I lost throttle and did a rough fast landing. After looking at the plane I realized it was sitting lower, but the gear wasn't bent. The gear is two part, each part is attached with two bolt through angle aluminum on the sides and the third bolt toward the center is through lite ply. I saw this when I was putting it together, and the instructions kind of allude to the fact this probably isn't the strongest arrangement, but I used it anyway. Well the lite ply cracked, I give it 95% my fault 5% poor design, you should never land as hard as I did so I get most the blame.

What I did to fix it was:

I took the floor out that goes over the wing tube and then installed a 1/8 inch thick angle aluminum brace tying all six bolt together, now I'll reinstall the floor over the wing tube and I'm done. Total work time maybe 3 hours.

The first photo you can see the crack in the wood just above and to the right of the bottom center Allen bolt head.

Great idea, I've thought about adding this to the plane. Please let me know how it works out, and thanks for the photos.

TF

OK, but I hope I don't have anymore real test of it's strength.[:@]

I flew it a lot in the last week, what a nice plane!

Thank for the tip on the Sukhoi landing gear. I will install your modification while doing the assembly.

I installed a strap on mine and thie mod makes the gear really strong. This should add all the strength I need for hard landings but a twisting I believe will still be a problem. By the way, this bird lands much easier than my Edge 540. Everyone at the field commented on how slow I was able to bring it in. Maybe i am just paying more attention because it is new...

We learned on the early Edges and Extras that landing gear mounting canbe TOO strong.

When one has a crash, something is bound to give. A belly landing will concentrate the energy dissipation in the landing gear.

I designed the early planes' LG mounts to be super strong, there is nothing more frustrating than tearing the gear off your new plane as you learn how it lands. But it's possible to over-do it.

The mount on those planes was so strong that a very hard landing/crash resulted in a broken fuselage in many cases. It was seen as a better idea if the LG was stripped while leaving the fuse intact.

Now we try to have a compromise, the gear should come off or break or bend just before the fuse would have been destroyed, at least this way there is a chance of repairing it.

TF

Tom
You are so right. I have to admit I was not paying attention to my motor in the Ultimate. As the weather gets colder in the great white north. My engine was taking a tad longer to warm up. I should have readjusted the low speed a tad. Also I have been running some break in fuel on other planes compounding the need for carb adjustments. Well It bite me The ultimate was flying like a dream as per usual. When performed one of my low altitude cours change to hover down the field she died 50 foot zero air speed isnt a place to have engine out issues. I managed to get the nose up just before impact. Did I say IMPACT! ya thats it terra firma the right wheel made impact first and was completly torn free of the plane right at the fuse. It amazed me as to how little damage was done to the rest of the fuse. I didnt even bust the new prop. however the fire wall was loosened just from the G's on impact. I put in a edge V1 and the gear is perfect but there is a chunk of fuse still attached to it. I teach at our club and the guys think Im nuts when I zap there landing gear back on at the field. Eventualy they all learn if you epoxy the S%#t out of it and Brace it to that former that holds the wing on there isnt a lot left to fly after IMPACT. I will never complain about soft gear again. My Sukhoi bottom plate is cracked as well and I fly the plane every week some times many times a week. It hasnt done any thing except make me be more carefull.
Nice fix I will give this a shot on one of them cold winter nights when im dreaming about flying.