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Old 03-26-2007, 08:40 PM
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Silent-AV8R
 
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Default RE: Electric Fliers; Check this:

We had an incident at our heli site recently. A very experienced electric heli pilot lost a TREX600 to a mechanical failure (part failure, not maintenance related). The heli smurfed and the pack got slightly bent. He brought everything back to the pits and just tossed the pack on his work table. Another guy picked it up, and just basically twisted it a TINY amount. It went thermonuclear in his hand, he tossed it to the ground. It vented for several minutes (VERY exciting to see in person) then it caught fire. The pilot mentioned he had a similar pack (bent in a crash) sitting on his desk at home.

Another guy I know was charging his LiPo pack in his office, on the 23rd floor of his office building. He heard a "pop" sound, saw the pack puffed up, and grabbed it and headed for the elevator. Got all the way down, ran into the parking garage and to the top floor. Just as he got there, it vented.

Now I know the chorus will be that they are idiots, but they are not, and that's the point. And why it really is worth hearing the same old thing over and over again. Even if we are all so smart that it will never happen to us, sadly the rest of the hobby just isn't as intelligent as we are here.