How many of us have done THIS!!!

Seeing something at the recent Competition in Muncie, got me thinking about a problem that is uncommon, but im sure many of us have done it.

Someone, Its not up to me to name names.. Was taking off and failed to make sure the handel was up the correct way.
As all the mistakes in life a little "wiggle wiggle" yes the elevators are moving and away you go.
This person held a little "down" elevator to hold its roll on the ground which resulted in a VERY abrupt "JUMP" into the air. Lucky the pilot was skilled enough to prevent a crash, and he switched the handle quicker than you could say "Genesis"

It has personally happened to me, I was taking off and was giving full up and not getting anywhere till the plane nosed over.

Refuel, flick, 2nd takeoff same thing until someone said ur giving full down! Thus I realised my error.

How many others have a similar story of close calls? Or worse?

Much worse!

I once finished a brand new ship and lost it in the first flight 'cause I forgot to solder the keeper on the flap/elevator horn!

The keeper washer was a tight press fit and everything checked during assenbly but my brain.

Then the plane checked out!

That was one bad evening at the field...

>Seeing something at the recent Competition in Muncie, got me
>thinking about a problem that is uncommon, but im sure many
>of us have done it.
>
>Someone, Its not up to me to name names.. Was taking off and
>failed to make sure the handel was up the correct way.
>As all the mistakes in life a little "wiggle wiggle" yes the
>elevators are moving and away you go.
>This person held a little "down" elevator to hold its roll
>on the ground which resulted in a VERY abrupt "JUMP" into
>the air. Lucky the pilot was skilled enough to prevent a
>crash, and he switched the handle quicker than you could say
>"Genesis"
>
>It has personally happened to me, I was taking off and was
>giving full up and not getting anywhere till the plane nosed
>over.
>
>Refuel, flick, 2nd takeoff same thing until someone said ur
>giving full down! Thus I realised my error.
>
>How many others have a similar story of close calls? Or
>worse?

I don't think any could match my performance on this particular point...Once, long ago, in another life, I was pressed into service to fly a friend's Ratracer--at the Nats, yet. First practice flight: Unfamiliar plane, unfamilar handle. Jumped off the ground, I hit down to level it out, it started a wingover, I jammed full down, it started a big loop, I realized the problem, hit up, it leveled out inverted, I tried but failed to control it inverted with the handle upside down--at about 110 mph +. Left a divot in the concrete, splattered plane and engine into about a thousand pieces. No backup airplane or engine. He forgave me but I would have shot me on the spot. I can never think about it without feeling the shame and regret all over again. I'd like to say I never got the handle upside down again, but it has happened--very rarely-- since then. Easily preventable; still easy to do. Today I use a handle that just won't fit my hand upside down. The ultimate solution, about 40 years too late. (sigh)

In 1997 we had the East Coast Oldie Goldies, an attempt at a VSC type competition in Huntersville that year.

I had built a 1959 Ares for this competition.
It was cream with green and purple trim.
It used a Randy Smith OS32F and a BYO 10X5 prop.
It was very light, around 36 ounces.

As usual I did not get to test fly, I took it to the contest and was going to trim it there.

In my haste I took off with the lines hooked up backwards. I was nervous (had only been flying a short amount of time) and ended up dumping the plane in the grass/dirt outside the circle.

Dave Hemstrought (a legend and genuine great person), and my father put it back together while I pouted.

I ended up winning with that airplane that weekend and went on to fly it in many contests, doing very well with it every time.

I ended up re-finishing it to red/gold/light green and won brodak classic with it last year. It has had several different motors and always performs well...

I always flew it better i think partly because it had already been crashed.

>Seeing something at the recent Competition in Muncie, got me
>thinking about a problem that is uncommon, but im sure many
>of us have done it.
>
>Someone, Its not up to me to name names.. Was taking off and
>failed to make sure the handel was up the correct way.
>As all the mistakes in life a little "wiggle wiggle" yes the
>elevators are moving and away you go.
>This person held a little "down" elevator to hold its roll
>on the ground which resulted in a VERY abrupt "JUMP" into
>the air. Lucky the pilot was skilled enough to prevent a
>crash, and he switched the handle quicker than you could say
>"Genesis"

Well, as long as you don't name AMA HOF Member and former World and National Champion, MA Technical Editor, Robin W. "Bubba" Hunt, by name...

On a related note, we all seem to have a universal signal to let the plane go, a wave of the arm. But what if you realized that you have hooked up the handle upside down. Now what do you do? Any motion given to your helper often results in a launch. I've never had the presence of mind to turn the handle over while saying Genesis, and my plane make an Exodus from my stable of flyable airplanes.
Is there any universal "DON'T LAUNCH" signal?
Perhaps putting the handle on the ground, holding your foot on it for safety sake, and give a slit throat signal to the helper?
Any comments? Or I'm I the only one who has been afflicted with the upside down handle syndrom.

I guess what confuses me is that most handles have the safety cord on the bottom (or top, but usually in the same place for any single pilot). I realize that a NATS flight is a pretty big deal and that in the excitement, anything can and probably does happen, BUT I thought the safety cord being upside down would be noticed!

Alan,

I saw several of them through the center of the handle at the Nats. I guess the rules don't specify where they must be attached to the handle. Maybe "Robin Hood" Hunt was using one like that.. I don't know myself though.

