NOVA maiden and crash
 

Stupid is, as stupid does! finally maidened the Nova today, something told me when I got up this morning not to fly. I do not fully understand the prgraming of the DX7, but that is not what made me crash. I let one of the instructors maiden the Nova. Got the engine tuned in, and off into the air it went, and rolled left right into the ground. Neither of us mentioned a range check, nor did we notice that the ailerons were reversed. The plane did exactly what it thought it should do. With the ailerons reversed, right sitck made it roll left right into the ground. My fault no doubt. I was too concerned about trying to figure out expo, duel rates etc, on the DX7 to pay attention to the basic setup. Anyway minimal damage, will get up again this week sometime. I was (still) frustrated to say the least, I feel extremely STUPID!!!!

RE: NOVA maiden and crash
 

Hey Bill
Are you sure you are not an army guy:D:D:D:D:D

RE: NOVA maiden and crash
 

Hmmm, and just what do you mean by that???? http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/js/f...wink_smile.gif

Bill,
If it helps, there's a large part of us "verteran pilots" that have done exactly the same thing!!So don't be so hard on yourself. The nice thing about doing this is thatIcan pretty much assure you that you will NEVER do it again!!!Because after you do it once you will be paranoid and check EVERYtime you get ready to fly. In fact, after Idid this I started doing a quick control surface check whileI'm on the runway before Iapply power to take off!!!

Ken

RE: NOVA maiden and crash
 

Kind of fault your instructor as well he should have checked everything prior to flight.

RE: NOVA maiden and crash
 

Yep, we've all (well, most of us) been there.

Don't wait till you're out on the runway. ALWAYS do a stick check just before you taxi away.

RE: NOVA maiden and crash
 

Sorry it was just an inside joke that didn't do well.

RE: NOVA maiden and crash
 

I know, I was joking with you right back!!!!! that's why I gave the wink!!!

Ken

RE: NOVA maiden and crash
 

There is a story from an event that Mike and covered last year that might help you feel a bit better. We were covering a LARGEfly-in event and there was a pilot there that had a beautiful F-100 jet. Fully detailed out and a true masterpiece. Easily had to cost $20,000. The pilot spent close to 45 minutes prepping the plane to fly, all the while the crowd (and us press)were getting excited to see it fly. Finally he fired it up and taxied out. Applied full thrust and rocketed down the runway. Lifted gently off the runway and then (yep, you guessed it) it rolled right over and crashed back into the runway at full power. After all that prep the pilot had the ailerons reversed!!!

My point, it does happen to a lot of us. But like I said, you will only ever do that ONCE!!!!!

Ken

RE: NOVA maiden and crash
 

Thanks all, only real damage was the rear wing bolt mount. Little epoxy and some silk and it willbe good as new. You are correct, I will not make that mistake again!! Man a 20 K jet. Whew, now that would make me cry:D Need to fly more and work less, maybe more sleep as well.

RE: NOVA maiden and crash
 

Billd, here is the SILLY but effective way I check the ailerons before taking off....


Standing behind the plane, everything turned on I say to myself in my head (as though I was talking to the plane)

"Which way are you going to go?" and when I move the stick, the hand/aileron that lifts up is the direction it will go...so as Long as I move the stick right and it raises its right HAND :D all is well...

I honestly try to do a full control check every flight, you can do it in seconds....

RE: NOVA maiden and crash
 

although the dx7 doesnt have this problem, but the rest of us sometimes forget to change the model between planes, a simple control check is all that is needed.

RE: NOVA maiden and crash
 

Bill,

Sorry to hear that !


Did you confirm the reversal theory ?

Could it have been adverse yaw ? Rotating
before obtaing flying speed ?

PPPPPP,

Bob

RE: NOVA maiden and crash
 

yep, I confirmed it. Definitely reversed.

RE: NOVA maiden and crash
 

Hey Bill, sorry to hear about that. I did something.. sort of had a brain f@rt one day.. it was with my Venus 40 pattern plane.. sort of a pattern trainer if there is such a thing.

I had been flying it several times that day, and the wind was picking up. Well, I was ready to fly, perhaps the 5th or 6th flight that day when I lined it up, added throttle, it began to vane to the right with the wind, I used a little reverse rudder, pulled on the elevator and up it went.. about three feet off the ground, it started to yaw to the right headed toward the flight line. Well, I added more left rudder, or so I thought.. but I was using my right hand. It went inverted, almost instantly, and since I had pulled on the elevator, nosed in at full throttle from, at that point, about 5 feet up.

It hit pretty hard. The wing broke loose from the nylon bolts.. a good thing.. but when I went up to it, I don't think there was any unbroken wood in that fuselage. It felt like a soft boiled egg with all the shell broken. I was heartbroken. But, I saved the wing!! :eek: :D

Stuff happens.

As far as reversed ailerons is concerned, one of the very first things I do after I power up the receiver, is stand behind the plane and move the ailerons. Right aileron on the stick moves the right aileron up. If that checks out, I'm good to go as far as the aileron is concerned. Just a habit I got into.

Best of luck.

CGr.

