Pilot Mint 2 conversion to motor glider

[Hank GB Z]

Back in 2016 I bought this OK model/ pilot kit in Singapore. I built much of the kit in a hotel room while on business. I finished it at home around 2018. I always liked how it flew but conditions had to be specific. Aloft started selling their own designed spinner that holds a small out runner. I bought one and the smallest prop recommended. I cut the nose where it looked like it would blend the best. I added a bit of wood to round the corners and glued in a firewall. Pretty rough and tumble but I’m liking it so far. AUW is 122 grams with a 180 mah battery. The motor pulls about 4 amps so I’ll probably get about 3 min total motor run time but I plan to mainly be hunting for thermals. Test flight is planned for tomorrow.

Hank

 

[Hank GB Z]

I test flew the Mint with the motor. It started out well on the first flight I had about 2 minutes of run time with about 5 min flying. There was no lift at kite hill. On the second flight I launched then opened the throttle for a few seconds. I op-ed the throttle again when I got low after about 3 seconds of run time the blades came off the spinner and the motor came off the firewall. I’m posting a you tube video showing the problem flight. The beep from my transmitter is the motor timer coming on, then you hear the firewall come off, the second beep is me closing the throttle.

Hank

 

[Hank GB Z]

Two more pictures of the damage to the spinner. Both sides failed the same way.

 

[Wayne]

Hank we have a lot of these spinners out in the wild now and have had zero failures. We have had some folks kill the blades, but a quick replacement and they are back in the air. The busted off ears suggest to me that the blades may have made contact with the fuselage, notice that the same ear on both sides is busted out. I think maybe your screws pulled through the motor mount or some sort of failure along those lines. Happy to send you a new spinner and blades. Just send us an email and we will get that going.

 

[Hank GB Z]

I’ll look at the fuselage for evidence of blade strikes but I don’t think it was from that. The corner where the yoke comes out from the spinner was pretty sharp which is a big stress riser.

Now it could be the fire wall failed first but in my experience nothing will rip out a motor faster than shedding a blade.

No need to send new spinner or blades. I’m gonna think of something else.

Thanks

Hank