How often do you crash?

[skeplin]

I have good days and bad days, yesterday was a little of both. Crashed my quad, my Spitfire was uncontrollable, crashed my Versa on takeoff several times (I think that plane is indestructible!), and I brought back a few broken props.

So how often do you guys crash? Are there ever days when you leave the field with a perfect record?

 

[c172ae]

it depends on how you define a crash. if a broken prop is defined as a crash, then I crash about 50% of the times I go flying. other than that, I almost never crash.

 

[NewZee]

I rarely leave the field without some sort of damage. I fly when it's too windy, I fly homemade planes, I fly planes with a lot of repairs, and I fly like foam is cheap!!!!........but I FLY!

 

[Craftydan]

If you're not crashing, you're not flying. (ok, so this isn't true for the full-scale world, but they cheat -- they put the pilot's life on the line for the safety of the airframe)

Yesterday was a good day for me . . . only lost one prop to an old prop-saver band letting go mid-flight . . . and by lost, I mean, I have *No Idea* where it went to (note to self -- replace those bands regularly!) I also had a nice landing "Bounce" on my staggerwing that could have ended badly, but the gear took the hit, shoved off the ground fine and still had runway to settle back down.

. . . But I've had other days . . . like the one where I broke all three planes I brought and a multirotor -- in succession -- beyond a simple field repair. Done in less than 15min, and nothing good to say about it. It happens. You laugh it off as best you can, but some days that sickening crunch is too much.

In the end, all these airframes have an experation date on them -- I'm not saying fly to crash it, but the only way you can *always* prevent a crash is to never fly again. With practice, you'll have more successes (only leaving the energy behind), but the better you get the more new things you'll start itching to try out, and the more you''ll crash. Perfect sometimes? yes. Perfect always? never.

 

[CrashRecovery]

Planes.. some multi rotors not so much

 

[Bolvon72]

I crash more than I land, but I can only fly circuits so long before I want to push the envelope. I find I practice flying inverted better at a few feet off the ground rather than a few mistakes high, but that comes with many an incident. I do recommend EXI props as they take a beating like no other.

As for simply having a bad day, everyone has them, I have almost given up when I couldn't get anything to fly right before. Motors coming loose from firewalls, batteries dropping out of planes never to be seen again, stripped servos, multiple walks of shame. I went out the next day with my trustiest Bloody Wonder and it got me right back in the saddle. I also have a Nutball covered in packing tape that has lasted forever. If I'm really feeling beat I high alpha that around the backyard until my spirits are lifted. Easy to fly, relaxing, and gives you that successful feeling you need sometimes.

 

[Bolvon72]

it depends on how you define a crash. if a broken prop is defined as a crash, then I crash about 50% of the times I go flying. other than that, I almost never crash.

Heh, says the self admitted pro plane crasher.

 

[c172ae]

Heh, says the self admitted pro plane crasher.

I may no crash often, but when I crash, it usually means that the plane disintegrates and the lipo start burning.

 

[Ron B]

I am still crashing every time and break a prop 90% of the time so I have a smash drone clone almost done and have put a sponge on the nose to help absorb some of the force of impact. I am waiting on servos and push rods to finish it up then hopefully a lot less repair and broken props.

 

[FlyingMonkey]

Too often… lately.

 

[makattack]

Does a soft landing into a tree count? I wasn't present when the wind brought it back to the ground, so does it count as a crash if a plane falls from a tree when no one is around? So many philosophical questions!

Yeah, my VersaWing with newly installed FPV gear got hung up on a tree when I kept taking my eyes off the ground station to reacquire the wing LOS. Lesson learned... don't do that. Damage-wise, I need to replace a spherical antenna on the VTX, and the mobius camera which took the brunt of the "nose in free fall", and the 3S 2200mAh battery (which has a nice imprint of the mobius case in the cells). Decided to also replace the Versa with a new blunt nose build.

 

[ViperTech]

I am still learning and I expect to crash. But like others have said what is a crash, broke prop I have had a few, complete oblideration, once 40 mph into a tree, bent motor shafts, 2 and always some kind of wing rash or bent landing gear from captain kangroo landings, but they are becomming less and less, I have wonderful days and days where I just about quit! As long as you can have fun and keep improving, just accept crashes as the learning curve, thats how I look at it.

 

[earthsciteach]

All too regularly! Just when I think I know what I'm doing, gravity proves otherwise.

 

[xuzme720]

I prefer to think that I have a perfect record. As in I have never missed the ground. Except for the trees that occasionally wander onto the runway...Those don't count!

 

[dwardio]

As my friend and first flight instructor told me, "any flight that costs less than $10 to repair is a success."

 

[OrangutangSurfer]

I crashed three planes this morning the Ft 22, the bloody wonder, and my maiden flight on the Spitfire ended with a roll thank goodness it was minimal damage. The FT 22 is pretty much toast I've bounced it off its nose so many times the front end is like a sponge The wings are permanently bent in a crescent shape too it won't trim out and need constant up elevator.

The bloody wonder has enough duct tape on it to fund UPS for a week. It still flies but it's 15 mph winds right now and the bloody wonder with a 7x5 prop just hardly keeps up. I'm flying with a DX 5E and unable to add expo or turn the rates down and it's just too touchy.

The Spitfire flew like a champ it needed very little trimming I kept it nice and high to avoid any nosedives. I had a very low speed role that wrinkled the wing just a tad but the big spinner now has a wobble in it I'm not sure if the proper adapter is off set or if I bent the motor shaft. I put in 8x6 slowfly prop on it but was still too much I have some 8x4 APC style props that I'll try next hopefully that'll work ot nicely.

So today's cost. Broke one prop, smashed a fire wall (BW), totaled my f22 and possible bent motor shaft.

Fun factor...... Priceless
-Jes

 

[frankstrudel]

This is the main reason I haven't gotten much flight time - I have yet to have a landing that could be flown away from with a fresh battery! I've spent so much time and money fixing, testing, ordering, waiting, fitting, trying again with my current airframe I'd pretty much given up before coming across FT.

Inspired by FT to try again this year, and 'waiting' for calm conditions, I got impatient... Went out in borderline windy weather to chuck-balance/trim my plane and a gust trashed the tail... now it's waiting for me to patch it together and I'm so close to replacing it with swappables guts. If I hadn't already invested in my current airframe, I wouldn't think twice about it, but as it is, I'm going to have to crash this one a little more first!

So, in a way, at the moment, not enough! Crashing often means you're taking off often!

 

[Freaky_1]

I would say only when I'm flying, but hanger rash says otherwise

 

[adamd]

almost every flight! I like my 3d down low!

 

[Balu]

I have crashed once. And I haven't even thought about flying yet.

After finishing my FT Flyer power pod - including prop, I had the glorious idea of connecting the battery before calibrating the ESC and off it went. My old Macbook Pro now has a little mark and I've already lost my first prop.

So yes. I will never ever (which means at least two times more) attach a prop when I don't want to get in the air.