RE: NOVA maiden and crash
 

Yeah, this plane has been a complete learning experience! I guess I just got to hung up on getting the duel rates and expo set on the Tx and didn't check the basic stuff. Man, it certainly wont happen again! I never see anyone at the field with 2.4 tech. do range checks. I certainly will from now on, along with a stick check. I had steel wing mount bolts, I think If I had installed nylon bolts in their place the rear wing blind nut mount may not have even broke. Will probably install nylon bolts before the next flight. About 10 minutes of applying epoxy and some silk and it'll be ready to fly again.

RE: NOVA maiden and crash
 

Hey Bill

Been there done that. Please do a range check with your DX-7. I have one and I love it. Problem is, when you go to the 72's I forgot one time to extend the antenna. Certainly know how far the range check was with that.

RE: NOVA maiden and crash
 

yeah that a stick check to be sure everythnig is moving in the right direction. DX7 setup confuses the hell out of me. Will get it figured out before my next flight. I hope :D I need a "DX7 for Dummies" book[8D]

RE: NOVA maiden and crash
 

If this hobby was ment for Army guys the instructions would be writen in crayon:D

All seriousness though I have been fortunate enough to work with all branches of the military and they each have an important roll in joint ops that no one service could do without the other as effectively.

RE: NOVA maiden and crash
 

Hi billd76
A few years ago I saw a very experience pilot start his engine with the plane on one of our Engine Starting Safety Stands, and then he checked the movement of all the controls, while still standing in front of the plane. I was about 15 feet from him. I felt there was something wrong but could not determine what it might be. He was ready to take off. I felt I had to do something. I asked him if I could see his radio for a second. I then walked behind the plane and moved the sticks. I told him his ailerons were reversed and then I walked away so he could compose himself in private. Some people do not realize that if they check the controls from the front of the plane they are only noting if the controls respond, not if the controls are moving in the correct direction. I am shocked how frequent I see this. I lecture on that frequently. I know of one person that has repeated the reversal about 5 times.

RE: NOVA maiden and crash
 

That's funny, I thought of that Jet incident as soon as I read this.

All that money.

All that prep time.

And it went in because he didn't do the most basic final check.

This would be like going on a car trip, planning for weeks, getting your tires rotated, changing the oil, printing out all of your maps...

and then pulling out of the driveway and running out of gas :D

RE: NOVA maiden and crash
 

Good analogy!!!! :D:D:D

RE: NOVA maiden and crash
 

Goirish really hit a nerve. I was working with the FAA and their Careers in Aviation week activities (about 40 kids come to the FAA Tech Center to learn about various careers in aviation), we had arranged for the kids to come to our field for a morning of buddy box flying and a little light lunch. I brought my trainer to drop off for another instructor to use... I had to go out of town that morning. So, I made plans to meet him at the field then turn it over to him.

Well, I wanted to fly it first to make sure all was well, so I fueled it up, checked things out, then put it in the air. It wasn't long after that... perhaps 3/4 of the first orbit, that I saw that things were going very wrong. And, after it hit pretty hard about 300 yards away, that I realized that I forgot to pull up the darned antenna. You see, my other aircrat are all 2.4 GHz now, but this trainer originally came as an RTF so it had a basic four channel Futaba 72mHz radio installed and I never swapped that out.

Live and learn... I now really look down at my radio transmitter even when using 2.4 GHz to see if I forgot to pull up the antenna.. :eek: ;)

Stang: Before I retired, I was one of the only Coasties that was working closely with the airborne forces of the other services as well as Force Recon, Rangers, and Navy Seals. It was very interesting and a privilege to be around all those really capable folks. We were doing air ops in deep ocean settings below 30 degrees south (between 30 and 60 degrees south in the Pacific Ocean).

CGr.

RE: NOVA maiden and crash
 

i know it, i crashed a couple times myself, i went to the field when i didn't feel up to it and went anyhow and crashed. and when your transmitter carries multiple models and you take multiple models to the field i have to slow myself down and take the time to check everything until I'm sure it's ready. one time i took off and forgot to pull my antenna out, luckly i didn't lose the plane. the thing is there is a lot of things that can be done wrong, but if you slow down it chances are reduced.
hey i gotta go

RE: NOVA maiden and crash
 

A good pilot should be able to save an aircraft with reversed ailerons especially an instructor.. I forgot to switch planes in my radio once and sent my p-51 down the runway and as i started my right turn out my plane went left. I knew what i did right away and put in left stick to turn my plane right.. Saved on of my favorite planes... Its not hard to do i even wiggled the controls before start up and missed it...

RE: NOVA maiden and crash
 

I will disagree. Flying a model plane is a lot of muscle memory. Can a reversed aileron situation be saved? Most certainly. I've done it. It was a nice slow rolling trainer so I was able to determine the problem before the splat. I simply quit using the ailerons and steered with rudder. Now if you change that plane to a Yak 54 or Extra 260 3D cork-screw spinning machinem, you will likely get off the ground, notice a slight roll from a moderate cross wind, then counter that roll, think its getting pushed harder and counter even harder. About the time the plane reduces it's self to tooth picks you will realize the ailerons are reversed.