Intro and flight summary

[wilburmeechum]

Hello, I am a retired Navy Corpsman living in Northern Virginia. I teach high school, am going to school and coach baseball and football. I'm hoping to find time to enjoy flying RC planes.

I have owned a Super Cub for a few weeks but have only had it out three times. I've crashed it two of the three. The first crash happened shortly after I hand launched it. It immediatly went into a fast, hard left turn. It hit a tree limb and went nose first into the ground. I almost retired then, but ordered a new motor housing and main gear (I guess that's what they are called), made the repair and went back out. The second flight was nice. Lots of good time in the air and no hard landings. The third time out I took my son who was prepared to laugh and bust my chops. Things were going great. I even executed two sweet landings. I ran out the first battery and then the wind picked up. I told my son that I should pack it up and not risk the wind taking my plane away. I wouldn't still be typing this if I had actually gone home. I changed batteries and launched it. I got it up and made a couple of circles and then bam. A nose dive straight into the ground. I blamed in on the wind but it was probably pilot error. The wing snapped in half. After a botched repair, I ordered a new wing. Hopefully it will be here tomorrow and the SC will be back in the sky. I've got the flying part down pretty good but the sudden decelleration when ground meets the prop is a problem. I'm going to to keep flying though because I'm enjoying it so far.

[flydiver]

Good on you. Learning by yourself can be really tough. There is no good way around the crash, burn, repair, and repeat cycle. The flying time will increase, the crash and repair time will decrease. I trust you've learned NOT to fly in wind until you are very confident of your ability. It's kind of fun once you get to that stage but not before. If you have that 'nagging doubt' pack it in or be prepared to glue and tape.

There are hoards of suggestions for flying, repair, and reinforcement here. Read more than you fly to get up to speed. You'll need the info as much as the thumb practice.

[wilburmeechum]

I took the SC out this morning as the sun was rising over the Potomac and before the wind picked up. Only had time for 1 battery but nailed 3 good landings and had a lot of fun.

[flydiver]

See, improvement already.

[wilburmeechum]

yep, thanks

[patmatgal]

wilburmeechum
This morning looked OK but the day turned into a howler. Glad you got to fly and had 3 good landings, the Super Cub is a blast.

[wilburmeechum]

Pat, windy indeed. I live near and fly at Fort Hunt park. I hope the wind will be gone soon.