Could this be it for the RV4...

Well, after 40-50 hours of construction effort, and the fantastic maiden flight last Saturday morning, the RV4 lies in pieces on the dining room table, and I have my doubts that she will ever fly again.

It was only her second flight - it lasted all of 5 seconds. Needless to say I am feeling a bit sad about her loss, but I can tell that I am a bit circumspect about it as well. Funnily enough writing this post seems to help.

So, what happened? It's a good question. After having her beautifully trimmed last flight at Curtin, takeoff was the last thing I expecteded to have trouble with.

The Crash

I was letting her accelerate at about 1/3 throttle. Flaps were on. As soon as she was airborne she started dipping to the right (quite a bit). Now here is were a certain amount of poor planning on my part entered the equation.

At Curtin there is a large steel pole in the middle of the field for no apparent reason. I sometimes refer to it as the intentional hazard to model aircraft navigation because it doesn't seem to do anything else.

I had walked far enough so the plane should easily pass the pole on her right hand side as she took off. Problem was that with her banking sharply to the right I suddenly had two problems - 1. restoring level flight and 2. not crashing into the pole. I am confident that even with my low level of experience I could have dealt with 1. I'm very angry at myself for not walking far enough to make sure two wasn't an issue at all.

So, she didn't hit the pole, but somewhere between trying to turn her sharply enough to restore level flight, but avoid the pole, and forgetting to increase the throttle she ended up on the ground. I think she clipped a wing tip or maybe a wheel pant which cart-wheeled the nose in.

The Cause

The crash scene investigators have concluded:

The primary cause - the thing that caused the right hand bank on take off, was that somehow the left hand airleron linkage had been moved (the V bend pulled a little away from the wing) pulling the left hand airleron down at the neutral point. No doubt with the flapperon on the effect would have been exaggerated. No I didn't make sure the left hand airleron was neutral before take off - bad ozrcboy - bad.

The secondary cause was the pole - if it hadn't had been there I might have been able to compensate long enough to get her on the ground safely. Instead I was fighting a banking plane, and trying to avoid the pole.

Needless to say if I had either done my preflights properly, and made sure I was well clear of the pole, I might still have a flying airplane.

The Damage



Well, it certainly doesn't seem that balsa bounced for me. The damage is extensive. As you can see the nose has separated from the main fuselage. The engine mount has destroyed most of the two forward bulkheads whilst tearing itself free.

I honestly don't know whether this can be repaired. I'll take the remains down to LHS this afternoon and discuss options. I really don't want to throw away this bird, not after so much effort has gone into her, and not after her maiden showed so much promise.

The Pledge

Just after the crash I thought to myself - well, I'm through with balsa. Already I'm rethinking that. Already I'm feeling ready to get back on the horse. It would be nice to get back on this horse, but we will see what comes.