A Little Background.
I am working on a wildlife tracking project using UAS's at a university and the Bravata was our chosen platform for its slow flying characteristics and wide fuselage to hold our radio equipment.
We have spent the summer working with smaller glow engine trainers as our platform and had just finished building up the bravata and gotten used to gas engines and HV servo systems.

So last week friday we take the plane to our flying site to test and it was nerve racking but after the maiden it felt like we were in the clear (IE the planes death was at least a few months away).
But alas on the second flight the horizontal stabilizer snapped in half and off the plane, the rudder and half of the elevator were held on only by the servo linkages. this happened in slow easy flight. after looking at it, it's clear the tail attachment was not designed well, something you can't tell without ripping the ARF tail apart.

I have read positive things about aeroworks but it seems like they cut some corners on the bravata.
Unfortunately since we have already figured out how to fit everything in the bravata and are under time constraints we are getting another and reinforcing the tail.

It is not just the Bravata that corners are cut!!

https://www.flyinggiants.com/forums/...ad.php?t=85433

China-wood and China-glue!

Our EF kits that we all love are also made with chinese wood and glue, what changes is the brand expectation, the chinese manufacturer will make what you'll ask to them, from very cheap and disgusting work to state of the art structural design, they can do the very best RC models as they do with Extreme Flight, so the problem with Aerowork, is Aerowork, not the chinese factory

sure it wasn't flutter ?


sorry for your guy's lost hopefuly you can get back up in the air

and help find big foot

we are positive it wasn't flutter, we had tested the electrical system extensively, and had multiple sets of eyes on the plane. If you look at the where the tail attaches it is made of poor quality balsa without decent reinforcement, our pt-60 is a far sturdier build quality then this bravata. I will try to get pictures of our rebuild/mod when our other engineer finishes it.

Originally Posted by thinkobscure

A Little Background.
I am working on a wildlife tracking project using UAS's at a university and the Bravata was our chosen platform for its slow flying characteristics and wide fuselage to hold our radio equipment.
We have spent the summer working with smaller glow engine trainers as our platform and had just finished building up the bravata and gotten used to gas engines and HV servo systems.

So last week friday we take the plane to our flying site to test and it was nerve racking but after the maiden it felt like we were in the clear (IE the planes death was at least a few months away).
But alas on the second flight the horizontal stabilizer snapped in half and off the plane, the rudder and half of the elevator were held on only by the servo linkages. this happened in slow easy flight. after looking at it, it's clear the tail attachment was not designed well, something you can't tell without ripping the ARF tail apart.

I have read positive things about aeroworks but it seems like they cut some corners on the bravata.
Unfortunately since we have already figured out how to fit everything in the bravata and are under time constraints we are getting another and reinforcing the tail.

Where?

Originally Posted by thinkobscure

A Little Background.
I am working on a wildlife tracking project using UAS's at a university and the Bravata was our chosen platform for its slow flying characteristics and wide fuselage to hold our radio equipment.
We have spent the summer working with smaller glow engine trainers as our platform and had just finished building up the bravata and gotten used to gas engines and HV servo systems.

So last week friday we take the plane to our flying site to test and it was nerve racking but after the maiden it felt like we were in the clear (IE the planes death was at least a few months away).
But alas on the second flight the horizontal stabilizer snapped in half and off the plane, the rudder and half of the elevator were held on only by the servo linkages. this happened in slow easy flight. after looking at it, it's clear the tail attachment was not designed well, something you can't tell without ripping the ARF tail apart.

I have read positive things about aeroworks but it seems like they cut some corners on the bravata.
Unfortunately since we have already figured out how to fit everything in the bravata and are under time constraints we are getting another and reinforcing the tail.

My Bravata is three years old and yesterday I flew it at the big bird at Tri-County
Barnstormers in New Waverly Tx. Good thing I had a few extra sets of eyes on it when I did a fly by.... The whole tail was shaking and oscillating and I managed to cut power and bring it around into the pattern and land. When I got it home I cut the bottom sheeting on the underside of the fuse. 1/8" balsa and some thin chinaply greeted me. I loaded the back end with some appropriate lumber and slathered it
with epoxy. I've heard of one other Bravata doing this but he didn't crash it. They are great flying planes but if you latch on to one of them you might want to do a check-see on the strength of your fuse near the tail before you glue on your stab.
WT

I was taking apart an old wing that I had kept as a spare for an airframe that has long since been discontinued. Removing the servo's proved to be the death of the wing. The plywood, you would think would be strong, was so brittle that balsa was stronger. The ply snapped like a roasted chicken bone.

Some of the wood that the factories use is really whatever they can get their hands on cheapest.

Originally Posted by WangoTango

My Bravata is three years old and yesterday I flew it at the big bird at Tri-County
Barnstormers in New Waverly Tx. Good thing I had a few extra sets of eyes on it when I did a fly by.... The whole tail was shaking and oscillating and I managed to cut power and bring it around into the pattern and land. When I got it home I cut the bottom sheeting on the underside of the fuse. 1/8" balsa and some thin chinaply greeted me. I loaded the back end with some appropriate lumber and slathered it
with epoxy. I've heard of one other Bravata doing this but he didn't crash it. They are great flying planes but if you latch on to one of them you might want to do a check-see on the strength of your fuse near the tail before you glue on your stab.
WT

Good call I will be checking my bravata... Love that airplane for low SLOW passes... It will land at a near stand still, and if you are decent with your thumbs will do a nice 4 and 8 point roll

How much weight in extra gear was on board? I've got friends flying that airframe with floats and auto start for years without issues.

Originally Posted by funboy

How much weight in extra gear was on board? I've got friends flying that airframe with floats and auto start for years without issues.

Six JR 8411's, one JR 8417 on throttle, one 3000mah 5 cell on radio gear, one 2500 mah 4 cell on ignition, one JR 921X receiver and a couple of MPI charge jack switches. Some of them are well built and a few of them are known to be lightly built in the tail section of the fuse. They are great flyers and do the slowest and fastest tricks in the book but it ain't the end of the world! I fixed it and after this wonderful Memorial Day BBQ chicken dinner I'm gonna go run a few tanks of gas through it and start it out on it's third of it's nine lives!
WT

Nice!

[QUOTE=WangoTango; I fixed it and after this wonderful Memorial Day BBQ chicken dinner I'm gonna go run a few tanks of gas through it and start it out on it's third of it's nine lives!
WT [/QUOTE]

The dinner was great and the Bravata is definitely HEALED! All is well and it's back in the hangar.
WT

Went out to the garage to twist and pull on the stab and rudder of my Bravata. Seems firm. I love that plane. Yesterday i did some maintenance (replace tygon in the gas tank, add some JBweld on muffler crack) on it just to keep it able to fly anytime.