Chuck Irby
Platinum Member
- Joined
- Dec 17, 2003
- Messages
- 1,932
- Location
- Laurel, Mississippi
- Aircraft
- 618 Dominator Single
- Total Flight Time
- 60 solo
After about 40 hours of solo flying my Dominator single, yesterday I landed in a rough hay field. My son and I had just flown 22 miles from our local airport (he flies a trike). It was pretty windy and bumpy and we were both ready to be on the ground. The hay field belonged to a client of my son. He had been told that the field was smooth. When we saw it from the air for the first time, we saw that it was only about 200' by maybe 600' and completely surrounded by trees with a big power line down one side. We did not see the small power lines that crossed over the middle of it. In addition, we could not tell from the air that it had a bad slope to one side, and we had no communication with anyone on the ground.
After circling the field for about five minutes and getting lower and lower, I finally decided to land into the wind. Just before I would have hit the power lines that crossed the field, I saw them and managed to push the stick forward and barely went under them and made a good landing. I immediately noticed how steep the field dropped off to my right. To keep from turning over, I allowed the machine to do what it wanted to and turned it down the slope and rode it all the way to the bottom of the hill, probably 100' from where I landed. It was quite rough and the hay stubble was 6 to 8 inches high.
While I was getting my blades stopped, I radioed my son about the wires that crossed the field. He then made a descent landing.
After a visit of a couple of hours with his client and some friends and neighbors that I had not seen in forty years, we decided to walk the field to plan on how we were going to get back into the air.
After looking at it, walking over it, and driving four wheelers over it for probably 25 to 30 minutes, we decided that we could get off the ground safely by positioning our machines at a particular point and heading toward a particular tree. We would get off the ground at the top of the hill, right after we went under the power lines.
Again, I went first. I pre rotated to 200 r's and the 20 mph wind had my front wheel off the ground almost as soon as I started moving. Right after I went under the power lines my rotor tach showed 350 r's and my air speed was 55. I was off and feeling good until the machine started rotating to the left (which was almost immediately). I gave it a little right stick and it kept wanting to go left. I pushed on the right rudder peddle and realized that the cable was detached or broken. I managed to crash the machine as gently as I could without hitting one of the 15 to 20 people who were watching from the nearest corner of the field. I also managed to stay out of the trees and power lines. I tore the hell out of my machine, but got out of it with one little scrape on my left shin and a sore left shoulder and shoulder blade.
I believe the problem with my rudder cable was due to an inadequate crimp of one of the Nicopress sleeves (totally my fault). I did not have the proper crimping tool at the time I made up the cables. I remember thinking at the time, that I would take the machine to my local cable supplier and use his crimping tool to make sure the job was done right. I never thought about it again until yesterday.
My hope in posting this is that it will prevent someone else from being so careless.
If anyone has some Dominator parts for sale, I might be interested.
After circling the field for about five minutes and getting lower and lower, I finally decided to land into the wind. Just before I would have hit the power lines that crossed the field, I saw them and managed to push the stick forward and barely went under them and made a good landing. I immediately noticed how steep the field dropped off to my right. To keep from turning over, I allowed the machine to do what it wanted to and turned it down the slope and rode it all the way to the bottom of the hill, probably 100' from where I landed. It was quite rough and the hay stubble was 6 to 8 inches high.
While I was getting my blades stopped, I radioed my son about the wires that crossed the field. He then made a descent landing.
After a visit of a couple of hours with his client and some friends and neighbors that I had not seen in forty years, we decided to walk the field to plan on how we were going to get back into the air.
After looking at it, walking over it, and driving four wheelers over it for probably 25 to 30 minutes, we decided that we could get off the ground safely by positioning our machines at a particular point and heading toward a particular tree. We would get off the ground at the top of the hill, right after we went under the power lines.
Again, I went first. I pre rotated to 200 r's and the 20 mph wind had my front wheel off the ground almost as soon as I started moving. Right after I went under the power lines my rotor tach showed 350 r's and my air speed was 55. I was off and feeling good until the machine started rotating to the left (which was almost immediately). I gave it a little right stick and it kept wanting to go left. I pushed on the right rudder peddle and realized that the cable was detached or broken. I managed to crash the machine as gently as I could without hitting one of the 15 to 20 people who were watching from the nearest corner of the field. I also managed to stay out of the trees and power lines. I tore the hell out of my machine, but got out of it with one little scrape on my left shin and a sore left shoulder and shoulder blade.
I believe the problem with my rudder cable was due to an inadequate crimp of one of the Nicopress sleeves (totally my fault). I did not have the proper crimping tool at the time I made up the cables. I remember thinking at the time, that I would take the machine to my local cable supplier and use his crimping tool to make sure the job was done right. I never thought about it again until yesterday.
My hope in posting this is that it will prevent someone else from being so careless.
If anyone has some Dominator parts for sale, I might be interested.