Scott Ellingson

My Feedback: (146)

You and me both. I am about Yaked and Extra'd out. I like them both, but I have a thing for an Edge. I love the look of that strait leading edge. There is just somthing about that plane.

Bosshossv8

My Feedback: (10)

The Original 100cc EF Yak Proto was 107". This one is ONLY 104". But , if it is the same design , just a Supersized 88.5 , then it must present larger than the other. Can't wait to see it. Can't wait to weigh it, touch it, feel it. Sorry, I am getting carried away.....


Gotta go fly the Smokin' Bumblebee. ...

Rockyaged

I have both the 88" Yak and the Aeroworks 100 CC 260. You need to take another look. The Yak is about
90% of the 260.

Gerald

chipwill

My Feedback: (12)

Well, it was fun while it lasted.

My Yak didn't make it a week.

Was flying on flight number 11 yesterday and doing a vertical climb, with a negative push over the top, the plane stopped responding and dove in from about 300 feet.

I was flying with a DX7 and up until then, I had never had a problem with it, on this plane or any other. I had no control on any axis and the throttle was at idle, but I had throttled down already so I dont know if it went into failsafe or not.

I had two fresh batteries (2400 Lipolys) going into a Smart Fly Batt Share, then thru a MPI regulator, to the Rx. Was the first flight of the day, about 8 minutes into it. All was fine until then.

I am not going to try and blame anything other than, stuff happens, but I doubt I will be using a DX 7 again anytime soon. Again, not saying this is the point of failure, but u know, with pcm I never had more than a 1 second lockout ever, and that was caused by lose stabilizer leads in my old EF yak. The whole reboot time thing has got me spooked on the Spektrum.

The motor doesnt seem too bad, but I will send it in to Scott Ellingson to have it repaired/inspected. The servos look like they survived, cept the throttle. The ignition, all batteries, and regulators are toast. Guess I will see if I can get one in the new shipment!

I have a 9 channel pcm rx sitting here too...

Anyone want a cheap Dx7 transmitter?

jrjohn

My Feedback: (24)

I'd be looking at the MPI regulator.

Bosshossv8

My Feedback: (10)

The whole power loss re-boot Spektrum thing seems to rear it's ugly head.

Sorry Chip. I had butterflies when deciding to between the Spektrum and my tried and true JR 9303 on S649 PCM 50mhz setup.

I tried the DX7 in the EF Reject, and so far, with a Fromeco setup no re-boots... but, I never had the "willies" (no pun intended, Chip) as much as I did when flying it the first few times.

No one will snicker if you go back to PCM, believe me. I love this plane too much to NOT use what has been rock solid in other planes.

Let me be the first to ask, Chip.....

Right after the crash, as painful as it was, did you KNOW you were going to have another, right then??...... that is the mark with me after a crash. If you KNOW you are going to have a another, and not move on to another plane, it IS the one.

Sorry about the bird, man.

Post a pretty pic of her.....I hope it did not get on video....that is the worst. I wish my worst was not on video....I could have gotten over it a lot faster.

Scott Ellingson

My Feedback: (146)

Chip,

Send her over, I will check it out for you. The way we have the engine designed, it takes crashes very well with minimal real damage. The prop hub and the standoff mount are designed to take the brunt, saving the crank and crankcase.

I know I for one wil not use a Spetrum. I have had a few customers have the same thing happen. Also people they know had it happen. My LHS has had a few of the radios come back because they lose thier lock on the reciever all the time. These are in glow planes. IMO that radio is not quite ready for primetime.

Sorry to hear about the crash. They are never fun, but the bigger the plane, the more they hurt the pocket book.

krayzc-RCU

My Feedback: (31)

bummer chipwill there are quite a few post here and there of stuff going in with the new system (radio)


great vid on u tube u and the plane are as one yeah baby!

jrjohn

My Feedback: (24)

How can you blame it on the DX-7 so quickly? Batterries could have failed, or the regulator. Even a good PCM reciever will fail if it doesn't have power to it

John

Bosshossv8

My Feedback: (10)

You can;t really, but the power requirements, and how sensitive it is to voltage drop , is well documented. Who knows, maybe a PCM would have failed, too.

