Afraid of heights with a Piper Cub!

by Chris
(Dysart, PA)

This summer my twin brother and I decided to build matching Piper Cubs. After a few weeks of building we were finally ready to hit the field...
It had been 20 years since I had flown and I didn't have much experience then either, but I had what I thought was a great first flight (if it takes off and lands in one piece, that's considered a great flight for a beginner!)

Anyway, my brother seemed excessively nervous and had the motor running on the ground for a long time. I didn't try and rush him, I just kept the video cam running.

After a few minutes he finally took off and I thought he was climbing for the sky. Well about 18 feet into the air I think he thought that was high enough. I told him to climb a little more but I really think he thought that the higher he was the harder the plane would come down!

The flight lasted a whole 45 seconds and as he made the turn to come back towards us he kept dropping lower to the ground. A small tree just happened to run out in front of him and clipped the wing putting his Cub into a flat spin to the ground.
Hopefully he has now learned that airplanes are meant to be flown at higher altitudes. If the same thing happens next time I'm gonna buy him an RC car -- they stay pretty low to the ground too! :-)