nicks75

After watching alot of crash videos trying to learn the mistakes of others Inoticed that with alot of them seeming like pretty hard crashes the damages didn't seem as bad as I would expect with most common damages coming to the blades, feathering shaft, flybar, tail boom and main gear.

Just out of curiosity what would you say has been the average cost of repairs of your crashes and what was the biggest cost of damage to your heli from a crash. Also has anyone ever had to scrap your enitre heli from too much damage to a crash?

JimboGreek

My Feedback: (7)

Haven't had a major crash yet, got plenty of practice on Sim first. Had to replace blades, rotor shaft and feathering shaft once, after a blade strike practicing autorotations. Maybe have 150 flights total on Blade 400. I only do minor aerobatics tho.

DreamHeliProducts

My most expensive crash cost over $700, but that was almost 20 years ago. But, keep it in perspective, that was when a good heli cost $1,200 & still didn't come with the motor or radio gear. Let's see, current average cost....  I've been flying for a while & only seem to break stuff if I'm hot-dogging it or testing something, but I'd have to say average cost now would be $25.

flyinbr

That's a hard question to ask because it depends what you fly most of the time.

Rafael23cc

My Feedback: (6)

Asking for crash costs without putting into perspective the size of the helicopter is going to give you a lot of usless information. If you ask for crash costs based on helicopter size it would make much more sense.

I've had crashes as cheap ar $20 with a Trex 450, and as expensive as $400 with a blinged out Raptor 90. I have not had to scrap a complete heli just yet. I've given up on older helis that were not economical or popular enough to keep around.


Those are the parts that get damaged the most. Do not forget tail gears and torque tube if your heli is equipped with one. I would add main shaft, and landing gear to that list.

Rafael

bikemad

I feel like I know quite a bit about this, I run a cheap to repair 400's and 450's the one I use now is a copterx 450 black angel, my worst crash cost me three servos and about 50 pounds to fix my heli and a new battery total for crash 150 pounds, I replaces the servos for metal geared hitec's that cost 80 pounds and so far they have lasted 3 years and many crash's and are the best thing since sliced bread, they have saved many times what they are worth, that was 3 years ago on a walkera 60B, it was the servos that made it cost so much, up grading from the plastic ones, and is the only crash to cost anywhere near that much, now I run a better heli with the same good servos, my normal crash cost's about 15 pounds with the worst crash with my black angel costing 50 pounds plus a battery, it was the worst crash made even worse by not shutting of the throttle, it came down from 100 feet and hit concrete very hard but not before hitting a metal railing which really didn't help, even on the rebound I still had it in IDLE 2, I was still learning and had just started to use IDLE programs, hitting the kill switch as soon as I lost it was not programed in to my head back then,
Now it is it mean's most crash's cost 15 pounds and need main shaft, blades, a repair on the skids plus fly bar or replace if it's a bad crash, may be a flight bar, tail booms are ok most of the time, I use a ball link a crash, a new canopy costs quite a bit for my heli, 14 pounds so I repair the old one most of the time,
there is something else that goes but it's not the same bit like the blades etc., it could be a rear blade a paddle or anything but it works out about 15 pounds for most crash's now, an expensive one would cost between 25 to 35 pounds, I don't get many that cost that much, and I keep a load of spares so it's no problem when I do crash and I don't have to pay over the top price just to get flying quickly, I probably have enough spares to last two years,
I have just got a 550 size heli and wow that take's it to a new level as far as price for spares, it leant over, not crashed just leant over and the blades touched down on the concrete, 45 pounds for new FBL blades, I buy a pack of 10 blades for 450 for 15 pounds, thats 3 pounds a set,

gnd2

Average $30 or so for 450. Worst was when I broke the motor and had to replace it (in addition to the usual blades, shafts etc). Haven't crashed the 600 yet, knock on wood...

trickdriller

I crashed my 120 sr once and broke the tail fin. Total cost: $4. I also crashed a Blade CP the first time I flew it. Broke the blades. Total cost: $10. But I imagine that those estimates aren't typical. I have just been lucky

nicks75

That is a valid point, though I was only posting the question just to hear the averages and biggest costs in general not to a specific size or type, I wasn't looking for a particular model or anything, though I could have specified that.

