How often do you crash?

[kevparang]

I crash sometimes with my first plane, the Cessna 182 F949 3CH RTF Airplane, the battery voltage one the battery is horrible.

 

[Hai-Lee]

I build and fly a lot of my own designs along with a number of flitetest designs. The difference between a crash and a poor landing is ill defined at least where I fly. I have crashed in almost every possible manner including tail first. I have flat spun into the ground, (inverted).

There have been 2 separate times where my three point landing was the 2 wingtips and the vertical stabiliser. I am not sure if "Landing" in a tree is considered as a crash or an arboreal landing.

I am my fourth week without any damage from flying and landing since I stopped trying to push flight envelopes to the maximum and since my own building and repairing techniques improved to their current level.

My message is that to crash less - fly less or rather interfere less and let the plane fly as it was designed to. Just remember if you build a lot like I do and don't crash them much you either end up with your own airforce or, (as I now do), give the planes I am finished with to others who are starting out.

 

[rockyboy]

My poor Eluminator took a nose in today. Conditions were a bit windy, and silly me I left the transmitter on low rates. Making a downwind turn on the base leg she turned nose down, and I didn't have enough elevon throw to bring it back up in time.

The depron is fairly crunched in top and bottom, no obvious problems with the electrical components. The weird thing is this long stem of grass that looks cut by the prop and penetrated the top of the wing, but didn't go all the way through the bottom. Looks sort of like natures' own antenna sticking out.

 

[elw773]

I crash on almost every time I do an aerobatic flight (1/4 of my flights) and on every single one of my maidens.

 

[Hai-Lee]

I used to crash a lot due to "Pilot Error" but about 3 months I made a change and now I have eliminated that as a cause. Now I write either "cause unknown" or "control malfunction" in my log book.:black_eyed:

Seriously I have just discovered how to find yourself unable to fly because of someone else's crash. Lend them the prop and spinner off your plane to try, only to realise, after they crash, that you left all of your spare props at home on the workbench

After over a year now I am learning to follow the 3 rules of RC flying.

Rule 1: Preflight
Rule 2: PREFLIGHT!!
Rule 3: #$@%$&#$ PREFLIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[PsyBorg]

I do post flight stuff personally. That way any strange behavior, crashes, small details you noticed are still fresh. Then when I go fly I do cleaning and maintenance stuff while batteries charge and check screws and wires before I walk out the door.

Keeping a log is a HUGE help as you can go back and see if you have recurring issues, you can keep track of how many cycles your batteries have had, what kind of performance you get from them.

I haven't crashed in nearly two weeks now. I had just got my Versa copter tuned and flying nicely then got side tracked with an Alien build that I am now getting used to now that its up in the air. I'm sure Ill be back here soon though as is the way of all things airborne.

 

[mjmccarron]

Now that I'm older I don't crash any more. I don't crash any less either... I've been at this for the better part of 35 years. My crashes seem a little further apart but when I do screw up It's usually in a very BIG way. Also, I'm not immune to standard in flight failures most caused by my own negligence. My last one was to toss a Kunai into the air without checking the controls. The elevator horn had got broken on the trip to the field and there was nothing I could do but watch it burrow into the ground. The point is, I enjoy this hobby in spite of the crashes. I also enjoy the building aspect as well. I've gotten pretty good at repairs too.

Happy Flying!
Mike

 

[jack10525]

After 20+ years of playing with RC cars, planes and heli's I am finally able fly sorta!!! Until I found flite Test I would just crash whatever RTF I bought with in 5 secs. Now that I've had some sim practice and a lot of crash tests I am finally able to fly for a good 3-5 minutes. Most of my crashes are due to equipment failure or flying beyond my capabilities. The first plane I got to fly for more than 5 secs was the Tiny Trainer. Now I've moved on to Storch. The Storch is homebuilt crashed and repaired several times and still flies. I started flying it with out ailerons and it was decent. With ailerons it is a lot more fun. Loops and rolls. It flies amazingly well. I am about to start another build.

https://youtu.be/fnOyRhEFwsQ

 

[Capt_Beavis]

I was doing some crazy diff thrust move with my brushless delta ray and finally spiked it into the ground this week. It is repairable. It was already pretty busted up and it hit hard, I am surprised there wasn't more damage.

I was playing with a throttle elevator mix and spiked my baby bloody baron mod into the ground pretty hard. It will need a new power pod.

I built a second baby bloody baron mod for Notreallyme. I was flying his when it suddenly went full throttle (it had a 3s battery and a 2204 motor with a 5x.4.5x3 prop). I dropped the throttle but it was stuck WOT somehow. It tore into the ground and bent the nose up pretty well.

 

[Daemon1954]

Being a determined sort I usually fly until whatever I brought won't.
I also like to challenge myself, and I will so try stuff I have never done.
That being said, chances are If I go out to fly, something will have crashed
before my return.

Usually not fatal, but everything from trashed props, and dented noses, to
broken spars, and one fatal (poor ME 109) flat spin.

Apparently I have much to learn...

 

[Crazy Goats]

My poor Eluminator took a nose in today. Conditions were a bit windy, and silly me I left the transmitter on low rates. Making a downwind turn on the base leg she turned nose down, and I didn't have enough elevon throw to bring it back up in time.

The depron is fairly crunched in top and bottom, no obvious problems with the electrical components. The weird thing is this long stem of grass that looks cut by the prop and penetrated the top of the wing, but didn't go all the way through the bottom. Looks sort of like natures' own antenna sticking out.

View attachment 74436

Haha for a second I thought you were on some crazy HF band for control.

 

[Fluburtur]

Today I learnt the maximum range of my radio

It is 200 meters

 

[PsyBorg]

Today I learnt the maximum range of my radio

It is 200 meters

Ohh look!! you made a new foam version of the SST

Man that's gotta make yer gut sink watching it go down as you wiggle the controls and nothing is happening. It could be worse though. You could still be chasing a flyaway and totally lost it and your electronics. Bet you are thankful for fail safe huh.

 

[Fluburtur]

Not exactly failsafe, this plane is really stable (I can take my hands of the radio for like 10 seconds and it won't move) but the seconds it loses the signal it dives straight into the ground at full power (it usually pulls up with full power but half throttle is more than enough for it)

Btw im using and old digital 35mhz radio and it was pretty low on battery.

 

[johnnyreb™]

With multirotors it's about 50/50, but with fixed wing i'm still at 100%

 

[rockyboy]

Busted props make excellent epoxy mixing and spreading tools. And they seem to magically show up in my shop all the time

 

[PilotSam]

When I fly a multirotor, I crash at least 2 times each battery. With fixed wing though, I only crash about once every 5 flights.

 

[jaredstrees]

I've gotten pretty good at keeping the nutball and flyer in the air, but my mini speedster may as well just be married to the ground. I can't keep that one aloft if I tied it to balloons! Get to maiden my spitfire tomorrow, so we shall see if she likes to hit the ground fast!

 

[jack10525]

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!

This says it all!!! I need to make this my signature.

 

[Fluburtur]

I just upgraded to 2.4 (finally) and installed a receiver that should have a range of at least 2km so I should be good for a while, I hope I won't have any loss of control crash anymore.

one of the latest one was this but I was just flying low