RCER88

My Feedback: (25)

Riding in the back of a pickup and flying a sig kadet lt40 on a "cross country" went from outside of Merrill Mi to the south east side of Midland, Mi. Funny thing was there was ten of us that did it at different times that day. Then we had a "fun fly" in Midland after everybody arrived.

Talk about fun! People passing us we were cruising about thirty five MPH because the person closest to the average time won! I finished third that day. I had the throttle set about 1/4 and still had to swing back and forth to keep from passing us and lots of loops. I did not add a extra fuel tank and had to land in a field. (A car was coming and I was deadstick). Flew that distance on two tanks and still did three turns around the field before I landed.

We had a driver, spotter/person yelling at the driver. That was in the late 80's early 90's. Both those fields are now gone. To bad I would love to do that again.

tryingagain

Got bored one evening and mounted a Cox .049 with a three bladed prop on the front of a Tonka Jeep (they were made of metal then).We took it to the local school parking lot and I haven't laughed that hard since. Most of the prop strikes didn't stall the engine but simply reversed it. I wish I had a video of it chasing a buddy of mine through a shallow puddle, prop spraying a rooster tail up behind it. It almost seemed possesed matching every turn he made including going up on two wheels in a tight right turn. The evening's hilarity ended with it sideswiping a curb and blowing a wheel off the back. It was supposed to be temporary but we ended up leaving that motor on there for years until the problematic rear wheel finally broke for good.

Maybe this should be on an RC Car site.....except for the airplane engine and the fact there was no control involved, radio or otherwise.

Ah well at least we weren't out breaking windows or stealing cars!

Cheers

Gord

Tommygun

My Feedback: (2)

Eh, it's a toss up. A group of friends an I were out on my skiboat in the late 90's, I brought my Ace Seamaster along and one of the guys wanted to catch it at from inside the boat at speed. That was very tricky flying, trying to position the airplane over the cockpit area of the boat at speed, and he underestimated the pull the airplane would have at close to 50 mph- grabbed it, once or twice, but was never able to hold onto it and stop the flight. I couldn't hold in in position for more than a second or so. Didn't help that we all had a few by then either.

More recently, I flew the full size Parkzone T-28 in a spot that I absolutely shouldn't have- inside a suburban neighborhood covered with dense foliage. Still not sure how I pulled it off without losing the plane in a 200' tree, but I did somehow- took off from the street, got it up through a hole in the "canopy," flew around overhead in as much of a clearing as I could get it in, then did an aggressive slip back down through the "hole" and onto the street. Guy on a Harley pulls up a few minutes later says he was trying to find the "airstrip," and that he used to fly years ago.

MetallicaJunkie

when i was a kid i had a global or modeltec Tornado(40 size midwing sport plane) the nose gear broke off, so i turned the main gear around to shift the wheels farther forward and i stuffed the battery as far back as i could in the fuse and made it a tail dragger for the day [8D]

MetallicaJunkie

nice motto

tenacious101010

My Feedback: (97)

Hmm, could have been dropping cans of coke on the runway to watch them explode, or dropping water balloons, plastic easter eggs filled with baby powder and chalk line powder, dropping rolls of toilet paper and trying to cut them on the way down, flying an electric plane down the road from the convertible, bowling with a ball tied to the back of our trainer, shooting at our mig with airsoft guns, tough to choose which was more fun.

David Bathe

I once ran a tank full of fuel through a new .46 engine mounted in an airframe.
Because there wasn't anying available to tie the aircraft down to... I attached it to my old and and trusted flying companion:
Emily my Golden Retriever! A perfect 40kg anchor.
She just layed down and sleeped thoughout the ordeal... as usual.
Holly Smokers... it raised a few eye brows.

Rob2160

I am now 46 years old..

At age 15, with my first futaba 4 channel, forcing my 12 year old brother to WALK over a mile away from the house at night, wiggling the sticks on the transmitter so i could test the range of the radio while I stayed home and watched the servos move.

around the same time, i would run home from school, arrive home at 3.30pm, pick up my .45 powered sport flyer, 1.4 meter wing span, carry it, and a Futaba radio, and an accessory kit, including 2 liters of glo fuel, and RUN almost 5 kilometers to the local flying field, which usually took 45 minutes, to manage 2 flights before the sun set.. Then spend over an hour walking everything home again.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQuXrZxdlv0[/youtube]

Or perhaps it was the day I did 100 RC flights in a single day. [link=http://www.youtube.com/user/Trainboy64#p/u/376/47u2LonEE_Y]http://www.youtube.com/user/Trainboy64#p/u/376/47u2LonEE_Y[/link]

Steve Landron

Back in the mid 80's, a friend of mine had an old balsa U-Control biplane with an .049 on it. My buddy did not want the plane anymore, so we commenced to douse it with fuel and lit it on fire. We then attempted to fly the plane but the flames kept going out with the engine running. We flew the plane a few times got bored, then set the plane on the ground put more fuel on it, set it on fire and watched it burn. Kind of wish I had that plane today, before the flames of course!

