Guys.
We need to get this in context, the sky is NOT falling.
Lets look at what has been reported.
We have a handful of failures in Arizona and one or two others in very hot places.
All of the failures (as far as I can tell) are in large prop aerobatic models with large canopies and the rx’s in the canopy. Other flyers in hot areas such as Florida are flying jets with no issues reported (as far as I know).
Reported failure temps of the RX body is 167 F. 75C.
This is not ambient air temp but the temp the rx has got to by radiant heating through large transparent or semi transparent canopies. Basically the greenhouse effect has cooked the rx. I also wonder if the large curved canopies are acting in some way as a lens and concentrating the suns energy (magnifying glass and paper!)
We also know from work done by a German guy called Jurgen that the temperature rise on an rx from above ambient by its own heat generation is nominally 9F or 5C.
So whatever the ambient temp of the air is we get another 9 of 5 to add to it.
So if the failure temp is 167F/75C without any radiant heating or greenhouse effect the rx can take an ambient temp of 158F or 70C.
Now this is bloody hot! Where in the world does it get to those temps naturally? (And would you be out flying?)
Just looking at the 70C for a moment and put it into context , the highest ever recorded temp on earth was 56.7 °C (134.0 °F) Death Valley, California USA 10 July 1913.
(Ref:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extremes_on_Earth ) remember this is air temp and does not include greenhouse or concentrating effect behind plastic or glass covers.
For most of us in the world a very hot day is to 35C / 95 F if we go to extremes lets say 50C which is 122F we are still nowhere near the required ambient failure temp of 70C 158F. (The highest ever recorded temp in England / UK was 38.5C in 2003).
I did tests myself today on two models, Hawk and L39.
The Hawk has a canopy floor and the RX is about 3 inches below that.
Picture 1 shows the ambient temp today was 29C/84F
I placed the thermocouple on the rx body and recorded only a 1 degree rise in temp (without the rx on) to 30C/86F.
The L39 has an open canopy floor with the rx fitted to the side of the fuselage below what would be the canopy floor, so potentially it is worse than the Hawk.
Pic 2 shows the temp recorded at the rx 31C/87.8F. A rise of 2 C only (without the rx on). It can be seen that the lack of floor and the greenhouse effect has doubled the temp rise. (Very simplistic but you get the point).
So for those of us flying in temperatures up in the 50C/122F area, the first thing to do is remove as much of the radiant heat capture as possible.
Get the rx out of the canopy and under the canopy floor. Consider covering the canopy with a white cloth while standing in the sun.
I agree that some radiant energy will still be present in the cockpit and that in turn will warm the structure etc.etc. But it is not going to get the rx up to the kind of temperatures needed to fail.
We know from posts that Futaba are looking into this, but until they conclude, I see no reason why we should not all continue to fly, most without any changes and some of us with some minor alterations.
For the rest of us not living or flying in these extreme temps I propose that you just go and fly!
I did today, all 3 FASST models (2 Jets and 1 Prop), one with a 14 channel rx, one with and 8 and one with a 6. All performed perfectly as normal and I had a great day.