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When does the crashing stop?

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  • When does the crashing stop?

    Hey guys,
    Just a quick question, due to the fact I have been in this hobby for almost a year now and own several planes, all of which has been crashed in one way or the other. Only ones not crashed is the ones not flown! lol My question is for Mark, and all the more experienced pilots, and that question is when does the crashing stop? I mean, every time I think I have something mastered, POW, I do something wrong! I do a lot of flying on simulator, and I have logged over a hundred hours of flight time. One thing is I have learned some about COG, this means a lot during take offs and landing. But will there be a day when I go out and really don't have to worry, OMG I'm going to crash and fly with that knot in your gut and sweaty palms! Thanks for any input!

  • #2
    Re: When does the crashing stop?

    Hi,well for me I have been flying a little over a year and I can say all time spent on the simulator is time well spent.I think of it as muscle memory when the aircraft reacts I dont even have to think about what to do the thumbs take over,and thats from a lot of sim time and air time and crashing.check out our page and look at some year old videos and then the new ones a big diff.I dont know if this will help you or not but dont give up just keep at it keep the glue gun close by.<smiley image="anim_working.gif"/> http://www.youtube.com/user/OD123ify/videos
    :cool:Fly it like you stole it!!

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    • #3
      Re: When does the crashing stop?

      It does not stop , it just becomes less frequent. At first I crashed so many times it is not even funny and it gets very frustrating. Even the pros in our club have had some spectuclar crashes. Equipment or hardware malfunction or inadvertantly hitting the wrong switch , they all have experienced those errors. Like one guy said we don't want anyone to crash but if it does we all want to be there to see it <smiley image="smiley_happy.gif"/>

      I have been flying for over two years and some of my planes never cause me any knots in my stomch but for some of the others, like my larger warbirds, makes me tense and just bringing it down in one piece it is like you survived a misson over the enemy's target. One of our veteran pilots with over 30 years flying RC planes stated: "every plane has an expiration date. "

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      • #4
        Re: When does the crashing stop?

        When I first started learning how to fly I rekitted some planes as I didn't have the use of a simulator but I had a great instructor at my last club that took the time to get me flying. I saw a crash today at our clubs warbird meet the pilot is experienced but equipment failure brought his plane down. Airplane kits are on borrowed time as soon as you open the box.

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        • #5
          Re: When does the crashing stop?

          Thanks guys!!! I am getting better and a lot of the problems I have now is I have upgraded to flying jets which are just a wee bit faster than the Cessna, trainer, and F4U corsair I have been flying! One thing I have learned is to try to do most of your adjusting while plane is on ground instead of in flight at full speed.....hello tree!!! But I feel a lot better now knowing even the best still have their Denzel Washington moments (From movie Flight) lol But thanks for all the replies, now I won't feel bad when I am ordering a new fuselage as I just did a couple days ago. I mean I guess Tom and Mark need to make a living too! And I am sure they love us newbies! Thanks guys! And Thanks MotionRC for being the best!
          Rick

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          • #6
            Re: When does the crashing stop?

            all my planes fly better after they have been glued back together a couple of times <smiley image="smiley_tongue.gif"/>

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            • #7
              Re: When does the crashing stop?

              <quote author="brick47">
              all my planes fly better after they have been glued back together a couple of times <smiley image="smiley_tongue.gif"/>
              </quote>

              Mine too! <smiley image="anim_handshake.gif"/> At least, they fly better'n the way they were flying when they impacted whatever it was that moved in front of 'em. Uhhhh....for a little while, anyway. At least.

              Some of 'em tho, I choose rather to just leave 'em re-kitted. As punishment. For them. For being such a lousy plane to start with. That oughta show 'em!!

              <smiley image="smiley_grin.gif"/><smiley image="smiley_cool.gif"/><smiley image="anim_drunk.gif"/>

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              • #8
                Re: When does the crashing stop?

                Every plane you own has an expiration date, you just don't know when that is, at least that's an old saying with a lot of rc flyers. With that said, you will always have mishaps on occasion. What you will notice as your skill improves is that your mishaps will be repairable and not as tragic the better you get. Foam electrics are very forgiving and repairable compared to traditional balsa. My first two balsa arf's (corsairs) both died because I was inexperienced and as I like to say, I was to stupid to own them and I killed them. Another balsa arf, a hangar 9 50 corsair I have put three sets of wings on, and I have yet to destroy the plane, yes I have cartwheeled it taking off and messed up the wings, but always been able to replace them without damage to firewall, fuselage or vertical stab. That's because my experience finaly caught up with my flying. Another thing that I was guilty of and I notice with a lot of other new guys is on landings. Most people start out with a high wing trainer, that's great. The problem is you learn to slow down and float it in for a landing. That does not work with a tail dragger/warbird. You have to teach yourself to land your planes with power and authority. Just be patient, and keep practicing. Rather you go to balsa/glow/gas etc. planes or stay with foam electrics its the same style of flying pretty much. Although to be honest the smaller electric foam planes are truly harder to fly than the larger ones. My 60 size nitro warbirds are actually tame compared to some of my foam electric planes. You will get their just keep practicing!

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                • #9
                  Re: When does the crashing stop?

                  Great message!

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                  • #10
                    Re: When does the crashing stop?

                    The most experienced pilots crash, now and then. When you break a plane, you learn its weak points. RC is about 85% building,repairing and modifying. The rest is flying and bsing! I love it!!! Doctormike

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                    • #11
                      Re: When does the crashing stop?

