When my old eyes failed to detect the tall brush along this ditch the prop and leading
edge of the Edge took a hit. My fault all the way.
Text, photos and video by Tom Hintz
Previous flight video by Dennis Shaver
Posted – 4-5-2020
Note: There is no video of this incident as I wanted to get a couple flights on the Spektrum AS3000 Gyro to get a feel for it and identify any problems that we would have to fix so we could shoot video of that. Turned out that the Spektrum AS3000 Gyro was the least of my worries!
On a Thursday, I went flying with a friend, anxious to get my new 3D Hobby Shop 75" Edge 540 in the air, with its newly installed Spektrum AS3000 Gyro. When I got home from the field that day, I told my wife, Beth that I was having trouble seeing the plane, primarily when it was low and had the trees as a background. I had previously noticed problems seeing smaller text on TV and we had already scheduled an appointment to get my eyes checked. I knew my eyes were aging but didn’t realize how that change would manifest itself in my flying.
The following Saturday, I again took the 3D Hobby Shop 75" Edge 540 to the field to begin tweaking the Spektrum AS3000 Gyro. We had clear blue skies and light but occasionally gusty wind, both of which let me relax and focus on getting accustomed to flying the new 3D Hobby Shop 75" Edge 540. As usual, I was doing a bunch of touch-and-goes, coming to the runway over a ditch lined with tall brush that in some cases are small trees. That ditch is far enough off the runway that it seldom comes into play, except when the wind gets bumpy as it was at times on Saturday.
The brush directly off the end of the runway had recently been cleared but I was making angled approaches to the runway as I often do in crosswinds. That put me over a portion of the ditch that had not been cleared, but I knew that, and I knew there was brush there. This incident is all my fault, not the result of a perceived lack of pruning.
The wind had picked up a little with small gusts coming from varying directions, again, typical at our field. I was landing right to left, passing through an area that frequently has rolling wind currents as it comes over the woods bordering the field behind the runway.
While the damage looks awful I wold find that none of the ribs or anything in the
spar area were damaged. I might be able to fix this.
It is not uncommon for planes to bounce around as they pass through that area, so it did not worry me when the 3D Hobby Shop 75" Edge 540 dropped several feet as it approached the ditch and brush. My aging eyes did not see the upper branches on one of the taller baby trees that was now in front of the 3D Hobby Shop 75" Edge 540. A friend did see those branches in front of my plane but only a second or two before the 3D Hobby Shop 75" Edge 540 and the branches collided.
The sound of the 3D Hobby Shop 75" Edge 540 hitting those relatively small diameter branches was surprisingly loud, as hitting trees often is. However, the 3D Hobby Shop 75" Edge 540 remained stable, so I thought I had lucked out.
Is it possible that the Spektrum AS3000 Gyro reacted so quickly that it absorbed the forces of the impact with the branches and kept keep the plane so steady? The plane did “bump” when it hit the branches but that was gone as quickly as it happened. I thought the 3D Hobby Shop 75" Edge 540 had just clipped the ends of a couple branches as it continued to fly straight and level while I continued the landing.
Then, as it rolled out on landing, I noticed some damage I thought involved only the covering on the right wing. As I taxied back it was apparent the right wing had more than covering damage.
The Damage
The leading edge of the right wing was collapsed in two places. Also, the wooden prop had a surprising amount of damage on one blade, including a long crack running from the partially missing tip to about 1 ½” from the hub. Because the plane was so stable after the collision, I did not have to apply much power to finish the decent to the runway. If I had to go around the damaged blade on the prop could easily have blown up and the 3D Hobby Shop 75" Edge 540 would likely have crashed.
Back in the shop I opened the covering and found that while the leading edge was crushed in two places, the damage had missed the adjacent ribs and both damage sites stopped short of the spar portion of the structure. Naturally, the sheeting in the immediate damage area was blown up. I could find no other damage to the fuselage, landing gear or tail feathers.
The result of this incident is another opportunity for a How-To on attempting to fix this kind of damage. New wing panels are available (right now anyway) but that will be a last resort should something go wrong with the repair or if I find more damage later that makes repairing less desirable.
Conclusion
In the end, let’s say that in solidarity with my RC brethren, I went to the flying field and took a hit for you folks. Or, I’m getting old and need stronger glasses. Pick whichever seems most appropriate. The chances of my 3D Hobby Shop 75" Edge 540 returning to the air look much better than I anticipated. Right now, the bench is full of Hangar 9 110” Timber that needs to be finished. Then I can return to fixing the 3D Hobby Shop 75" Edge 540.
Apparently, I will not be bored over the coming weeks anyway.
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