Captain Terrific

My Feedback: (2)

When I was stationed in Japan my friends daughter had a hamster. She wanted us to take it up for a flight. So, we put the little critter in my Goldberg Tiger 60 and took it up. We were laughing so hard on the flight line that I had to land it after just a couple of passes. The little guy wasn't even phased. He started crapping only when we were removing him. I think he wanted to take another flight.

erbroens

This is one of them I can tell you here:

Many years ago, in a local hobby shop I met a Austrian modeler and as I speak a little english started talked about the local club, models,and at that time that I was flying r/c helicopters. etc.. and for some reason I made a observation that my particular model helicopter was capable of flying with 7 pounds of extra weight, and maybe it would be possible to launch a glider on it wich was the main interest of this fellow modeller.

After a week or so, this guy showed up at the club with his best glider, worth of many euros weighing exactly 7 pounds and looked after me to launch it.

- (heavy german accent) Enrique, this is the glider, this is the rope. Let´s do the experiment.

- (me talking somewhat nervously) -ehhhh.. are you sure you want to try this? is this a 3 meter glider??? how much it weights? did you prefer to start with a smaller and cheaper one?

-(heavy german accent somewhat irritated) YOU SAID ME THAT YOUR HELICOPTER IS ABLE TO LIFT 7 POUNDS.

-(me talking without hesitation and a bit upset) sure, let´s do it.


Of course I wouldn´t step back in this situation, LOL .. I simply changed the throttle curve to 100% power at hovering and installed the rope at the helicopter cg. Also added a weight to the middle of the rope for avoiding it being sucked by the rotors upstream.

Then a big crowd started betting what will happen next...
The whole club stopped flying just to see a new way to crash a helicopter and a glider, and as expectation raised to a very high level, I started the engine, put the heli behind the big glider and begin ascending very slowly until the rope tightened and started to lift the glider tail and glider itself.

It was a amazing sight... a tiny 60 helicopter slowly lifting a giant glider up to the sky! The two models climbed like a slow elevator until I wasn´t seeing the heli anymore, just the glider. Then I said:

- Ready for release?

- Nein! we are too low!

- You better do it now, I can´t see the helicopter!

- Ok, releasing, danke!


The glider released and then I wasn´t able to see my heli.. chopped down power and a little forward motion and started a gentle downward spiral with the intention of not getting the rope tangled and get a more normal altitude to regain visual contact. Landed without incident and some moments later the glider.

Then with a big smile my new Austrian friend said - Very good, let´s do it again!

To keep the story short we did it and again we had success and cheers from the crowd, however the next weekend we met we decided to fly slope gliders wich was much more relaxing, LOL.. the good part of it where the memories of two crazy guys that did something funny and the friendship that exists until this days.

Hope you enjoyed this memory!

Enrique

jkr_1100

My Feedback: (15)

Enrique,

This is a great one. I have been flying, on and off, for over 20 years and I have nothing to compare to these stories. This is the best thread I have seen in a long time. Who is next, step right up.


Thank you to all for these gems.


Mark

benboy17

My Feedback: (34)

Just finished building a decathlon, put it in the tailhook, and then broke in the engine. After i broke in the engine pulled it out the tailhook(not sure why) with the engine still in the idle position. Noticed the rudder was reversed so i proceeded to switch the rudder but instead switched the throttle. Well needless to say I had to rebuild the plane as it hit my brother in laws rear tire on his truck. It had no wing on it or I would have tried to fly it. Hard way to learn from you mistakes!!!

GerKonig

Building a 1/4 scale Balsa USA cub decades ago. I was glueing in 1/4 sq. sticks of balsa with CA. To avoid the CA to penetrate in the wood too much, I always wet a bit the balsa as it does not affect the glue. So the steps were:
a) Wet the stick end with the tong
b) apply CA
c) Glue in place

And I was working abc abc abc and all the sudden I lost concentration and put the Ca on the stick, and then I took it to the tongue. Not funny I had a 6" long 1/4 x 1/4 balsa glued to my tongue. I was able to cut the stick down with some pliers, and the wood eventually came off a couple of hours later, as it got completely soaked.

I still wet the wood in cases such as this one, but I use a soaked towel (and not my tongue)

Gerry

jkr_1100

My Feedback: (15)

I just thought of one. I hope it is worthy.

I friend at the local club had a mishap whilst his buddy was flying his Tiger 2. Lawn dart style right at the end of the runway. Bad receiver batteries were determined to be the cause. I offered my condolences and asked what his plans were for this plane that came to the field in two large pieces and was destined to leave the field in four large pieces.

He said "I am going to throw it away" and "it has been rapaired before" and "it was an ARF anyway." Now he had my attention. With much intent on subtlety and executing very little I asked him if I could "have a chance to fix it for him." He said It was too far gone and that I should abstain. With a little more prodding I was able to convince him to "donate the wreck" I may have mentioned "research purposes" or something to that effect.

