Post by ledsled on Jun 17, 2011 6:56:25 GMT 1
Good evening all:
My tale is one of an over inflated ego and the purchase of the Parkzone F4U Corsair. What a beautiful looking bird.
I have had many hours of practice with the G5.5 flight simulator at my LHS with great instruction from the guys that fly, which is all of the employees. For months they have been bugging me to join them in the air and I finally conceded.
I started with a micro Champ and took it to the park. With a friend in tow I proceeded to wow the crowd with touch and go's, loops, hammer drops, into the wind hovering and plenty of near misses. After a couple battery packs and several successful landings on grass, mid air grabs and on the bike path, I thought , "Self, You are ready for 4 channel!"
Off to the LHS and $300.00 later for plane, and spare parts (I'm not new to R\C) I got this bad boy home and quickly assembled and photoed my newest addition to the R\C family.
A couple days after that my friend Jon and I went for her maiden. He is a very good pilot with a lot of stick time and quite a fleet in his hanger. He took me to a place all the boys he flies with go and we unloaded the cars.
Being new to this part of R\C i should have listened to my inner voice. It was screaming, "This is all wrong!", but the 10 year old in me was raring to go.
We were at a new construction area that had a paved 4 lane road with nothing but a few lamp posts about every 300 feet. That didn't scare me. It was the 4 guys that were already there with 6 kids and the wives. They had several planes going in no particular manner. Chasing each other around the sky, diving the parked cars, landing near the kids and in our setup area. We decided to move 500 meters down the road and use a smaller field to fly.
All was looking good to start. I set the trims, checked the range, and sent her aloft. What a beautiful takeoff. And that was all the fun I had. What I had failed to notice was my elevator was trimmed up just enough to make her start bucking at mid throttle. Heart racing and sweat pouring down my face, made a turn for the runway only then to notice the other guys thought I could fly and was screwing around, so they buzzed me at about 50 feet! I pulled up into a rather strong crosswind, 15km or so, and it all went wrong.
I managed to keep her flying for about 2 minutes, or about 2 years in my mind. I know it's a toy and I have busted a few high end cars racing, so I should be used to breaking things, but it honestly felt like I was in the cockpit and needed to land safely. Nerve wracking as it was, i did manage to get her between the posts and on a half decent approach. It was going to go directly over me but I had no choice, and if its going to hit someone I'd rather it be me than a kid. Just as I looked up one of the other pilots, and I use that term loosely, had sidled up to me and screamed pull up as it cleared me by about 10 feet. For those that are new to the hobby and just reading this, never scream at another pilot while they are in the air. There is no room for backseat pilots in the game. I panicked and my right thumb pushed the elevator stick straight up and I plowed into the ground at half throttle. I missed my head by inches and skipped into a parked bulldozer.
As a crowd gathered and made the four foot walk of shame, amidst the laughter I assessed the damage. Broken fuse behind the cowl, snapped cockpit cover, ripped out my left landing gear, cracked the wing and of course destroyed the prop.
I picked up the parts along with my pride and busted out the 5 min epoxy. She ain't dead yet! Put her back together rather quick and put her aside to cure.
That gave me time to observe very poor flying etiquette for the next 45 minutes. Jon and I discussed the stupidity of the flying we were witnessing and I said that even if she is fixed I won't fly until they leave. Well, I got my wish. She was ready to go, I had an hour of light and the wind was near dead.
This time Jon took her up, circled and checked everything. Have I mentioned that she is a beautiful bird.
He handed me the controls and I was doing well for a minute or so and then kind of froze up. I wanted to land so badly but couldn't get her on any type of clean line. As she circled and started to go away from me I decided that discretion is the better part of valor and cut throttle. She glided in on some pretty rocky and very unlevel earth. That ripped out the repaired gear and caused her to face plant immediately. That destroyed the cowl completely and another prop.
That was a little hard to swallow for my first time out, but I'm a big boy now, I'll get over it.
The next day I went out and bought a Super Cub Lp. She has had 6 successful flights now and I love it. This is where I should have started. I plan to fly her for awhile before I put the F4U back up.
Thank you for reading my story. And for all of the new people, as with all stories I hope you came away with a few lessons learned.
For your first plane, do not, and I can't stress that enough, DO NOT fly outside your abilities. If you don't destroy your investment you can hurt yourself or worse, someone else.
Always display proper flying etiquette. Don't assume everyone with a plane is an expert and give them some space if it's free. Try not to offer advice to people when they are in the air. Your left is not their left or the plane's. Never fly near children no matter how confident you feel. Waiting for them to clear is cheaper than a lawsuit.
Have a mentor if possible go with you to help you get your plane flying true and safely. I only fly alone now because I found a large area that is clear and unpopulated.
Lastly, 5 minute epoxy, tooth picks, Popsicle sticks and packing tape are your best friends.
I'm really enjoying flying my SC and might even do the aileron mod before I fly my Corsair again.
Can't wait for my next flight!
Happy Landings everyone!
