here's life

It is actually pretty common in RC. Something happens and you end up with pieces of a plane instead of a contraption that flies. Sometimes it is a large emotional and physical loss---a couple weeks ago, Bob's plane disintigrated onto the ground.  Sometime it can just be pretty annoying---a few days later a ~12 year old was making a second pass at landing after a round in an aerobatics competition, and he had too much advise, and cart-wheeled it into the tall grass. The diagnosis was that it may be salvagable.  That seems to be impractical on mine.  But let's start over.
I got a new engine, and ran it for the first time yesterday---after some prodding from experts, it ran quite nicely. Ran much of a tank of gas through it, and we got my radio hooked up with a buddy box so I could fly copilot with someone more experienced.  Two experienced guys took it off and were getting it all trimmed out before handing me the buddy box. It flew well, and it was cool to see something I had worked on take to the skies. Then as it was coming upwind, the copilot said, "I don't have it!" and so the guy holding the transmitter took control and dropped the throttle...but it never responded.  It came down at a slight angle, mid-throttle and disappeared among the trees along the river.  Not really sure what to do, I acted upbeat and it seemed going and getting it was best, so I took off across the field toward where I saw it last. 



Soon I had beat through the tall grass and could see the muddy water-path that passes as a River here.  Ah, there it was, near the head of the sandbar, not floating anywhere, which was good. The others arrived in a vehicle and I waded across to the sandbar--up to my knees--and gathered up the pieces. It was in 6 inches of water, the wing was broken in half on the fusilage, and the engine had wrenched off the front of the plane and was lying in the water, still connected by control linkages. Pretty easy to recover. I drain the water out of the wings (now plural) and bring it back to shore. After we get back to the field, we assess the damage. The battery seems to test good. One servo has stripped gears, and the receiver doesn't seem to work right. Maybe it's the battery. So they charge the battery. Still, it just moves the servos a little when first plugged in, but gives no indication that it cares about the signals it is getting. Maybe the transmitter needs charging. That doesn't help. So, it looks like the receiver failed, and that is why they lost control of the plane, and so it just flew heedlessly into the river. Water, especially muddy water isn't good for an engine. So Bob told me how to take it apart and wash it out with fuel when I got home. He took my transmitter and receiver home to test, and offered to get it fixed, which is rather kind of him. Today he brought me another receiver, and is going to send mine in, having determined that everything works but it. He is pretty eager to see me in the air again. I feel somewhat hesitant, but try not to show it.
When I bought this plane it had an old radio, so I replaced it. The engine subsequently died, so I got a new one of those too. Now the airframe is gone, so all I need is a kit (and some servo gears) and I can be back in the air! Reminds me of the old ax that had been handed down for generations--the handle had been replaced 7 times, and the head twice, but it was still a good ax.



For what it's worth, here's a poem from last night:


I so recently found you
I gave you new life, new energy, new spirit...
and now you are gone.
I had a hand in making you live,
but I had no control over your death,
No one did.
Goodbye,
It it no longer you, even if I continue on with pieces of your life.
What died was all that defined you.
I lost you, goodbye.