We had our next to last RC club meeting after school today. Today, we had a new kid (new to club, anyway) show up so I could help him learn to fly. He has a brand new plane - that thrust vectoring F-16 from Banana Hobby. He never consulted with us prior to ordering. We tried to convince him to return it for a more appropriate plane, but he insisted on it.
So, I took my Wild Hawk up about 3 mistakes high and handed over the controls. It took him about 10 minutes to be able to get it to do circles without nose diving. Then, it clicked and he was doing pretty well. He seemed to have a feel for how it reacts and how to make the proper inputs to keep it flying fairly level. I had taken control for him a few times, but he seemed to be doing pretty well. He was getting lower and lower with the Hawk and I was about to tell him to circle around, chop throttle and glide in for a landing. But, before I could say anything, he started a tight, spiraling right turn. I told him to give it left stick, and the nose came up above the horizon, back into a fairly gentle right turn. I told him to level off the wings and this is where things really fell apart. From what I could tell, he cranked in hard right stick and must have done the same with the rudder because the Hawk rolled inverted. At this point, the plane was about 20 feet directly over our heads. I didn't have time to say anything. He panicked and pulled full 'up' elevator. The plane nosed over directly toward us. Instinct kicked in and I covered my head and hit the ground. I never saw it hit, but when I peaked my head up, the Hawk was in about 5 different pieces on the ground. At that moment, I was just thankful that neither of us took a plane to the head. In literature, that last sentence is known as foreshadowing.
I collected the pieces. It is repairable, but it will take a lot of work to get it back in the air. I may just let her rest in pieces. After all, I found her in the trash and have gotten nearly a year of ridiculous flying pleasure. Not too shabby.
So, I picked up my Assassin wing and sent it into the air. The Assassin has taken some pretty hard abuse and hasn't been flying nearly as well as when she was new. But, she flew great today! I was chasing the other teacher's wing around the pattern. My wing was in a diving left-hand turn when suddenly, it felt as if someone had thrown a baseball into the side of my head. My head snapped around, wrenching my neck.
I have no idea where he came from, but one of our students had been flying his HZ Mini-Supercub that he has ubgraded to brushless motor and 4 channels. He says it snap rolled and he lost it. My head found it. That HURTS!
Oh, I retained control of the wing and continued flying because I'm cool like that.
So, I took my Wild Hawk up about 3 mistakes high and handed over the controls. It took him about 10 minutes to be able to get it to do circles without nose diving. Then, it clicked and he was doing pretty well. He seemed to have a feel for how it reacts and how to make the proper inputs to keep it flying fairly level. I had taken control for him a few times, but he seemed to be doing pretty well. He was getting lower and lower with the Hawk and I was about to tell him to circle around, chop throttle and glide in for a landing. But, before I could say anything, he started a tight, spiraling right turn. I told him to give it left stick, and the nose came up above the horizon, back into a fairly gentle right turn. I told him to level off the wings and this is where things really fell apart. From what I could tell, he cranked in hard right stick and must have done the same with the rudder because the Hawk rolled inverted. At this point, the plane was about 20 feet directly over our heads. I didn't have time to say anything. He panicked and pulled full 'up' elevator. The plane nosed over directly toward us. Instinct kicked in and I covered my head and hit the ground. I never saw it hit, but when I peaked my head up, the Hawk was in about 5 different pieces on the ground. At that moment, I was just thankful that neither of us took a plane to the head. In literature, that last sentence is known as foreshadowing.
I collected the pieces. It is repairable, but it will take a lot of work to get it back in the air. I may just let her rest in pieces. After all, I found her in the trash and have gotten nearly a year of ridiculous flying pleasure. Not too shabby.
So, I picked up my Assassin wing and sent it into the air. The Assassin has taken some pretty hard abuse and hasn't been flying nearly as well as when she was new. But, she flew great today! I was chasing the other teacher's wing around the pattern. My wing was in a diving left-hand turn when suddenly, it felt as if someone had thrown a baseball into the side of my head. My head snapped around, wrenching my neck.
I have no idea where he came from, but one of our students had been flying his HZ Mini-Supercub that he has ubgraded to brushless motor and 4 channels. He says it snap rolled and he lost it. My head found it. That HURTS!
Oh, I retained control of the wing and continued flying because I'm cool like that.