Angel's Shadow - RIP

Tue Oct 28 08:00:58 AKST 2003

The wing skins separated right over the aileron servo box on the left wing panel on Adrian's AS.  If you look at the skins it looks like a straight edge was used to separate them when they came apart.

What a shame that information like this hasn't surfaced before about failures.  $5000 just went in the drink - literally.

-----Original Message-----
From: chadnortheast at shaw.ca
Sent: Oct 28, 2003 6:48 AM
To: discussion at nsrca.org
Subject: Re: Angel's Shadow - RIP

I witnessed this happen to one of the UK team members during official practise at the WC this year.  The left wing panels leading edge separated during the 3rd point of the 3/4 point, 1-1/4 snap manouver in F-03.  At least one of the wing skins was completely separated from the model, and about 10" or so of the wing root was still attached to the fuse.  

Chad

----- Original Message -----
From: Tony Stillman <tony at radiosouthrc.com>
Date: Tuesday, October 28, 2003 7:00 am
Subject: Re: Angel's Shadow - RIP

> Adrian:
> 
> Very sorry to hear about your loss...
> 
> Jason told me that he had heard and seen some of this before, and 
> it was a
> concern.  He had two new airplanes sent to him to use for the WC, 
> but they
> arrived very late (hence, part of the reason for the choice of flying
> electric...), he told me.  On of his concerns with his older 
> models was of
> this exact thing.  He was hoping that the new models would have 
> the problem
> solved.
> 
> Tony Stillman
> Radio South
> 3702 N. Pace Blvd.
> Pensacola, FL 32505
> 1-800-962-7802
> www.radiosouthrc.com
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: <adriancwong at earthlink.net>
> To: <discussion at nsrca.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, October 28, 2003 12:49 AM
> Subject: Re: Angel's Shadow - RIP
> 
> 
> I was out flying with my Angel's Shadow this past Saturday. The 
> plane had
> only about 60 flights, and was finally fully trimmed to my liking. 
> On its
> fifth flight of the day, while it was on its down wind trim path, 
> the left
> top and bottom wing panel suddenly separated and ripped apart in 
> mid air.
> The next thing I noticed were the two wing panels floating in mid 
> air in
> slow motion, and the rest of the plane rolling onto the far right 
> side of
> the embankment.
> 
> After I recovered from my initial shock, follow by much cursing in 
> the pit
> area, my friends and I set out to retrieve the wreckage. Following 
> a ten
> minutes search over a large loose dirt area, under the rare 
> grueling - 95
> degrees - October Californian sun, we recovered the two wing 
> panels. As we
> were picking up the wing panels, I remembered noticing a 
> separation on the
> leading edge of the right wing panel a month ago; I had promptly 
> applied CA
> to cure the problem. At that time, there was no visible problem on 
> the left
> wing. However, another friend of mine, who is a fellow Shadow 
> owner, had
> informed me that he had noticed the same separation problem on his 
> planealso.
> 
> Unfortunately, following an hour of intensive search, with many 
> cuts by the
> tall sage brush, we could not locate the rest of the airplane. 
> Apparently,there is a huge swamp right next to the tall 
> embankment. With the tall grass
> and weeds covering the entire area, it completely swallowed the 
> whole plane.
> Not only did I lose the airplane, I couldn't even recover a single 
> piece of
> equipment for future use.
> 
> Later on that evening, after much beer pounding to ease my pain, I 
> think I
> finally discovered the main reason for the crash. The first thing 
> I noticed
> was that the wing broke right next to where the wing tube ends. 
> Apparently,in order to save weight, the manufacturer installed 
> only three thin foam
> spars inside the wing, thus; seriously jeopardize the rigidity of 
> the wing.
> Unfortunately, due to the many snapping maneuvers we have in FAI, it
> weakened the integrity of the wing over time. Since there was no 
> main spar
> to support the wing, the area from the end of the wing tube to the 
> tip of
> the wing flexes tremendously. Eventually, it opened up a gap 
> between the two
> wing panels (on the leading edge), and the wind did the rest.
> 
> I have accepted over the years that all planes have an invisible 
> expirationdate stamped inside. If we keep flying the plane, 
> something will eventually
> happen. But, to lose a relatively new airplane due to manufacturer's
> negligence, it's pretty hard to swallow. I sincerely hope this is an
> individual case, however, I will strongly urge all Shadow owners to
> carefully inspect their airplane.
> 
> I have taken some pictures on the wing panels, if anyone is 
> interested,please contact me off line.
> 
> Adrian Wong
> 
> Chingbergh Enterprises, Inc.
> 1555 Lakeside Drive, Suite # 194,
> Oakland, CA 94612
> Tel: (510)452-1005
> Fax: (510)452-0378
> E-mail: info at chingbergh.com
> www.chingbergh.com
> 
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