An MPI regulator would never be closer than ten feet to one of MY airplanes. But, that is just me, I am a Fromeco customer forever.

It sucks no matter what.

This hobby has it's bad days...as much as I like this plane, I fear ,it too, may be short lived. I love disrespecting it. I got this vision of it exploding in midair during a violent tumble into a KE spin.......I can;t believe I have yet to even loosen it up a bit....

jrjohn

My Feedback: (24)

whos even saying the plane went into lockout. It may have just completly lost power and never came back. I would not let a MPI regulator within 120 feet plus 2 of my plane. If he had the engine set to idle in failsafe, and he told us the plane went to idle when he lost control, well..... then you have something to work from. However he says the plane was already at Idle I believe.

Josey Wales

My Feedback: (61)

Sorry for the loss..I hate to hear about stuff like that...
When I used Fromeco's I ran dual regs/packs/switches for this very reason....most people say its overkill for this sized plane but IMO its not...IF the single reg fails, your toast....I want to be covered as much as possible..even though its not a 35-40% plane its still a pretty big investment...I was getting ready to try a 2.4 system so Im hoping we can blame this on something other than the Spectrum....

Bright side is the next Yak shipment is due in by the end of the week I think! Scott will get you fixed up quick..

Maudib

My Feedback: (51)

Chip... what can I say but awe man... really sorry to hear it...

I'm going to have to join the anti MPI guys... the new MPI regs are the "old" PowerFlite regs and are certainly better than the shrink wrapped type (same still used on the miracle switch) but they are still somewhat limited... especaillyw ith their single RC connector for power. (3-3.5amp before voltage drop)

The switch is always a suspect too... which is why I won't use anything but a failsafe option where the mechanical switch only acts as a shunt... if it fails, it fails open and the reg remains on.

I doubt seriously that with dual lipos on a battshare that you had power issues... but pass the reg or switch a distinct possibility. They may work perfectly fine now even... but a switch that didn't "click" all the way over could have vibrated back to off... or the reg dropped under draw...

It's even possible that the battshare "contributed" to the issue by switching to the higher pack at the same time the draw was great... dunno... but it's new tech and may or not play well with other solutions. It's possible it contributed to a hard reset of the receiver...

Again... MAJOR sorry for the loss...

diamondave

My Feedback: (29)

bummer indeed, i agree with mpi negatives, but mine was a swicth that went bad, not a regulator, after inspection post crash, the back of the switch was shoddy workmanship at best, cold solder joints, 2 wires off, my guess is at least one came off in flight which caused the crash, but you could barley tell where it was supposed to be soldered, i think i am going to be a fromenco person from now on, although it still seems odd that there is no case with these fromenco's, but you can see the work up close and it looks very nice....

diamondave

My Feedback: (29)

i love the yak, not too big on the extra, i like my 300e, but wasnt overly impressed with the comp arf i had, this yak and a nice edge would be a good set of planes, i was eyeing up the bme(pu somthing now) edge, that looks kinda nice, almost nice enough to make me part with the 80 i have and get another 60cc, but i bet if the ef edge comes out it would seal the deal... zdz 80 for sale... unless chris goes with a 80cc size, then i am halfway there

Absolut Yak

My Feedback: (4)

Had radio issues with my DX-7 yesterday and slammed my Yak in as well. Flight number 11, also, I might add. Nothing unusual prior to takeoff. Did a nice departure, a quick half roll, pause, another half roll to upright and noticed the plane twitched uncommanded in the roll axis. Brought the plane around and landed it. Did a range check with the bind button pushed and got about 200 feet before anything happened when I shadowed the signal with my body. Decided to partially bend the antenna to change the transmission signal a bit due to the position and attitude of the plane when this happened. I had been flying directly away from the long axis of the transmitter where the signal is the weakest when this twitching happened.

