possible 607 issue or what else?
06-30-2008, 10:02 PM
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possible 607 issue or what else?
Might get deleted but I am gonna post it anyways because I am angry and if there are any possible answers to the "what happened?" I think this is the best place. Also this is not a flame or huge complaint but more of a what the heck happened. Also in the following story everything in the receiver install guidelines were followed to a T.
Well my edge II story ends before it even started. Also considering this story to say I am a bit upset would be an understatement.
This story begins roughly 3 years ago when I was considering buying one of these BME edges. I bit the bullet in December of 2005 and bought it all while I was over in Iraq because the summer before I fell in love with giant scale planes when I got my first taste of 27% and up size gas airframes. I bought everything for it in anticipation for my return home so that I would not have to wait on any of the items when I started to work on it. Now there I sit very patiently for another year.
In that time my wife gets pregnant and I have a kid which put the airplane on the back burner until 2008. I started work on the plane little by little in about March 2008 and had the plane finished in May. I had it all set up on my old 72 Mhz system which I had already had the stuff for when the wife surprised me with a fancy 12FG 2.4 Ghz radio. After using this radio on some of my large and mid sized electrics I thought this thing would be far superior to my 9C so I switched out to a 607 receiver and away I went. I set the radio up with all the base functions I needed (rates, expo, ect...). Ground checked it so many times at my home with and without the engine running and I has zero problems. This was early June.
Mid June I made the switch to A123 cells which I have been reading so much about people doing with great results. No regulators was the thing that sold me so I had one less point of failure.
All the packs were fully charged up and ready to roll yesterday night.
Weather looked good today so I took off just a tad bit early from work to load up and take it to the field for the maiden flight.
Batteries: check
Fuel: check
xmitter: check
All bolts hardware/linkages checked and rechecked: check
Range check on lower power in several orientations: check (range check exceeded 90 yards on low power)
C.G. : check
All this which I would normally check is done. Now for the engine start up and lets go fly it.
I primed it up and the DA-50 was running well. I passed off my remove before flight items to a buddy watching me then proceeded to do a couple of engine and control checks which went perfect.
Move the plane out onto the taxiway and called "COMING OUT!!" and heard the other guy flying at the time call clear. I then taxied out to the main runway excited to get this done after the long wait. I taxied around for a bit checking the rudder and the ground handling which was spot on. I then ever so slowly pushed the throttle up and watched as she tracked just about perfect down the center of the runway.
Tail is up now. Slight back pressure and off she goes. I notice the plane doing an ever so slight left roll which was no biggie on a first flight. she was climbing out just perfect. I didnt rocket it up or anything just a very scale take off that I would have been proud of had I been in a competition. This silly thing is still slightly rolling left and not stopping and still slightly climbing. I now have full right ailerons in place and the plane is still rolling left. I try the rudder and nothing!! This is getting dire now because the left roll is causing the plane to go behind the pits and turn back towards us. It was at this point I realized that I did not have control of my airplane and it was coming right back at us behind the pits right towards the cars packed there. I yelled "LOOK OUT EVERYONE!" which they were already aware something was wrong and moved. The left roll kept on and was now to the point where there was not enough lift to keep it level so it began the slow dive of death.
I watched in horror and did everything I could to keep from cursing and losing control as this plane was going into the dirt. By this time I had pulled the throttle all the way back and nothing happened. It almost appeared to me that it was in failsafe because the throttle went down to a blip above idle.
To the best of my knowledge I did not regain any control of the airplane until it was about 5-6 feet off the ground and the only reason I knew this is because I was able to hear it go to idle and try and cut right before it hit the ground at about a 45 degree nose down and left wing down angle.
I now have a $600 pile of toothpicks because there is no recovery for this airframe. I also now run the possibility of a shot DA-50.
