Crashes—And How to

Prevent Them

“HEADS UP!!” POW!!!!! “OOOOOOOOHHH!!!! Yes, the sounds of another crash at the R/C field. Assuming the out of control aircraft didn't hit a vehicle, permanent structure, aircraft in the pits, or a person—it's just another routine agronomy test! Fortunately, no passengers to rescue. Next—the ensuing questions, consolation, and remarks: “What happened??” “Sorry” “You looked like you were a bit short on final!” “Dude, I told you to buy an O.S. Max, those engines suck!” The best one yet, “I never liked that airplane— ANYWAY!” Face it, if you fly R/C aircraft, sooner or later (unless you sell it or retire it before you crash it), you will crash. As disappointing as crashing can be, not all crashes are a total disaster. Crashes can be categorized into four levels. The level one crash is: “Oh, I just tweaked the landing gear “. Levels two and three can be any assorted damage that’s repairable. A level four crash is a virtual total aircraft write-off consisting of balsa confetti and an engine dug in deeper than an Alabama tick.

The Early Days

When starting out in R/C one of my flight instructors told me: “Fly them like you don't have a penny invested—otherwise, you won't have any fun.” Not an easy task, but he certainly flew that way. So I try to have as much fun as possible when flying by not thinking about the cost and time invested. Admittedly, I think the risk of crashing is what makes R/C such a challenging and exciting hobby. There’s always excitement when paired with risk I prefer not to crash though, and have had airplanes survive for more than a decade of hard flying. Others were smashed the second time out because I didn't follow a few rules I was taught from the very beginning. Following these rules will lead to longer aircraft life and eliminate many reasons for crashing. I can personally vouch for their validity. Let's take look a them. RULE 1 Perform A Preflight And Postflight Inspection Of Your Airplane. Safety first here. Mechanical failure is an avoidable excuse for a smoking hole. You should completely check your airplane before and after you're finished flying. This includes checking the whole airframe for loose screws, nuts, bolts, cracks, and leaks. Pull check the control surfaces and hinges for security. Inspect the radio compartment for chaffing wires, loose servo mounts, push-rods and/or cable attach points and servo arms for security. Remove the cowl if you have one. Engine mounts and muffler screws should all be checked with the proper tools to insure adequate torque. You get the idea. Check everything. If you're running a glow engine, incorporate your airframe inspection while you clean off the fuel residue—and clean out the inside of the cowl before reinstalling it along with the propeller and spinner. RULE 2 Maintain Your Radio Equipment Always fly with a fully charged batteries and perform a range check with the engine running before you take off. If you have a battery cycler use it to charge and cycle your batteries. If you don't have a cycler, it's a good idea to replace the TX and RX batteries every two seasons to be on the safe side.

After a crash, send your radio off to a reputable repair facility and have it checked. It doesn't cost much and it's good peace of mind. You saved the box, right? RULE 3 Have A Plan Every Time You Fly Pattern guys know what I mean. They typically have a specific goal, routine, and purpose when it comes to a flying session. The sport flier should adopt a similar mindset. If you're just happy to land in one piece and do circles around the field. Great! Go out with purpose and practice landings by doing touch and go's. Target your final approach dead center over the runway and then practice your turns. Right, left, and maintain constant altitude. Perfect what you like to do. The point here is to have a goal and purpose every time you take off. If you stink at using the rudder, or don't use the rudder at all, plan to learn how to use it in a flying session. Practice new aerobatics by building upon maneuvers you already know. Mentally and physically (with TX in hand), work out the stick movements before you fly. If you have a simulator, practice until maneuvers become reflex. If you bang the sticks to the corners without some sort of purpose, reason, or knowledge of the outcome, trust me—you'll improve your building skills. RULE 4 Keep Your Airplane Close To The Runway. Altitude is good, too much distance is bad. This rule is particularly important when flying a new airplane and/or engine. If your engine dies in flight and you're too far from the runway, it could mean disaster. Keep the airplane close enough to the runway so you can safely dead stick in for landing. Remember, when dead sticking in, disregard the traffic pattern and fly the most direct path to the runway allowing you to land as safely as possible. Don't forget to call out “Dead Stick”! RULE 5 It Will Not Get Better In The Air Not much to say here. Whatever isn’t working correctly, fix it before you fly. Poor running engines have a habit of flaming out just after take off. RULE 6 Don't Fly If You Don't Feel Like It. I've seen more than one person set up their airplanes at the field for the day and not fly. They would spend the day relaxing with shop talk and helping others. “Not in the mood”. No problem. Flying an R/C aircraft takes concentration. If you're not mentally prepared, had a bad day, or don’t feel up to the challenges the weather presents, don't fly. Wait until you feel ready. Each type of aircraft presents certain challenges to flying safely by virtue of their design and the speeds they fly at. There will be days when you can't seem to get in the groove or the airplane just doesn't feel right. Not to worry, there’s always another day. Only you know when you're mentally fit to fly. It's a good day when you unload your airplane at home in one piece instead of a tangled mess of salvaged servos and a dirt filled engine. Fly Safe! John W. Blossick Tail Slide Haven johnb@tslidehaven.com 2015

R/C Aircraft Insight From Low Altitude

Smoking Hole Kaos

Neglecting Rule 1, I flew a picture perfect figure 9 into the ground and cratered a fine flying 12 year old Kaos and FOX .74. WHAM! The ball link on the elevator push rod detached itself from the ball on the elevator servo arm during the back side of a loop. I should have checked and replaced the ball link prior to flying.

The Crash That

Shouldn’t Have

Happened

The pilot of this unfortunate Extra tried to stretch the glide path while flying a normal traffic pattern during a dead stick. Turning on final, the airplane stalled, snapped to the right, and narrowly missed a row of parked cars when it crashed. Had the pilot headed the plane directly toward the runway it would have been an easy landing.

Thoughts About Landing If you regularly bounce your airplane on landing or use too much runway on your landing roll out, your final approach glide angle may be too steep and/or you’re landing too fast. Many fliers don’t slow their aircraft down enough for landing (just watch YouTube for 10 min), and needlessly damage their airplanes. The aircraft should stall during the landing flare as the plane touches the runway. Knowing the aircraft stall speed and how your aircraft reacts when it stalls takes practice. Practice the stall at altitude by throttling back and feeding in up elevator to maintain level flight. When the aircraft loses airspeed and stalls it will either drop a wing, or mush ahead dropping the nose. Add power and level out to recover. Once you’ve determined your stall speed and how your bird reacts to a stall, you can now focus on the correct speed for landing. Use your flight time in the traffic pattern to maintain your decent rate and bleed off airspeed by gradually throttling back. Turn to final approach near the end of the runway— not binocular distance outI Keeping the the aircraft close makes it easier to judge airspeed. Maintain your decent rate to flair with throttle and elevator. If you’re still too fast, throttle up, go around, and try another landing approach.