The only time I've done that was my first attempt at F2A speed. Because the model has an outborad tailplane, I couldn't see which way the elevator was moving, and my helper didn't notice the wrong direction. The model buzzed around on the ground for a lap before bouncing out of the dolly and chopping the prop on the concrete.

The next flight was worse because is was cranking through the air at over 200km/h when I clipped the down line on the pylon and sent it nose first into the hard place...

On stunters my launch precodure includes not just wiggling the elevator, but consciously confirming full up and down on the elevator.
You can also put a little pointer nail in the lower inside part of the handle so that it pokes you if you hold it upside down. That way you get a reminder even if you don't think about it.

A.

I have a procedure thats never failed. Simply pull full up on the handle and stare ONLY at the elevator. If the elevator does not show UP, shut off the engine,somethings wrong.

One add to Gary's excellent advice(which is really the only way to NOT take off with the controls reversed).
Cut the lines as close as you can to a fixed length. Train yourself to use a control handle with no bias in it. Then you can hook it up wither way, if needed. Just fly the sucker with the neutral you get.

My procedure is to set up the plane exactly neutral with the leadout ends held together. My lines are cut to exactly the same length. I now use a hardpoint handle with no adjustments, in the past I used cables, but I never touched the adjustment.

When rolling out the lines, I always hook up to the plane end first, then before attaching the handle, I pull on one line to see if it is the up and down line. Then I attach the lines, and check again to see if up is up. THEN I go start the engine.

Before the plane is launched, I again wiggle the controls to see if they're reversed. I haven't taken off with reversed controls once in the 30+ years I've been flying.

>I guess what confuses me is that most handles have the
>safety cord on the bottom (or top, but usually in the same
>place for any single pilot). I realize that a NATS flight is
>a pretty big deal and that in the excitement, anything can
>and probably does happen, BUT I thought the safety cord
>being upside down would be noticed!

I think the problem was hooking the lines up backwards, not picking the handle up wrong. The best way to avoid this is to color code the ends of the lines. Some people use a separate handle and line set for each plane and never detatch the handle from the lines. Even if you do, however, it is a simple matter to color code the lines and the handle.

Still, like the saying goes in the real world about landing with the wheels up, "there are two types of pilots, those who have and those who will." I guess this line reversal thing might fit into that category.

I can honestly say that I have never done that one. I paint the up part of my handles bright orange or red and the lanyard is always on the bottom, up lines have blue heat shrinking and the down lines have red. But I have taken off with the glow driver still on the glow plug, very little fuel, no tip weight, etc. With my wife visiting her mom for a week, I have been spending lots of hours in the garage building like a mad man. In fact in my haste, I covered the wing on my kit Ambroid Ares and forgot to install the landing gear, which is normally attached before some of the bottom ribs go in. Haste makes waste. Had to redo that part of the wing and I can just see Bill Little ROTFLHAO.

Last year's lessons learned...the hard way:

1 Don't try and fly the whole pattern after fiddling a long time with the NV!

2 Pay attention when hooking up your lines so they don't go on bass-ackwards!

3 When setting up on the soccer field, double-check the distance to that 4" aluminum goal-post, and then add extra for good measure!

Hube

Ty,

I did it last september with a perfectly good plane. I was so fixated on getting in the first flight that I missed several warnings. First the lines were not adjusted to neutral--the obvious answer was the switch the lines around. Still didn't seem right but it was close. I picked up the handle correctly but the lines were still backwards. I noticed immediately but couldn't get the handle flipped over quick enough. It was a nice plane too.

Later,

Hi ZD. At least you didn't snag a clump of grass on take off and have your plane chase you all over the circle before it committed suicide like mine at Texarkana. That was so very scarry and funny at the same time. I almost went back to HO trains.

If an EZ Just, always lay the handle down with the silver "thumbtack" to the left. Of course, if the lines are hooked up wrong...

Ty,

You are very light on your feet when being chased by an airplane. Video would have been great.

This is one thing I have never done. All my handles are marked, and I always disconnect the lines from the handle and the plane each session. Part of my routine is to attach the lines to the airplane, run them out to the centre of the circle, CHECK THE LINES FOR UP AND DOWN, then attach the up line to the MARKED up side of the handle. I also always check for neutral. I accurately made up the lines so they are very close to even, so it doesn't matter which line is used on the up or down side.
I have made enough other mistakes however, to more than compensate for this.

Very old saying, "never say never". I had never done this before NW regionals this year. Even with my locally well-documemted "backwards" handle position you'd think that I especially would check this one. Well, I did, complete with checking line clips, safety thong and wiggles of controls. Everying looked fine, the brain just wasn't completly engagaged until I had completed two prop-grinding laps at which time the handle was switched to its proper position. Now using a 8x4 APC instead of the original 11.5 x 4 I started with, I flew out the full tank. Funny how the safety thong suddenly was longer! Two laps, well Cardinal is a slightly longer word.

Us carrier guys don't have this problem! Ever try to hold a three line handle upside down! We won't talk about hooking the lines up backwards.

This is one stunt I haven't tried...yet. Once, my butt-head brother launched my CL model before I got to the handle. Yeah, just to be mean. I still wish I'd kicked him in the nertz. Steve