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Clarky
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I had great fun today. We managed to move my son into his new home faster than planned so I had today free. So guess where I went? Yup to fly. The fieled had a lot more fliers there today than I have previously met at the club so it was great to meet more of them (all most welcoming). We got the plane in the air and things were going well. The instructor said it was time to land and so took back control.
Oh dear thats when it all went wrong. We had sheep in the field near our boundary fence (they were on both sides of the fence right next to it). Well a slight miscalculation and the plane came down a little earlier than planed as it plowed straight into the fence.
I must admit I really did feel like laughing. The instructor was more upset than I was (poor man). Still the damage wasnt to bad. The engine mount had snapped (which was the worst damage done) - the front wheel leg is bent and a slight crack in the wing - oh and the servo arm snapped.
Dspite this I really did appreciate the coment that I have heard repeated on the forums so many times "dont blame the instructor - after all they are only human".
As I said I was more amused than not as I had been wondering since day one when the first prang would happen and how many plastic bags I would need afterwards. Now I can see if I can repair the damage and make her airworthy again in time for next weeks flying (baring the trips my kids have planned for the week along with everything else).
I hope the rest of you have had fun in this great wheather we are having.
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Hi Antony, I am glad you are able to smile. I read somewhere that if you are afraid of crashing, take up golf! Hopefully you will have it repaired soon.
I managed to finally be in the same place as an instructor today and for the first time in 25 years wiggled my thumbs and flew circuits around the club field. I flew for 20 minutes or so even doing some aerobatics. The rates were set quite low on the Wot 4 which caught me out when I did a roll, it was soooooo slow! I had to feed in opposite rudder and down elevator to keep it from losing a drastic amount of altitude. I was really chuffed that after all these years I could still do it. After the first few circuits I said the rudders powerful, to which the instructor said, "you're using the rudder?" (The flight simulator really helps.) The control was whisked away from me when the engine died suddenly, at low altitude, Chris performed a text book dead stick landing. Unfortunately I only had time for the one flight before domestic duties called and I had to drive home a very happy chappie. Hope everybody else has had a succesful day :)Roll on next weekend!
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I think it should be David. The framework suffered just a VERY minor problem which can be repaired with just a sanding.

One question I will ask. I have a replacement engine mount already but the holes are in different places. I could just try to get one that the holes match up on (assuming I can get one from the makers of the Arising Star (anyone got a contact number or email?)) - or I could fit an aditional piece of ply to the firewall and redrill the holes in that - or I have thought about putting the 2 engine mounts back to back and drilling new holes in the new engine mount. My question is which is practical and which is not?
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Hi Antony

re the engine mount prob - I guess the answer is whatever solution you'd feel happier doing. I would probably just drill new holes assuming there's room and use bolts and captive nuts in the normal way. If this isn't possible then yes, you could add a ply piece and drill through this. Just a case of making sure this piece is thick enough and itself is attached well enough.
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Well plane repaired and taken out for a flight today. Weather great - nice and calm and very sunny.
Despite having checked the plane over after repairs this week I still seem to have missed a few things. We were doing some taxi runs up and down the runway today and the plane suddenly vered of to the one side. When we got to it the front wheel had come off. Doh!! Oh well wheel replaced - collet found and tightened up. Next - again while doing taxi runs it suddenly stopped dead at full throttle - engine still running. We discovered that the propeller had worked lose - cor could it get any worse?
Actually no that was about it. I never got as far as successfully taking off today but at least I now know how difficult it is to keep the plane tracking straight at full throttle on the ground. We did practice low fly overs along the runway. On at least one occasion I could happily of landed with the instructors approval but I decided to keep practicing the approach instead.
Oh I must mention that we were on our club's second site today - they alternate between sites on odd and even days - but this site was closed to us during the winter.
It was this fact that it was a new site to me that I decided not to actually land but just keep practicing the approach.
What else? We also practiced flying in circles as opposed to circuits. It may sound daft but it was not as easy as it sounds for the first time.

Anyway that was my fun day - how did everyone else get on?
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Cheers for the advise, i have not tried my sim yet and to be honest i may send it back, i dont really want to ruin a Tx.
Didnt do any flying at the weekend, have had problems with my model, engine spluttering ( could be because of the warm weather )so i didnt risk it.
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I don't know how everyone else did at the weekend, I could only manage Sunday morning. 3 flights but trouble with my engine, it will run for almost exactly 4 minutes then cuts. My initial thoughts are that the tank is not pressurising, though I cannot see why as the plumbing is all fine. The exhaust components after the pressure nipple are not sealing completely despite dismantling and re-assembly, this may mean insufficient back pressure to the tank, I will try to re-create the problem on the ground, and maybe try some car exhaust sealer. Other than that enjoyed my flying, though my eyesight is proving to not be as good as it was LOL
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