Bad day at the field.
Well, it started off well enough. I just finished putting together my brand new avistar with its brand new OS .46 ax engine and decided to maiden it today.
It flew great, much better than the flat bottomed trainer I am used to. In no time at all I was putting her through the basic moves, rolling, looping and then practicing touch and goes. It was a fantastic aircraft.
Then, all of a sudden, during level flight, she pointed her nose straight down, lost all radio control and disappeared into an area of woods. 3 hours of searching until the sun went down and no luck. It is raining and my plane is gone.
This has happened to me before, causing the destruction of my previous aircraft, and I thought it was because I had neglected to fully charge the receiver battery. This time I took no chances and charged the battery for 16 hours.
Other pilots were at the field and none of them noted any interference and none of them were close to my frequency. I can only conclude that my battery pack is faulty, losing its charge and causing servo lock.
This hurts. A lot.
It's not only the financial loss but going from the elation of flying something very well to utter despair.
Well, time to regroup and start again.

Ray