Took back off and started doing normal flight with quick taps of the aileron doing about 20 degree axis changes. No issues. Was flying about 400 feet out and did a 1/3 stick right roll and the plane would not stop rolling. Throttle was already just a couple of clicks above idle, so I can't address that. Anyway, no control at about 100 feet. I "mashed" everything every which way and briefly had full throttle, then no throttle. I pulled throttle all the way back and grabbed full up elevator and neutral ailerons and rudder. Something kicked back in for a moment and the plane went into an elevator wings level. My memory doesn't recall whether the plane stayed in this attitude until impact or if it was briefly in it from about 15 feet to 5 feet and then lost the pitch authority. I recollect it hitting slightly nose down. My wife says I hit dead level. The difference in story would mean radio failsafe to neutral elevators vs. having control and full up elevator right up to impact. Throttle would have saved me in that case. I don't think I had control, though.

Ripped the firewall right off the plane. Crunched up the cowl pretty good, but I reglass it fairly easily. Minor damage to the wing saddle, but some of that transmitted up from the gear plate. There is damage to the gear area, but I haven't taken the time to do a full autopsy yet. The gear bent, but stayed on the plane. It did not rip out. No damage to the wings or rest of the fuse, near as I can tell.

When I walked up to the plane, the left aileron was drooping. I forgot to look to see if it was still plugged in. The right aileron, both elevators and rudder were operating normally. The throttle servo arm broke when the motor came off. Voltage was 8.05 from the TBM 4800 pack for the receiver and was 7.85 volts under load. MPI regulator failsafe switches. I have 5955's on all flight surfaces and had a 5625 on the throttle. This is the same setup, except for the receiver I had in my Aeroworks Yak for 90 flights.

My mind says it was a radio issue. The uncommanded roll twitches makes me believe this. There was no extended period initially without control making me think the receiver rebooted. I can't rule out some sort of external interference, but I can't explain how anything but a massive transmission from a ground radio would have had an effect. But then why not neutral failsafe only? I really should have kept the plane down when I landed the first time, but I couldn't think of a way to trouble shoot this on the ground and the only thing was the twitching. As I think about it now, it feels like a range issue. The bind/range test was very good, but only half the distance I originally used and the original test had no indications I was even close to approaching the range limit. In no way was I drawing too much current through the receiver. The only servos with any load were the ailerons and they were only deflected maybe 15%.

These radios were in full force at Joe Nall. I flew this plane there and flew well past the range where this happened to me. I flew this plane at the same field last week and nothing showed. The plane is definitely repairable with a new motor box being required. I will send the whole radio back for inspection, but I have to tell you I am gunshy about flying it again. I don't have a plane I am willing to put the radio in when I get it back. I have a small electrified glider I don't care much about, but the radio could completely shut off and I might not notice. I've never known to have a problem with MPI switches, but I'll switch as a precaution. If I do go back to flying this setup, I'm binding the radio with full up elvator, neutral rudder and aileron and idle throttle. I have played with the plane in all attitudes while going to these stick settings and, when given enough altitude, which ain't much, the plane will roll wings level and simply descend flat. Obviously a failsafe moment inverted, high speed at five feet will have different results.

Okay. It was a long post and I don't have the answers. Just thought I would comiserate with chipwill. I'll post a follow up to this when I know something.

Bosshossv8

My Feedback: (10)

dJ,

Sorry, man. I too landed flat on my take-off to hover deadstick, tailslide and pancake. My gear was toast, and the gear plates and stringers needed love and attention. One wing socket was beat up a bit by the "push-up" of the gear angle plate.

When you repair the sockets, make sure to dry fit the wings and pencil mark the sheeting position, don't just go by the old glue marks. I had to readjust my right socket after the repair....it was a little too tight.

Glad to hear it is repairable.

