Dangerious thing happen while Flying

I bought a new Norvel 15 engine. We flew it on an airplane yesterday. I started the engine, adjusted the needle, launched the airplane. It was doing fine then on about the 6th lap the engine quit. I noticed the propeller was gone. The airplane made a nice landing with no prop. The stud that holds the propeller broke off flush with the end of the crank shaft. The grip washer on the crank shaft was gone too. It took me a few minutes to get the broken piece of the stud out of the crank shaft. I assume the metal stud was heat treated too hard and was brittle thats why it broke. That could have been dangerious. If I had been a minute or so slower to launch the airplane the prop may have come off while I was holding the airplane. The prop could have gone through the air like a missle and hit someone. It could have been serious body damage to me or someone else. This hobby is dangerious.

Now I need a new gripper thing for my Norvel 15 engine. Hobby store says they can not get parts. Does anyone have a Norvel 15 engine? Could someone email me a picture of the prop grip thing that slides onto the tip of the crank shaft. If I have some pics several views I could probably make one on the lathe. I bought a metric socket head cap screw to replace the broken stud.

Gary, I'm really responding hoping that the less experienced here will read this. My info isn't ALL the safety measures to be taken, but are ones I feel are very important.

>>This hobby is dangerious.

Yes, it CAN be! You were lucky in that regard.
Also, as you know, (but it might serve as a reminder to several of the less experienced) never be in the arc of the prop. A prop can also sling (or lose) a blade, which will fly out tangent to the arc. Serious personal damage can result.

>It was doing fine then on about the 6th lap the engine quit. I >noticed the propeller was gone. The airplane made a nice landing >with no prop.

Lucky for the engine that it quit and you didn't get a shaft run. The engine can get totally cooked pretty quick when this happens, often breaking a part or freezing up.

Thanks for sharing
Bill

Gary - the first thing you should do is call Norvel - explain what happened. I've been told that they are very pleasant to deal with and will probably mail you a new thrust washer in quick time. they probably have a website that you can access.
Bob Z

Gary,
Contact Justin Van Dee @ SIG, he is the Norvel Tech rep and has very helpful in the past.
e-mail @ [email protected]
Roger V.

Gary,
The front end of a Fox zinged by me once and I was about 300' from the CL circle. It was a speed ship and the whole front of the engine broke off at the crankcase. It hit a steel door just a few feet away and made a crater. Ever since that time (1957-8)I take cover when the speed guys are flying.

>Gary,
>The front end of a Fox zinged by me once and I was about
>300' from the CL circle. It was a speed ship and the whole
>front of the engine broke off at the crankcase. It hit a
>steel door just a few feet away and made a crater. Ever
>since that time (1957-8)I take cover when the speed guys are
>flying.
>
>Bill P.

Never mind just a part of a speed model breaking loose. I was at a meet in Queens N.Y. in the early 60's and a noted flyer was flying a 60 job. It came loose and went zinging past our set up area. Talk about a heart check.went through the chain link fence and came to a stop

Reminds me of a Speed Limit contest I was at. Bob Bearden was starting an engine. It fired once, the prop nut came loose, the prop continued to spin, and after a second or so, the nut came off, and the prop flew off and hit a friend of Bob's (can't remember his name - Fuoss, I think), who was standing off to the side watching the action, right on his pants zipper.

Wichita last year, little juniors flying SLC one of them took the dang belcrank and control systme out of the plane which took off over and into the pits. Made a divot next to a guy worknig on his airplanes who If I remember correctly from eyewitness reports, I was setting up my Big Goodyear, barely flinched and continued working on his plane. Hey it didn't hit me, I'm busy! Whatta bunch of characters. Some reports were that it was like wathcing the Kamikazee movies from WWII, the airplanes coming over the deck and hitting.

Stuff happens. Then again I am amazed that I haven't been killed by the constant barage of rocks and metal pieces that come flying from seemingly nowhere while I travel to and from work here in KC. I'm getting a little tired of replacing windshields WHICH I have to do again in my new van. 6 months and bang, zing, crack about 80% of the windshield long. That dang rock came up and over from the other side of the highway. NO WAY IN THE WORLD WOULD I RIDE A MOTORCYLCE UP AND DOWN THIS ROAD. I'd be dead, period.

In 89 when I was first getting into CL we were flying in a baseball field in Korea. The the nose broke off of i believe a Galaxy at the LE and helicoptered about 300 feet to land on the top of a building. We had a big discussion on who was going up to the roof of the building to get the engine and what we would tell the Military Police if they happened to catch us.

Finch,
I thought I was the only one flying CL in Korea at the time. Was stationed at Camp Humphries. We flew in a large open field next to the runway and not too far from the main gate. I taught a couple friends to fly and we all went to their Air Force Academy and flew. The first year, I put a combat ship through another contestants model, but had a great time anyway. The second year I pitted for a friend who was flying a race. There was a collision and the other flyer went into the ground (he was surging and going up and down when my friend flew into him). I ran over to the judges and tried to get clarification about a potential foul on my pilot, but the judges were more interested in me speaking Korean with them. We ended up third flying a homebuilt model with an OS 25 FP.

Responsible combat flyers use fuel shutoffs. Some guys, though, don't like shutoffs. They have convinced the contest board that no combat plane going less than 75 mph is dangerous when cut loose, so speed-limit combat is excused from the requirement for shutoffs.

I emailed Justin Van Dee @ SIG, he is the Norvel Tech rep. He says he will send me replacement parts.

My Dad sent me a new paper artical from Oliny Illinois. A 17 year old girl was kill when hit by a model airplane.

Gary,
Great! I have found him to be very helpful.
Roger V.

The engine most likly quit and the stop tossed the prop. Dont over tighten the prop, and run the engine richer, and/or add some oil.
MM

Come to think of it.. this happened to me at the 2001 Nats, except that the whole front of the crankshaft departed. Good thing it was after the match was over...

LAST EDITED ON Oct-03-03 AT 10:28 PM (CDT)
 
Hummmmm...

Please expand on this one. When did it happen? At a contest? What type plane, ie RC, FF, CL? Who was doing the flying and where was she when she got hit?