Post by hounddog on Feb 10, 2013 12:24:17 GMT 1
And entirely my fault.
After weeks of looking at the skyraider waiting for a break in the weather, the wind dropped for an hour or two yesterday afternoon, so it was out to the nearest hard surface that was not busy with traffic that I could find.
Not an ideal place, it was a rough tarmac, single track country lane about 6 feet wide, had a steep camber either side of the crown and went between two fields.
On the right was a field with horses in and a wooden paddock fence, separated from the road with a 3 foot grass / mud verge.
On the right was a ploughed field separated from the road by a very narrow grass verge then a 2 foot fall to the mud.
Wind was crosswind maybe 3 - 4 mph although I did not really notice this in the excitement. Thought the conditions were still.
I had serious misgivings about it but the heart demanded I fly and told the head to shut up.
I planned that if it swung right I would chop the throttle and bring it down rather than hit the fence or worse, fly through it and hit a horse.
If it swung left and I could not get it back I would continue to try to climb away as I had a 2 foot drop to play with and gain airspeed before the sploosh and a fountain of white plastic.
Did the checks, opened the throttle, held a bit of right rudder to counter the infamous take off swing to the left as the tail lifted and off it went. As it took to the air it nosed left again (probably weathervaning into the wind) but I took it as torque effect and applied right rudder. The thing swung right with alacrity by my inexperienced rudder thumb and was now 12" above the verge heading for the fence, so I chopped the throttle as planned.
The thing sank gently until it hit the top of a mud berm, tearing the port retract mounting completely out of the wing, snapped the stbd oleo strut in two, broke a blade off the prop and tore both fuel tanks off, before sliding about 6 feet on its belly in the grass.
Irony is if I had kept the throttle up instead of panicking it would have climbed away as it had straightened out by the time the belly touched.
I could have blamed the crosswind but it was my ineptness at the controls and blind stupidity for trying to takeoff crosswind in such a poor location.
Note to my self: stop and see for sure what the wind is doing at ground level, not rely on the steam from a power station stack 600ft high.
To add insult to injury I then got out the cub and promptly flew it into a tree, which it then spun out of and hit an electric fence, which it cartwheeled over, into the field at the other side . Had to crawl in the mud under it, risking my backside getting zapped.
My pristine supercub now has a large patch of damage on both leading edges and a tear where the plastic saddle fits at the trailing edge.
Got home and the missus looked on in amazement as I came in the house with 2 wrecked planes and covered in mud.
I got the skyraider repaired as good as new now with a new prop, the gear mount glued back in the wing, the fuel tanks glued back together, the mud washed off the belly and all it is waiting for is a new retract that I have on order from HK.
Once I got the mud off the damage was not as bad as it looked. I got off lightly.
The Spad once the mud was washed off the belly. I am amazed that it did not stain it, although it does not look as pristine as it does in the pic:
After weeks of looking at the skyraider waiting for a break in the weather, the wind dropped for an hour or two yesterday afternoon, so it was out to the nearest hard surface that was not busy with traffic that I could find.
Not an ideal place, it was a rough tarmac, single track country lane about 6 feet wide, had a steep camber either side of the crown and went between two fields.
On the right was a field with horses in and a wooden paddock fence, separated from the road with a 3 foot grass / mud verge.
On the right was a ploughed field separated from the road by a very narrow grass verge then a 2 foot fall to the mud.
Wind was crosswind maybe 3 - 4 mph although I did not really notice this in the excitement. Thought the conditions were still.
I had serious misgivings about it but the heart demanded I fly and told the head to shut up.
I planned that if it swung right I would chop the throttle and bring it down rather than hit the fence or worse, fly through it and hit a horse.
If it swung left and I could not get it back I would continue to try to climb away as I had a 2 foot drop to play with and gain airspeed before the sploosh and a fountain of white plastic.
Did the checks, opened the throttle, held a bit of right rudder to counter the infamous take off swing to the left as the tail lifted and off it went. As it took to the air it nosed left again (probably weathervaning into the wind) but I took it as torque effect and applied right rudder. The thing swung right with alacrity by my inexperienced rudder thumb and was now 12" above the verge heading for the fence, so I chopped the throttle as planned.
The thing sank gently until it hit the top of a mud berm, tearing the port retract mounting completely out of the wing, snapped the stbd oleo strut in two, broke a blade off the prop and tore both fuel tanks off, before sliding about 6 feet on its belly in the grass.
Irony is if I had kept the throttle up instead of panicking it would have climbed away as it had straightened out by the time the belly touched.
I could have blamed the crosswind but it was my ineptness at the controls and blind stupidity for trying to takeoff crosswind in such a poor location.
Note to my self: stop and see for sure what the wind is doing at ground level, not rely on the steam from a power station stack 600ft high.
To add insult to injury I then got out the cub and promptly flew it into a tree, which it then spun out of and hit an electric fence, which it cartwheeled over, into the field at the other side . Had to crawl in the mud under it, risking my backside getting zapped.
My pristine supercub now has a large patch of damage on both leading edges and a tear where the plastic saddle fits at the trailing edge.
Got home and the missus looked on in amazement as I came in the house with 2 wrecked planes and covered in mud.
I got the skyraider repaired as good as new now with a new prop, the gear mount glued back in the wing, the fuel tanks glued back together, the mud washed off the belly and all it is waiting for is a new retract that I have on order from HK.
Once I got the mud off the damage was not as bad as it looked. I got off lightly.
The Spad once the mud was washed off the belly. I am amazed that it did not stain it, although it does not look as pristine as it does in the pic:
