RE: How long does a model last with a good pilot?
 

a good model with a good pilot, i reakon 15 years+

RE: How long does a model last with a good pilot?
 

sofar i have discontinued 3 planes, they all sucked, it wasent my fault

RE: How long does a model last with a good pilot?
 

One of the better pilots at my club crashes about every 2 weeks. He flies profiles and is very good. He buys them 3 or 4 at a time anticipating crashing them. I think it depends more on the style of flying. If you just loaf around and never try anything, you won't crash often.

RE: How long does a model last with a good pilot?
 

Depends if she is a "super" model and if the Pilot is commercial, private, or corporte. LOL

Sorry, I have been wanting to post this for several days now. I finally gave into my temptation.

RE: How long does a model last with a good pilot?
 

It also depends on how you treat your airframe. I have a Ultra Stick .40 with a MDS .58 in it. I like the inverted snap rolls too much. My wing mount header has been rebuilt 3 times, with thicker and thicker ply. My wing was held on with the nylon screws the last time I set it down, and the horizontal Stab had broken lose, and was held on by the covering alone. I was luck to have landed it, but it is now on the wall, as a trophy. I plan on beafing up a Ulra Stick .60 with a Super Tigre .90 and a onboard Camera. Any suggestions on Hardware upgrades, reenforcements, and what not?


Edit, the Ultra Stick was less then a year old, but it went through complete and utter hell, and I flew it there and back, few other planes could have handled the G-Force that I applied to that bird. My Freestyle couldn't hack it, broke the wing mount clean out.

RE: How long does a model last with a good pilot?
 

This is a great thread! I particularly enjoyed Mhale's comment a few posts ago! Ha!

My philosophy, regarding the two questions I've seen :

1. It's okay to get attached to the plane. Just be prepared to mourn its demise.

2. It's okay to try to salvage engines & radio gear from the smoking hulk. However, do a bunch of checking and testing before actually using the items in a fresh plane!

One more comment, I was reading somebody's post recently, and a guy said he has a plane he built about 30 years ago. I believe he said it requires replacement of the Monocote on top of the wing, about every 15 years, due to embrittlement from sunshine.

Good luck!
Dave Olson

RE: How long does a model last with a good pilot?
 

I have 2 that are 12 yrs old, 2 that are 10 yrs old, one 8 yr old, 2 that are 2 yrs old & I crashed another one 4 times this year (same plane). Depends on how you hold your mouth & whether the moon is full.

RE: How long does a model last with a good pilot?
 

Untill it crashes:D:D

RE: How long does a model last with a good pilot?
 

bryris ,

Another thing to consider is once you have built your plane make sure you get the controls going the correct way and that the CG is correct.

I know when I first started flying I didn't really know which way the ailerons should go and my instructor didn't check them either. That was a interesting flight for him.

And on the GC, if the plane is tail heavy the maiden flight will be very short. Trust me on this.