LuckyArmpit

Okay, thought I could maybe start a tradition here. Since going back to regular time, its dark here at about 5 o'clock. So, you wait for the weekend to go flying. I did just that today. I was the only one at the field. I had my Tiger 2, Cessna Skylane (see the post about cessna cheap connector = crash) and an old dear friend, an FMA Razor (speed 400 'lectric). It was about 48 degrees and about 5 mph wind. 1st flight with cessna was non eventful. It lands purty nice!!!! And the OS .46 AX is lots of engine for this plane. Flew mainly at 1/4 throttle.
Then on 2nd flight, about 6 minutes into it, I was roughly 150 feet up in a left turn/bank. Tried to straighten wings out and nothing! []
It started a death spiral and I tried to give lots of throttle and nothing!!! It dorked into the turf and a few pieces flew up. I grab plane, walk back to pits, put RX (its a hitec electron) into Tiger 2. Power up system and I have no control on anything. Hmmm...funny because the electron in the cessna was velcro'd to the sidewall inside the fuse and it never moved upon picking up the plane. I'm thinkin this was the reason for crash. I tried a different rx batt and still got nothing. At least I was able to the fly the Razor 6 times. I have never had an rx just quit. I even took out the xtal and re-inserted and got nothing. After the batt is connected, the servos twitch for a split second. But any control input from the TX and you get zilch! I'll be sending this to Hitec along with the pic below. This rx is 5 months old and has never given me any problems before.

PS...feel free to add your own crash debacles to the post....

Dave...

sweetpea01

My Feedback: (10)

could be a cracked crystal.......vibration can cause it. Let alone your crash.

Freakazoid

My Feedback: (1)

You know what to ask from santa now. Sorry about your loss.

bigd652

I second the crystal crack.....

LuckyArmpit

I have heard of cracked xtals before. I could yank the xtal out of a hitec 555 and put in and test before it goes back hitec.
Kinda bums ya out ya know!!! The Cessna only had a total of 4 flights, 3 of 'em ended in crashes due to bad servo arm connector and the
other, a loose engine mount.
Freak, Sanny Clause already visited me! I have a completely built Pete 'n Poke w/Saito .56. Gorgeous aircraft!!! It won't see flight til next year though unless conditions are perfect since I have never flown it before. I think I'll chalk up the Cessna to the crash bin as the damage is pretty extensive. I'll put the OS .46 into a U Can Do 46 I have. Then I am doing a complete overhaul of a Sig Kougar I picked up for $20. The bad part of all this is that electron rx is the only 6 channel rx I have that can fly all my glow aircraft. I have lots of 4 and 5 channel rx's for electrics but they aint gonna cut it for my glow stuff.
What gets me is all the time I spent repairing the Cessna. I was checking my flight log and that Razor has over 500 flights on it. I wanted to check its flight since I attached the elevons with CA hinges instead just packing tape.

Dave...

wahoo

My Feedback: (59)

Hey Lucky, Do you fly at PORKS ?

CGRetired

My Feedback: (1)

I live in So. New Jersey, near Atlantic City. I was out flying both Saturday and Sunday. Saturday was the nicer of the two days, but there was nobody else out there, so I left after about four flights. Uneventful day.

Sunday, however, was a slightly different situation. I was flying my Tiger 60 (OS 61 SF) when on my second landing, the thing was all over the place. I managed to get it down without incident and took it to the bench to see what was going on with it. When landing, it would start to roll left and right almost at will, but somewhat correctable. It landed rather hard, but as I said, no incident.

When I looked it over I found that the left side aileron horn was loose! The screws, steel into that sort of plastic nylon material, had backed off, and the connections were tight. No idea what caused it, but, as I said, it flew just fine on Saturday. I tightened it then took a close look at everything else which seemed to be all tight. So, refueled and took to the air. All was well, except the darned wind started to pick up, not bad, but enough to start with the bumpy approaches.

I typically land rather slow (I solo'ed in August) and the Tiger 60 deals with that very nicely, except Sunday, that is. On my last landing (not because of problems, but I got fed up with the shifting and gusty winds), I was in a nice clean approach, then the gusts started again, and up and down the thing was going, so I made sure it was lined up with the center line then all of a sudden, the wind stopped and the plane just dropped out of the air from about 5 feet up. Bent the front gear (tricycle gear) so I defueled it, cleaned it up, and left for the day.

Sorry, folks, no crash on that one, but it was one of those days, and I am sure you all know what I mean. I was glad to go home with the same number of pieces, all assembled in the right order that is, that I arrived at the field with.

LuckyArmpit

Wahoo, I live about 3 miles from the PORKS field. I fly at Hubbard Wingsnappers in West Middlesex and also belong to Sharon Skylarks.
I was born and raised in NC. Lived there until 1999. But never have flown at PORKS.

Dick, sounds like you got away with one!!!! I have a tiger 2 and it flies great even in wind. The gusts don't fool with it all that much.

Dave...

LuckyArmpit

To those of you that suggested cracked/bad xtal, you were correct!!!! I put in the channel 36 xtal from a hited 555 into the electron 6 and it works fine!!! One thing gets me though, the electron has two very tiny blue rubber bands that go around the xtal to hold in place and protect against vibration. I didn't have it wrapped in foam but it was velcro'd to the side. So, I guess vibration cracked it? I'll start wrapping it up in foam from now on if thats the case!!!! Now I'm kinda ticked because a $5 part boned up a $300 plane (including engine/servos etc.)!!!!

Dave...

frieshoo

My Feedback: (20)

Vibrations, and crashes are very tough on the RX crystal. Did you range check before the last flight? I'm guessing in this case it would not have helped you.

LuckyArmpit

No Dennis, didn't do a range check. This crash happened at about 6 minutes into the flight. This rx has been in a few other crashes.
Has been left in a tree for a week (yep, it rained!!!). However, all this stuff happened months ago. I guess after a while, vibration takes its toll!!!

Dave...

RC-Captain

Thank god I dont use crystals anymore , I don't have to experience cracked crystals using a Tracker II radio with built in scanner which allows me to use any one of the 50 channels on band 72, fm frequencies.

That plane looks as if it was nice, sorry for the loss[].

LuckyArmpit

RC, the Skylane was/is a nice plane. Its from China Model Products. Quality isn't like a Goldberg or Great Planes but looks nice when in the air. I plan on getting another in 2005. Only will probably run a .40 in it as the OS .46 I had in it was awfully powerful for that type of aircraft.

Dave...

RC-Captain

Lucky , I didn't want to start doing business outside of the USA but if the price is right I will definitely add this to my wish hanger list .

LuckyArmpit

RC, heck most of the arf's nowadays are made in China. These Cessnas are generally sold on ebay along with I think Edge 540 and 330 Extras etc. They have been going lately for around $80. www.raidentech.com has these planes too. The engine in the Cessna gets mount a tad more than sideways...muffler points towards the ground.
Hehe....I just bought another arf off of ebay....60 sized stick called the G Stick. Here is the best part....$48 for it.

Dave...