Giles 202 Crash
Everything was going so smoothly! Trimmed nicely, rolls were sweet, then everything went pearshaped. It started a spiral dive to the right. Left aileron didn't have any noticeable effect. Just before it fell below the treeline, I gave up, cut the throttle and concentrated on exactly where it was going down. Our club is right next to the Yarra River and near some thick bush. I've never had to search in there before but I know it can get pretty thick amongst the trees.
I picked out the tree (second biggest gum) where I thought it went down and headed off to search. I was a fair distance away went it went down. I was pretty sure I heard it smack into a tree and was praying it hadn't gone into the river. This time of year (winter) the river is full, fast and cold.
After searching for about 20 mins and no sign of it , I was pretty sure it had come down on the far side of the Yarra. The problem is, to get to the other side of the river, I have to go the long way (10-15kms) via Yarra Glen and into private property.
I thought it might be a long search so I called a friend who was close by for help searching. After a quick drive to the other side of the river and about 20 minutes searching, I found the remains in a paddock about 15 meters from the tree / fence line. Thankfully the cows had left it alone.
I was actually pretty happy when I found the wreckage. I'd already written it off, I was just hoping it hadn't gone in the river and I'd lost everything.
My theory for the cause. Right aileron failure. You can see from the photo, the covering and aileron looks like it's been ripped off and is consistent with the flight performance as it went down. Both the aileron servo's were still mounted and connected ok.
The lesson? It was bought as a reject that had faulty covering. I tried to keep the colour scheme by using clear cover over the main panels. Could the aileron covering have cracked as the fuse and wing had and ripped the aileron off? That's the theory I'm going with.
The bright side is, now I have a spare engine and gear to put in a new plane!