Always, Always check to make sure ailerons are going the right direction on the maiden flight! But all in all things worked out for the best, Mike over at DW foamies took care of me and sent me everything i need to fix it for free!

Wow Sobering for a first post holton50! Welcome to the Giants guy.
Most of of have been right where you are in that picture! I crossed ailerons twice before. I fell far short from good enough to twist my cerebral cortex enough to recover the planes too.

Now my radio takes care of this "set up" problem!

Aileron reversal.. I had my first incident on a flight with my PTS mustang. I was lucky enough to get it high enough before I went to turn. Once I realized what happend, I just flew it with rudder and elevator. It was a little more challenging but it survived.

I did it once.. had the same cerebral shortcomings as Jaguar Bone.. cost me a CompARF 2.1 Yak. It wasn't on the maiden though.. just a dumba$$ mistake during setup at the field.

just watched a guy do that on a maiden flight with a 100cc plane. It usually only happens to a person once. so consider yourself lucky that it happened to you with a foamie...

Originally Posted by ScaleFlyer

Aileron reversal.. I had my first incident on a flight with my PTS mustang. I was lucky enough to get it high enough before I went to turn. Once I realized what happend, I just flew it with rudder and elevator. It was a little more challenging but it survived.

With a name like "ScaleFlyer" I can understand why there was no "Snapasaurus" type aerobatic chit on take off!

i mean common lets be honest with our selfs, crashing is part of the fun!!!! i just had to learn aileron reversal the hard way lol. at least i learned this lesion on a foamie, could of been a 30%

I hate it when that happens. i decided to treat myself and get some better servos for my ailerons on my favorite plane about 2 yrs ago and had them reversed. But I got a cahnce to get a new plane so it wasnt that bad.

Originally Posted by 3D1

I hate it when that happens. i decided to treat myself and get some better servos for my ailerons on my favorite plane about 2 yrs ago and had them reversed. But I got a cahnce to get a new plane so it wasnt that bad.

LOL!
Ya Know, Life is like a box of choc o lats.


You really focused on the good on that event!
My first was one of the first Kyosho LASER 200 that I had flown for over 1.5 yrs. It was time too.

My field buddy had his reversed at the beginning of the summer and crashed _ swore that it would never happen again. Well he did again at the end of summer.

Years ago a new pilot at our field did the same thing but did not realize it untill a couple lapps and managed to fly it back but the landing sucked.

an experiance pilot at my club did this on a sig kadet trainer abunch of us decided to get to help train the local cub scouts. he went up went to bank right, it banked left and crashed. very short lived airplane. believe it or not he stayed up most of the night and had it fixed by next morn. he has a balsa art i could only dream of having.

It happens, no need to feel ashamed about it. 'sides, it's hilarious to hear the *thunk* and see the enlightened expression on the pilot's face.

One way around it is to *always* run through a short checklist that includes not only IF all control surfaces are moving, but also where to.


Hey by the way, am I the only one to start a helo (OS engine) put it onto the pad... and then realize I a) haven't put in the RX batt pack or b) forgot to switch on the darn thing? Don't laugh, this happens to me all the time...

I have a routine that I do before every flight - bury both sticks at the bottom left or right. The rudder will move and point to all surfaces that should be up. Simple and like I said, I do it before every flight just to be sure - it only takes a second or two. Sorry for youe loss.

Luckily, I've seen a couple videos of that happening to people before I got serious into flying. Watching someone pile a brand new giant scale into the ground because of not doing a preflight check certainly sticks in your mind!

My latest dumb thumb was on my 5-flight-old 54" Yak 54. Our field is pretty much a runway that backs onto an open sand and gravel pit. I was flying on a darkish cloudy day and lost orientation while flying too low over the pit. I was inverted and ditched it down into the pit. It somehow came in completely flat and destroyed the motor box and fuse without damaging anything else. My power system came away fine, including my 5s pack, but the model is discontinued and the fuse was beyond saving.

That's another thing that won't happen again. Never fly low over a pit. Air currents are weird, and just because there isn't ground below your plane doesn't mean that you can fly it once you lose sight of it!

I too did this once. With my first Extra. Also my first 1.20 size plane. By the time I got a grip on it at WOT I let out a deep breath and said to myself "OK I got this" I pushed right to bank left and promptly cut the top wing off with a powerline about 300 yards away.

Come to think of it my first two 1.20 size planes did not last that long. The second, a Cap 21 the Rudder servo locked to one side when it was close to a stall and poof.

I actually think I could save one in this condition now.