This was a really fun plane. Someday I'll probably build
another. I don't recall how long or how many times I flew this one.
On the very first flight, the horizontal stabilizer left the plane in
flight. Damage was minimal so it was repaired. I built it with
flaps on the bottom of the wing. A separate servo dropped a small
section of the wings down at 2 different angles. I didn't really like
the performance of this so instead I created mechanical "flaperons". I
did this by installing the aileron servo on sliding rails. Another servo
would push the aileron servo on the rails and drop both ailerons.
Eventually I installed a small 35mm camera in the body of the plane. I
took a couple aerial pictures, but I can't find them. The camera was
not an auto-winding type so I could only get one picture per flight.This
plane died in the back parking lot of a fire station in Foothill Ranch,
before any houses or other businesses were built there. The fire
station was the only structure for miles. We were flying at a
construction site a mile or so from the fire station. I was flying
toward me and then looping over and holding inverted, flying away.
Once I got upside down, the plane stopped responding to me and held almost
full throttle. I was flying level for a while but then started
finishing the loop. It nosed in to Earth well out of our sight.
We drove around for a while looking for the wreckage and eventually looked
over the wall into the back parking lot of the fire station. There in
the middle of the lot was MANY small pieces. Nothing bigger than a
servo was left. It actually dug a whole in the concrete a couple
inches deep. Naturally, every was a total loss, but I was very lucky.
Several cars were parked in this lot and the plane didn't hit any of them.
I suspect that the battery came loose from it's mount and unplugged from the
switch.
