"A Leg Story"
by Bob Pastorello
This is another "Tale of Travail", but deals with a SLIGHTLY Different situation....as my other "tale", this is a true story and is offerred here for your enlightenment and encouragement about our great hobby....
This year, I was off to North Dallas for another of my "extra" practice time events. Hosted by the great fellows of the Dallas RC Club, and CD Forrest Elliott, I arrived early on Thursday for some "fun in the sun", as THIS year there was not a hurricane blowing through to disrupt things.
Beautiful weather greeted my arrival, and the day was spent enjoying the 90 degree crosswinds, worrying EVERY landing about the fixed gear problems I have been experiencing. The guys there from the club were very hospitable, very "Texan"; friendly, courteous, and helpful. A GREAT bunch of guys.
Friday dawned to another 'glorious' day of Pattern Practice. I was determined to burn as much fuel as I could, so I spent a LOT of time in the air. The ST and Bolly muffler worked flawlessly, so I did some prop experimenting.
Along the way during the summer, I had been testing various props to find one that really helped the particular problems of my style. With the help of Dave Lockhart, who twisted a new APC to 17 x 13 N, I was able to discover that props can make an incredible difference. ON my setup, though, the 13N did not seem to have the acceleration that I was looking for exactly, so I contacted Wayne at Falcon Hobbies, inquiring about the Bolly props.
For a LONG time, I had been quite skeptical of a prop that costs almost $50 US, simply because of the economic risks. Then I remembered I had these LONG gear on the EMC, and it was stable, so why not?? I had Wayne send me the Bolly 16.5 x 12 balanced and shaped. And I was off to yet another area of learning.
First, and probably foremost, this prop takes a higher throttle setting than I'm used to, although it is not straining the motor. Don't know why exactly, but I use about 10% more fuel than before. HOWEVER - it is an excellent use of fuel!!! Horizontal and downline braking is so 'balanced' with the Bolly that flow of my sequence improved a lot. Had many folks commenting and reinforcing the "constant speed" appearance.
Second, the "hole shot" acceleration of the prop is amazing. From nearly a dead stop, a click or two and you can actually see the plane move. Immediately. I was even able to start throttling around in the 8 point roll, and my callers could see where I came in with power on points. It is that responsive.
So back to the Friday practicing...I'm letting folks test fly my plane, and one of the local Advanced pilots needed to see how great the EMC worked in this setup, so I talked him into flying it. He was enjoying the flight so much (and I had FAILED to adjust my timer alarm for the increased fuel usage) that he flew it OUT OF GAS. Here we are, upwind, low, slow, and DEAD.
Yep. He turned downwind, put the thing down, very fast. It sails into the tall grass and weeds off the end of the runway, digs in one of the gear, pivots into a fence pole and I'm seeing my Temple experience flash before my eyes! He would have had a tough time making it any different. Just one of those "luck" things.
We stroll out to the impact site (can't call it a landing) to survey the damage. Remember the wing from Temple? Well, NOW the OTHER wing is bashed into the fence pole. Crushed the leading edge, demolishing foam/sheeting about 2" back. Outboard of the tube, thankfully. Good news is Bolly prop is saved!!
Bad news is - gear collapsed. Ripped from the fuse, taking the ply blocks, trusses, and fiberglas fuse bottom with it. But it was only one side, at least. The serious bad news was discovered later.
We carried all the pieces back, and discouraged, I started planning my trip back to Oklahoma City that night. Why stay? Within 5 minutes, five or more people had approached offering either airplane or rebuilding assistance. It was incredible. Several folks wanted me to use their plane. Several others wanted to assist in the rebuild. But I had been in this kind of situation before, and it was wearing a little thin. So I stewed for a while.
Finally, I decided to attempt repair, so the guy that had offerred his workshop, Art Wagner, talked me into following him to his house and doing the deed....I did, we did, and effected the repairs. A division of labor was established. Since I had replaced landing gear attachment as early as the Monday of that week, I felt most experienced/qualified to do that little job, and he and Kurt tackled the wing. All went well there. Except.
The internal damage from the fence/ground/sudden stop had to be seen to be believed. NOT ONE piece of wood anywhere near the wing was intact. Stringers, formers, tube socket mounts, wing retainers, servo rails...EVERYTHING was cracked and/or broken. Even the WING TUBE was bent. UNBELIEVABLE!!!
Feeling a little like a NTSB investigator, I went through the EMC from nose to tail, and it took awhile, but all the parts were fixed. Got pretty late, so back I went to the trailer and the field, with Kurt agreeing to finish the wing and bring it to the contest Saturday morning.
We flew the entire contest, and I had the privelege of having Rick Byrd as my caller/coach for the entire event. He was there helping his younger brother, Stephen, to master the Sportsman event. He's doing well, and learning quickly. There MUST be a "pattern gene", and the Byrd family has it, to be sure!! Rick was very helpful, pointing out many areas that I was able to improve. Another RELEARN of the lesson that you CAN NOT be effective in pattern without an extra set of eyes who can TELL as well as SEE what you're doing....my thanks to Rick!!
Sunday - Round 5 - Pretty good flight...windy, more power needed. Remember the fuel consumption thing? Well, I had finished the last manuever, exited the box, and had to go around while the other line's pilot was landing, so I had to do an oval out there...on the upwind end, the Bolly stops. Out of juice, so I aim at the runway and set it down hard, fast, and run off the runway...well into tall grass. Yup. Broke the gear out badly. So I packed my stuff, and headed for OKC, deep in thought about what to do.
By the time I arrived home, I decide to go back with retracts, and have spent the better part of this past week putting it all back. Glad I left the gear plates in the wings from the earlier conversion to fixed gear. So now, I have a slightly heavier (but still legal - barely) EMC 2, with retracts, and a lot of crash damage repairs. Some call that a "mule", meaning it's the backup for whatever I do next year.
Couple of things for sure. ONE - two piece fixed gear and I don't get along. TWO - Gotta get better at landings. THREE - I learned a heck of a lot from all this. Now if I can remember it...