[NSRCA-discussion] Stupid accident

[Keith Black]

The other common mistake people make and loose airplanes is to not put the
wing bolts in. I have always had some type of rule to try to help me avoid
that. My current rule is that I'm not allowed to connect my ailerons until
the wing bolts are in. Since I always check that all surfaces work correctly
before each take-off if hopefully I'll catch it if I do forget.

When routines are broken and things go wrong it's usually due to the pilot
being interrupeted when putting together the plane, or when in a hurry.

Keith

On Sat, Aug 22, 2009 at 6:47 PM, Budd Engineering <jerry at buddengineering.com
> wrote:

>  I've made performing a control surface "polarity check" part of my
> preflight checklist for the last 20 years or so.  I haven't caught anything
> yet, but I've seen enough over the last couple of decades to know that it'll
> payoff some day.  Besides, it only takes about 10 seconds to do it (I do it
> every flight, not just the first flight of the day).
>
> Jerry
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Aug 22, 2009, at 2:50 PM, Ronald Van Putte <vanputte at cox.net> wrote:
>
>  My favorite "trick" is to neglect to attach the aileron servo connections
> if I am disturbed while assembling the airplane.  Consequently, John Fuqua
> asks me to "wiggle the sticks" before carrying the airplane out; it's saved
> my airplane twice already.
> Ron VP
>
>  On Aug 22, 2009, at 4:44 PM, Jim Quinn wrote:
>
>   Wow! I saw these planes at Toledo and the Nats! I'm really sorry. They
> were/are beautiful trophy winners in Toledo. I agree with Don, make a
> routine and stick with it. A good budfdfy of mine recently had 9 stitches
> from a mini electric (smaller than a 1/2 glow) when his throttle went to
> high, he grabbed the wing and the plane spun around and struck his hand.
>
> Jim Quinn
>
>  ------------------------------
> *From:* "Atwood, Mark" <atwoodm at paragon-inc.com>
> *To:* General pattern discussion <nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org>
> *Sent:* Saturday, August 22, 2009 2:45:03 PM
> *Subject:* [NSRCA-discussion] Stupid accident
>
>  Hey All,
>
>
> Had a bad morning this morning because I got careless, and because I
> altered my normal habits. I normally have my neck strap tucked into my shirt
> starting the airplane, but this morning I simply clipped it onto the Tx
> while it was sitting on the ground.   Started my primary Black Magic, had it
> sitting on idle, picked up my Tx and somehow turned the Tx funny such that
> the strap bumped the throttle…enough to make the plane jump forward
> startling me.  In the split second that I moved to catch it, the strap moved
> the throttle higher and before I could recover it, it slammed the wing into
> the table next to me hard enough to snap the entire fuselage into two
> pieces.
>
>
> I was very fortunate that no one was injured and that no other equipment
> was damaged, but I was crushed to watch (in slow motion of course) such
> catastrophic damage occur to the plane.  They’re just not meant for that
> type of abrupt side load.
>
>
> Anyhow, just wanted to throw out the warning.  I’ve picked up my tx 1000
> times without incident, but seldom do I have the strap attached.  Just not
> my routine. But one odd movement can make things go VERY wrong, VERY fast.
> Be careful, be methodical, and don’t change your habits.
>
>
> Mark
>
> PS, probably repairable over the winter.  Fuse is in 2 pieces with a lot of
> damage, and the wing that hit is pretty messed up.  It’ll be a project for
> sure.
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