Richard Harris Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 Today was my first chance of 2012 to go flying, now I should have realised that lady luck was not on my side this morning. Having charged 3 batteries my charger decided to not play ball coming up with an error, ok no big deal as these things can just go. Playing safe I decided to fly my Multiplex Gemini because its been a good couple of months since I last flew which was at Old Warden. Now that ended up being a bad day! First flight, not a problem and it was most enjoyable getting back into the swing of things. Second flight, I was up for around 5 mins just doing some of that enjoyable relaxed flying. From my right one of the other fliers decided he would take off with a new ducted fan jet ( Alpha jet I think). Now what narked me was he never called a take off, this I know can happen and we have all done it when concentrating on a maiden. But I was aware from the noise that something was going on further down the pits. Being aware that this was a new model I flew out of the way, then turned back on to my normal circuit just plodding about as his model took off vertical. From around 200' the jet came howling down (I think for a fast low pass), yep you can guess what happened, straight through my model! Well there was lots of foam, you can see the red 'skid marks' on the top of my top wing. The bottom wing was broken off on one side along with the wind servo. Cabane struts snapped and there may be some damage to the new AXI motor Nearly 30 years I have been flying and this is my fist mid air! no ones fault but just one of those things. Just glad it was well away from the pits. Since I got home I have looked at the airframe and it may just go back together, I have some Gorilla glue but I am not sure if this is ok or not? Or I have some epoxy....what do you reckon chaps? It could have been worse and been a model that I had built myself, but frustrating all the same. Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devon Flyer Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 Bad luck Rich.Best bet is to use cyano to stick it back together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Ashby - Moderator Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 30 years! It happens Rich and you've done very very well to dodge a mid-air over that time. Did the EDF jet suffer? Looks repairable, cyano/epoxy etc. but I'd probably throw in a little carbon to reinforce as well. You'd probably thought of that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken anderson. Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 dont use epoxy rich....use CA and some carbon...i've seen a gemini worse than that and now it looks brand new......i've also had a few mid airs in my flying career...dont know how you have got away with it.. ken anderson ne..1 mid air dept... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Grigg Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 Sorry to here of your mid air,.It would have been better for the guy to let you land before he flew his,it may not be anyones fault but common courtesy would have been to allow you to enjoy your flight,and let everyone know it was a maiden flight of the jet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Harris Posted January 9, 2012 Author Share Posted January 9, 2012 Thanks for the tips gents I will get some CA for the job and some carbon strips. The strength is in the top wing which has a carbon strip across its span,luckily this is undamaged. I have checked the motor out and all seems to be fine bar for it pulled the bolts out of its base and stripped the threads! No big deal though as I can open them out to M4. David, To be fair I really didn't take much notice of the damage as I was a little focused on the damage to mine ,but was told after it was far worse off. I regard myself as an average pilot and thought I was well aware of his flight path at the time, but looking back it was just the speed of the thing coming out of a dive that caught me out. However I will be having a word with the chairman about the matter, I think a little more verbal communication is needed concerning the pilot in question whilst flying (this is not the first time). He is a really nice chap and I am sure we can both learn something from this. I know that sometimes these things happen, but at least the risk can be reduced for everyone else. It could have been far worse, its just a bit of foam! Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Ashby - Moderator Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 Yes, there's such a thing as flying....how shall I put it.....flying unsympathetically. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Fisher Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 David, You're too diplomatic ... I would have said antisocially and carelessly... Malcolm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 Sorry to hear that Rich. These EDF jobs often need a lot of sky - and sadly in the hands of someone who has, shall we say perhaps, less than the average amount of "fellow pilot sympathy" and fly like there is nothing else in the air, they can be a problem BEB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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