A Wing Question

[Adam Glatt]

Mike Hester wrote:

> 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 <mailto:rcaerobob at cox.net>
>     *To:* NSRCA <mailto:discussion at nsrca.org>
>     *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 <mailto:rcaerobob at cox.net>
>     www.rcaerobats.net <http://www.rcaerobats.net>
>      
>      
>
I flew two flights before, upon carrying the plane back to the pits, I 
noticed the wing was about 1/4" away from the fuselage. Then I put the 
rubber bands on.  It's a good thing the CF wing tubes are so tight.
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