The only thing between the receiver and me was covering. No wood, metal or carbon spar was in the way the whole time considering the orientation of the plane during the whole process. The airplane still had power going to the receiver and this was evident right before it hit. This whole process of crashing likely took about 15-20 seconds and in that time I did everything I could to re-establish a connection with the airplane. I held the xmitter up and changed orientation several times while the airplane was still in a saveable condition to no avail.
The airplane hit so hard that the safety straps for the batteries and connectors tore off or broke. The velcro on the straps did not fail if that gives you an indication of the way it hit. (I had one strap and zip ties on each battery plus zip ties or safety connectors on the electrical connections.)
Upon picking up the $1200 trash pile I now had sitting in front of me I gave what was left of the airplane a test and everything still worked when I plugged the batteries back in (Since they had been ripped out on impact).
Its so hard to know exactly what caused the crash but in my little bit of investigation I think I either had signal issues or some type of receiver failure once it got off the ground. This is the only 607 receiver I have so I cannot compare it but I have had zero issues with my 617s. I have had planes with giant battery packs and more covering in the way by far and still had total control of my plane even when its been specced out and this plane was 50 feet away when I lost control with an antenna orientated right at me.
I dont know what I did wrong but I am very, very upset by this now and am ready to throw the 2.4 Ghz in the trash. Even though the cause may have been something totally unknown to me I still think there might be an issue with the 607 I had and I am fully under the impression that had I had a 617 in there this would not have happened.
Enough of my long venting to you but I am really angry about this because I dont think there was anything I could have done better. Had I been doing rolling harriers 2 feet off the runway and crashed it I would have been fine with this crash and not mad at all because its totally my fault but I dont believe this was my fault.
Long time in waiting for nothing,
Harry
Well my edge II story ends before it even started. Also considering this story to say I am a bit upset would be an understatement.
This story begins roughly 3 years ago when I was considering buying one of these BME edges. I bit the bullet in December of 2005 and bought it all while I was over in Iraq because the summer before I fell in love with giant scale planes when I got my first taste of 27% and up size gas airframes. I bought everything for it in anticipation for my return home so that I would not have to wait on any of the items when I started to work on it. Now there I sit very patiently for another year.
In that time my wife gets pregnant and I have a kid which put the airplane on the back burner until 2008. I started work on the plane little by little in about March 2008 and had the plane finished in May. I had it all set up on my old 72 Mhz system which I had already had the stuff for when the wife surprised me with a fancy 12FG 2.4 Ghz radio. After using this radio on some of my large and mid sized electrics I thought this thing would be far superior to my 9C so I switched out to a 607 receiver and away I went. I set the radio up with all the base functions I needed (rates, expo, ect...). Ground checked it so many times at my home with and without the engine running and I has zero problems. This was early June.
Mid June I made the switch to A123 cells which I have been reading so much about people doing with great results. No regulators was the thing that sold me so I had one less point of failure.
All the packs were fully charged up and ready to roll yesterday night.
Weather looked good today so I took off just a tad bit early from work to load up and take it to the field for the maiden flight.
Batteries: check
Fuel: check
xmitter: check
All bolts hardware/linkages checked and rechecked: check
Range check on lower power in several orientations: check (range check exceeded 90 yards on low power)
C.G. : check
All this which I would normally check is done. Now for the engine start up and lets go fly it.
I primed it up and the DA-50 was running well. I passed off my remove before flight items to a buddy watching me then proceeded to do a couple of engine and control checks which went perfect.
Move the plane out onto the taxiway and called "COMING OUT!!" and heard the other guy flying at the time call clear. I then taxied out to the main runway excited to get this done after the long wait. I taxied around for a bit checking the rudder and the ground handling which was spot on. I then ever so slowly pushed the throttle up and watched as she tracked just about perfect down the center of the runway.
