Saturday, December 13, 2025

Cap-21

 In 1986, I finished building a .60 size Cap-21 by Great Planes. The original owner built one wing panel and the fuselage, and quit. I discovered, while building, the original wing panel had a huge warp. I made several cuts and patches, and _thought_ I had corrected the problem. During the covering phase, I realized the original wing panel still had a warp. I twisted the wing, re-ironed it, and all was well (or so I thought...). The airplane was trim flown, all checked out. I loaded it in a trailer and headed to a show at RC World in Florida. I dropped it on the flight line in the blistering heat, after several hours in a scalding hot trailer, and never thought about the wing. Immediately upon takeoff, it began rolling left. With full right trim, and full right stick, it was still rolling left. There was no way to correct, and it screwed itself into the paved runway. All was lost. R.I.P. Cap-21.