RE: Yellow F22 Build
Well it is with great sadness to inform all of the demise of my great Raptor. Was flying today and during a high speed pass it began a gentle uncommanded climb and roll. I got it to continue the roll to get it away from populated area and as I got the 180 degree turn complete it began a series of left and right rolls that were uncommanded. It then started a continuous roll that was unstoppable. I killed the engine and watched it go straight in from about 500'. There was a huge geyser of fuel when it hit the ground but no fire from the impact. Before we could get to the site, the batteries sparked and started a fire. Luckily it was a cotton field that had not been planted yet.Total loss, absolutely nothing survived. Big bore Rhino will not be economical to repair when you factor in the cost of all the solenoids, pump, ecu and damage repair. I handled it pretty well because no one was hurt, property damaged and such. If I had rolled right it might not have been as fortunate. Inspection of the wreckage (what little there was) showed both aluminum stab control arms damaged. One was broken from the impact and the other the end had melted off. I suspect the pipe failed and toasted all the wires, servo, control arm and all. The pipe was severely damaged by the impact and cant really tell if it failed or not, but the melted aluminum control arm leads me to believe that was what happened. There was no smoke from the airplanein flight to indicate pipe failure but I got the motor shut down pretty quickly. Recommend everyone take look at their pipes. My jet was going on 5 years with 200-250 flights. On to the next project..................