The best part is that he handed it over in a trash bag. This the RC Aircraft equivilent of a body bag. I then proceeded to repair, re-enforce and revitalize this ailing craft. I have it in my collection to this day and it is one of my favs. So thank you for the donation.

I hope someone gets a chuckle.

Mark

erbroens

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it. I have been around flying models for over 40 years (since I was 7 years old with my dad) and I am sure that you will experience some good ones too in years to come.

Enrique

geeter

My Feedback: (110)

hey, about five years ago i was flying a giant hots. i was doing a low inverted pass about 4 ft high over the field,,,,,,,,and pulled back on the elevaror stick. need i say more? .........have never done it again since that day.,,,,,, pull back the stick i mean............HAPPY LANDINGS.......GEETER

benboy17

My Feedback: (34)

Scariest I did was running a 50cc gasser in the yard tuning the carb when the neighbors little girl ran by the plane and got her thumb in the prop. Slung half the prop about 50 yards and her thumb was hanging by a tendon. Not a good day. Needless to say the kids run when they see me getting planes out. Thank goodness it was a wood prop or no telling where the thumb would be. I have never felt so bad in my life but the thumb was reattached and its fine.

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

Having been flying for over 50 years I've done about all of the crazy stuff you can imagine. Like building a cradle to piggyback a glider LONG before anyone else had ever done it. But the craziest stuff was done as a teenager (What else?).

I had a buddy who I would get together with and we would slap all kinds of things together, throw a cox .049 on the front, crank it up and let it go! Then, after the crash, we'd go back in my basement and throw another one together.

But the best one we ever did was what we called the "Killer Kopter". You tie a kerchief to a Cox .049 engine and twist it clockwise (looking from front). Start the engine, point it straight up and let it go! The engine will rotate in the opposite direction as the prop and keep the kerchief twisted. It climbs until it runs out of fuel and then it floats down on its own parachute

But don't put much fuel! It has a tendency to climb for a little while then do a nose-dive back at you! (Which is how it got the name KILLER KOPTER!)

Charlie P.

A zillion years ago Ibuilt a model called the "Mach 10", Ithink it was fromCenturi Rockets. It looked like a Mig 15 (or thenow known FW Ta 183)and the idea was it went up 400 ft under rocket power and then game down as a glider. Well, the first launch it just cleared the 3 ft launch rod and did a 90° turn and proceeded to terrorize everyone assembled (three or four of us used to launch and the neighbors came to watch). There was no time to duck or run, just scream and drop. It ended up stuck in the rose trellis on a nice couple's front porch on the far side of a ball-field.

Never flew that one again.

Hey, Ifound an image - mine was black with red trim.

SlabBro

Bunch of light weights in here!!! hahahahahah

I can't list some of the things I have done because the AMA may not like it

One thing I can say though is I've made a plane light the bon fire, pyro system on board

js3

My Feedback: (3)

Mine is not R/C but is model related.

I was with my brother when we "launched" his Estes rocket with an M-80 inside for payload. We attempted the launch on July 4, probably 1986 or 87. Well, it never got airborne. Just as the motor ignited, it tipped over on the pad, went about 50 along the ground and fizzled out. No explosion like we expected. We waited for about 20 or 30 more seconds and began walking over to retreive the dud. About half way there, BOOM!

We're lucky we didn't lose any digits.

Aerobatx

My Feedback: (1)

My Dad and his flying buddy, back in the late 50's, when I was just 2-3 yrs.old, were flying U controls on the parade grounds at Hickham Field in Honolulu, HI. My Dad's buddy got his hands on a Pulse jet engine, and built a speed pan to fly it on. They got it cranked and lauched it on 60 foot lines, and proceeded to blow out 138 windows in the buildings surrounding the field.

Later in life, my BFFB (best friend flying buddy) sat in the backseat of his convertible, and they flew his .09 powered Craft Aire Butterfly, from his house, 15 miles to the flying field, nonstop, with only a 4 oz external tank on the nose. Believe it or not, it flew at 55 mph. For those not familiar with the Butterfly, it had a 2 piece, 8 foot polyhedral wing, not what you'd think of as a fast plane.

OliverJacob

My Feedback: (12)

When I was back in Germany, a buddy of mine was just a trouble magnet. One time his engine quit because a bee got stuck in the carb. Another time his plane nosed over after landing because he hit a mouse running across the field. Rather funny was the moment when the batteries fell out of his transmitter while flying. He managed to put them all back in and land the plane.
When he was riding a bicycle, a cat ran into his front wheel, got stuck in the spokes. He got a road rash from that.
And I never figure out why, but many times he got hit by an automatic door, which just closed why he walked through. Did not happen to anyone else. 

pmerritt

My Feedback: (118)

I'm NOT SAYING I EVER DID THIS....the recipe calls for one M-80, contact cement, a big tube of Daisy BB's and a phone booth.