Met the guys for a late breakfast then to the field. Perfect blue skies and no wind. Warmed up flying my trusty Air Tractor then made ready for the P12 test flight. After everyone, five of us, checked over the plane I taxied out and on the take-off run the foam rudder hinge completely gave way. I was able to abort and no other damage. I have less than 1 hour of in the shop time on moving the controls and glad This happened during run up and not at take-off which I was almost at speed. So back to the hanger for real hinges and will try again. Wonder if real test pilots had abortive take-offs during testing. I expect they did. We did fly for 3hr after because it is a beautiful blue-sky day. Pic of it back in the hanger4.
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Hi Rex: glad you caught that while still on the ground. You can give it another go after you have done the repairs. I've handed off my P-12 to Dan to see what he can do with it. Last takeoff attempt it rolled onto its nose before taking off, broke the propeller, and skinned the corners slightly of both wings. I'm done with this POS. For me, lesson learned. Such a beautiful looking plane, though...Met the guys for a late breakfast then to the field. Perfect blue skies and no wind. Warmed up flying my trusty Air Tractor then made ready for the P12 test flight. After everyone, five of us, checked over the plane I taxied out and on the take-off run the foam rudder hinge completely gave way. I was able to abort and no other damage. I have less than 1 hour of in the shop time on moving the controls and glad This happened during run up and not at take-off which I was almost at speed. So back to the hanger for real hinges and will try again. Wonder if real test pilots had abortive take-offs during testing. I expect they did. We did fly for 3hr after because it is a beautiful blue-sky day. Pic of it back in the hanger4.
Cheers
Davegee
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