Planes lost this year- an obituary

[Frank v B]

Which planes have you lost this year....that you are willing to owe up to?

Am starting to put my planes away for the winter and get my two winter planes ready (bright red Sporster, Dark blue Birdie 10) and went over my hanger rats.  Some need to be repaired but only 2 have gone to the hanger in the sky.

- .32 size Rearwin Speedster, 60" span is now toast after my spring crash.  Removed all the RC gear and tossed the rest
- the E-Flite Taylorcraft 450 crashed during the Skills Challenge.  It broke the wing for the 3rd time and crushed the nose.

Yes I am looking for replacements.


Frank

ps: a relatively crash-free year.

[BJROB]

Hay Frank
Sorry about your hanger losses
I feel your pain....
But there is a new sun rise tomorrow as the plane flys 
And you get to have new planes.....

[davidk]

UMX Aero Commander... a sweet little plane... deserved a better ending than under the unforgiving right rear wheel of my car. 
Reborn as a 1/4 scale Warwing.

[Canuke]

I can't remember them all (some advantages to short term memory loss). Certainly a Lazer 260 (finally after many hard landings and one of my favorites) and a  Vampire over the last couple of weeks.

[Frank v B]

So these are the honest members of TEMAC.  Now it is time to out your buddies who crashed this year.

I know of about 4 V-900's that crashed (not mine!) and many other members who did the farmer's walk of shame picking up pieces.

BTW- Warwings don't count because destruction is their mission in life (death?). 

It will all come out at the next two meetings as we try to pick the "Crash of the year" trophy winner.

Frank

[davidk]

I watched a Vampire come apart at the seams mid-air... not sure who.  Close to the east trees.

I have an FMS SpitFire which may be all but lost.  Stabization RX came loose during flight - it didn't know which way was up... but sure knew which way were down.  It got returned by a friendly farmer-ess in a pickup... bless her heart.  Battery good, RX good... but a sorry sight overall.

I repaired the Spit last night - turned out it wasn't too bad... but... we'll see today if it'll fly.

[Palkina]

Hi David,

Thank you for interesting report. If the vampire you are talking about is the one that did fell apart while flying above the runway (3 - 4 meters), Gil's plane, then we need to take out of the list  . It was restored to a flying condition and thanks to the gorilla glue it is supporting stringent tests loads as it was converted to a 6S flying machine.

[davidk]

Hey Carlos... no it wasn't that one.  The one I saw was flying closer to the east trees than the runway... and it was moving fast.  One of the booms let go and it just disintegrated - at least that how it looked.  I can't remember the shape it was in... or if it was retrieved.

[sihinch]

Well I can remember at least 3 big crashes of mine....

At the North side of the field I lost a V900. Boom! Total right-off. I managed to salvage the servos and control horns.

At the South end of the field I lost my Brio, on it's 3rd flight. That one I blame on a radio loss (was flying DSM2.) I have also retired the airframe but have all the electronics for something else. It was a pretty plane but I didn't like how it flew.

The one that hurt the most was in May. I crashed my FMS F-18F on it's 2nd flight. It was a gorgeous flying plane (I think) and I just dumb-thumbed it in to the ground.  This was the only one I immediately replaced and even with the new E-Flight F-18D coming out, I'm still glad I have this one.

[Michael]

My Hangar 9 Mustang after a slow tight loop close to the ground, and a stall and spin.

I missed it and replaced it this week. It'll be a slow and relaxed assembly this winter.

[bweaver]

Look at it this way - Just think of all the available components for Warwings and for the construction of new exotic, creative aircraft..

I don't crash and tell.  IF YOU WEREN'T THERE IT NEVER HAPPENED! 

[Canuke]

I lost a red canopy off the Rainbow 2 this week. Straight east off the runway. I was still flying and couldn't watch exactly where it landed. If anyone finds it let me know.

[octagon]

I lost my CL-415 on it's second flight. I now think the very large vertical stabilizer was offset, causing the plane to turn hard  left. I took off heading North and as the plane gathered speed it would not turn right. In panic mode now I thought I would turn left instead and try and circle back to the field by coming over the trees and hopefully just landing somewhere in the beans. But even with full up elevator I could not get over top of the trees and the plane shredded itself through the big dead one farthest to the north. It was a long hard build that took most of 5 months and I loved the way the plane looked before the crash.

[bweaver]

Re: ...I loved the way the plane looked before the crash.

So did the rest of us. 

[octagon]

Thanks Richard. I kept the remains in a big bin until recently, trying to bring myself to try and resurrect it. But it just wasn't in me I guess. The last of the wreckage was picked up by the garbage man a week ago.