SlowWhite
01-28-2008, 11:01 AM
Well after finally getting a new clutch put in I went out with Bobby Watts yesterday to get the final setup finished.
And the first Flight went real well, Bobby did the final tuning and did some light aerobatics with it just to check pitch's, and then landed and said filler up and give it a try.
So I filled it back up and then asked bobby if he'd put it through some menuvers just so I could see that nothing will happen, so I wouldn't worry when I went to do try. And in case something did happen hopefully he'd be able to recover better then I would.
So He takes it up, starts testing the waters with it and things are going great he even mentioned that he was really surprised at how nice this heli fly's and even commented about the performance compared to his stratus, then went into a large inverted loop and starting the downward part heading back into inverted (ie: nose pointing straight at the ground) he lost all control of the helicopter. It went into Fail safe, everything nuetraled out but being nose pointed straight down that does nothing. He hit throttle hold (As I've heard/ and now learned recently that every second you don't hit the Throttle hold is pretty much $100) And she piled in nose first straight into the ground from about 50-75 feet up.
After 10 minutes of trying to figure out what happened (including a new guy coming onto the field and starting his range check, which just so happened to be at the same time my heli went in) It looks to be the brand new Switch I bought went out. I didn't think anything of it when I bought it, was just a Hi-Tech switch $9 switch this was the 3rd flight with it. Will never make that mistake again. Yet another reason I normally only buy Futaba or JR stuff no off brand names.
Surprisingly enough the Canopy took the Brunt of the crash (kind of like how a car crimples up. same thing) My parts list was surprisingly low.
Most expensive parts are the canopy, New Blades, reciever, I doesn't even look like it bent the main shaft but I'm going to replace it anyways just to be safe. Good news is Bobby was flying and just for being who he is and who he flys for, will help me out.
I'll be upgrading things like I always do, might as well while I'm at it right. And hopefully I'll have it back up and running this weekend. I have a spare canopy and Skids (the red ones that were pictured in the other thread that I think are just ugly, but since it'll cost $250-300 just to get another painted canopy I'll probably just end up flying that for now) Unless anyone here knows how to paint and can give me some tips on how to and what set up to go with for the (fine painting). I can get a Gel coated one from Min Air dirt cheap, but I'd have to paint it myself.
Sorry I didn't take pictures, In hind sight I should have had Bobby sign the crashed canopy or blade (kind of like how Allan has the side skirt hanging in his garage from that rally car) But I threw all the junked parts out at the flying field.
And the first Flight went real well, Bobby did the final tuning and did some light aerobatics with it just to check pitch's, and then landed and said filler up and give it a try.
So I filled it back up and then asked bobby if he'd put it through some menuvers just so I could see that nothing will happen, so I wouldn't worry when I went to do try. And in case something did happen hopefully he'd be able to recover better then I would.
So He takes it up, starts testing the waters with it and things are going great he even mentioned that he was really surprised at how nice this heli fly's and even commented about the performance compared to his stratus, then went into a large inverted loop and starting the downward part heading back into inverted (ie: nose pointing straight at the ground) he lost all control of the helicopter. It went into Fail safe, everything nuetraled out but being nose pointed straight down that does nothing. He hit throttle hold (As I've heard/ and now learned recently that every second you don't hit the Throttle hold is pretty much $100) And she piled in nose first straight into the ground from about 50-75 feet up.
After 10 minutes of trying to figure out what happened (including a new guy coming onto the field and starting his range check, which just so happened to be at the same time my heli went in) It looks to be the brand new Switch I bought went out. I didn't think anything of it when I bought it, was just a Hi-Tech switch $9 switch this was the 3rd flight with it. Will never make that mistake again. Yet another reason I normally only buy Futaba or JR stuff no off brand names.
Surprisingly enough the Canopy took the Brunt of the crash (kind of like how a car crimples up. same thing) My parts list was surprisingly low.
Most expensive parts are the canopy, New Blades, reciever, I doesn't even look like it bent the main shaft but I'm going to replace it anyways just to be safe. Good news is Bobby was flying and just for being who he is and who he flys for, will help me out.
I'll be upgrading things like I always do, might as well while I'm at it right. And hopefully I'll have it back up and running this weekend. I have a spare canopy and Skids (the red ones that were pictured in the other thread that I think are just ugly, but since it'll cost $250-300 just to get another painted canopy I'll probably just end up flying that for now) Unless anyone here knows how to paint and can give me some tips on how to and what set up to go with for the (fine painting). I can get a Gel coated one from Min Air dirt cheap, but I'd have to paint it myself.
Sorry I didn't take pictures, In hind sight I should have had Bobby sign the crashed canopy or blade (kind of like how Allan has the side skirt hanging in his garage from that rally car) But I threw all the junked parts out at the flying field.