Share your dumbest moments here!

[flyingkelpie]

Oh well. Share your dumbest moments here.

 

[OliverW]

Never touch that prop with your hands except when taking it on or off the engine. The reverse edge of a prop (esp APC or MAS props) is basically a knife. I have seen them go through gloves. The main reason is because glow engines will often kick horribly when cold starting and that's basically putting all the pressure you exerted getting that prop rotating through compression backwards into that reverse edge of the prop which will both then try to go through your finger and your finger will try to go through it.

The ONLY exception to this is engines with CDI's as by nature they won't do it. I had a NGH GT9 which would never do it and I would hand start it ungloved with confidence time and time again. Hell I even started it with my pinky occasionally just to disprove club members who spout about all Chinese engines being junk. It was actually an all around great motor - I kinda regret selling it. (especially cause they're on permanent backorder aka discontinued now)

Electric starters are really bad for engines. Mostly to the bearings but in some cases you can have engines where the crankpin will rub against the crankcase backplate and create microscopic metal shavings which is never a good thing in an engine. A good way to know if this is happening is if you get a lot of solid black crap out of your exhaust (normal exhaust is usually brownish if you use a lot of castor or resembles the color of the fuel) I usually just use a screwdriver to start them. It works on pretty much any engine size, as long as you're brave enough.

The only reason I use a starter on my .30 and 10cc is those suckers refuse to hand start. The starter is typically on them for less than 3 seconds though since they instantly fire up each time. My EME didn't like running though. We used a starter stick on it and apparently that was too much for the engine since it released metal shavings and destroyed itself lol

 

[Matthewdupreez]

The only reason I use a starter on my .30 and 10cc is those suckers refuse to hand start. The starter is typically on them for less than 3 seconds though since they instantly fire up each time. My EME didn't like running though. We used a starter stick on it and apparently that was too much for the engine since it released metal shavings and destroyed itself lol

ouch that's no fun

 

[OliverW]

ouch that's no fun

agreed

 

[Kai-003]

I think this was supposed to be more dumb moment, not a debate of using a carrot or finger to test a props cutting ability. Oh well. I guess i'll share another dumb moment. (this was when I was just starting to learn rc planes) I once took my UMX Timber out and it was nice conditions, and I could do loops and rolls with it, so I tried to take it inverted, but little did I know it cant actually go inverted, so it ended up hitting the ground at full speed, and well that was the end of that plane. It is now hanging in my room.

 

[RossFPV]

Thats why you do your research!

Thats the sad part i did

 

[flyingkelpie]

I think this was supposed to be more dumb moment, not a debate of using a carrot or finger to test a props cutting ability. Oh well. I guess i'll share another dumb moment. (this was when I was just starting to learn rc planes) I once took my UMX Timber out and it was nice conditions, and I could do loops and rolls with it, so I tried to take it inverted, but little did I know it cant actually go inverted, so it ended up hitting the ground at full speed, and well that was the end of that plane. It is now hanging in my room.

Ooops! I was on the thread so it went of topic of course! I just had dumb moment. I took my BluCub2 up for a flight literally of few minutes ago and as I was in the air I realized my CG was off. The I turned because I was nearing some trees and the because the CG was off I went into a spiral and smashed into a tomato bush and fence. Full speed. It resulted in carnage and the plane which before looked like it went through WWI and WWII has finally died.

 

[Kai-003]

Ooops! I was on the thread so it went of topic of course! I just had dumb moment. I took my BluCub2 up for a flight literally of few minutes ago and as I was in the air I realized my CG was off. The I turned because I was nearing some trees and the because the CG was off I went into a spiral and smashed into a tomato bush and fence. Full speed. It resulted in carnage and the plane which before looked like it went through WWI and WWII has finally died.

Ahh. CG problems. Once I built a mini mustang, but the cg just wouldn't balance, so I flew "a little" tail heavy, but it lifted up, and nose up, and it went up about 40 feet, until flap spinning right into the ground.

 

[flyingkelpie]

My best lesson learned. Always check CG before flight even if the battery appears to be in the right place!

 

[Bill S.]

