Twist broke in half...pictures at 1100...
 

Here are some pictures of my Twist...I'll be putting more up as I fix the damage and get er flying again.




Lefty

RE: Twist broke in half...pictures at 1100...
 

Why did you do that? [X(]

RE: Twist broke in half...pictures at 1100...
 

Accident,

hand launch with a new prop 12.75 x 3.5 and thrust loss power at about 40 feet, I tried to throw full down elevator and glide it in, but I had high rates on and lawn darted it at an angle to the wing...

RE: Twist broke in half...pictures at 1100...
 

that's probably not a good plane to be hand launching!

RE: Twist broke in half...pictures at 1100...
 

Naw...It was the new prop, I have hand launched it many times, the only difference is I had a higher pitch and more thrust to take off with.

RE: Twist broke in half...pictures at 1100...
 

Higher pitch with smaller diameter produces LESS thrust, not more. Why would you hand launch that plane?
Dennis-

RE: Twist broke in half...pictures at 1100...
 

I always thought the higher pitch produced MORE thrust, but less rotations...Aw well...

Hand launched because the grass was too long at the field...

Anyway, errors are always the pilots fault. LOL:D

RE: Twist broke in half...pictures at 1100...
 

that is not true at all.

RE: Twist broke in half...pictures at 1100...
 

I would not blame the pilot for this , I think the plane has a design flow. my twist broke in the same place landing in the three feet of tall grass.
well ok, if I would learn to use the runway instead of the grass I may not have had this trouble.
Not to talk about the 5 or 6 hard landings on other flights.

I have been told that if your dont crash once in a while your not flying

keep flying

RE: Twist broke in half...pictures at 1100...
 

It's also great when brothers fly together and the same plane at that!!!

Twist brothers!!!:D

Lefty (a.k.a. Tom M)
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RE: Twist broke in half...pictures at 1100...
 

This is the second one I've seen broke in the same place. My bud's broke when he hit the snap roll switch on his radio. Broke in the same place and the front came off when it hit the ground. He finally admitted to a couple hard landings right before it happened. I've had very good luck with my twist, but I can't say the same thing about my US 120 lite. I've got two in pieces at this time.

RE: Twist broke in half...pictures at 1100...
 

Mine did too. Twice(so far). :(There's not much structure just aft of the cockpit. I have the carcasses of two others that also broke in the same place that I'll eventually fix up... If I get bored enough (my guess would be in about 50-60 years or so...)

RE: Twist broke in half...pictures at 1100...
 

It took me about 4 hours to put mine back together. Mine is the one above. I had a very hard landing after fixing it up and broke it again only in the surrounding area. I'm thinking it needs to be really re-enforced!!!

Lefty

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RE: Twist broke in half...pictures at 1100...
 

Mid wing planes should have plug-in wings. I've seen a lot of this kind of thing because the fuselage becomes very weak at the leading or trailing edge when the whole wing lifts off the top or the bottom. I think it is fundamentally flaw engineering. Not just this plane, but this type of engineering.

There are ways to make it strong enough, but they usually entail big, heavy slabs of plywood extending for several inches beyond the former at the front and rear of the wing.

RE: Twist broke in half...pictures at 1100...
 

I would not plane the plane on this. I have one and I have well over 150 flights on it and have a few hard bounces . Not once has my plane broken like this. The worst was ripping out the gear and that was only once. I know of too others that were way over powered (Saito 100's on both with 14x8 props) and the worst was loosening the firewall.

I am puzzled as to why you would hand launch a Twist.

Larger diameter, less pitch = more pull

smaller diameter, more pitch = faster speed

As with most ARF's, you get good ones and bad ones. I have a Funtana90 that I had to repair/reinforce every rib on both wings. I did it myself since the wings are on back order for 3 months.

RE: Twist broke in half...pictures at 1100...
 

I hand launch my Twist JUST for kicks. It is fun to see if I can throw it right up into a hover. Sometimes I just end up scareing myself, but either way its just one more way to play around with it. It is like doing donuts on a windy day when I know I will ruin a prop. In the end I feel as if I got my 3 bucks worth of fun though. If its fun its worth every penny.

RE: Twist broke in half...pictures at 1100...
 

Short runway / hand launch + tree's X ego = crash

RE: Twist broke in half...pictures at 1100...
 

It does do nice donuts once you get it to keep one wheel in one spot and it just spins around on it. :D

RE: Twist broke in half...pictures at 1100...
 

The last time I did donuts there was a 15mph wind and they were funny as he!!.

Dave

RE: Twist broke in half...pictures at 1100...
 

I was turning doughnuts on the ground with the twist...or are you talking about in the air?

RE: Twist broke in half...pictures at 1100...
 

Hey if you just glue that thing as it is in the pic, it will do some really tight outside loops. :D

Two guys at the field both broke theirs in the same spot. They are weak there.

RE: Twist broke in half...pictures at 1100...
 

I have already fixed it and been back up in the air, on landing...under too much power with the wrong AOA I broke it again in the same place.

Awaiting for another oppurtunity to fix it.

Lefty
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RE: Twist broke in half...pictures at 1100...
 

Joe,
Actually, as you know, broke mine TWICE right there. I don't think of it as a design flaw, it's a fail safe for the rest of the plane. Breaks right there, easy to fix and little damage elsewhere. By the way, mines almost ready for it's 3rd maiden. Just need to put in servo's, and umm, check balance, all that glue ya know...This is a great plane for $100...

RE: Twist broke in half...pictures at 1100...
 

I think sometimes you crash so you don't have to buy a new kit to build ( if the boss would let you )
when we fly beyond our abilites things happen, like crashes, dings and bruises. I think the twist has been rebuilt again,
I was wondering how it fly's.

RE: Twist broke in half...pictures at 1100...
 

Well as you know you too have an "in" with the boss and she rules the pocket book...to a limit. God has been very good to me.

I often feel like an AF test pilot going to the envelope and licking the edge...Well this time I mailed the package and with other home projects and costs of those projects time and money have been alocated to another project, heating the 4 car garage (AKA the Hanger).

So far I have plastic up, and half a wall of insulation and 1 corner of drywall.

I want to be able to fix my broken planes in the comfort of a heated garage in the middle of those North Dakota winters.


Lefty
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