TimC

It was a great morning for a maiden. Cool and just a little breeze. The Kougar was gone over time and again to make sure everything was right. I taxied it around awhile and headed it into the wind. Rolled power on and after building speed, eased back the stick. Take off was good and I banked left and climbed at full power, left again, more climb and the plane quit responding to control input. I tried to chop the throttle and no dice. It gracefully rolled over and hammered straght down into the dry lake at full throttle. I don't think I'll ever know what happened.

retnavycdr

My Feedback: (190)

TimC: That wouldn't be EL MIRAGE dry lake, would it? I have planted a few in there myself!!

BDAD Flyer

My Feedback: (15)

Did you do the range check? Everyone should do that with new planes, and radio equipment.

TimC

vsustko22 , I did an "antenna down, step away from the plane check" and things were OK. After take-off, I circled pretty far out and when I lost contact, it was much closer though higher. Just now I was sorting through the carnage to see what I could salvage. The battery is still fully charged and the receiver has a small crack. When I plug the surviving servo into the rx, the arm jumps but the transmitter won't move it. This could have happened in the crash though. The crankcase is ruined but the crank, head, piston and sleeve seem good. All wires were routed away from moving parts and secured. I'm guessing a receiver failure but who knows.
Doc, it was at a dry lake near town here. I've flown down at El Mirage and it was like a three ring circus. Kids on little mini-bikes thought it was fun to ride just where I was trying to land.

Bob Street

Did you remember to extend antenna? I forgot to do this one time when I went to the flying field. I got my plane out, fueled up, started the engine and checked all the controls. I had a nice takeoff, but when the plane got out a little ways, I suddenly lost control and the plane crashed. When I was trying to figure out what had happened I realized that I hadn't extended the antenna.

TimC

Bob, I'm pretty sure I did. There was a flying buddy there with me to help check things. Of course, after the crash, I was kind of distracted and if I put the radio in it's case without having to retract the antenna, I don't remember it. As I said earlier, the plane had been much farther away earlier than it was when I lost contact. I think the next new receiver I buy, I'll tape it to the side of my brass polisher and let it shake for about an hour. If it survives that, then it's good to go.

viperdude

my advance 40s first flight, my father forgot to put the antenna up, and it did a graceful turn into a large bush, ( i didnt get to fly it but a year later!)however it did the same basic thing you explained, it was about 300 feet away, and the plane simly didnt respond.

Villa

Sorry for your failure. I lost a Kougar in a similar manner around 1981. It was possible that the airborn battery pack failed at a solder joint I had made. I notice that the vertical stabilizer on your plane is transparent. Is that correct or is it some type of fluke?

TimC

It sure looks that way in the photo Villa. It is covered in silver and is reflecting the right wing tip. I'd been lucky for a long time so I guess I was due one.

SaCCaL72

My Feedback: (1)

TimC,
Sorry to hear about your crash. As some others said, I forgot to extend my antenna up once and lost a plane. I was distracted because my engine wasn't starting, after like 15 minutes I finally got it going but with all the commotion, I forgot to raise the antenna. I took off, it flew great until I approached the back leg of my flight, the plane then flew like it was on a roller coaster, up and down, up and down, I was able to sporatically gain control and cut the throttle but when I finally realized the antenna was down and I went to extend it, well it was too late. Nose first into the ground. So I feel your pain, I hope you can figure out what happened.[/

CGRetired

My Feedback: (1)

What a shame. Pretty airplane.

Was the RX a new one or did it come from a previously crashed a/c?? If new then, well, tough one. If old and had been in a crash, perhaps a trip to the manufacturer would have found and fixed potential problems. Just my thoughts on the subject. As I said, nice plane!!

DS.

Commander_Drake

My Feedback: (2)

When you suddenly and completely lose all control and never get it back even for an instant, it usually indicates a complete loss of power to the RX rather than a range or antenna problem.

Being an ex Kougar flier I'm saddened by the picture of the wreckage. I hope you build another. I may build one also.

Liberator

Sorry about the loss. Had a similar thing happen to my first P-40. Did you have the battery connection heat shrinked?
My battery came unplugged when it shifted in the fuse.

TimC

Liberator, that's a possibility. The connector wasn't heat-shrinked. The battery was wrapped in foam and wedged in with popsicle sticks. This was done with the plane upside down. With the wing on and right side up, if the sticks worked loose, the battery could have pulled loose. Something else to check in the future. In fact, I think I'll do this to the battery connector in all my planes. As heavy as the battery is, if it gets loose, it's probably going to disconnect. Thanks for the tip.

shag555

I know how you feel. I lost a RV-4 on a maiden flight. I still to this day do not know what happened. Lost it in the 2nd turn. All it needed was flames and it would have looked exactly like a B-17 going down over Berlin. Bad part about it was that I DID know that plane. I spent 3 months building it.

MPB

TexasAirBoss

My Feedback: (22)

I had a battery come loose once. It flopped around in the plane all day. I think. But it didn't come unplugged. Did you check the voltage of your airborne pack. I bought a pack at Radio Shack once. (operative word being "once"). It had a dead cell. Range checked great on the ground, but in the air my plane acted funny. I landed and the radio stopped working. The pack measured way low even though I had charged it.

By the way, I had a Koug. Great , great pane. You should build another one. Actually a friend has the little Kobra and it flys great also.

Sorry you lost yours.

TimC

PilotFighter, the battery was damaged by the impact, but still fully charged. If I ever spot a used one for sale, I'll buy it. I think "Murphy's Law" might have downed this plane.

LuckyArmpit

Man, hate to see a kougar go down! I have one myself. It was old and beat up when I bought for $20. All I did to it was snip the connectors off of the airtronics servos and soldered on new ones that would work with futaba equipment. Stripped off the old monokote, re-covered the wing, built new rudder and elevator and painted the rest. Hell, mine don't even have a cowl or a turledeck.
Here's mine....something that Larry the Cable Guy would fly.........

Dave...

Commander_Drake

My Feedback: (2)

Well ... while we're at it, here's mine. I never had a bad crash with it but it finally suffered the death of a thousand dings and dents.

AAbdu

My Feedback: (18)

Sounds like a switch failure to me.Plug your battery directly into the receiver and see if it works. Had that happen once just before takeoff. Plane set idling on the runway and would not respond to nay imputs. I went out to get it and it was just purring away. Once I shut it down and inspected it, I found that the switch wire had been holding on by a thread.

Boy did I dodge a bullet! Five seconds later and it would've been full throttle.

TimC

AAbdu, it hit so hard there was not much to test. This was my first crash where even the servos were busted to smithereens. The receiver was wrapped in foam and was still cracked. I tried it with another crystal and it is dead. It might have caused the crash or was damaged in the crash. On our radio gear anyway, you pays your money and takes your chances.