clenaghen
04-13-2006, 01:02 AM
Not sure why I would share these pics, as they are more frustrating and embarassing than anything. But, figured some of you might get some sort of morbid enjoyment out of them.
First, the disclaimer: I am fairly new to this hobby, and dont have a lot of airtime with planes. I do own quite a few now, and have had my ups and downs with all of them... mostly ups. But NO ONE PLANE have I had more problems with than the Art-Tech Cessna 182.
For whatever reason, this plane refuses to want to behave. I have had a couple times when it has flied incredibly well. Other times, (most other times) you would think it had a mind of its own (and probably did... more to come on that). Some of the problems can be chalked up to my inexperience, some of it to other factors. The first time I flew this plane, I did a ROG on a parking lot. I gave it full throttle and it seemed like it took forever for the plane to lift off the ground. Once it did, it then proceeded to tip stall. I recovered, just enough for it to roll over and try to nose first into the parking lot. Straightened it out, and it tried to stall again. I gave up at that point and put it into a tree ( on purpose). That wasnt the last of the "fun".
Anyways, here are a few pics of my not-so-beloved plane.
http://www.lenaghen.com/cessna4.jpg
For referrence, this is what my plane is SUPPOSED to look like (no, this is not a pic of me flying my actual plane... that didnt really happen much)
http://www.lenaghen.com/cessna1.jpg
This pic was the result of the plane suddenly deciding to flip over and do an inverted loop into the ground. This was on my second flight of this plane. It was flying fine, then decided on its own it wanted down. This, after the fact, was my unknowing introduction into glitchy receivers.
http://www.lenaghen.com/cessna2.jpg
Picture #2 was the result of the wing snapping in two mid-air while attempting a loop. Contributing factors to this crash were the obvious not-so-good repair of the wing from the previous picture. On this day, though, the plane was flying great. The crash was kind of spectacular. I was about 100 feet up, so when the plane hit, it stuck in the ground like a lawn dart.
http://www.lenaghen.com/cessna3.jpg
This picture is the latest and in the end was the result of all the previous crashes and mishaps from the time I got this plane until this picture. Figuring out that I was having occassional receiver glitches, I replaced the stock Art-Tech receiver and ESC. Figured this would fix all my problems. Guess not. In preflight, I found out that the ailerons would stick it either position when they moved. I messed with the linkages and I THOUGHT I had fixed it, but again, guess not. Plane took off great, then decided it was bored and on its own do a few uncontrolled roll-loops. The ailerons were obviously still sticking and the plane would uncontrollably bank on its own. I regained control and figured I better get this thing down and tried to circle around for a landing without losing control and a large tree reached up and grabbed it (ok, misjudged how far out the plane was relative to the tree). To my defense, I was having a hell of a time controlling it enough to get it circled around into the wind to land. The tree just happened to be in my way.
So, I think the Cessna is finally done. I sheared off the control linkage for the right aileron in this last crash, along with the control horn. Repairable? Probably? Will I repair it? No. In between these crash pics, I had several tip stalls, and even one complete flight without any crashes.
As a noob, this plane has at LEAST taught me something about this hobby. 1) I am getting pretty good at gluing foam. 2) Gitches are a *****. 3) Planes DO have a mind of their own sometimes.
First, the disclaimer: I am fairly new to this hobby, and dont have a lot of airtime with planes. I do own quite a few now, and have had my ups and downs with all of them... mostly ups. But NO ONE PLANE have I had more problems with than the Art-Tech Cessna 182.
For whatever reason, this plane refuses to want to behave. I have had a couple times when it has flied incredibly well. Other times, (most other times) you would think it had a mind of its own (and probably did... more to come on that). Some of the problems can be chalked up to my inexperience, some of it to other factors. The first time I flew this plane, I did a ROG on a parking lot. I gave it full throttle and it seemed like it took forever for the plane to lift off the ground. Once it did, it then proceeded to tip stall. I recovered, just enough for it to roll over and try to nose first into the parking lot. Straightened it out, and it tried to stall again. I gave up at that point and put it into a tree ( on purpose). That wasnt the last of the "fun".
Anyways, here are a few pics of my not-so-beloved plane.
http://www.lenaghen.com/cessna4.jpg
For referrence, this is what my plane is SUPPOSED to look like (no, this is not a pic of me flying my actual plane... that didnt really happen much)
http://www.lenaghen.com/cessna1.jpg
This pic was the result of the plane suddenly deciding to flip over and do an inverted loop into the ground. This was on my second flight of this plane. It was flying fine, then decided on its own it wanted down. This, after the fact, was my unknowing introduction into glitchy receivers.
http://www.lenaghen.com/cessna2.jpg
Picture #2 was the result of the wing snapping in two mid-air while attempting a loop. Contributing factors to this crash were the obvious not-so-good repair of the wing from the previous picture. On this day, though, the plane was flying great. The crash was kind of spectacular. I was about 100 feet up, so when the plane hit, it stuck in the ground like a lawn dart.
http://www.lenaghen.com/cessna3.jpg
This picture is the latest and in the end was the result of all the previous crashes and mishaps from the time I got this plane until this picture. Figuring out that I was having occassional receiver glitches, I replaced the stock Art-Tech receiver and ESC. Figured this would fix all my problems. Guess not. In preflight, I found out that the ailerons would stick it either position when they moved. I messed with the linkages and I THOUGHT I had fixed it, but again, guess not. Plane took off great, then decided it was bored and on its own do a few uncontrolled roll-loops. The ailerons were obviously still sticking and the plane would uncontrollably bank on its own. I regained control and figured I better get this thing down and tried to circle around for a landing without losing control and a large tree reached up and grabbed it (ok, misjudged how far out the plane was relative to the tree). To my defense, I was having a hell of a time controlling it enough to get it circled around into the wind to land. The tree just happened to be in my way.
So, I think the Cessna is finally done. I sheared off the control linkage for the right aileron in this last crash, along with the control horn. Repairable? Probably? Will I repair it? No. In between these crash pics, I had several tip stalls, and even one complete flight without any crashes.
As a noob, this plane has at LEAST taught me something about this hobby. 1) I am getting pretty good at gluing foam. 2) Gitches are a *****. 3) Planes DO have a mind of their own sometimes.