A Wing Question

[Mike Hester]

Bob, it's not much at all.

2 years ago, some of us pattern nuts in D3 witnessed the most incredible thing in Nashville at a contest. Levi Simms, an intermediate pilot, took off with his Prophecy and began practicing for the day's rounds. He made it through about half of the sequence, then pushed over the top to set up for his outside loop. At this time, one of the wings disengaged from the adjusters and turned 90 degrees into the air stream. 

After everybody gasped and the usual "oh #&@*" remarks, the plane went into a spin....a soft helicopter like motion. The descent was very slow, and he found that by adding power, he could SLOW the descent even more. To make a long story short, the plane went in, and didn't even break the prop....from about 100 feet or better.

He had forgotten to install the screw into the wing tube, and made half the flight with the wings just stuck on. He put it back together and flew the whole contest without incident. Now for obvious reasons, he's known as "Lucky Levi".

So the point is, there's not a lot of outward force on the wings at all. So for anyone worried about making that attach screw survive a nuclear blast, don't worry...it's not NEARLY as critical as it would seem. Just remember to screw it in before you fly =)

-Mike

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Bob Pastorello 
  To: NSRCA 
  Sent: Tuesday, July 06, 2004 6:55 PM
  Subject: A Wing Question


  Anyone out there actually calculated (or measured) how much OUTWARD force is exerted on our wings during our typical stuff?  I'm looking for the force in line with the wing tube, spanwise, for the "retaining" load to keep the wings ATTACHED.....

  Any knowledge?

  Bob Pastorello
  rcaerobob at cox.net
  www.rcaerobats.net

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