Model Forum / Radio Controlled / Air Models / May 2004

Fred,

No disrespect but, the B-17 builder is a very experienced modeler. He
has been in the hobby for decades, flies small and giant scale planes
with precision and does first class work. I doubt if the problem was
in a construction error. It is the first time I have seen him crash in
four years. Having seen the poor performance and heard two people
(with more experience than me) say that the B-17 was not that great a
flyer, I assumed there may be a grain of truth to it. Of course, a
data base of one eyewitness (me) and two opinions is not exactly good
statistical science... but it did comprise 60% of those present at the
time of the crash. Those kinds of stats are good enough for every
politician! Maybe they just wanted him to feel good?

There is one other possibility, which did not reveal itself to me
until now. Just last week I lost my P-38 in the same spot that his
spiraled into the ground last summer. I was doing a leg upwind when
the plane momentary failed to respond to aileron and rudder to turn it
back. It did respond seconds later only to spiral toward the ground
(with loss of radio control again), but I got it back about 40 feet
off the deck, leveled off, and climbed high. As I started my downwind
leg, again it spiraled out of control, hitting the deck this time.
Post-crash showed the battery to be fully charged and all gear working
properly, and soundly attached. Come to think of it, I had the same
problem with my AT-6 in the same spot last summer too. I changed radio
gear and things did not improve. I had flown my AT-6 several times
between these flights with no problems. I fly on channel 09 in the Ham
band and the B-17 pilot was on a 72 MHz xmtr. So no strong conclusions
there, either.

BTW The Great Planes P-38 is a great model. It flies very well. The
only real problem is the weak structure in the booms. 1/4" X 1/4"
balsa frame with 1/16" balsa sheet on both sides. The rest of the
plane is extraordinarily tough. I have crashed mine three times now
and it will still live to fly again. (O.K. O.K. Now you're saying to
yourself, "This guy is a bozo pilot.") Let me try to explain... : )
On flight number two I noticed cracked booms while cleaning up the
plane (not technically a crash, but it still required splints and
glue). On flight number nine I made a two hop landing that cartwheeled
and smashed the booms to bits. The right engine flew off (Crash 2).
That one was clearly pilot error. I re-glued the re-glued booms and on
the twelfth flight (is that a Shakespear play?) is when it spiraled
into the ground. In all these mishasps the wing, tail feathers, fuse
pod, landing gear, and control surfaces remained untouched. This last
time the left engine flew off on impact, but neither prop was even
broken. I think I wil re-glue the re-glued, re-glued booms because
they seem to break first, saving damage to the rest of the plane. Mayb
GP did it on purpose?

(Blah, blah, Tom. Go to bed already!) : )

Tom