My tale is one of an over inflated ego and the purchase of the Parkzone F4U Corsair. What a beautiful looking bird.
I have had many hours of practice with the G5.5 flight simulator at my LHS with great instruction from the guys that fly, which is all of the employees. For months they have been bugging me to join them in the air and I finally conceded.
I started with a micro Champ and took it to the park. With a friend in tow I proceeded to wow the crowd with touch and go's, loops, hammer drops, into the wind hovering and plenty of near misses. After a couple battery packs and several successful landings on grass, mid air grabs and on the bike path, I thought , "Self, You are ready for 4 channel!"
Off to the LHS and $300.00 later for plane, and spare parts (I'm not new to R\C) I got this bad boy home and quickly assembled and photoed my newest addition to the R\C family.
A couple days after that my friend Jon and I went for her maiden. He is a very good pilot with a lot of stick time and quite a fleet in his hanger. He took me to a place all the boys he flies with go and we unloaded the cars.
Being new to this part of R\C i should have listened to my inner voice. It was screaming, "This is all wrong!", but the 10 year old in me was raring to go.
We were at a new construction area that had a paved 4 lane road with nothing but a few lamp posts about every 300 feet. That didn't scare me. It was the 4 guys that were already there with 6 kids and the wives. They had several planes going in no particular manner. Chasing each other around the sky, diving the parked cars, landing near the kids and in our setup area. We decided to move 500 meters down the road and use a smaller field to fly.
All was looking good to start. I set the trims, checked the range, and sent her aloft. What a beautiful takeoff. And that was all the fun I had. What I had failed to notice was my elevator was trimmed up just enough to make her start bucking at mid throttle. Heart racing and sweat pouring down my face, made a turn for the runway only then to notice the other guys thought I could fly and was screwing around, so they buzzed me at about 50 feet! I pulled up into a rather strong crosswind, 15km or so, and it all went wrong.
I managed to keep her flying for about 2 minutes, or about 2 years in my mind. I know it's a toy and I have busted a few high end cars racing, so I should be used to breaking things, but it honestly felt like I was in the cockpit and needed to land safely. Nerve wracking as it was, i did manage to get her between the posts and on a half decent approach. It was going to go directly over me but I had no choice, and if its going to hit someone I'd rather it be me than a kid. Just as I looked up one of the other pilots, and I use that term loosely, had sidled up to me and screamed pull up as it cleared me by about 10 feet. For those that are new to the hobby and just reading this, never scream at another pilot while they are in the air. There is no room for backseat pilots in the game. I panicked and my right thumb pushed the elevator stick straight up and I plowed into the ground at half throttle. I missed my head by inches and skipped into a parked bulldozer.
As a crowd gathered and made the four foot walk of shame, amidst the laughter I assessed the damage. Broken fuse behind the cowl, snapped cockpit cover, ripped out my left landing gear, cracked the wing and of course destroyed the prop.
I picked up the parts along with my pride and busted out the 5 min epoxy. She ain't dead yet! Put her back together rather quick and put her aside to cure.
That gave me time to observe very poor flying etiquette for the next 45 minutes. Jon and I discussed the stupidity of the flying we were witnessing and I said that even if she is fixed I won't fly until they leave. Well, I got my wish. She was ready to go, I had an hour of light and the wind was near dead.
This time Jon took her up, circled and checked everything. Have I mentioned that she is a beautiful bird.
He handed me the controls and I was doing well for a minute or so and then kind of froze up. I wanted to land so badly but couldn't get her on any type of clean line. As she circled and started to go away from me I decided that discretion is the better part of valor and cut throttle. She glided in on some pretty rocky and very unlevel earth. That ripped out the repaired gear and caused her to face plant immediately. That destroyed the cowl completely and another prop.
That was a little hard to swallow for my first time out, but I'm a big boy now, I'll get over it.
The next day I went out and bought a Super Cub Lp. She has had 6 successful flights now and I love it. This is where I should have started. I plan to fly her for awhile before I put the F4U back up.
Thank you for reading my story. And for all of the new people, as with all stories I hope you came away with a few lessons learned.
For your first plane, do not, and I can't stress that enough, DO NOT fly outside your abilities. If you don't destroy your investment you can hurt yourself or worse, someone else.
Always display proper flying etiquette. Don't assume everyone with a plane is an expert and give them some space if it's free. Try not to offer advice to people when they are in the air. Your left is not their left or the plane's. Never fly near children no matter how confident you feel. Waiting for them to clear is cheaper than a lawsuit.
Have a mentor if possible go with you to help you get your plane flying true and safely. I only fly alone now because I found a large area that is clear and unpopulated.
Lastly, 5 minute epoxy, tooth picks, Popsicle sticks and packing tape are your best friends.
I'm really enjoying flying my SC and might even do the aileron mod before I fly my Corsair again.
Can't wait for my next flight!
Happy Landings everyone!
. As the BMFA insurance rep points out in his article, "I see more claims for fingers in propellers than anything else".