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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Yep, it is no more. Man I loved that
plane. I loved the way it flew like a bullet. Because of the "new"
radio's and the fact that it isn't my primary plane, I programmed in some
flaps. Well, normally, when you deploy flaps without mixing in a little
down, the plane pitches up. I was a couple of mistakes high and my buddy
said, "put down the flaps" and so I did. Well, what happened next was
probably the best looking crash I've seen in a long time. Two things
happened. First, the nose pitched up so fast ( I think I was carrying too
much speed) I think I sheered a control horn on the right aileron. Then
came the tuck. Oh yea, that baby tucked nose under and rolled left.
I was on the flap switch faster than kiddies on candy but it didn't help.
With full opposite aileron, I could barley roll level. Unfortunately, I
was about 60 degrees nose down and picking up speed. One of the qualities
of the old Piorun Eclipse is little or no drag. Any way, by the time I got
on the elevators and leveled out, it plane was about 3/4 of an inch off the
ground and accelerating! Then things started slowing down. I think
they call it temporal distortion. In very slow motion, the plane was
flying ever so smoothly across the ground when parts just started departing the
aircraft. The first to go was the prop blades. I actually saw one
fly off...that is right before the left horizontal stab tip just touched the
ground. Then it exploded in a cloud of foam. Then, the left
wing. Pulled the wing tube right out of the fuselage. Now mind you,
the fuselage is still scooting along at Mach 3 shedding parts like crazy.
And even though it seemed like minuets, this all happened in about 5
seconds! All the while, I'm thinking, "No problem, I got
this.......". In all, the fuselage in primarily intact. The left
wing is good, the right wing lost the wing tube and part of the wing root, allot
of sheeting and some foam. The left horizontal stab has left the
building.......... But......I think I can rebuild it!</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Jerry L.</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>