The Death of a Corsair
 

Great Plane Corsair

I don't think this plane was ever meant to have any Glory.
It tip stalled it's first day out and broke a Wing. It was the last flight of the day and it had many other problems it's first day. The Cowling and Muffler kept coming and the plane wanted to nose over, but after about 10 short flights I just had to get one more in so that I could run the fuel lower in the tank rather than have to pull it back out.

I flew it around for a bit and finally decided to land. The plane acted like it wanted to nose over when it landed so I gave it a little up Elevator to try to keep the tail on the ground. The plane lifted off so I decided to give it some throttle to come back around. When the plane started to gain some Alt I shoved the throttle to full and thats when it's first crash hit. It banked to the left and no matter what I did it still hit the ground.
This one was Pilot Error

Although this Ensign wasn't eliminated he was a bit wiser now.

The second Crash.
I Ordered a New Wing

I rebuilt the Wing and took the plane out. I thought I had the Muffler and Cowl problems fixed. But low and behold the Muffler still wanted to come lose.
I worked on the problem and thought I had it fixed so I flew again.
Once again the Muffler came lose. So I decided to land. Left to Right. The Landing was getting a bit long so I decided to come back around. So after turning Left 90 away from my original landing. I thought hey I might as well land this way.
I felt more comfortable going away from me. (Also this is a Giant Lake Bed). I had the Throttle cut and was just about to touch down when the Plane suddenly went to full Throttle and started to climb and then rolled to the left and Crashed. It broke the Left wing again. This break was not as bad as the first one. (I have no idea what happened on this one. The LHS said there is a Microwave in the area that has caused problems)

I Blame UFO'S or the Navy. I Live close to the Top Gun Training area.

This one Bruised the Ensign but still did not Kill him.

A Thankful Mishap.
I decided to rebuild the Wing with the scrap I had at home. It took a couple of days but I got it done.
I went to a smaller dry lake bed to fly. I finally fixed the Muffler problem.
I took off and was flying well.
I needed to make some trim adjustments, so as I was making them the Motor died.
So now it's panic time. The Landing area is plenty big until you dead stick, then it is like a postage stamp.

The problem you have is how to bleed enough Energy so that Landing or Roll out will not run you into the rocks on the edges of the Lake Bed.

Well I finally got it down and the plane nosed over and when it hit the Rudder, the Left Wing snapped at the repair Joint.

Apparently it was not as strong as I had hoped.
This was to me a Thankful Crash since it showed a flaw in my repairs.

This one still did not Eliminate the Ensign

The Third and Final Crash. This Eliminated the Ensign.

I made repairs and beefed up the joint. So I was not worried about that.

I decided to Taxi the plane around a bit to get used to the Rudder again. It had been 6 months since I last flew the plane.

While Taxing around the Rudder became stuck to a Hard Left. Well this was obviously a problem. I put the plane on the stand and took the wing off to see what might be the problem.
After I took the Wing off I turned everything back on. The Rudder centered and seem to work fine.
My conclusion was the Y Harness, some how became stuck in the Servo and was binding it up.
So the decision was to tape everything down and put the Wing back on. (The Ensign is a Hard Headed SOB)

I took off and man what a beautiful sight this plane was. It made a scale type take off and a gradual turn to the right.
This was to show the Ensign that the torque was not effecting the flight.

The Plane needed some trim adjustment because it wanted to roll Left.
I Decided to fight it and get some Alt so that I can make adjustments with out worry's.

As soon as I let go of the stick the Plane rolled over on it's back. (This is when the Ensign knew he was in deep dog doo) I started fighting with it and the planed turned about 100 degrees to the left it flew about 200 ft when it went nose down and started a spin to the left. Just like an Auger or a Lawn Dart. (The Ensign Blacked out due to the G's he suffered from in the Spin)

Well as you can probably tell it did not survive.

I remember standing there holding the Radio with full Right Aileron as the plane was laying on the ground.

Crash investigation

A couple of things that I know
The Final repairs to the Left wing held up great. This was the best part of the Wing.

I finally decided to look at it the other day and I found the Rudder servo some how became Jammed to the left. I could not turn it by hand. So it was Jammed hard.

I had night mares about it being Pilot error until I found the Rudder Servo locked over

The Conclusion is this Plane had Gremlins from the start. Or UFO"S attacked it again.

RE: The Death of a Corsair
 

what an epic

sounds like a stripped tooth on the rudder servo gears maybe? I lost a plane that way myself but it was on airleron

cheers
Peter

RE: The Death of a Corsair
 

Sorry about the Corsair.

I remember my first bad crash I drove home and sat in the garage about 20 minutes trying to get up the gumption to get out and carry the pieces of 4FU back in the house.

I say build a bigger, more expensive one is the best grief therapy.

The problem with this hobby is that any crash is either the pilot's or the builder's or the mechanic's fault, and THEY'RE ALL ME!!

mt

RE: The Death of a Corsair
 

As bad as this sounds, you're at least going about it the right way. Better to learn on a GP Corsair than a bigger more expensive TF or other brand. Dont give up, git back in the saddle and ride it till you got it down.
Edwin

RE: The Death of a Corsair
 

Just curious, since you didn't tell us: which Great Planes Corsair did you have, the ARF version or the kit version? The ARF version was heavy (and ugly) by all accounts, but I have seen many of the the kit built versions which were great flyers. Also, which engine did you have in it, with all the muffler problems?
Sorry about you loss.

RE: The Death of a Corsair
 

The rudder servo gets banged up pretty good, that where a high quality servo is a must, what brand did you have ?. Sorry about your plane but that how we all learn, it is good that you are not a quitter. BTW what do you have against the left wing:eek:

RE: The Death of a Corsair
 

The plane was a Kit Build.
It was my first build in some years and it was nothing spectacular. I took some pics of it before it died. I will get them developed soon and post if they turned out.
I figured to learn on the Great Planes Corsair before I stepped into another version.
I had the plane at just over 5 lbs.

