Help figuring why I crashed on hand launch?

[HobbyJumper]

Pretty good at flying small light 3 channel birds. New 4 channel biplane, 400 size motor.

Hand launch. I gave it what I thought was just enough throttle into a slight breeze. The plane few straight ahead but instead of rapidly gaining altitude it slowly dipped from six feet to two in less than 20 feet. I gave it up elevator and more throttle. It immediately started to bank hard to the right. I gave it lots of aileron stick to the left but the ailerons seems to have no effect. Actually seemed to make the problem worse. I cut the throttle. The plane continued to bank right and hit the ground nose first about 30 feet away.

Lucky for me it's not a write-off. Must not have been going too fast when it went in.

I know it's not much info to go on, but any sage expert opinion would be welcome, on what I might have done wrong (besides the obvious, "you crashed") :-)

Thanks...

[Monterey10]

I hand launch my planes and have my friend Erich take them up, and trim them out. There after, I haven't had as many problems.

[kyleservicetech]

Originally Posted by HobbyJumper

Pretty good at flying small light 3 channel birds. New 4 channel biplane, 400 size motor.

Hand launch. I gave it what I thought was just enough throttle into a slight breeze. The plane few straight ahead but instead of rapidly gaining altitude it slowly dipped from six feet to two in less than 20 feet. I gave it up elevator and more throttle. It immediately started to bank hard to the right. I gave it lots of aileron stick to the left but the ailerons seems to have no effect. Actually seemed to make the problem worse. I cut the throttle. The plane continued to bank right and hit the ground nose first about 30 feet away.

Lucky for me it's not a write-off. Must not have been going too fast when it went in.

I know it's not much info to go on, but any sage expert opinion would be welcome, on what I might have done wrong (besides the obvious, "you crashed") :-)

Thanks...

That really sounds like you stalled it on hand launch. (Make certain your ailerons are not backwards!!! Duh) Back when I still did hand launches they were done with full motor power, so as soon as the model left my hand, the prop would yank the model forward, quickly getting good flying speed. Just picked up a little "Sbach" model that has enough power to fly straight up. That model must be either hand launched, or take off from a paved runway. I did the roll into the ground on that one awhile back. Broke the motor prop adaptor, made another one on my 12 inch lathe.

One thing very important on hand launches is to launch the model at the horizon, NOT at a steep angle of climb. The model should have flying speed as soon as it leaves your hand.

If the model is stalled on hand launch, the ailerons will have little effect, since the wing is stalled. And the motor torque will rotate your model in the opposite direction, dumping your model into the ground.

[stuart]

hello hobbyjumper,

it sounds like stalling do to lack of throttle on initial toss,followed up with the desperate act of over controlling. something we'v all done when hand launching ships ourselves. better to have someone else toss the bird and control the tx gently.

could be other reasones ,like torkroll from motor..ect..ect..,but from what you descibed,i'm going with stalling out at 0 mistakes high. glad you can fix her up,do let us know how the next launch goes. stu

[kyleservicetech]

Originally Posted by stuart

hello hobbyjumper,

better to have someone else toss the bird and control the tx gently.

Years ago, a club member hand launched a high powered electric model, and in doing so, dropped the transmitter!

He had both a model, and a transmitter to fix.

[Greg74Mayer]

Originally Posted by HobbyJumper

Pretty good at flying small light 3 channel birds. New 4 channel biplane, 400 size motor.

Hand launch. I gave it what I thought was just enough throttle into a slight breeze. The plane few straight ahead but instead of rapidly gaining altitude it slowly dipped from six feet to two in less than 20 feet. I gave it up elevator and more throttle. It immediately started to bank hard to the right. I gave it lots of aileron stick to the left but the ailerons seems to have no effect. Actually seemed to make the problem worse. I cut the throttle. The plane continued to bank right and hit the ground nose first about 30 feet away.

Lucky for me it's not a write-off. Must not have been going too fast when it went in.

I know it's not much info to go on, but any sage expert opinion would be welcome, on what I might have done wrong (besides the obvious, "you crashed") :-)

Thanks...

,

Good news is the plane is not totaled... It kind of sounds like something that happened to my buddy when he steeped up from the micros to the larger birds. He read somewhere to hand launch it a 1/2 throttle...wish he told me that was what he was going to do before he buried the plane (at least I got a video). I usually hand launch my warbirds at full throttle...into the wind if there is any, and at a very slight incline.

Happy Flying...

epoxy,glue,and packing tape are you friends

[stuart]

ouch..that hurts.

[Greg74Mayer]

Happy Flying...

epoxy,glue,and packing tape are you friends[/QUOTE]


Here is that video of the hand launch gone wrong...this was his first time flying a larger plane and basically flies from stall to stall to start...need to fly the warbirds faster than he was. He wanted to kill me when I posted the crash first...and was not to happy with my choice of music

This example of how not to hand launch a plane....sorry Chuck

Chuck flying his Parkzone P-51

[Glacier Girl]

Tell Chuck he throws like a girl.

It looked like the plane was was flying at a near stall almost the whole time. Little more throttle would help it fly better, it is a warbird and they were designed to fly fast.

[Greg74Mayer]

Originally Posted by Glacier Girl

Tell Chuck he throws like a girl.

It looked like the plane was was flying at a near stall almost the whole time. Little more throttle would help it fly better, it is a warbird and they were designed to fly fast.

Haha...I'll let him know! Once he completes his anger management classes and is deemed safe to return to society I will tell him...

In his defense...this was his first time out with a larger plane and was a bit afriad to get after it, which is why he stalled the plane about 10 times in that video. Chuck can flip a heli and just needed to get his feet wet with the planes...tearing up the skies now.

BTW...where do you live in FL just incase he wants to visit ...just kidding!!! The weather sucks up here in PA...

[dkrhardy]

It also may be tail heavy. At the least, not enough power and probably poor trim. If that was his 1st try at a bigger, more complex, plane .... not too bad.

[Greg74Mayer]

Originally Posted by Glacier Girl

Tell Chuck he throws like a girl.

It looked like the plane was was flying at a near stall almost the whole time. Little more throttle would help it fly better, it is a warbird and they were designed to fly fast.

More recent video... a little more air speed and a few less stalls.

Chuck whipping the Parkzone P-51 BL