Hi everyone.

Had a bad incident today.. flying one of my (thank god!) small 3d models today, I did a stall turn, perhaps 60 feet up, just after which the model started rolling very quickly towards terra firma.

You can tell what's next.. model hits floor... luckily not too hard, damage isn't bad and it needed overhauling anyway.

Everything worked apart from the ailerons, which were locked into 140% in each direction (giving a left roll)... the stick did nothing but the dual rate switches still worked.

Inside the tx it was evident that a wire had snapped just to below the right hand stick assembly. This was in a Futaba 9CAP (FF9) so i won't go into much detail as it will be useless to msot people, but basically it seemed that when the vertical axis on that stick is moved this stressed the wires for the horizontal workings, obviously leading to the above.

My tx is about 20months old now, it's been reasonably well looked after, never any serious drops, a few knocks including one recently, but very well used indeed and not in bad condition yet.

If your tx is in similar state, take it apart and check it all out for binding and all that inside.. it could save a model or a life.

Thanks for reading

www.3drc.info

Whoa... Just got a brand new one today to repalce my stolen one, I'll definately take it apart tonight to check those wires [X(]

ME TOO

It's gotta be good practise.. we just take it for granted that everything's been checked and often things work lose.

is this the only problem that you have had cos i am waiting for mine to arrive at the LMS

Gee man im sorry to hear your loss. Futaba should be taking care of you and getitng you all new stuff!!!

SOrry bro

Dan

If you look inside your transmitter case you may not see any obvious binding and you will close the case thinking everything is fine. On closer inspection you may find, just as I did, that in some transmitters the wire bundles connected to the sticks are cut too short by the manufacturer and do not provide adequate strain relief. At least one wire will eventually fail due to low cycle fatigue (bending it back and forth). Sometimes the wires may not be properly restrained (clamped) and suffer the same type of failure.
It sounds like the Futaba 9C is not exempt from this old problem.

I have heard of similar things before. The gimbles are moving parts, fatigue can build up over time. I would imagine that 3D flying would accelerate this as we fly with the sticks in the corners more than most people.

Certainly worth checking once a year at least - a simple check that could save a model.

Peter: I've never had any other problems before this, there are about 15 in my club, only 1 other has had a problem, nothing that would damage the model though.

I have had mine fixed now and the wiring has been put back slightly different eleminiating a switch and a clip which i think was causing more stress...taking the wires out of the clip basically leaves the wires a little longer.

Seey'all

Jeeze, luckly no one got hurt

I was getting ready to take off on my 2nd or 3rd flight of the day today, when my throttle servo went crazy. I thought it was the engine at first, but you could see the throttle arm moving without moving the sticks.

I thought it was a bad servo and flew my other plane without problems. It is my OMP .40 Edge and I was hovering pretty low for most of the flight.

When I got home I swapped out the servo, but the problem continued.

I swapped the rcvr (and channel - it is a synth Futaba 9Z), no change.

Then I went to the SERVO function on the radio (where you can look at the servo functions - there is a similar function on a 9C). The throttle "servo" was moving all over the place when I wasn't touching the sticks.

Interestingly, it only seems to happen on MODEL 8 - my Laser 3D. The TX is two and a half years old, and I did drop it on concrete about six months ago, but it has worked well since then in fairly heavy use.

I consider myself lucky to have my planes intact, and I'm sending the radio in for service Monday.

I think it underscores the need for being careful, and preflighting the plane EVERY time before you take off. This is particularly important with big planes, but even .40 size planes can do serious damage. These days, no field in the country is more than one serious accident away from being closed, not to mention the risk of hurting someone.

Leonard

PS the pic is me, flying on this radio AFTER the problems started

WOW I just received (From my wife bless her heart) A new 9C. I have taken for granted the reliability of these transmitters because the mfg does an incredible job of making VERY reliable equipment. I have never had a single problem with any of my transmitters all the way down to the cheap 4 channels when I started.

I will at least keep this in the back of my mind.

Sorry to hear about the loss of your airplane. I am curious to see if this is an isolated incident or should I check my transmitter before summer hits and the 3D flying gets heavy !!

I don't think you need to worry.. just check the wiring loom every so often, id say 6 months to be very safe, and following this i would also say check them if you have a drop.

Yo,

Be careful opening it up...you may violate the warranty.

Mougly

Anything like this ever happen to a JR 8103?

blimey Nathan you were lucky it wasnt something bigger and more expensive.

My FF9 is about 18 months old, I'll be taking the back off and checking it tonight !