I was just going over a recently repaired airplane and found some enlightening things. I think many newcomers could profit from some of the things we find or see that might be an indication that something is not normal or just plain going wrong. It could be an observation in the shop or at the field.

Besides the obvious savings in money, time and anguish, there is alot of humor involved also that will help us to get over the shock of finding something that is NOT GOOD!

For example:

Everyone knows that:

Fuel dripping out of the tail wheel hole is NOT A GOOD THING
Dirt packed into the servo arm screws is NOT A GOOD THING
Smoke coming out of the battery hatch is NOT A GOOD THING

OK, here is my start. Tell us what you have found or seen that is NOT A GOOD THING!

BWD (Black Wire Disease)

You know I have seen all of those. The ones that worry me more are the ones that happen in flight, usually followed by "I ain't got it" or you see a wheel come off on a flyby, or the covering is flapping in the wind, oh, I could go on and on....

Turning your transmitter on and seeing 9.1v IS NOT A GOOD THING.

Looking at your fully charged transmitter and realizing it won't do a lick of good because you either hit the switch OR forgot to turn it on before handlaunch, NOT A GOOD THING.

Makes for interesting Free Flight though.

Watching your prop go down while your plane goes up is NOT A GOOD THING!

Looking down at your TX during a flight and seeing the ANTENNA NOT UP is NOT A GOOD THING!

Mounting a new switch on the side of a glow powered glider, then accidentally turning
the switch off as you throw the plane off an 800 foot high cliff....

....not a good thing.

Watching the main gear fall off while on final. All the while, continuing the approach and waiting for the eminent sound of balsa beginning an unprofessional relationship with the runway....NOT A GOOD THING.

[:-][:-][:-][:-][:-][:-][:-]
Now That's funny.

Hearing that loud crack then the dreadful sound of flutter at full song, then backing off the throttle in a vain attempt to save your Jett 50.

IS NOT A GOOD THING !! [:@]

Tony

Downrange turn and get asked "which one is yours?" without a good answer.
Watching the wingtips become quite familiar with each other while the fuse is still in the middle.
Wonder what just fell off the plane, notice no engine sound, and have a very tail heavy model all at the same time.

Getting caught cleaning engines with antifreeze in her new crockpot.

....not a good thing.

doing a high speed low level pass , turning to your buddy bragging how cool it looks then turning back to see the grass , dirt and balsa sticks flying up in the air

........ NOT A GOOD THING![X(]

Where two planes fast planes are in the air, now resides a large cloud of monocoat and balsa confetti. IS NOT A GOOD THING!

Like this?

NOT a GOOD THING.

Coming out of the bottom of a loop and remembering you only put 2 rubber bands on the wing hold-downs....Not a Good Thing![sm=what_smile.gif]

(By the way....I've done most of these over the years)

Rod

Dang !!!![X(] ........... Yes like that. Great camera work.

Doing a Touch and Go with your Lainier Shrike & OS.46FX-piped From a full throttle dive at your clubs funfly durring the lunch break...

.....IS NOT A GOOD THING!

BTW I did not break the prop! Which is a good thing!?! [sm=spinnyeyes.gif]

That reminds me:

Flying my Hippo Tippo pattern Plane for an Airshow in Vacaville (20 years ago) while riding my unicycle and the pedal broke.

...NOT a GOOD THING.

The rest of the story: I was doing a split-S and as the plane flew past me I let the unicycle go (to the ground - argh@^@&^#&#&&) as my thumb slackened on the stick and the airplane bounced off the ground breaking the prop and an aileron pushrod back into the air. I immediately flipped the retract switch turned around and landed deadstick without incident.

You guys are killing me!

What an awesome picture, though. Is that the engine leaving a smoke trail on the far left side?


Mark

team,

the shrioke did skip off the ground with a very loud thud follow by silence both from the plane and spectators. Well I was expecting to see a cloud of balsa dust and a debris field for at least 200 feet! It came up in one piece and I still had elevator and aileron control. I went out and climbed turn back for the field with a 10-15 mpd tail wind and came in rather hot skipped off the runway and ended up in the tall grass clipping a sapling. Inspection followed engine and prop fine fuselage shatter wing tip damage from sappling.

....hey....I wonder what will happen if I fly my Dago Red through one of those dust devils....

....NOT A GOOD THING !!!

Oh yeah, this one too.


Hitting the timers clock during a pylon race...... DEFINATELY NOT A GOOD THING!!!!!!



[]

- making a full bore pass down the field with a piped .60 powered Sig Komander and watching the ailerons peel off a split second after I heard the sound of aileron flutter for the first time..

- launching a 2 meter glider with .049 power pod and hitting the Rx switch off at launch, but the glider was properly trimmed and climbing very well..

- watching the Picco .40 on my Hots start flailing around on the one remaining and very loose radial mount bolt, at full bore because the throttle cable also broke..

- not seeing the fire in an .049 exhaust port before squirting in more prime..

- pulling out of a full power dive to make a pass down the field (with the Komander mentioned above which survived that incident), and due to messed up depth perception (I learned I needed glasses later) not noticing the fact that I was about to fly straight into the one lone dead tree at the edge of the field (it did not survive this time)..

- having a sudden mad sneezing fit with an airplane somewhere up there at full bore and not being able to find it again..

- flying anywhere near the sun with a yellow airplane..

- hitting yourself with a .15 powered RC combat wing..

.. I hope these qualify.

MJD