ORIGINAL: bevar
I have been at the controls of two jets, one of them a twin when the Life batteries failed and the jets were lost (neither jet was mine...just flying them).
I have never flown any kind of plane, heli...name it with Li-Ions and regulators that have failed and gone in, and I was an original PowerFlite pilot back in 2001 and have been flying Li-Ion since then with thousands and thousands of flights logged.
I'll never use Li-FE in my planes.
FWIW...
Beave
Were both of the planes owned by the same person?
What brand of LiFe packs were in the planes that you crashed?
Possible problems...owner not knowledgeable on how to care for LiFe packs...cheap and/or counterfeit packs.
I don't think the age of the packs is a factor in LiFe battery failures...just worn out connectors, or failing solder joints. After 1000+ charges the pack may have served it's useful service life.
I have several A123 packs, and 3 are over 5 years old, and still working perfectly. I guess I have never seen a shelf life expectancy for the A123 or any other brand of LiFe cells.
I have never heard of a LiFe pack crashing a plane. Usually it is the pilots fault.
Greg