This was the 1st attempt at flying RC planes. The poor bird only lasted one day and the total flight time was under 10 seconds. The most interesting lesson we learned from this experience was, the importance of video documentation. At the field, the Cessna was hand-launched a half dozen times and it crashed a half a dozen times. It was not until later when reviewing the video, we discovered we had been hand-launching the plane into a stall. Instead of tossing the plane level to the ground, we were tossing the plane at too steep of an angle, causing the plane to stall and come crashing to the ground.
Later the Cessna's became great workhorses and test planes. The Cessna was the 1st plane to receive ‘hop-ups’ such as, a stronger motor and bigger batteries. Cessna also was the first plane to receive on board video equipment and a bomb bay door to drop paratroopers. After a while, Cessna was later renamed to “Franken-plane” due its many glue wounds and miscellaneous added on parts.
The Cessna era came to a dramatic end when we believe the ESC failed in flight, resulting in a fiery crash. The plane slowly flew overhead with a black smoke trail seeping from the nose of the plane, reminiscent of the old WWII dogfight films. The plane was immediately put into a banking left turn towards base when the shout of “Dead Stick!” broke the tension. The doomed Cessna continued on its course until finally hitting the sloping hillside of the runway. As we started running to the Cessna’s aid a young bystander yelled: “Hey Mister, your plane’s on fire”. We instantly knew this was going to be bad.
We arrived at the crash site as the tall, dry summer grass surrounding the Cessna started to burn. A futile attempt was made to stomp out the fire... unfortunately, on that dry hillside; the fire spread quickly and was soon out of our control. A swarm of yellow jackets calling the hillside home began to exact their revenge on the onlookers as they mercilessly stung the young and old alike.
The faint sounds of fire truck sirens grew louder as help was on its way. We stood in amazement at how quickly the fire was contained and snuffed out. We were lucky and thankful the fire did not cause any personal property damage. The senior firefighter came over and talked with us to get the full story of what had happened for her official report. We returned to the office smelling of smoke and had a great story to share.
The Kyosho Cessna was a good 1st plane. It looked great (for a while) at the flying field. The foam construction was easy to repair after not so perfect landings; most repairs could even be made right at the field with some foam-safe quick drying glue. A reasonable RTF price point makes it easy for new comers to join the sport.
The Kyosho Cessna Crash and Fire from an on lookers point of view RC Groups.com
