summerwind

look, all we have to go on here is that what you say is the truth, but you haven't really expanded on the details.
you have admitted that the Rx is mount under the canopy, so right there you are saying that your friend ignored all the warnings and suggestions as expressed by Bill Baxter in his advisory..............so what are we discussing here?
your friends ignorance, or Futabas?

what do you expect here.............you tell all of us how you have been a loyal Futaba user for over 10 years, but your friend takes a brand new untested Rx, and mounts it in a very expensive plane and proceeds to just go flying like he's used this radio component for years.
i'm sorry, but where i come from in the RC world, no one in their right mind takes an expensive plane and mounts a new and untested Radio or Rx in it and just goes flying, especially one that is related to heat failure. it's common practice to mount any such component in a test bed and fly the snot out if it to make sure the radio is solid before using it in such a plane as "your friend" did.
you also posted that the Rx was at 143* on an 87* day.
either the Rx is victim of an extreme Amp draw, or the Rx was mounted under a canopy which we all know at this time is pure death. so the facts are not quite clear on this whole story of yours.
and for a Rx to work in the testing you guys did after the crash and then within a minute of turning it on it suddenly goes RED means that soemthing was not right.

again like i said, i tested all my current Rx's in extremeties that i would not usually fly in and no problems found.

some pictures? witnesses?..........give us soemthing here will ya?