skynate152

What a sad day. I am fairly new to RC airplanes. The following pics are of my first and only RC Airplane: a DuraPlane Trainer 40. I have run about 3/4 of a gallon of fuel through this plane during the past month of solo flight. However, this flight did not go so well. I was very excited before the crash because I am really getting good at starting my engine (OS .40 LA). I got it going with only a couple of flips with my trustly chicken stick on a 40 degree F afternoon.

Anyhow, after takeoff I did a few laps and mixed in some basic aerobatics including one of my best-ever hammerheads. I got through that stuff just fine. I had the plane make a broad sweeping turn and somehow my mind starting wandering (I don't know where). Before I knew it, I wasn't quite sure of my ship's attitiude. I could tell that it was upside down and slowly descending, so I added a little forward stick. I didn't react like I thought it would and before I knew what was happening, my fingers became possessed and pulled the stick back! Needless to say, the DuraPlane became a DuraLawnDart...

Mel Francis

Don't be too hard on yourself.

Looks like you exposed the only weak part of the design,......the aileron hinges LOL!

But hopefully, with a little bench time, she'll be as good as new.

Joe Ortiz

My Feedback: (75)

Looks repairable, start by getting rid of that worm off the engine[:'(].

CrashPro

My Feedback: (1)

Heck,...that don't look like more than a couple hours repair time....it'll be back in the air in no time

chrischicago

well I would say that you are pretty lucky that the soil was so soft. It would of been much worse if it was dry.

twostroke

My Feedback: (6)

You can always go fishing I see you already have a worm for bait. I have one of these planes and they are tougher than they are ugly it will fly again will a little work!!

skynate152

Thanks for the encouragement everyone! I have already cleaned the engine -- it looks better than it did before the flight. The only parts that were actually damaged were the spinner, prop, and trailing edge of the wing. There is mud and impact damage along the entire span of the LE and also some stress related wrinkles in the wing's covering. I am still baffled on why the ailerons were pulled off. The nylon-type hinges were glued into their slots with CA. Upon closer examination, I can see that the "fuzz" from the hinges is still in the slots but the plastic inner layer was ripped out -- weird.

On piece of advice for duraplane builders: take the time to build the 'optional' plywood wing-tip reinforcements. I think that they contributed to the reletively light damage on the foam wings.

Born to Fly

That worm must be cursing and swearing......."how lucky she was...to be hit by a flying object...with a probability of 1 out of a zillion"....

Mindwarp

I think you may have a little bit of dirt in your carburettor there. Probably nothing to worry about though...

Skeletor

A friend used a piece of plastic gutter downspout to rebuild his fuse on a Duraplane, he also had a few problems distingushing between up and down. Maby some stripes are needed on the bottom of the wing. Hang in there.

Hypter

My Feedback: (2)

That looks very repairable... A club member has one, wile flying a little late in the day just before dark he put it in on the paved road below our field... broken spinner and prop was all the damage, they are tough airplanes, but I hear they fly like a brick Clean that engine out, fix the ailerons and put her back in the air.

skythumbs

Just run it through the washer and put it back in the air.

hookedonrc

Just a recommendation/question here, would it be better if you had bigger checkerboards on the wing bottoms? It might have helped with the original problem of determining the attitude of the aircraft. Just a thought.

ifixairplanes

My Feedback: (9)

my friend had one of those. i was teachig him to fly and thought he could take off himself. he took off, went straight up, stalled came straight down and his ailerons did the same thing. Actually those planes dont fly like bricks, they float forever and do some wierd aerobatics. t got his into and inverted flat spin some how, dont know how cause i was just fooling with the sticks, was quite amusing. Another time he dropped the thing straight down from 100' feet up and went straight from the top of a tree to the ground going through it very fast. only dented the LE and didnt even bust a prop. flew it right after that. easy to fix what happened to yours. good luck!!

sean

invertedpass

I had a cub that took a nose dive into the dirt .It happens! Take a look on our club sight for pictures of the cub at, rams-rc.net you may feel better.

JoeAirPort

My Feedback: (41)

I'm glad I wasn't that worm. He was just happy in the ground and WHAM !!!!

