I had a very strange thing happen today. I took my Razzle 3-D plane to the field this morning, the temperature was 4 degrees with
a -15 wind chill. After getting it started and warmed up I taxied out, lined up, took off full power and a slow climb, it quickly dropped
it's nose and when I countered the movement with some up elevator the wing folded up on the left side. The wing pulled off and the
plane went in with no power as I had shut it down as soon as the left wing fell off. Needless to say, it's a total loss except for the engine
and gear. I usually take off and go vertical off the deck but I didn't today cause I wasn't sure she was gonna stay running.
The wing was a one piece design with no known damage. I have had the plane for a number of months and have owned it since new.
I did have a tail in accident with it two months ago and had to fix the fuselage, lost it close to the ground on a harrier landing attempt.
It had no visible damage to the wing. I was just curious if the extreme cold temperature could have had anything to do with it?
This is the coldest I have ever flown a plane in or a heli for that matter and not sure what caused it to fold up. I have had no flight or
performance issues with this plane till now and have always tried to throttle back on nose down manuevers just like on the giant scale
planes to not over stress the airframe. It has an OS 91 FS and a 15x6 prop.
This is the start of my third year of flying and I have never folded a wing on anything, even my 1/4 scale Edge 540 when i didn't throttle back on dive's.
Thanks for any idea's or theories you may have.

We flew last winter down to -25C/-13F. Wind doesn't make any temp difference to the plane because it cools down to the air temp anyway.

The Rx batteries only lasted for a flight or two (so did my fingers), but the engine and radio gear worked well. My only problem was that the Monokote became brittle. I put my finger through the wing when I tried to lift the plane. Other than that it was quite fun. I know that Futaba specify -10C as minimum operating temp for some of their radio equipment, other manufacturers might have similar temp limitations...?

sounds mysterious to me, what was the consition of the break? Was wood broke or where there failures at the glue joints? If the failure was at the glue joints what kind of glue was used. I have not had this kind of failure in the cold but have had plastic parts break. On New Years Eve 2001 had my G/S Stinger broke a linkage (plastic) to the tailwheel on landing($1.35), loss of tailwheel steering caused the plane to fishtial (crosswind conditions) and eventually slide sideways tearing the foam off of one of the wheels ($12.50), the now wheel-less hub dug into the runway causing the plane to start to nose over breaking the carbon fiber prop ($75.00), the prop striking the frozen runway throws the tail back down to the ground breaking the Klett tailwheel ($45.00). All this to get in the last flight of the year.

Yeah, I'd check for signs of the glue joints failing, first.

If that's not the cause it needs to be asked whether there may have been damage from that previous accident. Has the wing flown since the previous accident? Has it endured at least the same amo unt of strain since that previous accident as it has on this flight?

Did you remove the covering and check where the most likely damage may have occured on the previous accident? I peel the covering off, and push and pull on everything possible with enou gh force that if anything were amiss, it would break, but if all was well, it wouldn't.Ï+

Well, after closer inspection of the remains, it looks like structural failure. The wing broke just outside of the fuselage and the glue
joint's are ok. The plane has been flown countless times since the tail in accident but after enough thought I relize it's all been very
slow and low flight with not much speed. So i guess I better check things over better after a crash and not assume that because there
is not visible damage on the outside that it's ok inside!
Thank you to all that replied. You have been very helpful.

HAPPY FLYING!!!!!

I have flown in Hellish cold weather and my plane has survived. All R/C planes are destined to crash at some point. No one knows when a plane's number is up. Fly it, enjoy it, and remember...photos and videos will keep your memories alive for a long, long time.
"Keep "Em Flying!"
Flak

rubber might get brittle when they are to cold and have presure on them. in canada it gets to -25 cel