Muppet of the week

[Angus Simpson]

I thought this thread would be a great place for people to share all the stupid things they have done whilst flying!

I went down to the flying field this thursday with my trainer 40 and the weather was crackin with only a light breeze. Its only been a little while since I went solo so I was a bit nervous. I fueled up and did all the checks and had a good flight and a good landing and I was realy chuffed. So I decided to go up again. I thought everything was fine and working, I took off and a few seconds later the plane went into a really steep climb and I shouted I have lost controll!!! Then I heard another shout from behind me from the pitts saying my areil was down. I managed to pull it out and keep the plane in the air...barely. of cource the engine had cut and I was quite low, so I glided it around in a circle trying to line up into the wind but i was too low and when i landed I was heading rite into the pitt area! They all ran out the way and I just mist everyone and the equipment. I slowed down and cutt the throttle. The rest of the blokes all laughed at me and thought it was seriously funny! I didnt. I could have kicked myself for being a right idiot.

Then after a bit I decided to go up again making sure that i had extended my areal fully. and you thought I had a bad day already! when the plane took off I had no aileron controll!!! Of course I had forgotten to connect the aileron servo lead back into the reciever!!! What an Idiot I was. I shouted to the instructer and he hobbled over and took the transmitter from me and landed the model using the rudder.

Well there you have it, two stupid and potentially dangerous mistakes in one day! I think I qualify for muppet of the week this week. Please tell me im not the only one who makes stupid mistakes like this!

[Fats Flyer]

Going by what iv'e seen down my patch,what you have done is very mild.
To give an example,
one of the newly A pass flyers decided to go for a highly acrobatic advanced plane,
yes ,he quickly lost control,everyone ran for cover,he tried to land the best he could ,trying to keep the plane away from all of us.
He then shouted to everyone ''it's all right i have control again'',we all came from hiding just in time to see him loose control again and fly the plane straight into the back of his transit van at full pelt.....BANG.....

He then turned to all of us and innocently said ''wow,how's that for a landing''.
We all had fits of laughter the rest of the day.Of course the CAP that he was flying was back in kit form nestling in the rear of his passenger's seat.

[Angus Simpson]

It makes me feel a lot better that im not alone.

[Antony Wright]

well I havent had any mishaps yet - and I wont embarass any of my fellow club members by telling of some of the stories they have told me - but Angus you are definately not alone.

[Malcolm Fisher]

A considerable number of years ago I was invited to another club site. During my second flight of the day I suddenly lost control and ploughed the model in - fortunately into very soft ground with no damage. On checking everything through to try to find the cause, I discovered that my Tx aerial had come unscrewed - something I had never considered in many years of flying.

When I annopunced this, everyone on the site checked their own Tx aerials.

Needless to say this is now one of my pre-flight checks on every outing...

[Essjay]

A few years ago I was flying at a well known site which was being run by the now defunct Model Pilots Association (MPA). I was getting ready to fly and noticed there was a (now) well known magazine reviewer and show flier (mentioning no names), flying without a peg on the board (it was a peg-on system). I asked him what frequency he was on, and his reply astounded me, he said " Oh! don't worry, I wont get shot down I'm using my 72mHZ module". Unfortunately that stupid idiot is still held in some regard within the modelling fraternity, and whenever I see his name on a magazine review it makes me cringe !. If you are reading this ( and you know who you are), I hope you're proud of yourself !
Rant over

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[leccyflyer]

Whilst I'd be the first to admit that I've done some stupid things whilst flying and might be in with a chance of any muppet of the week award that might be on offer I agree with Alan C.

The individual impersonating Chris Bromley in some misguided attempt to get at me is below contempt. The moderator of the forum has been informed and it is hoped that RCM&E choose to act in a responsible manner in dealing with it.

[Gerry Dawson]

Rest assured that when the individuals identity is confirmed (note I said confirmed as we already believe we know who it is) they will be named, shamed and permanently banned from the RCMF forum and the BMFA forum.

Gerry

[David Ashby - Moderator]

Thanks guys, I'll get the moderator to deal with this first thing Mon.

[Alan Cantwell]

nice to see the insult to chris bromley gone, can i now ask that ALL relavant posts to this are got rid of? including my own? the point about impersonation has been made, no need to spoil the forum for it
thanks

[Mike Rolls]

Alan
Didn't know that Chris is unwell. Very sorry to hear that - great bloke, always helpful.

Mike

[Nick Chudley]

Well,now that the offending piece has been removed, let's not allow it to spoil all that muppet fun.

My favorite model is a 36" aerobatic electric one called a Stella from Stevens Aero. Looks a bit like an Extra. The low wing has 2 retaining bolts at the back and it flies really well even if you forget to put the bolts in. Really well until you try inverted. Then the wing drops off. Which leaves you with a perfectly good wing and a lot of very small pieces. hey-ho.

