Hoi Arvid,
Hier zijn uitleg in het Engels. 8O
http://www.rcscalebuilder.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=236&PN=1&TPN=31
Well, the day finally came... and it wasn't a pretty
sight. I finally got up the nerve to maiden the
SBD this past Saturday and had mentally resolved
with the fact that I might not bring it home.
Unfortunately, I did... but in a trash bag.
Takeoff went OK, pulled a good bit to the left on the
ground, but nothing I couldn't correct. I let it roll the
full runway before pulling up, and it came up slow
and gradual. I immediately found the elevator to be
quite sensitive at first but adjusted to it quickly.
I ran about half a dozen laps around the field trying to
trim it out, but it just didn't want to fly straight and
level without a lot of constant stick jockying. I kept it
around 2/3 throttle most of the time as going below
that made it too sluggish. Below 1/2 throttle and you
started sinking.
Anyhow, while it didn't fly to my expectations, it was
"manageable" I suppose. I was trying to keep it high
and relatively far from the gallery when the "incident"
took place on it's final lap...
Coming out of a banking right turn, it snapped VERY
hard to the left and rolled over to nose down. I
managed to recover it for about 5 seconds. When I
recovered, it was flying away from me and the field
and was getting out of my "comfort zone" for
distance. So, I started to bank right again and it once
again jerked to a hard left roll, then immediately into
a tailspin.
Absolutely none of my stick input was recognized
from that point on. I may as well have just shut the
radio off and walked away. It went deep into a
cornfield, straight down at very high speed.
Post-crash inspection found a total loss of the
airframe, but all electronics, servos, etc. were still
functional! All control surfaces still connected and
operational, radio worked, everything but the engine.
The engine didn't show any visible damage, but the
shaft seems to be locked up.
Everyone (including me) that saw this spectacle was
flabergasted and had no idea what could have
caused the crash. It just came from nowhere
suddenly and violently. It's possible I had a radio
problem, possible I had a mechanical problem, but
more probable that it simply stalled in the bank.
I was flying at a pretty good speed when it happened,
but it's hard to say for sure at that distance. Most
guys that saw it said it didn't appear to be anything I
did... but we'll never know.
Don't worry about me... I'm fine with it. I was mentally
prepared for this to happen before I loaded it into the
truck to head to the field. Regardless of this disaster
I still enjoyed nearly 2 years of building with this
plane, met a LOT of great people, won a fabulous
trophy in a major competition and got a lot of good
press. Nothing can take that away from me now.
I've got a lot of pictures, magazines, video and most
of all, memories. No regrets, no worries... these
things happen.
PS: The crew are fine... I didn't have the heart to put
them in the plane for the maiden.
Tom
nweer: 
, zijn volgende machine is een bureau.