Joe

Covetski

it's nothin! rehinge the ailerons, maybe make new slots for them. You should have MY first crash! My tail feathers flew off, lost control and landed nose first into rocks between rails. I got lucky that there were no trains running at that time yet!

crashawk

I had one of those years ago. I flew at a friends house and we put that thing in like 5 or 6 times every time I went over there, had to take a shovel to get the engine out of the ground one time. another time I strained it though his barbwire fence behind his house. never took more than an hour or so to repair it and away we went again. we got to using any wing we could find that was without a fuselage (his dad had a bunch of wings from crashed planes from when he flew in the 70's.) the best wing was an old symetrical foam wing we found, we cut a block of foam to hold it straight on the fuse and rubber banded it down. the last flight of mine was at my inlaws, I hand launched it and accidently hit the reciever switch. it flew around in a big circle and kept coming right over us, I tried to jump up and catch it once then it started climbing. it went up about 600 feet and started drifting down wind, finally it started tightening up the turn and started loosing altitude. it went in full speed about a 1/4 mile from where it started and used most of the tank of fuel. folded the tail up over the wing and busted the wing in the middle with both tip going forward. found it sitting there like that looking like some kind of mad bug funny, it seemed like the best flight it ever had and I didn't have any input, I wish I could get my free flight stuff to fly that good[sm=bananahead.gif] well at least you will be flying yours again soon. you can get both the square down spout and the aluminum channel at a hardware/lumber yard near you, find some one to cut some wings for you and get some extra 1/4 inch balsa and you could have a whole herd of em in your vehicle at the field and be flying after a crash in about 20 minutes he he he..............

Jason

rik756

My Feedback: (12)

Little more CA on the hinges next time, some WD-40 on the motor with some after run oil to flush it out really good, eat the worm and go flying!

(you really should eat the worm... it's a right of passage thing I think)

Rick

nightrider_rc

thats not a crash!!! thats just a hard landing compared to some of the stuff i have done. the wings look in perfect shape except for the alerons, that will be up in no time just get a new firewall and mount that .40 la on in it doesn't look like the crankshaft broke, i have one of those from my trainer, very durable engine unlike some 4-strokes with those fragile rocker arms. happy landings

MR Flyer57

That really isn't a crash!!!
It is just a two day touch and go!!!!

MR Flyer57

benfisher

Hey !!! Thats one of the planes I learned on !!! Was a nice flying little plane. Taught me a lot about flying too. Because it was my first plane I had no idea about CG so it was way nose heavy, and I didn't know it. After some more expirenced pilots crashed it they showed me how to balance it. lol I miss that plane. It was cheap and easy to fix. I passed it back to my brother after I got my own plane. Mater of fact I think after all these years he still has it. I bet it would still fly well. Crashes are a part of flying. Unless you have a ton of money you will learn how to fix little mishapes like that one.

RC Havoc

My Feedback: (-1)

Same plane I used to learn to fly. It took me 3 hard crashes to realize the ailerons were reversed. I even punched a hole in the wing with a bush (I live in Arizona), Landed in a cactus, and burried the nose in dirt. Oh yeah, With the crap I put that thing through, I would recoment it to anyone. The aerobat is even better....

RCRAINMAN

A quick tip on Engine cleaning: Use some Marvel Mystery Oil. That stuff is like motor oil and carb cleaner in one. When I had my Airmadillo, each flying day normally ended in a horribly bent and mangled fuse, and a dirt covered engine. I would quickly dissasemble the engine as far as I could with an allen wrench, clean the pieces, and put them in a 1/2 gal bucket filled with Marvel Mystery oil. Then I would get to work on the fuse. Normally it would be 9:00PM-10:00pm and I would be done fixing the crash damage, and I would go over to my crash bucket and turn the piston a few times and shake the bucket up. Normally the next morning I would go remount the engine on the airplane and get it RTC. EVERY time I pulled that engine out of the marvel it was shiney new looking. The marvel cuts all the grim and old glow oil from every hole and orifice and really cleans up the cylinder.
sometimes right after remounting the engine, I would pour a bit of marvel right into the throat and actually start the engine on straight Marvel Mystery oil! But it doesnt run very well. Anyways, all this to say, if you are not using your engine for a long time or need a quick deep cleaning, Marvel Mystery Oil is the way to go.

My Engine(s): Saito .56 4-Stroke, OS .46AX
Marvel Mystery Oil can be bought at your local auto store like Auto Zone or Advanced Auto Parts. It comes in a red plastic container. I usually buy either a 1 gal can or a 32 Oz. can. 32 Oz is normally only $2.75.
I hope this little tid-bit helps.

Crashem

skynate152 ,

While looking at your pictures I noticed the woman walking her dog in the background. I would suggest you find some places safer to fly especially with that type of landing