Gluefinger Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 It had been a great mornings flying with several successful flights with my Boomerang trainer and my follow on low winger the Calmato I had been flying circuits and practising landing and taking off and was feeling quite pleased with myself.One more flight.At the end of the take off run I seem to lose control just after lift off the right wing drops and the plane veers to the right and down, no response to stick correction ...... total destruction.At first I thought that an aileron failure was the cause as both ailerons had popped out of the wings on impact and showed very little glue on the hinges but now I have sorted through the bits I have found that the sliding Rx switch was at the midpoint position not fully on or off!I must not have moved the switch to the ON position fully so that only enough contact was made to turn the Rx on but contact was lost from the vibration of taking off and so the Rx was turned off.Thinking back now the throttle did not respond either after being opened up for take off.Even though I had done my range checks and checked my control surfaces I still made a basic mistake of not making sure a switch was properly turned on.Fortunately I have another Calmato waiting in its box because I got them at a good price and bought two Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrahamC Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 "One more flight" Not that I belive in fate, but those three words seem to end in disaster rather often! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken anderson. Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 hello glue finger...check your RX battery......was it fully charged at the start of your session?...they can lose a fair old amount of capacity/what they will supply in the cold weather........ ken anderson.....ne..1. minus 50% batt dept. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Bennett Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 Sorry to hear about your crash -- is it not repairable? One "trick" with the sliding on/off switch is to make sure that it's mounted so that it's on when pushed backwards. That's because when handling the model there's sometimes a tendency to inadvertently brush against the switch in a backward direction, such as when letting go after restraining it while you do your final throttle and controls checks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gluefinger Posted February 7, 2013 Author Share Posted February 7, 2013 Graham. That thought crossed my mind as I started the motor......Ken. battery was more than 90% It was a balmy 80 deg F here in Oz, blue sky, sun was shining a gentle sea breeze ..... You get the pictureAllan. Fuselage completely destroyed surprising how lightly it was built Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken anderson. Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 80F ...... well that shoots down the cold batt...... we have 2c here...... ... ken anderson....ne..1 ..... fridge/freezer dept.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josip Vrandecic -Mes Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 Gluefinger it's sad,but by Your description,seem typical tip wing stall.... Chin up Edited By Josip Vrandecic -Mes on 07/02/2013 09:28:55 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gluefinger Posted February 7, 2013 Author Share Posted February 7, 2013 Hi Josip, the Plane was already out of control as it left the ground at hi speed it never got more than a metre or so in height and veered into the ground at max power at the end of the strip The ground crew (me) are taking the blame for this one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spice Cat Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 Gluefinger, My commiserations. I watched my Calmato plough into the earth when the I had failed to pre flight the ailerons weren't connected. Look on Hobbyking site for a Soar 40. It may look familiar.......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Grigg Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 I had the same problem with a switch on my Pulse 40 as it took off it veered right over a hedge and crashed into the next field.When we checked the switch had switched off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Wilson Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 Commiserations mate, guess it looks a bit like mine Edited By Lee Wilson on 07/02/2013 21:54:19 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Chambers Posted February 8, 2013 Share Posted February 8, 2013 Posted by Lee Wilson on 07/02/2013 21:53:48: Commiserations mate, guess it looks a bit like mine Edited By Lee Wilson on 07/02/2013 21:54:19 At least you managed to keep nearly all the fuel! Si. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gluefinger Posted February 8, 2013 Author Share Posted February 8, 2013 The highly trained RC plane retriever stands guard over the wreckage of his masters plane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Wilson Posted February 8, 2013 Share Posted February 8, 2013 Posted by Simon Chambers on 08/02/2013 00:26:48: At least you managed to keep nearly all the fuel! Si. I'd just refuelled Si, thought it would be easier while I had the tank out. Quick bit of work with the cyano and she'd be airborne again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bouncebounce crunch Posted February 8, 2013 Share Posted February 8, 2013 Don't worry Gluefinger here is one in perfect order. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josip Vrandecic -Mes Posted February 8, 2013 Share Posted February 8, 2013 Even Your pretty dog is sad..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Chambers Posted February 8, 2013 Share Posted February 8, 2013 Just remembered. This for all intents and purposes seems to be exactly identical (apart from the rather bright covering) to a calmoto 40: Soar 40 Sports Low Wing Balsa 1550mm (ARF) (UK Warehouse) In the usual HobbyKing style, its blimming cheap. I bet its out of the same factory too. I've got it on bookmark for when I next write off my low wing hack! I wasn't sure on the covering at first, however thinking about it, I'd probably help heaps in orientation... Si. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Chambers Posted February 8, 2013 Share Posted February 8, 2013 Posted by Lee Wilson on 08/02/2013 08:09:26: Posted by Simon Chambers on 08/02/2013 00:26:48: At least you managed to keep nearly all the fuel! Si. I'd just refuelled Si, thought it would be easier while I had the tank out. Quick bit of work with the cyano and she'd be airborne again For the most part, it does look actually pretty repairable - you've got most of the big bits still. I'd glue the sides back on and double them up with some spruce strips or similar. I did similar amount of work to a Travel Air I stalled on take off and busted up. Would be a fair bit of work, however if you got it fixed and saved buying a replacement, it would mean that you've got a free airframe! That's the way I look at it... Si. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Wilson Posted February 8, 2013 Share Posted February 8, 2013 That was a couple of years ago Si, it ended up in the bin as the damage underneath was a lot worse than it looks in the photo. I stepped up from that to an 80" Cap 232 with Zenoah 45 which is still going strong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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