Ok, I'll go first:
I had a playdate with AeroHeadTW (you should introduce yourself, BTW) this morning and we were chatting while I swapped batteries in my plane to get ready for the next flight. As soon as I took off, I noticed I had really bad power. Of course I had pulled the classic bonehead move of putting back the old battery. Never chat and change batteries, right?
I was losing power really fast and I needed to get the plane down immediately. I was flying down wind along the runway and I wasn't sure I had enough juice to turn around, so I decided to attempt a downwind landing. It was pretty windy, so I was bracing for a rough one. Line up... try my best to slow her down and... *BOOOOIING* The familiar sound of the covering acting as a huge drum. A split second later, I saw debris flying from the tail section. My heart sank and I could hear Tim shout "oh noooooo!".
As I approached the plane, I was prepared for the worst, but I noticed it was sitting nicely on the gear with no visible damage. Strange! I could swear I saw pieces flying!
Upon closer examination we found out what had happened. As I landed, my tail wheel clipped a HUGE pile of dog poo perfectly in half. The entire tail section, including the rudder servo was covered in dog feces. I could post a picture, but I don't think you need the visual. Suffices to say I could probably make out what brand of dog food the pooch had for breakfast based on what was spread across the tail of my plane. The debris I saw flying wasn't plane parts, but digested Purina Dog Chow.
Moral of the story: The mighty spirits of RC work in mysterious ways. The punishment isn't always what we expect it to be, but they always make sure we're punished.
Talk about a crappy day at the field!
