Campgems

I was out to the field this morning and one of the new fliers was out with his trainer. He is progressing along very well. He dug out a little 19 engine sized stick that he had "saved from the garbage can". It was to be his maiden flight. When we were doing the bench checks before flying, only the throttle was working. We popped the wing off and was checking to make sure everything was set right. We moved the ailerons to CH 3 and they responded to the throttle movement. Servos were not the issue. Maybe the RX. He had just flown the trainer with the same TX. He was flying a Hitech Tx and maybe Rx.

Ihave a synthesized RFmodule in my 9C so Iset it to his frequency and all was well in the plane.

The problem is that it seems that Hitech defaults to 0% on the dual rate switches. We reset the dual rates to 100% so the switch's didn't matter. About two months back, one of our better pilots lost a new plane from the same problem. He would take off on low rates and then switch to hi rates. When he did he lost control of the plane.

The moral of the story, when you are setting up a new plane on you computer radio, and it is one that defaults to 0% make sure you change it to 100% so there is no effect if the switch(s) are moved. In fact, when you get it setup, then move all of the switches and sliders to make sure that no mixes or modifications are taking place that you don't expect.

Don

freakingfast

My Feedback: (3)

Wow! [X(]

alfredbmor

We all tend to think that the manufacturer has done everything for us before our first flight.
I have been using JR radios from the moment I started to fly RC planes, with the time the radios have been upgrading their capabilities and many of us start to play with the new features, I am on my third computerized radio and maybe I use 50% of its total capabilities, maybe a bit more with my helicopters, but the thruth is that we tend to leave the manual in the box and play with the new gingles and bells for our selfs until we stuck somewhere.
On all my radios, all rates come always at 100%, I don't know about Hitec, but I think that it is kind of agressive to sell a brand new radio with 0% on high rates. The moral of this story is to take a look at the manual first.

Alfred.

TimBle

amen. In the absence of a manual, always check what each switch on the Tx does before you fly. Simple really.

mike109

G'day. Interesting. I have had more than 5 Hitec radios and none of them defaulted to 0% on low rates. I suspect someone had been playing with that radio previously. On mine, the reset takes things back to 100%.

ameyam

It does happen. When I setup my Topstar (I was new to the concept of setting up a TXs then, previously others had done it for me), I forgot to reverse the throttle and rudder. In those days we used to hand-start the engine and this was an inverted 75ax which I had at WOT as the stick was at idle but reversed.[X(]

Least to say I was lucky I didnt lose both my fingers and my airplane. Firstly the engine wouldnt start. Then we used a starter and when it started we realised it was at WOT. Then my instructor tookoff but didnt check the rudder. When the airplane slid leftward, he applied right rudder on stick. Since it was reversed it then dove left. Luckly it was close to the ground and he realised what was happening just in time.

Since then, I always check everything at home and on the field before I even fuel up. Since I use the same X for the sim, I also make sure I am on the right model memory. Also, I let a more experienced pilot take her up first and then hand over control to me

Ameyam

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

Something is wrong with this picture and the above is not true at all. I am a very satisfied user for years now of three Prism 7, three Eclipse 7 and one Aurora. The only one I have not used extensively is the Optic 6 or or old obsolete Flash series. You did not state which Tx exactly you are refering to either the one you were working with or the one purported to have caused a crash because of this?

This did admittedly disturb me so I set out to duplicate it and could not with my three different models of Hitec computer Tx.

The bottom line is shutting the Tx off and on with a hi and low rate percentage set never changes and when Retsetting to factory default settings for any selected model number the bottom line is the hi/low rates always default back to 100% . This is consistant in my experiance with these radios going back to 1994.

The crash is most likely due to any of a hugh variety of problems perhaps real or imagined but laying it on this is unrealistic. The problem you experianced with a newcomers radio is respectfully something else but most likey just a simple misprograming problem that you missed from unfamiliarity with brand.

The scare title of this thread is unwarrented.

John

jeffie8696

Seems like a good reason to train with the simplest radio possible, more things to go wrong ,ya know.

