Maiden Voyage (total newbie, firebird freedom, 70 foot cotton wood tree)
 

A friend of mine and I took an extra long lunch yesterday and headed over to marymoore park near seattle, wa.

I tossed my firebird freedom and she soared every so gingerly in the sun filled sky, I proceeded to gently bank left and then right and she took every turn with stride...

Then something good happened, I fell in love with what I was controlling, a freedom that I never experienced before..for 6 minutes I was twelve again...

Then something bad happened, I was banking near a skirt of tall cotton wood trees and lost total power, which was odd since the battery (venom) was fully charged, unable to bank anymore (ACT was on), I clocked the tallest tree and my plane was suspended, think mosquito on a spider web about 70 feet above the ground...

NOOO, I screamed and ran to the base of the tree, without even thinking I asked my buddy for a boost and started to climb and climb. Not even thinking what I was risking, i climb like a "mo fo"

The highest I could get was 60 feet or so, standing with both feet on a 2 inch wide branch...
I've called the parks department and will met them today to see what my options are, I plan fashioning a David and Goliath device to hoist around the branch where the wing is caught and see if she'll shake loose.

It's not the expense of the plane, it's that it's my first plane and for the love of god, I'm not ready to give it up!

So this is what I call - Project Rescue Freedom - it's nice to have friends snap some pix's when your life hanging on a thread and then email to all the coworkers in your office.
I'm getting a disk server error to show the pix's...I'm now taking off again to begin the next phase

stay tuned - g.

RE: Maiden Voyage (total newbie, firebird freedom, 70 foot cotton wood tree)
 

g,

Many of us have been there. Instead of treeing my first plane (a T-Hawk) I hammered it into the ground a few times, breaking the vertical stabilizer on the last time. (The T-Hawk is similar to your plane)

Then, I went home and practiced on FMS for about 12 hours before attempting to fly again. It did me a LOT of good. FMS is a free flight simulator. Search for it on Google, download it, buy a dual analog USB controller, and have at it!

Read this ---> http://user.mc.net/~jzorns/RC_Tips.doc

Next time out, I flew very well, and even made a few passable landings.

Don't give up. You've experienced the joy that this hobby can give, but there are obstacles along the way.

Many people have had luck with the old shaking the branch trick.

Keep us posted!

RE: Maiden Voyage (total newbie, firebird freedom, 70 foot cotton wood tree)
 

Thanks for the words of encouragement...

I have made a grappling hook and even used a sling shot, still no dice.

My friend is convinced he can hook it with a fishing pole, run a rope up and shake the branch loose...

I'm heading out to buy another one today after work, just in cause tomorrow is another waste of time.

Sadly, I only own and work on a mac at home and there is no rc software for it...

thanks,

g

RE: Maiden Voyage (total newbie, firebird freedom, 70 foot cotton wood tree)
 

I know exactly how you feel! I had very similar experience first time flying my freedom. (Except the tree) She flew beautifully for about 3-4 minutes then the engine cut off unexpectedly. (This was a brand new and properly discharged-recharged battery that was left charging untill 5 minutes prior to flyight.)

I am also aware that the software onboard will shut motor off and preserve flight control when battery is low....NOT THE CASE HERE. I lost power to everything. Fortunately I was able to glide her in by the seat of my pants only to have the engine insultingly turn on when she hit the ground.

I swapped batteries in the hand set, replaced the 8 cell with spare freshly charged back up, and did the two person 100 foot ops check again..all perfect. So we tossed her up and tried again...wow she flew smartly...untill loss of everything powered caused a cart-wheeling, tail breaking death dive that ended with insulting engine-on at impact --again.
There is definitely a short circuit or some other problem with these planes. Of course, no one is on duty at Hobbyzone to hear my story until Monday. What hobby store is closed on Saturday???

Heres the really sad part...I bought two of these birds...one for me and one for the wife. Hers had same pre flight preperation etc... only to launch and fly hard right straight into the ground! Bent wing first toss!! I am not happy. $300 for what?? I researched the web and found another guy had exactly the same problem with hard dive to right on launch. I feel Hobbyzone has some explaining to do.

Anyone else suffering total power loss or hard right crashing on take off?

RE: Maiden Voyage (total newbie, firebird freedom, 70 foot cotton wood tree)
 

Are you sure it was trimmed out right?? I noticed mine turn to the right if I gave it more power as it was climbing at first. I give it full throttle, then run, and toss it, so it has more speed. I also do ROG's now, and it takes full left turn to keep it straight until it builds speed. Once you have it up, you'll notice that it needs left trim... That sucks that it got stuck in a tree. I had a CLOSE encounter with a tree, but i turned the ACT off it time, and dove around it. I found that the ACT can make it hard to fly in closed spaces. When you turn, pull back on the stick also. It will turn MUCH sharper.

RE: Maiden Voyage (total newbie, firebird freedom, 70 foot cotton wood tree)
 

Seems that everyone that starts off ends up hitting a tree huh? My first airplane was a flyzone skypilot. First time i hand launched it because the grass was too big to take off from. Went straight down and broke the front landing gear. No prob just took it off and launched it without the gear. Somehow i would land it. Was a nice flight about 15 seconds and was turning right and stalled and went cartwheeling few times. Nothing bad happened. Last launch was good. Flew for about 2 minutes then slammed into a big tree. About70 or 80 feet high. No way i could climb up that high so i took of my shoe and started to throw it at the plane. Got that shoe stuck up there also so i had to throw my other shoe. Finally got them both down. Bent wing and scratch nothing bad. Gota tell you that, that little plane can take a beating. Later on that day i went flying somewhere else and hadn't fixed the gear so i just taped it on somewhat and launched it. There is 1 small tree on the side where I was flying. Guess what, I hit it. No problem getting it down. After that i flew a few more times with no problem. Later i fixed the gear and from there on i always went to that place to fly. Its nice it has a huge paved area. They use it to teach people to drive tractor trailers. Man do i love flying that skypilot. 3 weeks ago i took it to my friends house and flew it in the park near his home. Got in about four great flights. Did a few touch and go'es. Then we moved to the grassy area. The grass was to big for a rolling takeoff. So we hand launched. NO problems there just on the landings it flipped almost every time i would land. Then charged up the battery again and was flying again. This time i was doing a right turn when all of a sudden the right wing just bent and the airplane went spiraling down into the concrete. That was the end. Managed to save all the electronics except for the engine. Now getting the ARF version and can't wait to be flying again.

RE: Maiden Voyage (total newbie, firebird freedom, 70 foot cotton wood tree)
 

Yes definitely trimmed In accordance owners manual--crashed hard right first toss--rechecked trim on xmitter and rig on both tails-lined up perfectly. --second toss hard right crash same as first-

Hey--the good news is I NEVER hit a tree!:D

The other plane was setup and trimmed exactly the same way. Dont know why the engine and electronics cut off at will. I did find motor wires and antenna wire in the servo mechanisms. Why does Hobbyzone not use zipties in the fuselage to prevent this??

Thanks for your inputs--I will speak with hobbyzone tomorrow.