                      By the way, using about 40% or more expo can make the difference between crashing and flying. As you gain experience, you can bring this down a bit. One member of our club flies aerobatic competition, both full scale and rc (He owns a full scale Sukhoi). He uses varying degrees of expo, even as much as 60%! The Doctor

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                      • #12
                        Re: When does the crashing stop?

                        merry xmas and all that stuff if you really want to stop crashing get a eagle tree stabilizer the 2d/3d one it will bring your plane back to level at the flip of a switch it is so easy to install and is the size of a small bic lighter you do need a radio with a 3 position switch or you can leave it on all the time if you do not have a 3 position switch you can turn it off fly like you stole it and when things get really hair y flip switch and your are level and ready to fly on like you knew what you were doing . i have 4 or 5 on different planes and it has saved my planes a 100 times . the guys at air feild think i'm a prodige or something i go crazy with flips and rolls veritcal back flips flat spins knife edge then when i loss it flip switch bamb i'm back level and ready . i know it works and for 70 bucks how can you go wrong if you save your plane once you paid for it
                        that my story and i'm sticking to it this is Capt. Smoke still flying high in colorado over and out

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                        • #13
                          Re: When does the crashing stop?

                          I call this hobby-''Russian rolette lawn darts''...The best R/C pilots that I have ever seen,,have had some of the most spectacular crashes that I have ever seen also,, including mid-airs..I have ''darted''a few myself,over the years...

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                          • #14
                            Re: When does the crashing stop?

                            It's simple.... 40% expo!!!! The Doctor

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                            • #15
                              Re: When does the crashing stop?

                              List the areas where you have a problem. Is it during flight or is it take offs and landings?

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                              • #16
                                Re: When does the crashing stop?

                                I've just recently started flying r/c again after a long absence, but I'll share my thoughts with you based upon experience.

                                When I had to sideline the hobby many years ago flight simulators, flight stabilizers/gyros and such didn't exist. So we started out with a reliable trainer flying rudder, elevator and throttle until we could handle it with no problems. Then we added ailerons to the same airplane (mine was a Carl Goldberg Falcon 56) and flew it with the aileron mod until we could stay out of trouble while practicing all the aerobatic maneuvers flown in pattern competition. Then modified the plane again by building a wing with no dihedral, and once we mastered that we advanced either to sport, sport scale or scale planes, depending on our individual interests.

                                One thing for certain is that you MUST treat an r/c aircraft no different that you would treat a full scale plane. That includes lots of preflight and post-flight inspections, i.e. if the prop contacts the ground while the engine/motor is running, during takeoff, landing or taxiing, shut it down and thoroughly check the prop for damage and the engine mounts and firewall for possible damage, even if doing so requires removing an engine cowl. Always perform a thorough range check of the radio before each flight regardless of known battery condition, and operate all controls while listening for unusual sounds from the servos that would indicate possible servo gear damage or binding of the control linkages. Before each time you assemble the plane for flight, check that no servos are loose in the mountings and that all linkages are tight. After each flying session, back at the workbench or "hangar", thoroughly inspect the plane again, checking servo mounts, linkages, landing gear tightness, wheel collars if used. And if using glo or gas fueled power, check for fuel leaks. Also check mufflers for tight mounting (once saw a $400 plane crash because the muffler fell off in flight, destroying the COG to the point that it was essentially uncontrollable). That emphasizes the importance of COG. On some designs "close" isn't good enough. It must be as prescribed by the instructions/plans, though they're not always exactly correct. Then, if the plane is unstable even with excessive trim adjustments, adjust the COG slightly according to what you're dealing with.

                                To avoid rambling on too much, I'll sum this up by saying that if you live in a typically windy area, either keep the planes in the hangar until the winds are light (single digits), or invest in the now available and affordable 3-axis flight stabilizers. And even with one installed, if your plane is of typical size (say 7 lbs and under) it will eventually get flipped or turned up on a wingtip while landing or taxiing. That's about all you can to generally avoid crashes, including ground loops. Generally speaking, when flying r/c it's not a matter of IF you're going to crash, it's a matte of WHEN.

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                                • #17
                                  Re: When does the crashing stop?

                                  Thanks for contributing to this thread. You bring up one of the most important topics in R/C, the Pre-Flight Check. We hear from countless pilots each day who have major mishaps because they did not take 5 minutes to check control throws, test servo movement, make sure the prop is free from damage & balanced, etc etc. As you stated, treating your model like a full-scale plane is excellent advice and will save you money and allow you to spend more time flying rather than fixing. Keep up the great advice, thanks everyone.

                                  Mark

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                                  • #18
                                    Re: When does the crashing stop?

                                    Yeah, lots of Bsing!

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                                    • #19
                                      Re: When does the crashing stop?

                                      "When does the crashing stop?"
                                      Wellll, I honestly can't answer you there, but I can help you with the date.
                                      Today I saw one of our club's most accomplished fliers - 46 years experience - spatter a bee-YOO-tiful Ultimate Bipe into 20 times more pieces than came with the kit. Full tilt boogie from ~150 feet up, spinner first. I'm talkin', one 'em 3-bag deals.

                                      He was tryin' to be brave, but you could tell he was just about to cry. One of the guys asked him would he be building another to replace it, & he did some quick figuring & said it'd cost over $5000 to build it now, & he had built this one for about $2000.

                                      SO, back to the point - when. Again, I can't give you the date or time....but you can advance the counter to 46 years & 1 day, & pick up the count again from there.
                                      ~*

                                      PS: Next time them Fubata guys start singing "Futz never fail", you can just refer 'em to this post. <smiley image="anim_blbl.gif"/>
                                      PPS: Neener neener.

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                                      • #20
                                        Re: When does the crashing stop?

                                        get a flight stabilizer done the trick for me i got the eagletree works great.

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