Beginner mistake
 

As I am a beginner and I made this mistake. I choose to call it a beginners mistake rather than just plain stupidity.

Allow me to set the scene:
I took my boys flying yesterday for the first time since last fall. THey had lost interest over the winter but I cleverly purchased Real Flight G2 figuring they would see it as a video game and it worked. They are raring to fly. I took my 12 year old up first. It was fairly windy but steady and I took off with no problem. Another guy helped get the buddy box trimmed and my son did very well. THe simulator helped a lot. As a reward for flying several consecutive circuits under good control I let him try a loop. No problem but ran out of gas at the bottom of the loop. Also no problem. Plenty of altitude and I dead sticked it in gently right on the runway. The boys wanted to see me fly my Phaeton, which I have only flown once. I soloed three weeks ago and have flown only twice since then. I should not even be flying the quick little bipe let alone on a windy day. With the nice dead stick landing inflating my ego, I got the plane ready. I spent some time setting up dual rates so I would have a more gentle take off and landing. It is pretty twitchy on the ground. I taxied a bit and ran onto the grass an flipped over. Changed the split prop. Tried it again. When I gunned the engine for take off, it started veering and I got into an over controlled oscillation from side to side. I should have throttled back but I didn't. I took off, winged over and did two cartwheels. Crunched the fiberglass cowl and creased the horizontal stabilizer. Broke another prop. OK, other than flying a plane I should only be looking at for now and flying it in too much wind, the big problem was... any guesses...?

I had set up dual rates perfectly. I neglected to set the rates to low on take off! No wonder the thing was darting all over the place. The rudder throw was as far as it would go without hitting the elevator.

I promise to always check the rate switches prior to take off from now on! I will also put a number of hours on the trainer and the fourstar before the phaeton leaves the hanger again.

Jeff - repairing the Phaeton - Chumley

Beginner mistake
 

Thanks for the post! It's just another case of "Manure Happens", but it just goes to show (especially to beginners) that there are SOOOOO many things that can go wrong. I hope it's not too bad.

Beginner mistake
 

In future try SMART ;) :

S - switched on
M - meter showing battery is good
A - antenna extended
R - Rates set ?
T - Trims set ?

Not mine, I stole it from the BMFA (British equivalent of AMA) handbook but it's saved me a couple of times.

Now I have a radio with multiple model memories I've also learned that when I check the controls I have to check not only that they waggle around but also that they go in right direction. Don't ask how I learned it.....

Steve

Beginner mistake
 

I think you caught the error yourself ... beginners need to learn to shut things down when the takeoff roll gets out of control. I've seen many planes torn up, exactly as you've described, when people "go for it" instead of shutting things off early. A "tank slapper", is only one instance. Another is when a crosswind "weather vanes" your plane severely before it has flying speed. Or, your motor suddenly starts running erratically before your plane has flying speed. Any of these situations can be catastrophic if you don't shut down and recover the plane while you still have the opportunity. Errors close to the ground are worse than errors at 3 mistakes high!

Live long, and prosper
Jerry L. Gubka