Worst CL evening ever.

I have had days like that. Sorry to here of your evening. The good news, you can get another line reel clip. Keep your chin up bud.

Lol, yeah the line clip is the least of my worries. I still can't figure out what went wrong. Nothing changed on the plane from Tuesday when it was flown last and it flew like a dream. Everything was still straight and nothing was binding. It had a mind of it's own. The thing was doing loops on it's own and flying wherever it felt like. Sure the engine was rich, but should it do that under power? Going into the wind was where the lines went slack. On the other side of the circle lines would tighten up and all was well. It was pretty darn scary. So scary that I had to try and kill it as if the engine shut down on the wrong side of the circle I was afraid it would come in.

I am actually afraid to take it up again.

Ron

But, it WAS fun. We were able to fly this 1/2A "stunt" plane I made. I would like to have the C/L flying skills he does, but all I have is nice flat circles, and an occasional loop. Well, it goes around, and puts a twist in the lines! If I had a real C/L engine on the Nobler, I would like to see you give it a work-out!

Tomorrow, I'm gonna drag him to the RC field, and see what we can do there.

And, I told him it's too bad so few people here (Wichita) are enthusiastic about CL, and that Mike , Lou and I are the only ones who come out to fly. There should have been a better reception for a visitor.

Oh, the engines look fantastic! I'll put them on something!

I hope the weather stays nice.

Thanks Doug,

The QRC should serve you well, I set both of them up for RC so just pop them on your next build and go flying! That little black tab is to open up the muffler to prime the exhaust port and once running you can close it off.

Even though only a few of the Wichihawks show up I have still learned plenty and have enjoyed my time thoroughly. Today was a minor setback and I will be ready to go again next Tuesday.

Ron

Ron, I feel for you. My most recent ‘bad day’ crash happened in the middle of the night while I was minding my own business sound asleep in my own bed.
A Lazy Bee (my favorite oldie) was hanging from the ceiling in the bedroom when the rubber band holding the wing exceeded it’s service life. The clatter of the falling wing woke my wife with a:
‘What was that?’
‘What was what’?
‘That noise.’
‘I didn’t hear any noise.’
‘Check it out’.
The next noise was a slicking crunch from my full weight stepping on my Lazy Bee’s wing.
Ah S***!!
al

I've always worried about my clumsy ass stepping on one of my planes while they're all on the ground at the field. Or worse, stepping on someone else's plane.
I don't know what could've been wrong with the Ring. I've never had a plane do an involuntary loop. Sounds like the power was down for some reason.

Welcome to CEF, GUS THE I.A.

Ron, those are the days you will always remember and one day you'll certainly laugh about it. As for the line clips. I tie red or yellow ribbons to mine. It allows me to find them due to me throwing them in my pit box. As for the Ring, a Ring isn't a Ring without road rash. Nothing is unrepairable when it comes to the plane. When Shawn made a decision to gear more towards combat I was certainly on board When I entered into that side I saw all kinds of equipment and was completely fascinated. But , just like motorcycling, I always enjoyed my small bikes more compared to my large bikes. It's the simplicity that drives the hobby. Cox engines did that for me early on in the hobby and still has my attention captured regardless of performance. One of our combat flyers/instructors always tells us, "Don't buy anything expensive and use what you can buy off the shelf." That prop being Master Airscrew may not be available at local hobby shops, but it's available through Tower Hobbies in deals of 6. By far the best prop I ever used on the Ringmaster which is the MA 9.5x6.

Another thing is that I don't care to fly other planes built by others. Some people go south real quick if one goes in. Yesterday I saw a perfect example when a flap horn which was old break right at the pivot. The plane went in and received the typical broken prop which resulted in the blade going through the wing. The gear folded back and so forth. It's all repairable but the owner was a bit twisted sister. If I hand a plane to another pilot, I realize the consequences if something does happen. Things just happen. I'm just curious as to why your plane flew across the circle. Did the wind blow it in on takeoff? Did the lines grab a weed on the ground prior to takeoff? Ken

I recall a day at the flying field, a public park, when a group of us had a our planes lined up on the ground with lines extended. A German Shepard came troting by for a look and became entangled in the lines of one plane then was so terrified he became entangled in another until five planes were ripped apart including mine.

At this time the pilots and spectators were shouting and even more dogs appeared to join the melee. The dog was injured by the steel cables lines which left bleeding lacerations on the dog's legs. Then the dog's owner appeared demanding that we pilots pay the vet bill.

I remined the owner than dogs in a park were required to be on a leash and under the control of the owner. The owner then called the cops to intervene then the "fun" began before the City Council which then prohibited flying models in public parks as a "public safety" risk.

This was many years ago and the policy is still in place in public parks in our area.

SD

I don' remember all the awful and sad days at the fying fields, but I do remember they all end with " I don't know what happened, it just! ".

SuperDave wrote:I recall a day at the flying field, a public park, when a group of us had a our planes lined up on the ground with lines extended. A German Shepard came troting by for a look and became entangled in the lines of one plane then was so terrified he became entangled in another until five planes were ripped apart including mine.

At this time the pilots and spectators were shouting and even more dogs appeared to join the melee. The dog was injured by the steel cables lines which left bleeding lacerations on the dog's legs. Then the dog's owner appeared demanding that we pilots pay the vet bill.

I remined the owner than dogs in a park were required to be on a leash and under the control of the owner. The owner then called the cops to intervene then the "fun" began before the City Council which then prohibited flying models in public parks as a "public safety" risk.

This was many years ago and the policy is still in place in public parks in our area.

