What is your best R/C Crash/Survival Story?

[Colonel Klank]

Everybody has a miraculous story about a crash or mishap that the airplane survived. It could be the "Mid-air with a goat", or the "I ran over it with my truck" story. Miraculously, your plane survived to fly another day.

My Pitts, which I have renamed, "Buster", recently did a full cartwheel after a gust of wind upset it on final. This is one tough airplane. Only cosmetic damage was done and after about an hour of repairs, it flew again.

Let's hear your stories.

[Dennis C]

The only story i have is when my planes go in they go in hard. no chance of survival

[TonyThomasian]

when one of my 4 rudder servos got locked up durring flight on my comp-arf 330 at a 40 degree angle, and i brought it down, thanks to the strong crosswind!

[TheTank]

I have a couple...
Back a few years a ago, came out of a waterfall too low with my Wildhare 27% Extra, Pancaked it into a hayfield... just bent the gear and chipped the prop.

About 2 years ago, ran my 35% Wildhare Extra out of fuel in a hover about about6 or 7 feet... Pancaked it... Just bent the gear and the stab tubes... Survived

AM 30% Yak, engine quit at about 15 feet, downwind in a rolling harrier, pancaked, just bent the gear and tore up the landing gear mount a bit.

Funtana 90, dumped it doing a "Hyde-Walk", just broke one wingtip, lived to fly again, still exists today.

Most recent (this past summer). Hovering over a large puddle with my Panzl 330, threw the prop, pancaked it into the drink, broke up the stringers on the bottom of the airplane, other than that, no damage, no water got in either...

Here are a couple pics...

[Colonel Klank]

	Quote: Originally Posted by TheTank
	I have a couple... Back a few years a ago, came out of a waterfall too low with my Wildhare 27% Extra, Pancaked it into a hayfield... just bent the gear and chipped the prop. About 2 years ago, ran my 35% Wildhare Extra out of fuel in a hover about about6 or 7 feet... Pancaked it... Just bent the gear and the stab tubes... Survived AM 30% Yak, engine quit at about 15 feet, downwind in a rolling harrier, pancaked, just bent the gear and tore up the landing gear mount a bit. Funtana 90, dumped it doing a "Hyde-Walk", just broke one wingtip, lived to fly again, still exists today. Most recent (this past summer). Hovering over a large puddle with my Panzl 330, threw the prop, pancaked it into the drink, broke up the stringers on the bottom of the airplane, other than that, no damage, no water got in either... Here are a couple pics...

Tank: There seems to be a recurring theme here! I'll have a stack of those pancakes!!!

[TheTank]

Speaking of pancakes... I've made myself hungry, time to go make some of the edible kind!!!!!!!!!

[walkerk122]

A few years back I had a Funtana flutter the elevator and broke the control linkage loose. Managed to get it down safely on the runway w/o any elevator or additional damage. It flew again the same day.

About two days later a buddy of mine was flying my 35% Staudacher while I was hovering my funfly machine over the center of the runway. He flew a hot pass with the Staud right thru the FF Machine completely exploding it and tearing about 1/3 of the right wing panel off the Staud. I ripped the TX out of his hands and landed the Staudacher as it appeared that he had completely frozen up! It rolled out on the runway and stopped on top of the FF Machine carnage as if proudly claiming victory. Sadly the FF did not live but the Staud flew about three weeks later.

[Colonel Klank]

	Quote: Originally Posted by walkerk122
	A few years back I had a Funtana flutter the elevator and broke the control linkage loose. Managed to get it down safely on the runway w/o any elevator or additional damage. It flew again the same day. About two days later a buddy of mine was flying my 35% Staudacher while I was hovering my funfly machine over the center of the runway. He flew a hot pass with the Staud right thru the FF Machine completely exploding it and tearing about 1/3 of the right wing panel off the Staud. I ripped the TX out of his hands and landed the Staudacher as it appeared that he had completely frozen up! It rolled out on the runway and stopped on top of the FF Machine carnage as if proudly claiming victory. Sadly the FF did not live but the Staud flew about three weeks later.

Good One!!!

[Jaybird]

I had the throttle pushrod come off my Cap in a downwind harrier about 10 feet high. It was about the third day out with the plane. The motor quit and it pancaked pretty hard in a cotton field. I could only see the tail sticking up and just knew it was broke in half. Luckily it landed right in the middle of the row on top of a plant. The landing gear was bent so bad the wheelpants were touching the bottom of the wings. 25 bucks later for some new H9 gear and a different throttle pushrod setup and she was good to go!

[rc4flying]

I was out flying my 40% Carden Yak. During the third flight of the day, I was doing some TR practice. The plane was on the opposite side of the field along a corn field and just a bit above it. While TR'ing the plane stopped it's rotation with the plane giving me a look from the wing tip. Instead of adding some throttle and powering out, I for some reason decided to give a rudder input..... Wrong decesion there. As soon as the planes started reacting to that wrong input I knew it was wrong and this was not going to be pretty. The plane had come through half a stall turn type on manuver when I instantly realized if I added power now it was into the corn at full power. Let's not do that. So my only thought was to try to give the plane a VERY hard left Ail input hoping to get the plane to get over to it's belly. Somehow the plane responded with no addition throttle added. As it was responding and rotating to it's belly, I also killed the engine, thinking this was going to soften the blow as it hit the corn. Well the engine died and in it went about three rows into the corn field. My heart sank. This was my Yak that took first place at Toledo this year for it's Monokote job. BUMMER.

