KW_Counter

For those of you not familair with it the Mach I, it is a tricycle landing geared trainer with a semi symetrical wing.
Yesterday I was on my second flight and having a real good time - loops, rolls, Cuban 8s, etc.
I was doing a low speed flyby when all of a sudden I lost all control of the plane.
Turned out to be a transmitter glitch.
You can imagine what that plane was doing. At one point it was pointed straight down.
Yes, I was still wiggling controls trying to correct it.
It suddenly leveled out and landed itself next to the runway.
The only damage was the front wheel was pulled off of the hub, the nose dropped, the prop hit the ground, the engine stopped.
We brought the plane to the pits and still no control.
Turned the transmitter off then on and all worked fine. I quit flying for the day.
We are in communication with Hitec about the issue.

I have really enjoyed both the Mach I and the Mach II for quite some time.
I now have a new found respect for the Mach I.
I know trainers are supposed to be somewhat self correcting.
I didn't think it was that much.
I think someone upstairs likes me.

Have a Good Weekend,
KW_Counter

jetmech05

Wow good story....you must have had the airplane in pretty close to perfect trim..then idle and wind did the rest...good for you

Ogriv

I loved the Mach2, but I felt it was a little too light and got thrown around a bit.

mesaflyer

Did the plane/receiver go into fail safe?

KW_Counter

Mesa Flyer,
I don't believe my radios have a fail safe function.
KW_Counter

ply2win

My Feedback: (3)

I recently purchased a Mach I to help my father learn how to fly and it is such a great plane that I like to fly it myself. It is actually pretty aerobatic and it is a lot of fun to just throw it around the sky.

In my opinion it is the best trainer you can buy and it's pretty cheap too. However, I wasn't aware of the auto-land feature

rcjetflyer0718-RCU

My Feedback: (1)

was this a Hitec Optic 6? They have a known problem with the back (case) not being molded correctly. I have lost 2 planes to this, when the 1st transmitter was in the shop I bought a 2nd 1. got the 1st one back and the 3rd time I flew with it the plane flew away no control, sent it back in and they gave me a new one. While the first was in for repair I was setting up the 2nd one and by touching it in the back all the servos would jitter. I am surprise that no one has been injured or killed due to this known problem which Hitec who acknowledge the problem but refuses to recall the radio.

PS they did not replace either plane that were lost due to their known defective radios.

brett65

My Feedback: (18)

Sounds like Hitec won't ever get any of my business.

Anyway, I learned on a Mach 1 too, and I loved it as a trainer. It was so much more fun to fly than the sig LT40 that the club had as their trainer. It allows people to almost have a second plane built in. It took a couple hard smacks from me, but it never stopped, or even got damaged. I have moved on to an extra 300, and now plan to move the engine and electronics from the mach 1 over to a mach 2 to be used for combat or whatever.

MetallicaJunkie

sounds like a pcm lock out, usually a glitch on a ppm/fm results in violent control surface movements

bigedmustafa

My Feedback: (2)

Not all the time. Radio failure is different from radio interference with regard to how it acts.

I had a receiver battery fail on me in mid flight a couple of months ago while I was flying my Hangar 9 Solo Sport. After I lost control, the plane just levelled it's wing and floated away off to the north. It turned up in some bushes a few hundred yards north of our runway (it was well south of the runway when I first lost control) with a loose vertical stabilizer and scuff along the front bottom of the fuselage.

If the trainer is trimmed and balanced correctly, and not going full throttle, it should come down gradually and basically land itself. This presumes there are no trees, telephone poles, or other obstacles between the plane and its eventual resting spot.

zig123

Had a similar thing with a Ulta Stick 60. Antenna wire came off Spectrum AR 7000 reciever. Was on crosswind leg for landing getting ready to turn on final. Plane wouldn't turn just kept going at about a 80* angle to the runway.
Radio went into defaut mode and the plane landed about 1/2 a mile short and to the side of the runway. No damage at all didn't even nose over. When we found it one of the guys said "It lands better by itself than you do". (I sometimes have been known to bounce a little).

Zig