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Demise of the extra Extra

by Marv Kea

Was the midfield take off a good idea? Probably not, but I have gotten into the habit of taking off from midfield. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

I had built a Goldberg Extra with an OS 1.20 and a smoke system a few months ago. It flies great and the smoke is really thick. It has plenty of vertical power and stays where you point it. When I saw the Extra that another club member was selling that Sunday morning, I just had to have it as a back-up. I took it home and immediately stripped it of its covering after checking the fuselage and wings for damage and re-gluing some joints. It was already equipped with a smoke system and a K&B 61. I recovered my newly acquired aircraft and the next Sunday I took it to the field.

Upon take-off for the first flight, it was apparent that the aircraft was under-powered as I had suspected. I thought that this was a good reason to buy a new engine, so off to the hobby store I went. I left the hobby store a little poorer but with two new engines (just had to have that Saito twin for the Cub, you know). I proceeded to mount my new OS 1.08 to the extra Extra.

Back at the field the following Wednesday, I fill the tank (after some run-in time) head it into the wind, and take off. It flies smoothly with only a little trim adjustment, and I bring it in nice and level. The following Sunday at the field the engine is running fine; I flew several flights that morning and the engine was running better each time.

On the last flight, I had not adjusted the mixture as the engine sounded fine in the pits. It was on this flight that I realized why midfield take-offs are not a good thing to do. As the extra Extra climbed out, it started to lean out and sputter. It died 20 feet in the air. I didn't have enough landing area in front of me, so I started a slow turn to the left, but it was losing air speed too fast. There were some club members walking back from picking up a dead stick and my Extra was heading right for them. I had to put it in into the ground.

The loss of this plane could have been avoided by taxiing to the end of the runway and taking off using the whole strip. I guess the lesson to be learned is to take your time, use the full length of the runway, and always give yourself an out. Oh well, the extra Extra was a lot easier to carry back home.

Marv

Editor's note: This reminds me of the three most useless things in flying: 1) Altitude above you; 2) Runway behind you; 3) the air in your fuel tank. -CK


next up previous
Next: Building Light for Better Up: Front Page Previous: Club Instructors are:

Craig Kulesa
Fri Dec 4 18:49:42 MST 1998