Bleh, crash.

[Arcfyre]

Flying my 60" Storch-derived sport plane which has 4" oversized tires and a steerable tailwheel. Temperature here today is just below freezing, but it was warmer yesterday so the grass is wet, not frozen. Did two takeoffs and landings, and on my third approach to land (the final leg takes me over a pond) the elevator servo locked into full "up".

The nose came up sharply and I immediately applied power to abort landing and climb to safe altitude. Even with full down elevator input, I was unable to drop the nose. At full power, the plane did a loop at low altitude, but being unable to pitch down, it stalled and hit the water.

Prevailing winds blew it to the far side of the pond so it took about 50 minutes to recover it. The battery is still good, I'll need to test the servos in turn. The motor is likely fine, but the ESC is probably cooked.

I can only assume that some moisture got into the tail-mounted elevator servo during my first two takeoffs in the wet grass. The moisture then froze on the servo during my final approach, locking the elevator in position during that critical flight phase. Unlucky.

Pictures of the damage enclosed. Note the elevator frozen in full "up"

 

[FDS]

Ouch. So glad it doesn’t get that cold here. If it’s any consolation I crashed today too!

 

[Merv]

It’s possible your servo froze. You could have just striped a gear.

 

[mayan]

Ouch. Sorry to hear that buddy. I hope you are able to recover some of the electronics. I am personally happy to see you got time to go flying again as well as be actively posting on the forum something that didn’t happen for some time now.

 

[Arcfyre]

Ouch. Sorry to hear that buddy. I hope you are able to recover some of the electronics. I am personally happy to see you got time to go flying again as well as be actively posting on the forum something that didn’t happen for some time now.

Us delivery drivers don't get much down time during the holidays, haha. It's a crazy time of year.

I got all the big parts back. I'm just waiting a few days for them to dry out and then I'll check to see what was ruined and what still works. Kind of a bummer. This was my oldest and most-flown airframe.

 

[mayan]

Us delivery drivers don't get much down time during the holidays, haha. It's a crazy time of year.

I got all the big parts back. I'm just waiting a few days for them to dry out and then I'll check to see what was ruined and what still works. Kind of a bummer. This was my oldest and most-flown airframe.

I would recommend to put the parts in rice and let that sit for a few days. Rice will soak the water and might help get the parts to work again.

 

[Arcfyre]

So the airplane electronics Gods have smiled upon me somehow.

Despite being submerged in near freezing water for over 50 minutes all my electronics appear functional. I let them all dry out thoroughly since Tuesday and today was the first time I put power through the ESC since then. The RX works, the ESC spins the motor, and all 6 servos move the way they should. I'm pleasantly surprised. All I need to do is get a new prop and repair the fairly minor fuselage damage and I'll be flying again.

 

[Arcfyre]

So she's not the Belle of the ball, but she's still got some life left in her. Off to the LHS tomorrow for a new prop and we will see if she remembers how to spread her wings.