Nemesis is tough

[thevon]

You might have read the recent story about when we were DSing near Byron Bay a few weeks ago and I klutzily hit the top of a tree at around 100mph. Miraculously the Nemesis got very little damage and is now back like new.

Never ceases to amaze me how many things there are that can surprise you and cause a problem. Very late this arvo I ducked a few blocks over to the Woody Point slope and threw out the Nemesis - great lift, nice flying but it was getting dark and hard to see. It was low tide so I walked down to the beach and had a minor dogfight with a magpie, then did a nice approach - it flared a bit with crow/ flaps then settled down on a nice line only a few inches off the grouns. But I misjudged the put-down and suddenly realized it was still airborne at plenty of speed, only a few feet away! Tried to leap aside but one wing went smack into my leg, really quite hard. But no damage! Tough little plane.

So I set a bit more elevator compensation and a bit more aileron-up on crow, then went back up and did 2 more landings to make sure I had it worked out! Got a bit hard to see with the cloud at dusk.

I think there's a tendency to view carbon planes as being tough, and f/glass weaker. This is a f/glass wing with carbon fuse and the wing is really tough. On the other hand I have heard of various carbon planes (eg Carbon Banana, Ocelot, etc) which are quite clearly weak and even crack the fuse around wing bolts with normal use. Whether it's glass or carbon, it comes down to the thickness of the skin etc. So don't discount glass planes, I reckon. This one is tough for a hollow moldie (foam cored is tougher but apart from Aeromod, there aren't any for sale).

[felix]

I think your onto something with FG surviving better the CF Andrew. I came to the same conclusion with spars and will now only use FG (added bonus is the price )
CF is much stiffer and handles a lot more load but is extremely brittle especially in very localized impacts (like sharp rocks or branches). FG seems to have more compliance and seems to fracture and shatter outwards (rather then splinter like CF) spreading the load and reducing damage.
An example was just last weekend when Bill was flying my bee. He came in for a very nice and fast landing and flew into a very large sharp rock hidden in the grass with a very loud cracking noise On inspection the fiberglass leading edge had been badly squashed and torn but was nowhere near snapped through…..CF would have been history.
Thinking that at least for sloping glass is the way to go and will be what I use when I start bagging.

just my 2c ;D


*edit….as a sidenote this is my 500th post and 5 stars! (need to spend time dribbling cr@p here and more time building lol)

[skyboyken]

I'm with you too Andrew,

glass is tougher and goes well. Carbon is for extreme performance with loss of durability. Kevlar is for extraordinary durability and is normally combined with glass or carbon for stiffness.

For slope planes that aren't expected to DS over 150mph glass is probably the best solution.

Glad to hear the Nemesis is putting a smile on your dial! I look forward to seeing it fly .

Ken.