I've been building and flying model aircraft and rockets since the early 1960's. Learned (painfully, as the result of kickback) to apply a bit of fine sandpaper and elbow grease in blunting the "cutting edge" from the back side of propellers, and (sadly, as the result of launch pad detonations) not to wad the igniters into model rocket engines too tightly. No stitches but bad finger slices with the former, and the total loss of a few very expensive, time-consuming, finely detailed rockets with the latter. Still, those accidents are part of the learning curve. As a colleague used to say: "Always learn from the mistakes of others, because it's for certain you won't live long enough to make them all yourself."

 

[The Hangar]

I’ve gotten to the field without the correct battery adapter, transmitter, or fuel tank/pump before... Always a disappointment.

 

[Ketchup]

Once I went to the field with the wrong lipo bag. I have a few lipo bags, 2 for storage and 1 for charging. When I go to the field I normally load all of the charged lipos in one bag to bring with me so I don't have any dead ones. I brought the bag with the wrong ones... I think it had like 2 lipos that were charged because I forgot to storage charge them before, so I could still fly but I'm not gonna make that mistake again.

 

[The Hangar]

I thin leather welding gloves would be kinda useful when starting a gasser

The guy at my field who helped me get my yak in the air hand started it with a glove. I personally will be using a starting stick though since I don’t want to risk anything!

 

[speedbirdted]

The guy at my field who helped me get my yak in the air hand started it with a glove. I personally will be using a starting stick though since I don’t want to risk anything!

Eh, gassers have CDIs which mean they don't kick really at all like glow motors do. They still can (if the ignition timing gets messed up somehow) but it's much safer than hand starting glow engines

 

[Crawford Bros. Aeroplanes]

I got a chance to test run my homebuilt go kart the other day. I threw it together in less than 5 days and had a lot of troubleshooting to do. The throttle cable was wedged under the fuel tank real good and it turns out it was jamming the throttle fully open. When I started it up it took off and ran over my brother before launching off the front steps and into my dad's truck, it landed upside down and shut off. My brother got flipped pretty good but is otherwise fine, just scraped up a bit. The kart hit my dad's front wheel and there's no damage to the truck anywhere. In fact the only damage to anything was the kart's front wheels getting bent. I replaced one and hammered the other back into shape and managed to do a full lap around the block before the repaired wheel left the kart. I got it home fine on three wheels and replaced the missing one. All in all a successful day, now I just need to build working brakes.

 

[OliverW]

Eh, gassers have CDIs which mean they don't kick really at all like glow motors do. They still can (if the ignition timing gets messed up somehow) but it's much safer than hand starting glow engines

We had a DA-35 kickback and cut up my dad's hand. Our GP engines like to kick back quite a bit too

 

[flyingkelpie]

I got a chance to test run my homebuilt go kart the other day. I threw it together in less than 5 days and had a lot of troubleshooting to do. The throttle cable was wedged under the fuel tank real good and it turns out it was jamming the throttle fully open. When I started it up it took off and ran over my brother before launching off the front steps and into my dad's truck, it landed upside down and shut off. My brother got flipped pretty good but is otherwise fine, just scraped up a bit. The kart hit my dad's front wheel and there's no damage to the truck anywhere. In fact the only damage to anything was the kart's front wheels getting bent. I replaced one and hammered the other back into shape and managed to do a full lap around the block before the repaired wheel left the kart. I got it home fine on three wheels and replaced the missing one. All in all a successful day, now I just need to build working brakes.

Sounds fun!

 

[Bricks]

I’ve gotten to the field without the correct battery adapter, transmitter, or fuel tank/pump before... Always a disappointment.

Not as bad as forgetting your transmitter UUUUmmmm never have done that, The field is 32 miles from here so no just going back to get it. Had time to bug everyone and give them a hardtime . It got to where I was offered a transmitter and bind plug just to leave them alone......now that was nice of them.

 

[flyingkelpie]

Not as bad as forgetting your transmitter UUUUmmmm never have done that, The field is 32 miles from here so no just going back to get it. Had time to bug everyone and give them a hardtime . It got to where I was offered a transmitter and bind plug just to leave them alone......now that was nice of them.

Done that! Except where I fly isn't field its just an oval so I had no one to bug!

 

[Crawford Bros. Aeroplanes]

Sounds fun!

Now that I got all the kinks worked out we're taking it to the dry lake beds this week.
Now to make it rc, mythbusters style. Or just mind control whoever's driving it.