Man, I had a cold sweat dream about putting the DX7 in this plane the night before maiden, I stuck with my 9303 on 50mhz, I am glad, glad,glad.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The MPI stuff is fine for the glow planes , but I use a the premium stuff on the gassers. I have a friend who works at MPI and even he understands. It is just that a different level of technical perfection is strived for in these planes.

Josey Wales

My Feedback: (61)

well Im thinking Ill be sticking to 72mhz for awhile[&:]

Bosshossv8

My Feedback: (10)

Josey, I still use my DX7 on a YS110 powered glow plane, and all my foamies. I am sure that of all the "DX7" related crashes , most can be traced to something preventable. But, superstition is very powerful, and very prevalent in this hobby.

Heck, we got guys that pack up after 2 crashes at the field, becasue they don;t want to be the third...[&:][&:] I am guilty of that one.

Or, if someone left their card in a freq slot overnite , no one will use that freq unitl the guy is contacted , just to make sure he isn't in the parking lot across the street. Superstition, or paranoia....a fine line, I quess.

I don;t get as "Spooked" as I used to, but if the hair on the back of my neck is standing up, I let the other guys take their turn first.....
[&:][&:]


Josey, find Volunteer Examiner in your local Amatuer Radio club, and get to 50mhz. We have more than a few gasser flyers on it here. At least that keeps the " Build and Fly in 20 minutes" trainer newbies from shooting you down.

krayzc-RCU

My Feedback: (31)

djccrn
bummer on that deal. I am glad she will fly again with your reapairs....

jrjohn

My Feedback: (24)

Again with the MPI regulator. Humm... I've also had some of the cheaper Hitec servo's lock up. 5645 is what I consider a cheaper servo. How many reciever batteries are you using?. what are they? If only one, is there two leads going to the reciever from your MPI reg, or only one? If you guys are using one reciever battery, I'd suggest using the SmartFly HD regulator with failsafe switch. Never had a problem with SmartFly stuff. Deans connectors from the battery to the regulator, Two power imputs for the reciever, and a failsafe switch.



John

yarom

My Feedback: (82)

Sorry to hear about this.

I had a crash last week with a DX7 as well. I was high and deadstick with a BME Extra and somehow lost all radio control when I tried to bring the plane back in. Need new fuse, cowl, wing, canister, header, throttle servo. All other parts were sent for revision

Radio seemed to operate OK in the wreck so I have no idea what happened, other than a total freeze...

I am still undecided if I keep working with the DX7 and DX9 or go back to PCM synth...

Richard D Bahmann aka/Wrongway

My Feedback: (42)

I am of the belief that this airframe with the large control surfaces can draw more juice than one might think.

When I fly my single 1950 FAUP on smart fly switch with dual output leads for 7 flights in a row I find that the servos, particularly the rudder servo can gain some warmth. The battery too! I have shot the rudder with the IR temp gun and gotton 40 degrees above ambient temp. (15 degrees on wings and tail) From what I understand, electronics get warm when consuming power.
DISCLAIMER; I do not claim to be an electronics wiz.

Did I read somewhere that some of the DX-7 reboot issues were on power surges?

Hey guys, sorry that you lost yours. (you too Dave) I almost lost mine on a receiver glitch last month and the thought of it would just break my heart. Mine turned out to be a bad solder in the receiver buss.

Boss, I agree with ya. I would get another in an instant.

Richard

Devlish

I'm sorry to hear that others went in too. Lost mine on the 5th flight a couple of weeks ago. Same issues. Complete lock out. Was on PCM with 12Z radio. Running 5955s on all surfaces except throttle. No idea what the cause was. Batteries all read good. Same radio equipment from a ch vision that had over 150 flights with no glitchs of any sort. Sad to see it go but already have the next one on order.

Absolut Yak

My Feedback: (4)

I think I'll put a 5955 on the throttle and run unregulated Lions to the receiver. Just bypass the regulator altogether! More torque, more speed, and one less thing to draw power and fail.

Here are a few pictures. I think I really got away with this one.

Doug