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

Wrong Thread, Jeffie

You want to continue with the 'Crash Button' mentality Then perhaps you should start you own thread with that as the subject, Ya Know.

John

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

Who you calling an old guy!!!!!!!! I also still have my HT Prism 7 and it doesn't do that. Don, is this one of the new radios?? I do check everything on my radio when I set up a plane, it's just an OLD habit!!

jetmech05

Perhaps I am missing something here.....but I kinda agree with Jeffie......as this is a beginners forum....I feel a beginner needs to concentrate on flying, not worrying about flaps, or gear,or dual rates.
There will be plenty of time for that sorta stuff later, once you get some more flying time under you.....
I am not saying don't get a high dollar radio, get the best you can afford. Just keep it simple at first.....
Thanx for the heads up, perhaps you saved an airplane......
But beginners learn to walk before you run....none of us started out with an 85CC gasser with dual rates and expo.....
Good Luck and Good Flyin to all

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

You did miss it a bit, read Dons post again. The plane wasn't set up with a lot of stuff, just rates and most beginners set up high and low rates. I always did anyway, that was pretty basic.I even set up rates on trainers for students.

42etus

My Feedback: (2)

Huh???? Mine doesn't. Hitec Aurora 9. It defaults to 100%

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

Respectfully what you are missing is that this thread subject has nothing to do with what kind of radio Jeffie prefers for training newbies.

The subject here is a serious endictment of a flaw in an entire radio brand that does not exist and is simply wrong and needs to be addressed as such.

If Jeffie feels the compulsion to debate once agine his preferences for a beginer radio system then great I would gladly agine contribute my feelings on that matter if he choose to start the thread.

John

CGRetired

My Feedback: (1)

I often wonder if some people would say the same things to someone face to face. Let's keep it civil, folks. No one is looking for confrontation.... ya know?

CGr.

Campgems

Gene, I'm guessing it is a fairly new radio, The guy had the manual, and it was in pristine condition. I'm sorry I didn't catch the model now.He has only been flying for less than a year. Ibelieve it was a 6 channel radio. There were two dual rate switches, one for aileron and one for rudder/elevator.It was fairly basic as computer radios go. Also not very intuitive after using the Futaba 9C, but of course my Son's Futaba 6axe wasn't either.

Gene, you are right about the basic settings. There was no expo on any channel and endpoints were all at 100% No sub trim that I could see. The only thing was the out of the ordinary,was the dual rate, and the guy wasn't sure what they were. It was quite obvious that he hadn't beenplaying around much.An interesting thing now that you guys have me thinking, is that he was flying his trainer with no problems. I'll see him on Tue and getthe model and then play with a new model in the menu tosee just what the defaults are.

TimBle's advise is good.If I always followed it, Iwould still have a U-Can-Do 60.

John, "The scare title of this thread is unwarrented"? A heads up in my opinion is not crying wolf, but a warning to check things out.It was targeted at the BeginnersForum as the incident wasa beginners problem, althoughas I pointed outI saw a guy total hisplane with the sameissue.He is our newest instructor, so He isn't a beginner.

Ihope to see the guy at the field Tue andI'll get further information. In the mean time,follow TimBle's advise.

Don

Campgems

John, I know what crow taste like and I'm not looking forward to another serving of it. However, if Tuesday's review of the radio shows I made a wrong claim, I'll choak down yet another serving.

Don

Mr Cox

An addition to the list, the Hitec optic 6 defaults at 100%.
Does sound like someone had been messing with the settings beforehand.

Charlie P.

The moral should also be: do a thorough ground-check before flying.

Ipull the right stick to a corner and flick the dual-rates switch to make sure the control surfaces end at the stepping deflections (dual or triple).

IFR Pilot

With over 20 years of flying rc planes I have never had a single problem because of 1 reason, FUTABA.

I've flown turbines with a 20 year old Futaba 4 channel Attack radio, how many experts can say that?

Mr Cox

The problem here is not brand related but user related.

CGRetired

My Feedback: (1)

I am locking this down before it turns into a brand war. I just deleted a post that was attempting to do just that.

Locked as of now.

CGRetired, Forum Moderator.