Capt_Beavis
Posted a thousand or more times
as I get more into building and experimenting I crash more.
How often do you crash?
- Thread starter skeplin
- Start date
m00ndancer
Member
Now that I'm getting warm in my clothes I crash more. Testing out new maneuvers and learning new stuff. I also managed to do a perfect in-the-air collision with a hovering plane. (He "helped" me along a bit to see how close we could get). I almost didn't want to repair my FT Spitfire, but after looking at it for a few days I decided to do something about it. 3 hours later, she is good again, time for a new "maiden" as soon as the weather gets better.
kacknor
Build another!
Jeeze, that's a rough looking Spitfire! Buff it out. It will fix. I was going to post a picture of my latest attempt to fly. But after seeing that I'm a bit intimidated. 
What the heck. I've been on a roll lately. Took the nose clean off a Radian Pro and my Sport Cub s. I also recently put the Tundra WOT into the ground in a pancake that took off the wings and landing gear. Thought it was dead, but I fixed it anyway only to take the nose clean off if it yesterday.
I think I know whats going on... I'm getting better at this flying thing, and I'm starting to think I know what I'm doing. That's very always been a dangerous time for me...
The Raidan is fixed. The Cub is also, the pic is just after the repair, and the Tundra if ready to pop the nose back on. I'll be doing that in a minute or so..
I'm not sure anymore if I'm repairing them to fly, or flying them so I can do the repairs.
JD
What the heck. I've been on a roll lately. Took the nose clean off a Radian Pro and my Sport Cub s. I also recently put the Tundra WOT into the ground in a pancake that took off the wings and landing gear. Thought it was dead, but I fixed it anyway only to take the nose clean off if it yesterday.
I think I know whats going on... I'm getting better at this flying thing, and I'm starting to think I know what I'm doing. That's very always been a dangerous time for me...
The Raidan is fixed. The Cub is also, the pic is just after the repair, and the Tundra if ready to pop the nose back on. I'll be doing that in a minute or so..
I'm not sure anymore if I'm repairing them to fly, or flying them so I can do the repairs.
JD
wavetrain75
Member
I never crash. I conduct in depth studies on irregular landing procedures followed by experimental repair techniques.
PsyBorg
Wake up! Time to fly!
I haven't had and real crashes but one the first few days I had my Versacopter when I planted it really hard at my feet after losing orientation. All the other incidences were things getting spooked by my props and reaching out in self defense. things like the grass, my homemade pylons. They are used to it now and are not so defensive but that darn gate I just made is nervous as all get out and is REALLY panicky. That thing will break 3 to 5 props an hour if I let it.
Liam B
Well-known member
Pretty much every time I go to the field, I have a repairable incident. Both props on the Guinea fly off(yes, for real) and then cut into the side of the fuselage. The nose gets crunched upon landing, or, after intense snap rolls and flat spins, the wing snaps in half. Luckily, these are all things I have can repair at the field(duct tape, prop nuts), but of course these incidents always happen on the last battery
I guess from the other posts this means multirotors and planes. I crash planes a lot. I don't crash mutirotors anymore (used to). Some of my plane crashing issue is that I'm just transitioning from multirotors to planes. I build a plane - get excited - go fly in either bad conditions or without totally checking out CG. I'm finding out this is a bad recipe. It's a learning process but I'm starting to understand that once you build your plane you are about half done. The problem is that it's just sitting there whispering for you to go fly it. The urge to rush things usually ends up with me carrying a pile of foam back from the field. I just rebuilt my mini arrow and made the cockpit/hatch area smaller and more sturdy. On my tiny trainer I did a lot of testing moving my battery back to get the right CG. It glides much better now and I'm ready for another try. Hopefully no piles of foam this time.
hackofalltrades
Rocket Surgeon
I crashed yesterday. It was due to a Z bend failure, causing my elevator to be locked into full down. :black_eyed:
hackofalltrades
Rocket Surgeon
Here is the damage and repair. Flies good now! Seems to have a little less power though, not sure what that is about.
I'm on my 4th air frame and have only been flying for a month. A large part of this i'm sure is that I decided to a) cheap out and get a tx that i cant do rates or expo and b) skip steps and go from the friendly, easy flying beginner plane to the warbird. New tx is on order, trainer fuse is sitting on my desk waiting for a stripped servo to be replaced (amazed I got it down in one piece with port aileron stuck in full down position) and I'm debating wether to repair or replace my mini mustang... it flew great, but the nose is badly bent because I lost orientation and panicked which lead to overcorrection with no rates and ridiculous throws. I think my best bet with that one is to salvage the wing and tail feathers and just rebuild the fuse. But until repairs are made, i can still put a 3ch TT in the air. DTFB FTW
PsyBorg
Wake up! Time to fly!
Heh I think this thread has jynx'd me. I bit the dirt the other day when I went out to do some more flips n rolls with my Versacopter. Seems they are not so easy without air mode at lower power levels. I had forgot to hit the switch to turn on air mode and ended up putting it down hard directly on one boom. No major damage just broke 3 of those boom clamps and bent one frame screw. I was back up flying the next morning and now remember to make a conscious effort to check the mode switches before doing anything other then cruising around.
wraith0078
Member
No matter how many quads I plant, they never seem to grow into quadcopter trees. Maybe I'm not giving them enough water?