SD

Goodnight Dave, talk about a knee jerk reaction. What a shame.

The Ring is all cleaned up and ready to roll. With the Clown I was able to remove the wing covering underneath and fix the Ribs and LE/TE. Just need to recover and it will be fine too. Things always look better the next day.

Thanks for the support guys!!!!!

Ron

Wow, I got [bleep]ed! (glad my humor was appreciated too)

The wild roller coaster is likely one of 2 conditions. Tail heavy being the more likely. Wallowed out oval holes around the control rod the other.

Phil

Phil,

Sorry you got bleeped the "B" word is a no no

I did find your post humorous.

Not sure if you followed my resto thread, but this Ring was a complete resto of a real early Sterling kit. Everything for the control system was replaced with new. Prior to this event the Ring was looping, inverted, 8's and wingovers with ease. So tail heavy it's not.

I will check the control horn if that was what you were referring to. What I was experiencing was total loss of control when the Ring went into the wind. My only guess was a really rich run. I did my maiden in 20mph gusts without issue. I am totally confused on this one.

Ron

Make sure the elevator isn't cracked around where the control horn is fastened. Check that the leadout wire isn't bent or kinked inside the wing and maybe trying to spring back and loop itself behind the bellcrank. I don't know how it would have gotten like that, just throwing out ideas. Have you got a locknut on your elevator clevis? Vibrations can destroy the threads and make it slip if it isn't held tight by a nut.

RknRusty wrote:Make sure the elevator isn't cracked around where the control horn is fastened. Check that the leadout wire isn't bent or kinked inside the wing and maybe trying to spring back and loop itself behind the bellcrank. I don't know how it would have gotten like that, just throwing out ideas. Have you got a locknut on your elevator clevis? Vibrations can destroy the threads and make it slip if it isn't held tight by a nut.

Rusty,

Not sure how to tell if the leadouts are looped over the bellcrank. I do know that they pull smooth and travel as is it always was. I am using the original Sterling control rod that is bent at a 90 with a spring clip holding it onto the control horn. All as it should be. I think since I am running with no rudder offset that it can't handle a rich run. Although when the engine shut off previous it glided fine so something must be up.

Big Al wrote:Ron, I feel for you. My most recent ‘bad day’ crash happened in the middle of the night while I was minding my own business sound asleep in my own bed.
A Lazy Bee (my favorite oldie) was hanging from the ceiling in the bedroom when the rubber band holding the wing exceeded it’s service life. The clatter of the falling wing woke my wife with a:
‘What was that?’
‘What was what’?
‘That noise.’
‘I didn’t hear any noise.’
‘Check it out’.
The next noise was a slicking
crunch from my full weight stepping on my Lazy Bee’s wing.
Ah S***!!
al

You sleep as hard as I do.

Is there enough tip weight in the outboard wing? Always a possibility. A little more is certainly not going to have that dramatic of an affect. Tape some coins to the wing and see if that improves. Rudder offset isn't going to radically assist you on take off. Are you using wheel collars to hold your wheels on? Bind up the outboard wheel slightly to cause a little drag it will also assist you on landing by causing it to steer out of the circle. Another issue I've had was using tail skids, they would inherently get caught on something on the ground and would cause to the plane to do funny business. I use only tail wheel with the wire bent to also assist in steering outboard of the circle. Taking a few steps back would also help as the plane is rising off of the ground until you can figure out what may be causing this dilemma.Ken

That's just it. It's not doing it when I take off it's doing it when I am airborne. 1/2 lap has good tension the other half is a scary roller coaster.

Although we are talking - many, many and many more years ago - the last time this sort of tension loss happened to me, I discovered that the wing had warped/twisted and caused an aileron type sideways movement.

Okay... I'll chime in! Well, after having witnessed Ron's difficulty the other night, it was my turn, tonight.

I launched Mike's Jr. Ringmaster a couple of times, then he MADE me fly it. My first take-off bobbled a few feet over the runway, and I doinked it in, breaking the prop. Retrieved the plane, refueled and started, had a decent flight. So... get out the Nobler!

I started with longer lines this time, 65 or 68 feet. The plane is the ARF version, flies nice, but still an ARF. The Nobler is powered with a Thunder Tiger .42 R/C engine, wired to full throttle position on the carb, hence, the longer lines. Started the engine, Mike launched for me, nice smooth take-off, good pull, steady engine, several times around- LET'S LOOP! Usually I get a tighter loop, because I am scared of the ground coming up to smite my planes, but this time, the loop would not tighten! The plane starts coming down the back side of the "maneuver" and I'm thinking: "Now would be a good time to use some down elevator to keep from whacking the concrete!" Well, it didn't work. the plane just barely made it to level attitude-inverted-before it "pancaked" onto the runway. Oh it gets "funnier"! The plane carried enough speed and inertia, to slide, grind, scuff and chew for 1/4 of the way around the circle, wheels-up. Shock, horror, disbelief. Oh, but can you just picture a guy holding a handle, watching his "dead" plane scoot around the circle, getting thinner and thinner? And Noblers have a fairly tall profile.

Here's what happened: Stupid ARF hardware! The elevator clevis pin became un-peened, or swaged, from the clevis. No amount of little fuel tubing will hold an un-pinned clevis to an elevator horn! That's just poor quality hardware. I think this plane had only 15 flights on it. Guess who's getting a letter?

Doug,

Sorry I missed it.

The damage looks repairable. Except for the bald patch on the pilots head. That you should keep as a reminder. Your avatar is a good before picture!

I hope Top Flite makes good on the issue.

The "true confessions" are HILARIOUS and totally believeable!

SD