On another subject, what's wrong with 72Mz? I've got a transmitter from the States and I don't know if I can use it. Will it clash with the emergency services or something? Works fine in the cow field behind my house.

[Chris Dickens]

Nick
72Mhz is not a legal model control frequency in the UK for the private flyer. there are (or were) exemtions for trade and development use, I know we used it 25yrs ago for some flim work. but for the normal sports flyer it is a big NO NO.

[scott cuppello]

Hmmmm, my muppet moment was a brand spanking new EDF, nice take off, nice easy circuit I thought....the profile of jets at a distance is a little vague [my excuse], not enough altitiude....just a bit of elevator....at this point we discover that we are inverted....made a really impressive impact crater.

[Nick Chudley]

Thanks Chris

Fortunately I can still use the Tx since I've got one with a little removable unit that I've replaced with a 35Mhz one. Sadly, the 72MHz unit was a simulator type where you can dial the channel instead of buying crystals.

Still, if I use it on an isolated farm I guess I'm not going to bring down the Leicestershire air ambulance. That would be muppet of the week!

[Nick Chudley]

Here's another muppet story..

I was trying to fly my Stella with a digital camera in video mode fixed to the wheels. I think the camera was interfering with the receiver and what I got was a brilliant and dramatic, short video and a lot of small pieces. The camera was the only thing that didn't get damaged.

I still think that Stevens Aero make the best kits ever and repairing my favorite plane has been pretty straightforward, considering.

[Roger T]

Nick,

Re 72 MHz....It is legal in the States, but not in the UK because it conflicts with other allocated frequencies.

Consider this....how upset would you feel if someone used an illegal 35 MHz transmitter for some other purpose whilst you were legally using 35 MHz in your application(i.e. flying a model)?

Probably not only peeved, but very indignant about illegal use of our frequencies by other users?

Point made?

On a similar point, anyone know what the legal frequencies are for France & Germany? I'd like to go there but don't want to wreck the locals flying.

[Nick Chudley]

fair enough!

[Neal Snooke]

Hi Roger,

Wanting to bring my MicroStick to Stuttgart as handluggage I found the following useful to find out what frequencies are allocated to R/C all over the world:

http://www.fai.org/aeromodelling/frequencies/

ps. Weather is like midsummer in Germany today and has been for 6 weeks - they are all worried about it - good for flying though...

[Neal Snooke]

And of course my muppet moment(some 5 yrs ago)...

Having started my Laser Arrow (50size delta without undercarriage) and juggling the tranny neckstrap and holding the model, the aerial was trimmed by several sections... Annoying (no spare at hand). The purchase of a new aerial prompted a change of routine for this model as follows: start engine, hook tranny to neckstrap (right hand) while holding model (left hand), extend aerial(right hand), full power and launch model. Worked fine until a couple of weeks later. Off she went flat out for about 20m, slight twitch...nose down... and just as I realised why I had no control and hadn't yet got left hand to throttle stick - totally rekitted.

Neal.

(I did get another one but created a model support/restrainer to avoid the problem of having to hold the started model.)

[Roger T]

Nick,

Thanks for that. my (current) muppet moment was that I found the FAI site right after asking the question!

Am also in Germany fr the rest of this week -the drive from the UK across to Karlsruhe was in fantastic weather - my number plate etomology collection is coming on a treat!

Cheers,

Roger T

[Roger T]

Nick,

Re hand launching muppetry, I'm left handed and fly mode 2 (primary - Ail/rud on the right), so hand launches are a doddle... 8~)

Roger T

[Nick Chudley]

Roger

I'm also left handed, so I know what you mean. Makes a change not to be part of a persecuted minority!

My usual flying buddy is a small spaniel (not welcome at lakes or aero clubs). The dog gets loads of exercise while I stand still - It didn't used to be like that. He would have to stand still while I climbed up trees or knocked on doors: "Please may we have our plane back".

Now I've progressed from park flyers to a Catalina which is too big to hand launch. However it scoots across the grass pretty well for take-off. Until the dog caught it, by a propellor! I thought I had him under control, well behind the flight line. But when it started to move the excitement was all too much for him. Nearly cut his nose off, poor thing.

We live and learn, hopefully!

[Steve Ebbon]

My worst worst muppet moment.
The mother of muppetry in fact, (are there any prizes) was last week, flying my new (Christmas present) Sportsman Aviation Spitfire on only it's 4th flight when after a couple of circuits the wings suddenly departed from the fuz which then did a good impression of an unguided missile while the wings gently fluttered to earth, yes youv'e guessed it I forgot to tighten up the wingbolts only hand tightened them, my excuse was I got distracted by the people around me. Moral check your nuts! sorry bolts before flying.
Suprisingly I think the fuz is repairable so if any one out there has a spare cowl and canopy for a SA Spit. let me know please.