Practice Plane Floats

[Jeff Hughes]

Larry,
I had something similar happen to my Elite (landed wheels up and slid into a 
mudpuddle). Luckily the Elite is fiberglass fuse and nothing happened. I did 
have to take apart and clean every control rod/joint because they got full 
of mud. Let it dry out for a couple days and see how it looks.
Jeff

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Larry Diamond" <lld613 at psci.net>
To: "NSRCA" <discussion at nsrca.org>
Sent: Tuesday, May 17, 2005 12:22 PM
Subject: Practice Plane Floats


> Now that I got the Focus sorted out, I have another question....
>
> Practicing in 20mph winds (gusting to about 25 - 30), I made a knowingly
> risky choice on a dead-stick landing. I was over the end of the runway but
> way too high. I should have made the approach anyway and landed in the 
> tall
> grass with retracts up. But nope, the wind died down and I started a 360 
> to
> shave altitude. When I completed 180 degrees a strong gust hit and took 
> the
> wind off of the wings. The plane started a beautiful spin starting at 
> about
> 150ft. Made one full rotation before recovering at 20ft heading at 270
> degrees relative to the field. A sigh of relief was shortly lived when I
> realized the plane was soon going to dip out of sight. Took a deep breath,
> held the wings level with a bit of up elevator. Again I started to feel a
> bit of relief as I was able to pull the gear up and hope for the best with 
> a
> belly landing in the grass. Again, this was short lived when I heard the
> plane settle in the pond for a beautiful water landing. It made the pond 
> by
> a couple of feet and settled 10 feet off of the shore. I stripped down to 
> my
> jeans ready to rescue the plane feeling good that I can get out quickly 
> and
> no apparent damage. As I approached the water, another gust of wind took 
> the
> plane to the middle of the pond. I stopped and put my close back on as it
> took its tour around the pond before making it all the way across where it
> finally was pulled out of the water.
>
> I have always taught new pilots that when you are on a dead-stick approach
> and too high, it's better to land long in the tall grass than to try and
> make a perfect landing.
>
> The only physical damage to the plane was the belly pan got the paint 
> water
> blasted off of it a little. The fuse is fiberglass and the wings are balsa
> sheeted honeycomb foam with CF tape re-enforcing the wings. The fuse is
> completely dried out already; the wings are close to dry.
>
> Question... Is there any hope that this plane will ever fly again, or is 
> the
> water damage fatal? The sheeting on the wings does not look like it
> delaminated. However, it does look like it swelled a bit as one would 
> expect
> balsa to when wet. If there is any hope, please offer thoughts for the 
> best
> solution. I will be replacing all the electronics if it ever becomes
> airworthy again...
>
> Nope, this wasn't the Focus.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Larry
> 

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