I've tried planting two in the dirt, and when that didn't work I tried planting one on the roof of the building down the street. No luck there either.
I've tried planting two in the dirt, and when that didn't work I tried planting one on the roof of the building down the street. No luck there either.
Jugsy
New member
I've been flying since the start of the year, I find I go through cycles with crashing. My first few weeks involved a number of rough landings and minor mistakes, broken props and bent landing gear aplenty. The plane stayed intact until I got overconfident and started asking it to do things it wasn't made for - the Super Cub S was never made for vertical or inverted flight.
The weeks after this involved a lot of repairs and re-repairs, I think I learnt the most about workshop techniques and maiden/test flights in this time.
I reached a point where my skills caught up with my expectations, and felt invincible for a time - I could recover from any nasty situation and didnt crash for weeks. This is where I realized it was time for a faster plane and the cycle began again - not a scratch for the first few weeks, a few dings while I was learning its limits, then settled in to really mastering it.
When I started building FT designs, I relaxed a lot about crashing. Basically I'd push myself further and further until something went wrong, I think I rebuilt my FT Arrow daily for the first fortnight. If I got through a whole battery without incident, the next one wouldn't see less than 75% throttle and no more than 10ft altitude. This was an amazing way to relax in to the hobby and really develop my flying and repair skills. That Arrow still flies to this day, it's amazing how much of an Airfoil can turn to mush before you see negative effects!
I don't think anyone should be afraid of their planes. If you can handle that much constant stress, may as well go full scale. The hobby is much more enjoyable if you cut your teeth on something indestructible (like one of the SAFE trainers) or something that you can absolutely destroy without losing too much time or money (FT designs and DTFB!). I'm proud to say whether I'm doing a battery change or a walk of shame, I almost always have a smile on my face after a flight. If this isn't you, get something easy and/or cheap and just enjoy yourself.
The weeks after this involved a lot of repairs and re-repairs, I think I learnt the most about workshop techniques and maiden/test flights in this time.
I reached a point where my skills caught up with my expectations, and felt invincible for a time - I could recover from any nasty situation and didnt crash for weeks. This is where I realized it was time for a faster plane and the cycle began again - not a scratch for the first few weeks, a few dings while I was learning its limits, then settled in to really mastering it.
When I started building FT designs, I relaxed a lot about crashing. Basically I'd push myself further and further until something went wrong, I think I rebuilt my FT Arrow daily for the first fortnight. If I got through a whole battery without incident, the next one wouldn't see less than 75% throttle and no more than 10ft altitude. This was an amazing way to relax in to the hobby and really develop my flying and repair skills. That Arrow still flies to this day, it's amazing how much of an Airfoil can turn to mush before you see negative effects!
I don't think anyone should be afraid of their planes. If you can handle that much constant stress, may as well go full scale. The hobby is much more enjoyable if you cut your teeth on something indestructible (like one of the SAFE trainers) or something that you can absolutely destroy without losing too much time or money (FT designs and DTFB!). I'm proud to say whether I'm doing a battery change or a walk of shame, I almost always have a smile on my face after a flight. If this isn't you, get something easy and/or cheap and just enjoy yourself.
hackofalltrades
Rocket Surgeon
Jugsy, right on man! Ain't no reason to be worried about flying. If it ain't either thrilling or relaxing, you are doing it wrong. It also really helps to fly with people who feel the same way towards flying. If you crash, you laugh, they laugh, you go get the parts of your plane, duct tape it back together, see if it flies, crash again, laugh some more, rinse and repeat.
Heck, I have broken the front of my Starlite off at least 5 times. I consider the front of the plane a wear part, just like tires on a car. when it breaks off, I build a new one, put it on, harbor freight super glue, monokote goodness, looks new, ready to rock. Take a pair of pliers and straighten my motor out best I can, and go fly. Smite it into the ground due to some darn reason, and do it again. Balsa is cheap.
Heck, I have broken the front of my Starlite off at least 5 times. I consider the front of the plane a wear part, just like tires on a car. when it breaks off, I build a new one, put it on, harbor freight super glue, monokote goodness, looks new, ready to rock. Take a pair of pliers and straighten my motor out best I can, and go fly. Smite it into the ground due to some darn reason, and do it again. Balsa is cheap.
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Jugsy
New member
Good point about wear parts hackofalltrades, in fact there's some things I intentionally don't reinforce when I repair (landing gear and wing/stabilizer mounts mainly) because it's actually better to have a nice predictable break in a clean, flat area.
My Arrow broke a few times either side of the central pod, this was always easy to repair once I got the top and bottom sheets lined up properly. I eventually reinforced these areas hoping for a more resilient model, instead I just moved the point of failure to the pod itself, resulting in a MUCH messier repair.
My Arrow broke a few times either side of the central pod, this was always easy to repair once I got the top and bottom sheets lined up properly. I eventually reinforced these areas hoping for a more resilient model, instead I just moved the point of failure to the pod itself, resulting in a MUCH messier repair.
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