose over or the gear getting stuck in a rut. So they don't get a chance to crash because they never get off the ground :-).

Also, I have learned from that when my brain starts to fade or the flying starts to get sloppy it's time to call it quits. My rule is after 1 or 2 sloppy landings don't risk the last one being a crash where I go home with one less plane but a whole lot more parts. Not everyone at the field takes this philosophy so it adds to the fun :-)!!

I started RC flying in the late Spring last year for the first time ever. I had a few incidents short of the runway and was able to take off again without any damage. I only had one incident where I had to repair one of my planes and this was a low wing home-built sport plane. I was trying to learn how to do a touch-and-go and I did one successfully and was trying it a second time and my plane cartwheeled on me. It broke the fuse in half just in front of the tail, which fortunately was an easy fix and I was back again the next week. I since found the way the landing gear was mounted was my biggest issue trying to do touch-and-go's so I remounted a different type of landing gear and the plane is great performer now.

That is the only incident that required repair and I would consider a crash because of the repair involved. I have four planes that I fly frequently, a 60 size stick with a OS 91FX and three low wing sport planes - 55ax, 46ax, 46evo's. Sometimes I really wring them out and put them to the limit. I have been surprised how they have held up. I have dived my Pulse XT 40 out of a loop so hard I wondered how the wings stayed on it, but somehow they did. I would expect a crash would happen during high Gs but that is not the planes fault and not normal flying.

Some folks say they crash all the time and I don't know why that is unless there is mechanical problems and you are testing out jets or doing some crazy stuff with extra power, etc. In normal flying and sport flying if you are paying attention to what you are doing and everything is working as designed there is no reason to be crashing the planes. The only time that I even come close to crashing a plane is when I am flying exhausted and should stop. I have control problems then because it is hard to focus when you are extremely tired.

The only other times I came even close to crashing was when I had perception issues with one of my planes (a small white plane gets lost in the sky sometimes) was in the sun and when I had mechanical problems (aileron connector vibrating loose because I did not have it tight -user mistake).

We have a few guys at our field that have crashed almost every other time they are out there and each time when I look at the plane setup I think they have not gone over it good to make sure everything is working properly. [X(]

In 3 years I've had three total destructions (more common when you fly next to a big lake like we do), and 7 or 8 light crashes, mostly broken firewalls. I did do a cartwheel once that didn't do any damage, but I'm not counting it as a crash. Just a really entertaining landing.

Some great replies here...I can relate to all, but the best are the ones that talk about getting used to a given plane (or what I call getting bored) and just trying crazy stuff too manyy times. I know some great pilots and every one does this sometimes. Any decent flyer can stay safe and just cruise around, but that's no fun. And if you don't try risky manuevers, you don't grow. Mistakes are great (and sometimes expensive) teachers.

I've not crashed an airplane in over 20 years now. I pay close attention to detail on my airplanes to avert mechanical issues. I've come very close a few times. Last few were either radio failure or Folding wings during a hard pull. Last close call was a transmitter battery failure and took me a few seconds to figure out what the beeping was.

Heli's are a different matter all together. I keep plenty of crash repair parts around for those.

I fly a fair amount, at least one trip to the field every month and sometimes 3-4 times a week depending on weather.

We do have guys at our club that seem to crash every time they go out.

One guy at my club and I have been flying for 25 years together and I've seen him kill exactly one airplane in that time.

When I was learning I killed too many to count. It was fun, even with the crashes.

Way too often!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously, though....it depends on what I'm doing. I had a 40-sized stick (second plane, first after my trainer) and I did a lot of stupid stuff with that thing. I knocked the gear out of it (requiring epoxy) 5 times one day, and 3 times without needing epoxy. 9 flights, 8 times knocking the gear out.

A trend that I've recently picked up on, that a lot of people so far have alluded to, is the tendency to crash when you start pushing limits. I started flying with an instructor of sorts (he was someone that knew how to fly that flew beside me and would bail me out) and didn't crash until I started landing. Then I got comfortable, and didn't start crashing until I started getting goofy with basic aerobatics. Then I got comfortable and didn't start crashing again until I started trying 3D. Same thing happened with scale planes, fast planes, etc.

It really depends on the period, but I can go from crashing 8 times a day to once every several months. Recently, I have kind of lucked out. In my several attempts at being stupid with a helicopter (about 15 flights with a 450 clone for sale now), I only crashed once....and that's because I decided to stay inverted at 6" for a little too long and got slightly disoriented, and my rotor struck on the pushover. The last time I crashed a plane (not counting snap-rolling a wheel pant off) was trying to touch the tail while pulling out of a rolling harrier exit from an inverted flat spin, which was months ago. I'm knocking all over wood to not jinx myself because now I'm flying my pride and joy...but I've lucked out so far, because I'm only pushing it with PLENTY of altitude.

Look at it this way, the two people on here I recognize as pushing the limits mercilessly (opjose and combatpigg) are the two quickest to admit how often they crash. With that in mind, I've started pushing my limits with smaller planes (a sim, then a 16oz foamy, then a 40-sized electric) before I try it on the deck.

In my four and a half years of flying, I've DESTROYED 8 planes (one of which was fixed by an INCREDIBLE builder, and another is irreparable without adding too much weight). When I crash, I crash well .