rotor09

OK, going on that - I fly everything from small indoor CX machines to big gasoline powered 3D and scale helis and logged a bit more then 300 flights last year, my average cost for 3 crashes was $156.00 (two where less then $18.00 each)

Solman

For my 450 size heli's, my average repair cost is usually between $60 -$170.  My last one was cheap around $25 when my pinion gear set screw failed and had to auto it down.  Heck a set of landing struts for my 450 Pro is $10 alone.

bikemad

[quote] ORIGINAL: rotor09
OK, going on that - I fly everything from small indoor CX machines to big gasoline powered 3D and scale helis and logged a bit more then 300 flights last year, my average cost for 3 crashes was $156.00 (two where less then $18.00 each)

that's two at $18 = 36 156x3= 468 - 36 = 432 wow that big one cost a lot,
Big heli's are big bucks, I don't under stand why, I have a trex 550e 3G which I've had to buy new blades for and have been looking as spares, I keep all the spares I'll need for my 450 size heli and was thinking of doing the same with my 550, lol that's the best joke I've thought of, most parts aren't to bad more or less what you would think, not all some parts are a joke, blades and canopy are a real joke, I think one person thought of a number and the next doubled it then four more did the same, a over hundred pounds for the two most likely parts to brake in a crash, and every crash, it's taking the piss, and they wonder why every one buys a 450, you can buy a 450 for less than a set of blades for a large heli,
I like my 550 but come on, 70 pounds for a set of edge blades or the cheapest FBL blades still cost 45 pounds, it's think of a number etc, and that bit of plastic we call a canopy would cost less if it was made from sliver, it just as bad as the blades for price, all the other parts I've found the price for isn't that bad and when you think there made more accurately than a canopy and make for metal they look like the price is about right,
It makes you learn on a 450 and move up to a larger heli when you can fly which is the opposite way round to how it should be, the larger the heli the easier it is to fly, we have to do it the hard way,
450 is the only way to go, make it top of the line with making it your self from the best bit's, it won't cost much less to buy than a large heli but the running cost's are much less and the radio and receiver will move up to the bigger one when you can fly and your keep the small one for the dangerous tricks when you get good at sport flying,

rotor09

[quote]ORIGINAL: bikemad



[size=2]Yep $432.00. In a hard, full power, side on crash with a 90 nitro, the parts cost can add up pretty fast - specially when it takes out a set of top brand mainblades and a Hatori muffler system that will total almost $300.00 just for them. Of course I have had crashes with the same heli that only cost me the price of a landing gear strut and tail boom (about $25.00).

My point was that the average cost of a crash will depend a lot on what heli is involved. So without the question being more specific, the figures can be misleading, as I could have just said my average for this year was $156.00.

As for size, I find it a lot easier to keep a good 550 sized electric oriented through any kind of training from hover through any 3D maneuvers. Ditto for crashes resulting from component failures, which I found to be much more common on my 450s. So though the cost of parts may be a bit more for my Swift (a 550 sized electric) then on my T450"s, over a flying season, I will crash the Swift a lot less, and advance much faster, having spent far less time repairing from crashes and paying for them.

Goggles

My Feedback: (4)

Raptor 50 Titan, my last crash I totaled out my airframe but all the electronics/engine/muffler survived. I was going to buy a new kit but found a used Titan 50 SE for $200 (airframe only) so I got a nice upgrade with my crash. Crash before that was about $120 including new cf blades, so there's an average repair cost for my 50 sized heli.

acdii

What would $300 in 1987 dollars equate to today?  That's about what it cost me when I totaled my Cricket.  Before it blew itself apart, the blades were costing roughly $20 a pair, 1987 costs. I must have gone through a dozen sets before I finally got the hang of the thing, then it went boom in a wind gust.   Today I fly the m series blades, and so far my repairs have been under $20. Replaced the inner shaft, and upper blades on my mCX, no repairs yet on the mSR.  Ask me again this spring when I get the SR outside and start to fly that one.