Xantos

Hi guys ,
Posting some pics of my Eurosport .
I was using a 300mm Graupner whip antenna.
While flying today the whip broke off in flight and shattered the canopy.
Luckily the Euro is a slow airplane and I was flying close tight circuits so I didnt loose control.
Preflight inspection did not indicate any possible failure and all looked ok , No cracks etc on the antenna wire
So please check your whips by bending /flexing whatever before takeoff.
Nandan

WhoDaMan

My Feedback: (164)

All I can say is WOW,,,,, Good save on the bird

Kelly W

My Feedback: (2)

The exact failure mode is a little hard to tell from your photos. Did the solder joint fail and let the wire slip out, or did the wire sheer off at the root?

Kelly

Jet Doctor

Wrong, wrong, wrong!!!!

The pilot saw what was coming so he ejected and the blast took off the whip!

Sorry, its early on ?Monday morning and could not resist that.

Maybe we need to consider turfing out the whips after X number of sorties. The again, how do we know what X is.

tahfiet

Hi Kelly!

These whip-aerials are not soldered! They are somehow pressed in and just hold together buy "drag" between the two different materials.

I stopped using them and do my own aerials. I use a round four mil electric-plug, drill a 1.5mil hole and solder a piece of piano-wire in it. The opposite side is the opposite part of the connector and solder the aerial-wire of the rx to it. Works fine for me and I can do the length needed.

Best regard,
David

Dave Wilshere

Nandan

The more I look at that the more I think it could not be the whip that broken the canopy-your in warm weather so it's not brittle and that whip wire weighs a few grams...I think something hit the model-braking the whip and the canopy!
I've dropped my eurosport/flash/lightning/rookie canopes several time and not cracked them...

regards

Dave

Kelly W

My Feedback: (2)

That's weird, the one on my HotSpot since 2002 sure looks like a wire soldered in the threaded base. Maybe there are a few versions out there or different groups manufacturing similar products with slight differences...

seems strange that the mass of a wire, even at ~200 mph, could generate enough inertia do that much damage. Almost seem like the plane could have mid aired with a bird or something, resulting in both the antennae and canopy damage, but you would obviously have seen it if that was the case. Strange...

Kelly

c_makhija

Hi Guys,

Spoke to Nandan a few days ago,he told me he flew the plane through a flock of birds but did not realise he had a bird hit.
If you look at the canopy carefully theres a big hole in it. Very unlikely the whip would cause it.

regards

Chaitanya.

Xantos

I looked at the damage carefully again and I would like to believe the bird hit theory.
The damage seems to be far too much to be caused by an antenna.
1)Antenna broken from the base
2)The canopy is broken
3)The cockpit tub is cracked
4)Fiberglass around the base of the antenna is cracked
In theory only the tip of the antenna being the heaviest could possibly cause so much damage only if it were contantly hitting against the canopy but there is no chance that could have happened if it were the case the damage would have been further back not on the front of the canopy.
The antenna hasnt broken off/ sheared off, it has come off clean from the base leaving a hole, the wire is obviously press fitted into the base
However the fiberglass around the base is cracked which indicates some impact.
There were large birds around but I didnt see any impact and there is no evidence of feathers in the airplane etc similarly no dead/injured birds on the ground.
Nandan

c_makhija

Hi Nands,

Amazing flying, looks like you saved both the birds.