Gary , assuming that you have the controls hooked up properly , I suspect that your problem/s happen in the first second or so of your launch . It's always a good idea to wiggle the sticks , watch the control surfaces move ( left ail is left ail , up ele is up ele, etc. ) and listen to the servos ( do they sound like they always sound, or do you hear some "funny " clicking sound or do they sound a little "labored" , as in the battery is nearly dead or the elevator pushrod is suddenly binding. All of this "testing" only takes about 3 seconds. FIRST RULE , Numero Uno, # 1 , whatever way you want to say it , and it doesn't seem to matter whether you have a winchline attached, an electric motor up front , or even , gasp ! , one of those noisy ,smelly things up front, the Plane HAS TO HAVE AIRSPEED when it leaves your hand ! With Zero Airspeed you have Zero Control ! So then the number one rule is : Throw the D$#N plane , don't just let it go ! I will hazard a guess , and say that probably 80% of all crashes that we have witnessed during the first 4 or 5 seconds of a launch were due to wimpy throws, the other 20% were due to structural failure, radio failure, dead battery , and maybe radio interference. The bigger the airplane , generally speaking of course, the more airpseed it needs to be able to fly. So while you can just ever so gently toss a 10 oz. HLG , a 65 to 100 oz. plane requires you to put some real effort into the throw. The lack of airpseed causes all sorts of problems when you are trying to launch a 3M open class plane off a winch. Usually the wing is pretty "dirty" , flaps down, ailerons drooped, so you have lots of drag, now add to this the fact that you have the plane at an extreme angle of attack , and at the very beginning of the launch , very little airspeed . You can easily see that for the first few seconds of launch your plane is really flying on the edge of a tipstall . It's not uncommon to hear Pilots or launchers to "Grunt" when launching , and the "grunt" isn't to psych-out the other competitors , they really are putting that much effort into the throw. Hope this helps Gary and some others. Jim Bonk RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
