The last flight of my DG600 5m RC glider

Bought in 1998 from Bruno Rihm (now “Paritech”, located in South Germany), the DG600 followed me to Singapore, Switzerland and even Cairo, where local RC club members took off from the taxiway of a real airport (prior permission required by the tower :) .

A beautiful scale plane with a 5,15m wingspan, it weighs 7,5kg, incl. a Hacker C50-10L 6,7:1 turning a 20x13 RFM prop via a FES, powered by 6Sx4000mAh, such that the plane takes off from a trolley within ca. 25m. (I’m OK with the trolley running off to the left and did not give right rudder input as this keeps the runway clear for landing - if you make it back).

Before each takeoff - as with any of my planes - I check each control surface and the motor-prop set-up. Still, one airbrake decided to quit on me during the flight. The fight (starting at 1:30 on the video) lasted 1 long minute while I was trying again and again to stabilise the plane with sudden engine boosts, aileron and elevator inputs - but to no avail. The sudden, severe downward moves seem to indicate that something else may have contributed to the eventual crash (?).

Incidentally, I had a small camera attached to my cap, so you can join me in reliving those painful final moments. (The video is a bit jerky because I had to zoom-in during the editing stage).

PS: Same place, same time on a different day with another 5m plane… - the airbrakes work, a touch of left rudder input to compensate for some cross wind, a bit more right aileron could have helped at the end as well, but smooth enough in anyway. RC-Life goes on...