I had an Evolution 46 in it and the Muffler was a Pitts type. The screws kept backing out of it, so I drilled through and run all thread through it and put nuts on each end. It seemed to work fine as long as it lasted.

The servo was a Futaba Servo (An Old one) from more than 10yrs back.
I had these servos left over from before my Kids took over my life and I had put them away. When the kids finally grew up I bought my new Radio. I needed one more servo because I had used two of the new ones for the Ailerons. (For a total of 5 Servos)
I had asked the LHS if they thought the old servo would cause any problems and they said not at all.
I Put the old one in the Rudder because I thought if it failed for whatever reason it would be in the neutral postition. Rather than Locking over to one side.

As far as the Left side of the Wing. The first one was Pilot Error into the Famous Tip Stall. The second Crash ended up being Tip Stall also do to what ever caused the motor to run up the way it did.

The Last Crash left no doubt about the Wing. It took both sides out.

The Crash was quite impressive the way it went in. It was diving staight down and spinning to the left as fast as it could until it hit the ground.
As I stated ealier the last thing I remember before I started the Long tearful walk out to gather the pieces, was letting go of the Ailerons Stick that was pushed over to the right as I was trying to stop the spin.

RE: The Death of a Corsair
 

Is that why your call sign is "F4U Killer"?

RE: The Death of a Corsair
 

You needed a bigger plane! :D
Sorry to hear about your loss

RE: The Death of a Corsair
 

Sorry about your loss but I have to say, that was the funniest write up of a loss I have ever read. As others have said, buy another one and try again. Never give up.
The F4U is not the easiest war bird to fly but if you keep the landing speed up you will be OK.

RE: The Death of a Corsair
 

Want a replacement? http://www.courtesyaircraft.com/C-GWFU.htm

Seriously though, in researching this plane, I have found a couple of things might help avoid stalls. Well, not avoid but assist you in handling them--the right front stall tab and clipped wings.

Now you say, clipped wings? Yes, mine will have them. But my reason for doing it is because the one I am modelling HAD them.

Sorry to hear about your loss.

p.s.

quote: "As I stated ealier the last thing I remember before I started the Long tearful walk out to gather the pieces, was letting go of the Ailerons Stick that was pushed over to the right as I was trying to stop the spin." unquote.

Oh man, I know that feeling. Brings a tear to my eye. I'm surprised the stick wasn't bent with you trying to recover. It seems that in times of panic I tend to forget what is needed to try to recover.

I may be wrong but it seems that the only way to recover is to use rudder to straighten out (not 'rons), keep the nose down, try to pick up speed and slowly feed in elevator (b4 it's too late of course). Easy in hindsight, not so easy in practise.

Anyways, back to the one for sale :D

edit--after I wrote this, I re-read it. I did not mean to give "instructions". It was more of a validation for myself as to how to get out of that type of problem. By no means am I an expert and did not want to imply that. I figure that if it was wrong, someone would point it out to me and I would be "saved".

RE: The Death of a Corsair
 

Yes :) I had found this list right before I had crashed the first time.

Then right after the Crash. I found the Corsair Blues message. I felt I could add something to the message and couldn't think of a good name.

Since I had just crashed my Plane I thought F4U Killer fit :)

RE: The Death of a Corsair
 

When the plane first rolled over I thought it was needing a heavy trim job and everytime I went to Aileron right it would try to stabalize. Until it went into the Death spin.
As it was in the Death Spin screaming toward the Earth. I was screaming to the Ensign it's not the fall that Kills you. It's just the sudden stop at the End that hurts.

Seriously though Rudder control was not even a thought as the plane was spinning in.

Speed definately was not an issue.

RE: The Death of a Corsair
 

Thanks voyager for the link, I have been looking for one for a long time :D. would you shine some light on what "the right front stall tab and clipped wings" are. Thanks

RE: The Death of a Corsair
 

Killer,
when I first saw this post I had sympathy but couldn't really relate, until now.
Yesterday I was just having the best time with my X-mas gift, Hangar 9 Corsair.
I was chasin' arround my buddies identical Corsair all the while we were increasing our fly-by
speed while decreasing fly-by altitude until my Corsair struck the ground...hard.
I was in what I call, RC shock, where you're still holding the last command on your radio and your body language says,"don't.....crash". I had the presence of mind to wait for my buddy to
land and then we picked up the peices including a busted OS 91...sheesh.While picking up, I was tellin' the guys all the excuses I could think of... Myrudder fell off! MY evevator failed! Did somebody turn on 47?My servo failed? The guys were going along with my theories, like good flying buddies, gaurding my ego like I would gaurd there's. But, in my case, I was flying my Corsair too low and too fast and crashed on my own.
Anyways F4U killer,
build another Corsair and fly.
Sorry for not giving this thread it's due.
Anderson

RE: The Death of a Corsair
 

A little info' regarding servos that have stuck at full travel.
I have noticed that if you max out your ATV on the tranny, and why not, one mustn't' then start using the sub trim function to center the neutral position. This can/will cause the servo to over travel and stop. It has happened to me using Futaba and JR pro' quality servos so it isn't a particular brand thing. This no-no, is now taken for granted withing much of the comp' scene...worth remembering.
Of course it's a problem that the manufactures have tried to ignore in the hope they'll design the problem away in future, like JR 10x screens that black out with the slightest hint if water or... YS Air Chambers the leak etc etc.

Not saying that this is what's happened in your case but worth sharing with people.