RegFlyer

I built a VQ Hawker Hurricane .40, satio 72. Here is a video I when I got it up and running.[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qflo1wMInZU&feature=channel_video_title[/youtube]


Took it out for its maiden flight today, had the check pilot look over it and take it up, he took off nice the gear went up and he came around for a low pass over the runway. The plane started to nose up and turn left as he pulled up and out. Then she rolled onto her back and nosed down into the dreaded death spiral. The first thing outa my mouth F*&#^ing Germans shot down my plane. Here are the pics.

***WARNING*** People who love RAF warbirds look away!



The pilot is ok, but has been demoted to ground crew for failure to check all preflights.

And myself, now know to always check and recheck the battery, we think the battery had a bad cell that failed in flight, the check pilot said that he had full control then nothing.

N1EDM

My Feedback: (2)

Rotton loss... How heavy was she? I had a sport plane do that to me... snap rolled. Was that what happened? Mine weighed a ton - more than other sport planes of the same size. Now I fly a H9 Spit and so far, I'm good... have to remember to keep up the airspeed.

Sorry for your loss... Oh, and saw your 'autograph', nice going. Retired Navy airdale on this side of the keyboard... Nice to talk to a brother.

Bob

RegFlyer

She wasn't to heavy, just the battery dropped in voltage and locked the radio out, that battery was 3 years old, it needed to be replaced. the thing that sucks It was on my todo list for this week, but I pushed the limits trying to get one flight out of it and it bit me in the butt.

LOL now I gota find a new home for my satio 72. guess ill be surfing the internet tonight. Im looking at the Black Horse Spitfire.
http://www.americanpioneerhobbies.com/spitfire.html

Always good to hear from a brother.

N1EDM

My Feedback: (2)

Yeah, I hear you about batteries. I'm pretty religious about mine... if I even suspect one is bad, I cut off the covering. That tells me that it's never to fly again, and I use it as a bench pack, just for the workshop. Don't know anything about the Black Horse Spitfire, but I had a thought about your crash...

I notice that the Hurricane has narrow elliptical tips. They were great for reducing drag and increasing speed, but being that narrow, you have to be careful in the turns. That was one reason I got the Spit, because it has a similar wingtip design. I wanted to fly something like that to sharpen my reflexes... Just a thought...

Bob

RegFlyer

I wasn't at the sticks for this one, I had my clubs check pilot take it up, and he got locked out. Thing that sucks is this is my first plane to go in. this was going to be a bit down the road for me, Im still learning to fly. im going to cut the tail off and mount it to on a plaque for the wall.

N1EDM

My Feedback: (2)

That sounds pretty Navy to me :-)

Bob

RegFlyer

Here is the memorial plaque.

RegFlyer

Just ordered the http://www.americanpioneerhobbies.com/spitfire.html, Hope this one lasts...

tmaucher

Hobby people have a good sale going if you want a vq for 100 dollars

RegFlyer

*****UPDATE*****

We now think the battery is good, the "weak link" was me... I looked at my battery chargers and found that the charger I used was for charging a Ni-Cd battery, the battery in the plane was Ni-MH.

drunkenbushman

Damn what a loss.

I like the memorial plaque very nice touch!