I put the radio away and started across the field with a few consouling friends. They seemed to feel my pain and were offering encouragement.
We got to the plane. There it was laying across about 10 stocks of corn. All gently bent over and supporting the plane. The only thing that had dirt on was the very tip of my "P" tip prop. But not broke. We gently lifted the plane above the corn rows and carried it clear. Put the plane down onto it's wheel and took it back to access the damage. I started to clean the plane from all the loose bits and pieces of corn stock.
After going through with a good clean up and going through, I DID NOT find a single thing wrong with the plane. Heck, There is only one very slight dimple in a leading edge that if I don't point it out, you would just consider it hangar rash.
I was able to put on another 3 flights that day, but I held off from the TR'ing for the rest of the day.
One thing an older gentleman told me when I was first learning to fly many a moon ago, was never quit flying the plane until you know or hear it hit the ground. Until then, Fly the plane.
Well in this case it was a blessing that I gave it everything I could and come out smelling like a big red rose. My lesson learned. Throttle,throttle, throttle, while the nose is still pointed up.

[ShortBus]

I was flying my tunnel vision when the 10-32 bolt worked its way out of the wing tube. The wing slid off the tube around 4" or so. Thank god for those yellow plastic things that hold the connectors together.

[crhammond]

I made too long of a down-wind leg on approach on a windy day with my GP Cap 580. I nailed the support wire on a cell tower at 100 ft up just as I was turning on to final. The whole plane just stopped mid-air with a crunch and the cowl with F1, motor box and DA100 launched (pulling the fuel tank behind it.) You can’t really tell how close you are to the tower – I just totally forgot the wind was going to keep pushing me out and drifted too far … D’oh! Lesson learned the hard way!

The prop struck the wire and the motor box from F1 forward broke clean from the airplane and flew off. The fuse came down helicopter style, the canopy ripped off and the fuse pancaked.

I went over with some friends expecting to need a few garbage bags. I went home with 2 wings, fuse and cowl.

I was able to repair it in about 20 hrs! The glue used was so crummy that the whole front end tore off very clean. I re-built the front end to accept cans, made repairs here and there to the covering and some sheeting. All it cost me was the prop, spinner, cowl, 1 muffler and canopy. It should have been a LOT worse. The Graphtec gear survived intact as did the tailwhele and carbon wing tube – even the gear block was undamaged, all servos, electronics, etc were fine!

Even the DA100 was totally undamaged after a 100 ft fall! I sent it back to DA with the story expecting at least a bent crank and they couldn’t believe it was fine either.

Really the plane is better than new now! Stronger and quieter.

[3D-Seth]

	Quote: Originally Posted by rc4flying
	One thing an older gentleman told me when I was first learning to fly many a moon ago, was never quit flying the plane until you know or hear it hit the ground. Until then, Fly the plane.

Another example:
I was flying my 2.3m Comp-Arf Extra 330L at Toby Silhavy's IMAC in 2005 (after hours flying) and I was doing some 3D on the deck such as harrier passes (inv and upright) and harrier rolls, torque rolls ect and I went to do one last upright harrier pass coming from right to left and I started over the trees off the right end of the runway. As I was starting to drop it down it locked out on me - OH . It rolled over and went in to the trees . . . . . I didnt hear it hit the ground so i gave it some throttle and an input (trusting my inputs as Dave Scott taught me from the 1st US RC Flight School and hoping it would un-lock out) that I thought would save it. All of a sudden the plane comes flying out of the trees and I was amazed! So I brought her around and sat her down on the runway with nothing missing.

My dad and I thought we fixed the problem (rf interference from metal against metal) so we decided to fly the plane the next day in the unknowns and again in the freestyle. Well the patter sequences went okay and it came to the freestyle. I feel pretty good (thinking we got the plane fixed since we had no issues that day) and I went ahead to fly it in the freestyle. In my freestyle that year I do a takeoff start and immediately roll it to knife edge. Right when I did this it locked out on me again at around 5-10 ft - OH . This time it locked out for around 5 seconds and my dad watched me frantically wiggle the sticks trying to make it do something. It finally kicks back on with my sticks in the corners (positive snap to the right) so it snaps when it does kick on. Less than 10 ft with a snap? (Im not that good) and I save it and land her once again

We finally found out that a regulator wire was showing copper and rubbing up against the board in it. So we heat shrinked it and voila fixed. Never had a problem since.

Seth Arnold

[3D-Seth]

In June at the Youth Masters, with the same plane, I was supposed to be practicing but was doing some 3D again - torquing on the deck. I think I accidentally flipped to low rates and that sometimes doesnt work all that well. It was at around 10-15 ft (I was dropping it down) and it flipped over and landed on its nose. I think well after all weve been through (the plane and I like above) it did good. Ended up It only smashed the spinner, broke the prop, broke the cowling, cracked the motor dome, and broke the firewall out - no problem and it still flies today . . . .

Seth Arnold

[Ryguy]

I had the elevator on my Katana Mini (I know, not as impressive as a 40% Carden but still the biggest and best plane I can afford) lock up full down in some tumbles. I flipped it inverted and used the rudder to point it around back into the wind and just did an inverted parachute onto some tall grass, giving it throttle at the bottom ot put it into more of a harrier. No damage except a new servo was needed.