Finished the Dreat Planes RV-4 kit about two weeks ago and have been scared to death to take it up and fly it. Well. I've had enough. going to take it up as soon as I finish this post. Good or Bad she's going up. Wish me luck.

I loved mine. Finally after many wonderful flights and one stupid crash when a bug flew in my eye. Flew it once more after the repair, but it was so over wing loaded that when the engine dead sticked, she came plummeting to the ground. Best of luck.

Flight report?

Funny how 3 months of work can be destroyed in such a small amount of time. Tried to take off with a little flap. instead of retracting them after take off, I fully extended them and did not realize it till after the crash. From there it went really bad. Nosed in and there is not much left. Not sure what else to say other than some times it's hard being stupid.

JW,

You aren't stupid, this stuff happens to everyone that has the big ones to fly RC.

Compared to the stuff I've done on maiden flights you're Einstein - and I've got the brains of lettuce. I'm serious about that!

JW, Don't beat yourself up. Learn and move on.

Dave

Hi JW,
Look at the upside...... the Earth is still intact.......
We all make sometimes those "gravitional enhanced" mistakes....jointhe Broken PropBrotherhood


Cheers
Bundu

I gotta remember that one..

Sorry about the loss. My motto is to use any accident as a chance to learn a lesson.

For future reference, use 4 channels to maiden any plane. If the plane has flaps or retracts, never use them until the plane is safely in the air and at a good altitude - then "test" them, with the mindset that you will abort the test immediately if anything goes wrong!

OK so now what the next build going to be . I can only fly Butterfly with any chance of getting back on the ground, If I'm not reparing trainers mid week I've always got somthing on the boards.Repairing two this week from the last attempt at flying. Do have a look at the Butterfly if you are having that problem of it not going to last long.

It's bad......... Real bad. Not even sure were to start with trying to fix this thing or if I can. On a good note. My next project is here. A Topflight T-34 Mentor. Kid of feel bad about starting this without having the RV-4 flight ready. Thanks guys for the encouragment. Thanks Minn for the tip. Great idea and I will do that next time. I,m pretty sure that it would have flown ok if I had not screwed it up with " Dumb Thumbs "

We should have a forum on the "learning opportunities" of a maiden flight. On my GB R2 maiden, I was so focused on landing, I had tunnel vision and landed ~4 ft next to the runway! This resulted in hitting a gopher hole with the left wheel, which ultimately flipped the plane over on its back. The plane had a little damage, but my ego was badly bruised! Stuff happens! You learn, you move on.