I crashed the FT Mustang on Sunday morning. Right after take off, I turned to circle into the pattern, and suddenly was going all over the place. I tried to recover, but she ended up going down in the desert across the road from the field. My first thought was either the battery had slipped loose and messed up the CG, a control horn had come loose, or maybe I hadn't given it enough throttle and my airspeed was too low. I fully expected to find her smashed and in pieces, but instead, she was sitting on her belly, with just the landing gear sheared off. It didn't even break the prop. I rechecked the CG (still good), looked at all the control horns (still solid), and, on reviewing the video, from the sound of the prop, I had plenty of throttle. The only thing I can figure is, I just happened into a developing dust-devil (kind of like a mini-tornado), and the weird winds threw her around.
The Matecam video showed her doing a complete rollover on her way down, and then just about leveling out before impact. She bounced once, hard, and then skidded to a stop. This shot is from right before the first impact. She'll live to fly another day. Another lucky break, is that she came down in a clear spot, instead of into one of the mesquite trees that are abundant in the area.
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