I had been flying the Rarebear at about half power until I got used to the diminutive craft's behaviour, and also until I was sufficiently used to identifying its orientation, something I'd found difficult in the low-light conditions when I typically fly.
As such, I headed out to the field one sunny afternoon after work, to give the Rarebear a workout over the wide spaces of the paddock. In the sunlight the Rarebear is much easier to make out, and soon I had the little plane buzzing on three-quarter throttle, marvelling at it's agility and ability to make astonishingly sharp turns.
Suddenly I heard an intense fluttering which ended in an abrupt noise, and then silence. Not knowing what had happened, I cut power and coasted the Rarebear into a big bank bringing it back to the field.
Getting back to the plane the cause of the noise was immediately apparent, or rather it was conspicuous by its absence; about a third of the right aileron had been completely sheared off. The aileron foam hinge must've developed a crack at the end and, with the high-G maneuvers, resulted in a section of the control peeling up. Exposed to the airstream, this had fluttered violently and eventually ripped off.
Unfortunately, having been flying over the high grass of the the paddocks, the piece of foam was lost...
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