What is or was your most stressful flight...

[Gregor77]

I though this would be fun...

What was the most stressful flight of your life at TEMAC.

Mine was the H9 Camel and it ended up being a kitty...
The BUSA PUP1/4, it was also fine...Flew great!  Thanks Dave D for his support and the rest of the gang!

Ronnie was there.. My PT-17 with a 4S,3600.  It somehow ended up tail heavy and it was impossible to land.  It was bucking around like crazy and the 15K wind didn't help.  Last second I attempted to find the point when the plane bolted up and skidded the tail section on the ground and this caused it to drop the front wheels on the ground.. No damage!   But I was all wet!

Gerhards Cherokee that he let me try, you banked a bit and the plane wanted to drop fast... The multiplex controller with the razorblades on the tips of the sticks didn't help!  ;o)

[wollins]

Maiden takeoff of big Yak at Temac some years ago.   (Look closely at second pic .... need I say more?  )
Michael and Andre can attest to this one being a VERY stressful flight.   

Colin

[Gregor77]

I would be stressed just moving the plane to the field.

[piker]

Every first flight (and sometimes every flight) with a new plane is stressful, but the most stressful "first" flight I remember was actually with a plane I had probably flown 50 or more times before this launch.  And, it was a pretty simple, sport plane.  Sorry, this pre-dates TEMAC, but:

My most stressful launch was when I tried hand launching my Fer De Lance INVERTED!  I remember my heart pounding in my chest just before and after.

I decided to try launching inverted because the low wing plane was much easier to hold and, therefore, throw upside down.  And this wasn't an overpowered plane like we have these days.  It had to be launched level, to let the airspeed build before pulling... I mean pushing up to a climb-out.  Well, the launch went perfectly and inverted launches became the standard practice for that plane.  Unfortunately, the plane only lasted a few flights after that first attempt, but only because of radio failure.

[flying saucer]

Would probably have to be the 1/5'th scale Christen Husky from last summer. This was a quick build kit model that was 95% finished which I picked up at a LHS.

I fought with it for the ENTIRE flight, including one or more severe stalls. It simply refused to turn right, and barely wanted to fly through the air. How I managed to land safely I'll never know.

Here is a vid after Ken Coleman and I twisted one of the wings and put 120% rates on everything with no expo. Better, but still a major pig to fly.

1/5'th Scale Christen Husky Electric RC

[bfeist]

Easily, my most stressful flight at TEMAC was the first time I flew my Sailaire. Reversed elevator caused it go vertical and crash from about 20 feet straight down. It was "re-kitted". Took me three years to gather the courage to face the pile of rubble and reconstruct it.

[Frank v B]

Almost forgot one brown stripe flight.

About 15 years ago we passed a guy for his solo with a Goldberg Gentle Lady with an OS .10 on the nose  (BTW- great combo).  I came to the field early on a weekend morning and this guy had his second plane ready for a maiden.  A beautiful 10 foot span Graupner fibreglass glider with obechi skinned wings and a big brushed motor on the nose and 12 cells.  As soon as I arrived he asked me to maiden it.

He launched it. It flew beautifully to about 300 foot altitude before I initiated the first turn.  The second I deflected the aileron for the first (left) turn, the plane started to flip onto its back.  I caught it at 90 degrees (port wing pointing to the ground) with full opposite aileron and rudder.  When straight and level I did a huge slow left turn, did one circuit and lined up for a landing.  No issue on landing.  A severe case of Michael's "as long as the last 15 seconds are perfect it is a good flight".

Racked my brains for what went wrong and could only come up with two possibles:
1) The left wing may have had wash-in versus the right wing.
2) If the turn was too fast, the left wing would be receding and the right wing advancing relative to the wind over the wings (left wing had slower wind velocity therefore less lift, right wing travelled on the larger radius on the outside of the turn and therefore had more lift).  I cannot recall if the aileron throws were excessive.

Probably a combination of the two... and a good dose of pilot error.

Just realized this was my first electric flight.

Frank van Beurden

[piker]

3) The plane was protesting about being flown by a gasser
4) Your fuel soaked fingers were slipping off the sticks

[Wingnutz]

Easy choice! Maiden flight of my Haoye CT-114 Tutor. I had zero EDF knowledge or experience when I bought the kit and had no idea of how sketchy the engineering and instructions were.
Filled with naive enthusiasm I headed to the local high school running track (model is small) as soon as the snow cleared in the spring of 2011, planning to take off from the track and avoid EDF handlaunching which according to all my research was anything but 100% reliable.
Ideal early spring weather with sun and light wind blowing straight down track. Smooth out wheel snagging divits in the cinder track, taxi around a bit, line the model up into wind and with fingers and knees shaking, gently advance throttle...
YIKES! The model has rotated and staggered into the air and I haven't touched the elevator! And it's done this because...it's seriously TAIL HEAVY!
Back off the throttle, down elevator...pitches 45deg down and heads for the ground...now, it's behaving like it's NOSE HEAVY!
Throttle and elevator up, pitches up to 45 deg climb heading for outer space...TAIL HEAVY
This sequence continues with control improving only marginally and me turning in circles to follow the model as there was no way I had enough control to keep it in front of me.
The down parts of this roller coaster are scarier than the ups and the model is gaining altitude and beginning to look very small.
Eventually (seemed much longer than the minute it all took) the model and I agree to co-operate enough to manage a semi-controlled crash in the middle of the field inside te running track which takes out one main gear but leaves the model otherwise intact.
Inspection revealed the battery had come loose (probably on the take-off run) and was moving around on its lead causing more gray hair for the pilot. If you've seen the first picture in the 2012 Jets Day gallery, you have an idea of the look on my face. Since then, the battery anchoring has been resolved, balance tweaked, LG removed for handlaunching. Still the model has proved a handful to handlaunch and has crashed on launch so many times its new snub nosed appearance has earned it a nickname...Tyson.
Not one to give up easily, V2 maidened in November and handlaunched without incident...thanks Glen!

[Frank v B]

Piker,

You are so kind.

It took me years to get over being rejected by a model airplane.

They seem to like me now since I am 95% electric... with a little gas in my left toe*


Frank

* Only 2 of my 40 planes are gas.  One is a 4 IC engine commuter plane and a Tucano .15.  Other than that I am pure.

[Frank v B]

My write-up of the 4 engine airplane shown in my last post disappeared into cyberspace.  Let's try again, Technonerd!

This 4 engine airplane is my own design and is based around a Goldberg Skylane 62 wing kit.  The 4 engines do not match.  Two .15's inboard (an OS and a Magnum) and two .10's outboard (OS and Magnum).  The fuselage was designed from a photo of a Partenavia twin engine commuter plane.  It flies remarkably well and has about 100 flights on it over 15 years.
The throttle system is neat.  At full throttle, all 4 engines are at full blast.  As the throttle stick moves down to half throttle, only the outboards go to idle.  The inboard ones remain at full throttle.  As the throttle stick moves below half throttle, the inboards go to idle.  The outboards stay at idle.  When the throttle trim lever is pulled down, the outboards quit and the inboards stay at idle.  All this is done with a single Futaba S148 servo in the wing.

Everything is designed so that if any engine quits, it flies straight as if on rails because most of the thrust is as close to the centreline as possible.

The throttle system works remarkably well and I can land it on the Bramalea runway every time.  It flies like a trainer with heavier wing loading.

This plane does loops, rolls, inverted flight and does an awesome hammerhead stall.

Piker, I am just trying in vain to justify keeping this as a slimer.

Frank van Beurden