Wings Folded - Kadet Senior -UPDATE
 

This afternoon during it's 5th flight the wings on my Kadet Senior folded, broke off , fluttered down and the fuse went straight down with the new OS 56 FS first into the dirt up to the firewall. Needless to say I am not very happy.

This ARF when it came first out of the box had a few loose balsa parts. Since I had read about ARFs sometimes not having glue in the right places, I had checked everything and glued anything that looked suspicious. Obviously not enough! In retrospect, I probably should have epoxied and glassed the wing halves to prevent this from happening, but the instructions do not make such suggestions.

The aluminum spar that holds the wing halves together had simply broken thru the bottom of the wing but the nylon wing bolts are still in place... The OS 56 FS alfa needs a new head as the muffler took a piece with it when it broke off...

The plane is a total loss. And the darn thing is, that it actually is a really nice plane for the beginner that I am.

I'll report this to SIG and see what their reaction is.

8/25/08 - update

Today, I received an e-mail from Bob Nelson at SIG MFG with the message that a new Kadet Sr had been sent out as a replacement. That is an example of excellent customer service!

RE: Wings Folded - Kadet Senior
 

The first thing they will ask is, "What manouver were you performing when the wing failled or just before the wing failed?"

RE: Wings Folded - Kadet Senior
 

I was just flying wide circles at 300ft or so and was going somewhat lower to do the same thing, when the wings folded. The end ribs of each wing half, which in the front fit in a slot and the nylon bolts are still in place - go figure... The plane was never subjected to any aerobatic activity, so it can't be excessive stress that it is not designed for. I e-mailed pictures to SIG so that they can take a look at it. Occasionally this has happened to the Kadet SR, I read after doing a search on RCU.

RE: Wings Folded - Kadet Senior
 

Hi Firebird25
I like to learn from every crash. Any chance you could post those photos? I'm interested in that brocken aluminum spar.

RE: Wings Folded - Kadet Senior
 

The aluminum spar was NOT broken. but had broken thru the bottom of the wing on one side. I'll post some pictures tomorrow.

RE: Wings Folded - Kadet Senior
 

double post removed

RE: Wings Folded - Kadet Senior
 

Well, we have sevral arf Kadets at our club, which all have been subjected to vigourouse aerbatic manuvers, and we have not had one faliur!

Stick 40:eek:

RE: Wings Folded - Kadet Senior
 

I think that it's just an anomaly for wing halves to fold and certainly not a regular occurrence, otherwise it would be well known. Before I got the ARF, I had been flying a 20 yr old 3 channel [no ailerons] model that was a recent gift to our club. It has a one piece wing and is a kit built plane. Several members have Kadet Srs , both ARF and kits and have not experienced any problems either.