The Bermuda Triangle

When a post about remote control flying starts with a title like "The Bermuda Triangle" you just know that tales of woe are sure to follow.

The day started well at 7:30am at Curtin.

We (a friend and I) took the opportunity to get a few photos of our aircraft in flight.




The Zero, with her new brushless engine tearing up the sky.








DJ's Tiger Moth buzzing about.











And the RV4 stretching her wings.











DJ gave his Electrafun XP a buzz as well, but you all know what they look like in flight so I shant bother with photos of that.

It looked like a great day for flying. By 9am the wind was still low and we headed out to Lyneham in anticipation of some more great flying. You can see where all of this is going right - it's all running too well.

Out at Lyneham I was trying to assist Canberra-Crasher (his handle from rcuniverse.com) getting his Extrafun (not Electrafun) going. After testing the battery and amp draw we figured out why his Extrafun wasn't making any thrust - the prop was on back to front (a mistake I have made myself when I went to maiden my Tiger Moth all that time ago).

With that sorted we got him to try and taxi out the Extrafun - it needs a lot of airspeed and in the end he ran out of space and touched a wing tip trying to turn out. We got the plane back - no damage, and I agreed a little reluctantly to take it off and get it trimmed out for him.

The extrafun is no beginner's plane. With the throws set way down it might be a reasonable second aileron plane, but unfortunately this one had full throws, and you didn't want to really move the control sticks more than 1/4 the travel they had on the TX. After giving some observers a slight scare I finally got the plane turned in a safe direction and trimmed out.

I dared not bring down the airspeed because of how violently she seemed to stall, although once I had her trimmed I rolled back around 2/3 throttle. Getting her trimmed, I asked CC if he wanted to take over, and with the plane headed in one direction handed across the TX.

He took it and flew some wide circuits around the field. He was being very delicate on the controls, and seemed to have command of her okay. However, we agreed somehow that I was going to land her.

So, I took the TX back and sent her down towards the far end of the field to get the approach right (wind from behind). I'll be honest - I was worried because I thought with the stall speed of this thing I was going to have to land her quite hot.

I started to turn her back towards me - she snap rolled onto her back (or that is what it seemed like). She was only at about 10 metres. I quickly rolled her back over. She rolled straight over onto her back again and started to nose in. This time it couldn't have been a snap roll - the physics weren't right. I fought to roll her over and get her back, but it was too late, and she nosed in. So there I was... holding the TX for someone else's plane which had just crashed into the ground. On the plus side CC was very good about it. The plane wasn't badly damaged (kind of tough) although there was a punctured LiPo which ended up in a Hungry Jacks cup with water, and it looks like the 480 motor was seized up.

So, what caused that crash - interference perhaps? I really don't think it was pilot error. Anyway, the day was not done and worse was to come.

The RV4 went up for a flight - the first time I've flown it at this field with so many people, but the airspace wasn't too busy. She was flying just fine, no problems whatsoever. However, down the other end of the field I seemed to lose power half way through a banked turn (yes very close to where the other plane crashed). Fearing the LiPo was discharged (although it would have been very early) I turned her back towards me to try and get her back for a landing. She twitched about in the air also (with a PCM RX!). I did my best to control her, and bring her down easy, but she ended up touching a wing tip as she came down at a distance where I could not easily discern her attitude.

Believe it or not, the damage is not as bad as it seems. Less serious than what I have repaired on this plane previously. All the same, it was a blow to confidence.

Shortly there after two of the more experienced pilots both crashed planes in the same area. One was a stryker C - no damage. The other was a big scale decathlon - which fortunately was upright when she lost power, and just snapped of her undercarriage when she came down hard.

Four planes seemingly brought down by interference. Like all crashes you do wonder whether there was pilot error, but particularly when it came to the RV4 I know that I did nothing wrong, the plane was well balanced, and testing on the ground revealed the LiPo still had heaps of go. A JR Proprietary SPCM receiver is on that plane - those things are almost bullet proof when it comes to interference.

Am left wondering whether Lyneham is a good place to be or not for flying. Anyway, the RV4 will be repaired, and I'll be flying again tomorrow (although maybe not the RV4).

Oh, a final note - DJ almost busted another wing on his Electrafun XP. I don't think this has anything to do with the Bermuda Triangle - just his obsession with high G manuveurs. He managed to bring it in for quite a decent landing regardless.