What was your worst or most devastating wreck?

[Ian8Whit]

this is a thread in which you can tell your story about your worst or most devastating wreck
I for example used to have a hobby zone E-flite super cub this was my first plane it wasn’t the most complex aircraft with it being only a three channel but I still had fun with it making it do things a 3 channel should never be able to do anyway this was a way older model and it had been having receiver and motor trouble (then again how many times it had been ran into stuff didnt help) but on one particular day i was out flying on a cloudy day just after a nice rainstorm (as I said this thing was having receiver troubles) it was only about 100 feet to my left and maybe 50 feet up but that shouldn’t be enough for a plane to go out of range as soon as it got that far away I had no control i had been flying level but it suddenly went into a nosedive at full throttle and all I could do was watch as it picked up speed and about six seconds later i heard the undeniable crunch of a foam plane crashing into the ground when I went to inspect the wreck i could see it was beyond repair the fuselage had accordioned from the impact and the wing had snapped in half which I was surprised because it had only been rubberbanded to the top anyways it was totaled and thats the end of my story i look forward to seeing more plane crash storys!

 

[Mr NCT]

 

[LitterBug]

I would have to say maiden flights that ended in significant if not total losses....

1) Shen Drones Kreiger 225. Ghost branched on first lap around field. Took out FC, RX, VTX, antenna, and Camera

2) Shen Drones Danus. Hovering, did a few quick maneuvers, then did a flip in which the FC wigged out right into the ground breaking the last frame available

3) OMP Hobby Challenger, Inadvertant maiden when only meaning to taxi. Had not checked controls and ailerons were reversed. Almost made it around to land, a gust of wind hit, reflexes forgot ailerons were reversed and rolled over into the ground exploding the fuselage.

Cheer,
LitterBug

 

[Foamforce]

Brand New Guinea Pig, my most difficult build at the time. Took it out for a maiden on a bright morning before work. I was very nervous because I had put so much time into it. It took off beautifully, the most stable of any plane I had ever built. About 50 feet past the runway, the low signal alarm goes off. I turned left to come around but it was too late, I lost all signal. It glided down with a slight left roll and crashed. The scene is burned into my mind. 😂

The worst part is that I couldn’t find a definitive problem. On the ground the range seemed fine. I thought maybe the antenna orientation was bad or that a battery wire was touching the antenna or something, but I didn’t know for sure. I fixed it that day but was too scared to fly it for another six months. When I did, it again lost signal so I went sprinting across the field toward it as it was coming down and managed to regain control right before it hit the ground and saved it. On a whim, I changed the receiver and that was it. Just a dud receiver.

I’ve crashed nicer planes since, but that one ruined my day!

 

[Ian8Whit]

Well that’s sounds like it wasn’t fun sorry bout that but that is practically the theme of the hobby


fly crash repair repeat

 

[Piotrsko]

Put an OS MAX .19 on an ace bipe and pulled up at speed for a loop. Seperated the top wing, folded the lower, hit the ground at full throttle. First time I made a hole in turf, except for upper wing which fluttered down, no part of plane was recognizable. Radio still worked but wasn't able to be put back in case

 

[joelspangler]

Here's me from a few years ago (2019). Everything in the picture was broken on the same day. The top of the rudder broke off of the cub, the x-vert wing is in half, the nose of the tiny trainer is smooshed and its power pod needs rebuilt. Both RC cars were messed up (I don't remember details). This was the most painful day of trying to enjoy RC that I've ever had. I learned that day to stop and save the batteries for another day when you are just not having fun and are breaking things.

 

[luvmy40]

A HH A10 Warthog. My only store bought plane. I knew it was above my skill level but I could not resist flying it. I forgot to set the rates to low and after a few seconds of desperately trying to gain control and get some elevation, it ended with a nose dive under power from about 30 feet and smashed to bits. I have all the pieces. It might be repairable. I haven't tried, because I'll just want to fly it again and I am still not skilled enough for it.

 

[FlyBreakFixFly]

I smashed up my Apprentice pretty well while learning. Firewall yanked out, tail fell off (known Apprentice issue), wing smashed and motor mount wrecked. That took a lot of FoamTac to rebuild. It still flew but not well. It's now the Plane of Theseus. Sure the wing and fuselage have been replaced but the electronics are still original! Including the motor, which is frankly impressive considering how much abuse it's been through.

Latest bad crash was a Habu SS 50mm last fall. Lost orientation against the hill at my club. The plane flew right into the fence separating the pits from the flight line. I picked up the pieces and put them on a shelf for a few months. Reassembled them recently and took it out for a brief re-maiden. Flies great!

 

[FlyingTyger]

I learned a very valuable lesson from my A-36 crash. I was so worried about making everything so perfect that I made the wing saddle fit super tight.

Once the plane got outside and absorbed some humidity the parts swelled and that fit got too tight. The pressure was enough to break the wing bolt block loose. On flight number 2, the wing departed midflight. I couldn't do anything but watch it come down. It hit hard enough to destroy the engine.

 

[The Fighting Biplane]

I was flying my Eflite Corsair when at 200 feet above the ground I was flying it slow. It stalled the went into a uncontrollable spin and hit the ground. The fuselage was broken into three pieces. The wing broke in two. But now I am fixing it and it might fly again.

 

[Ian8Whit]

no problem about sharing my story if I’m making the thread I might as well share a story right? and yeah it is surprising how attached we become to little things made out of foam (especially when you make it and watch it crash)

 

[quorneng]

My most traumatic crash was with my AN124 Ruslan.

2.5m span. All 2mm & 3mm Depron with 3D printed components. Really light for its size with a drone motor (2205) and 3x4.5 four blade drone prop inside each cowling.
It is worth noting that all the "electrics" including the battery are in the wing so the fuselage is completely empty. A true scale feature.

The wing is in 3 pieces. A big centre section that carries all the nacelles with a removable outer panels.
Took a lot of design and experimentation to build but flies remarkably well, except on its second flight the left hand outer wing panel decided to work loose from its retaining peg. This meant the outer wing was free to rotate about the tubular carbon spar. The tip then broke off so the rest of the airframe did a good "falling leaf" to the ground. Absolutely nothing I could do but at least I had time to close the throttles.
No picture of the crash site but this is how the bits looked.

On the basis "I designed and built it" then almost anything can be repaired. It duly was.

A new nose from the wing forward but everything else was salvaged.
Note the outer wing panel locating pegs now have a small "pinch" bolt in their socket so when tightened the peg cannot work loose!

And so far they haven't.
Far too big and time consuming to ever consider building something like this again!