Captains log: Maiden solo flight

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I've bought "my son" a Bixler from Hobby King recently. (Don't buy from Hobby King without reading reviews about them... I was forced to pay double for the kit with post purchase shipping and then customs fees.)

It's a beautiful and BIG aeroplane.
It *just* fits snugly on the back seat of a BMW.

Building it was not trivial for someone with zero RC experience, but I got there in the end. I really enjoyed the challenge. And after building it, I could not wait patiently to first do this with someone experienced, so early morning, as the sun rose and the mist was just lifting over the field nearby, I had my first maiden solo flight.

You will not be surprised to hear that it was a beautiful and frantic few seconds of flying, before I have an EPO cartwheeling over the field, ending up with the nose of the plane firmly planted in a heap of doggy doo.

And the elevator broke off. Doh! 

I can see it would be relatively easy to fix, but I am conscious that my planned fix, would leave the plane with a weaker structure on the tail... perhaps that's good, perhaps not.

Captain's log:
  • First light: 8:00am, 1 Nov.
  • Solo
  • Duration:
  • Crashed.
Crash investigator report:

Trim needs adjusting, plane banked to the left, and then the inexperienced pilot who did not even have his morning coffee, worsened the banking in a panic. Wings had no more lift, and it fell out of the sky.
Recommendations:
  • Get someone experienced to fly it the first time to adjust the trims before handing it to an inexperienced pilot again.
  • Perhaps first practice on a simulator
  • Take kitchen towel along for future nose-in-doo incidents.





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