A new first
11-26-2016, 03:31 PM
#1
A new first
Well yesterday I had a new and unpleasant experience. I lost an airplane due to a windshear. My Dolphin L bit the dust. I had a couple hundred flights on this jet and it was always rock solid. After an uneventful flight I was on downwind with gear and half flaps. The apparent speed looks a bit hi but not too bad. I started my final turn as I went to fill flaps, throttle to 1/2 as normal and the nose slightly down. All of a sudden it snapped! I struggled to get the wings level so I could recover and almost had it till I lost sight behind a small mound. One wing was 25 yards from the crash site and the canopy was 75 yards away. Fortunately I only lost the airframe. Motor, radios and all had no damage. After I recovered the jet I found out all the stuff in the pits had been blown by the same big gust that got me..chairs, tents etc. Im still stunned.
11-26-2016, 04:49 PM
#2
I had a PA Extra prop plane go down on me like a rock at 1/3-1/2 throttle. Had dozens of flights on it. Winds forced it down 50' in a second. Only mine was upright all the way down. It happens. But, ...
We had a Dolphin snap on take-off here this summer. It had what appeared to be enough speed, and it did not appear to have too much climb rate. It just snapped at about 15' and crashed. Total loss. Eh, ... Maybe that was last summer. ?
We had a Dolphin snap on take-off here this summer. It had what appeared to be enough speed, and it did not appear to have too much climb rate. It just snapped at about 15' and crashed. Total loss. Eh, ... Maybe that was last summer. ?
11-26-2016, 07:04 PM
#5
Well yesterday I had a new and unpleasant experience. I lost an airplane due to a windshear. My Dolphin L bit the dust. .....After I recovered the jet I found out all the stuff in the pits had been blown by the same big gust that got me..chairs, tents etc. Im still stunned.
11-26-2016, 08:08 PM
#6
My Feedback: (20)
Tom,
Sorry to hear about the loss. That was a nice flying jet. Not much you can do when the "big hand" comes and grabs you. Maybe "managed speed" would have helped. Glad you can recover the RC gear and turbine. Keep us posted on your next project.
Gary
Sorry to hear about the loss. That was a nice flying jet. Not much you can do when the "big hand" comes and grabs you. Maybe "managed speed" would have helped. Glad you can recover the RC gear and turbine. Keep us posted on your next project.
Gary
11-27-2016, 01:46 AM
#7
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcMq3Oi22Pc&t=80s
At 2:39 in this video my SM F-16 1:6 drops about 8 feet in a second, there was a lot of wind that day, and I was lucky to be high enough to recover.
Sorry for your loss.
Tor
Sorry for your loss.
Tor
11-27-2016, 07:26 AM
#9
I am sorry to hear that. It's tough to know exactly what is happening to our models from our remote position when dust devils / gust fronts and other windshear is in action. At least you were able to save the internals by trying to still fly all the way to touchdown. Just like Bob Hoover used to say. I lost my scratch built Convair 580 to sudden windshear on the tail end of my flight, about 17 years ago. I actually went around on the first try but ran out of time and came in for an "emergency" approach with no more duration available when the gusts settled down, but the heavy wind / gust front was still not quite finished with us. It was during a scale competition with plenty of onlookers, quite the spectacle. From the post competition newsletter, the writer painted it onto a literary canvas that I got a chuckle out of... "After the go around that coincided with the gusts flipping over several airplanes in the pitts, it was time to make a final attempt to land. It looked like the landing was in the bag until the model was apparently grabbed by a big hairy fist from above and thrown upon the runway, upside down, with fury!" Good times I tell ya.