Tail is up now. Slight back pressure and off she goes. I notice the plane doing an ever so slight left roll which was no biggie on a first flight. she was climbing out just perfect. I didnt rocket it up or anything just a very scale take off that I would have been proud of had I been in a competition. This silly thing is still slightly rolling left and not stopping and still slightly climbing. I now have full right ailerons in place and the plane is still rolling left. I try the rudder and nothing!! This is getting dire now because the left roll is causing the plane to go behind the pits and turn back towards us. It was at this point I realized that I did not have control of my airplane and it was coming right back at us behind the pits right towards the cars packed there. I yelled "LOOK OUT EVERYONE!" which they were already aware something was wrong and moved. The left roll kept on and was now to the point where there was not enough lift to keep it level so it began the slow dive of death.
I watched in horror and did everything I could to keep from cursing and losing control as this plane was going into the dirt. By this time I had pulled the throttle all the way back and nothing happened. It almost appeared to me that it was in failsafe because the throttle went down to a blip above idle.
To the best of my knowledge I did not regain any control of the airplane until it was about 5-6 feet off the ground and the only reason I knew this is because I was able to hear it go to idle and try and cut right before it hit the ground at about a 45 degree nose down and left wing down angle.
I now have a $600 pile of toothpicks because there is no recovery for this airframe. I also now run the possibility of a shot DA-50.
The only thing between the receiver and me was covering. No wood, metal or carbon spar was in the way the whole time considering the orientation of the plane during the whole process. The airplane still had power going to the receiver and this was evident right before it hit. This whole process of crashing likely took about 15-20 seconds and in that time I did everything I could to re-establish a connection with the airplane. I held the xmitter up and changed orientation several times while the airplane was still in a saveable condition to no avail.
The airplane hit so hard that the safety straps for the batteries and connectors tore off or broke. The velcro on the straps did not fail if that gives you an indication of the way it hit. (I had one strap and zip ties on each battery plus zip ties or safety connectors on the electrical connections.)
Upon picking up the $1200 trash pile I now had sitting in front of me I gave what was left of the airplane a test and everything still worked when I plugged the batteries back in (Since they had been ripped out on impact).
Its so hard to know exactly what caused the crash but in my little bit of investigation I think I either had signal issues or some type of receiver failure once it got off the ground. This is the only 607 receiver I have so I cannot compare it but I have had zero issues with my 617s. I have had planes with giant battery packs and more covering in the way by far and still had total control of my plane even when its been specced out and this plane was 50 feet away when I lost control with an antenna orientated right at me.
I dont know what I did wrong but I am very, very upset by this now and am ready to throw the 2.4 Ghz in the trash. Even though the cause may have been something totally unknown to me I still think there might be an issue with the 607 I had and I am fully under the impression that had I had a 617 in there this would not have happened.
Enough of my long venting to you but I am really angry about this because I dont think there was anything I could have done better. Had I been doing rolling harriers 2 feet off the runway and crashed it I would have been fine with this crash and not mad at all because its totally my fault but I dont believe this was my fault.
Long time in waiting for nothing,
Harry
07-01-2008, 02:16 PM
#2
My Feedback: (11)
RE: possible 607 issue or what else?
There's no way to determine what caused your model's crash. There are just too many possibilities. It does sound like the system just stopped working completely, which would lead us to believe that possibly something in the battery packs/switch harness was the culprit.
While crashes can be traumatic, the do happen. Finding the cause can be quite the project, and usually ends in admitting you had a crash but don't know why. Having the electronics checked after such a severe crash will not necessarily tell you what failed. If they're not operating, the damage could be caused by the impact, and not something that caused the impact. Again, impossible to know.
We'll be glad to examine the equipment to see what can be found, but we'll only be able to tell you what exists now, post crash.
While crashes can be traumatic, the do happen. Finding the cause can be quite the project, and usually ends in admitting you had a crash but don't know why. Having the electronics checked after such a severe crash will not necessarily tell you what failed. If they're not operating, the damage could be caused by the impact, and not something that caused the impact. Again, impossible to know.
We'll be glad to examine the equipment to see what can be found, but we'll only be able to tell you what exists now, post crash.
