VERY scarry experience at the field
 

i have been flying helis and planes for quite a while now, i have bout 50 gallons alltogether, not single crash, i came so close yesterday. i flew a nexstar for 5 tanks practicing landing at a new field i have never been to, the wind was blowing to our faces and i have never flown in those conditions. soi charged my JR XP6102, and a fuse blew, i dont put it ona high charge rate i put it on .2 its a normal thing on that radio, soi replaced the fuse, its no big deal its the 10th time of done it. so i go to take out the extra 300s w/ os FS90, this is the first time i ever flew it by myself, without someonelanding it for me. so i take it off, goes perfect, then every servo on the plane completely freaks out, ZERO control, its rocking back and forth very fast, doing roll after roll, its going further and further out, i thought for sure it was a goner, the wind was blowing towards us, and the plane made a half oval and came back towards us, throttle stuck on wide open, still no control, everyone was freaking out and knew it was going to crash. so wide open streight towards the pits, 20 feet off the ground, right when it got to the other side of the runway, i could controlit again, i killed the engine, did a 90 degree turn, and landed it PERFECT without a scratch. i tookthe radio apart, and when i replaced the fuse, youhave to take off the module thing,and the white wire hat goes to the antenna came off the solder point. i did a range check, and 10 feet awasy the servos were going completely crazy, i have no idea how i possibly saved it. imsooo lucky, and getting a radio that wolnt cause so many problems :) ( i have had problems in the past with it. ) all i can say is thank god it wasnt my raptor 50, or i would have been screwed with the tailreseting.

RE: VERY scarry experience at the field
 

chickenx5... Nice job on the save....... Dumping a plane before letting it get into the pits is a "Always"..

Our hobby can be very dangerous, If we as pilots do not keep the plane and equipment checked and
up to par everytime we take them up!!... Sometimes we have to wait to get equipment back from service
or get parts that's needed.... But it's better to wait and have everything good to go, instead of the other...

Luckily it came out to be a Good Save...

RE: VERY scarry experience at the field
 

Now how bout a range check before you fly it each day. Some will say each flight.

RE: VERY scarry experience at the field
 

Expecially AFTER you have just taken the radio apart!

Good thing it didn't end like this.

RE: VERY scarry experience at the field
 

Yep, range check would have found the problem. Since you radio blew a fuse you should have performed a range check before flying with the radio. I can't even begin to count how many planes I've seen lost that could have been saved if they had done a proper range check before they flew for the day. I perform a range check before flying anytime I've done any work on the plane or radio, and if nothing has been done to the plane then I do a range check about every other trip to the field for that radio/plane. I record them in my flight log so I have a record of every range check that I do on my radios. Better safe than sorry if you ask me.

Ken

RE: VERY scarry experience at the field
 

thats not your only problem....... a blown fuse means you had a short circuit some where, yes fuses can get old, but you probably had a short. a wire that comes loose is an open circuit. fuses dont protect opens. the only other possibility is reflective power from the loose antenna wire but to be on the safe side id call JR and see what circuit the fuse is on before i use the transmitter again. even if the loose wire touched something an antenna is a load just as a short would be

RE: VERY scarry experience at the field
 

50 gallons is a lot of fuel.

Regards,
doubledee

RE: VERY scarry experience at the field
 

10 blown fuses? I wouldn't fly until that rdaio is repaired. Something is wrong here.

RE: VERY scarry experience at the field
 

Hi!
Yes ! 10 blown fuses says someting isn't quite right...!
I have had my JR X388 for 12years now and never ...untill this summer had a problem with a fuse...it was fuse holder in the transmitter that did not hold the fuse correctly at one end...after much head scratcing i finnaly noticed that the fuse being loose.

Regards!
Jan K
Sweden

RE: VERY scarry experience at the field
 

JR transmitters use reversed polarity on their charging jacks, hooking the charger up backwards will blow the fuse. Been there, done that, but only once.

Regards,
doubledee

RE: VERY scarry experience at the field
 

I am an electrician so I can lend some expert advice here.
Fuses do not blow for no reason at all, Unless you want to loose an airplane and possibly injure someone in the proccess you should send your transmitter in for repairs.

RE: VERY scarry experience at the field
 

PCM?

Consider programming failsafe, throttle to idle.

RE: VERY scarry experience at the field
 

I personally do a range test before the first flight of at least 100' and then before each subsequent flight from around 30' just by where I park my car. Some people think I'm crazy but an old-timer told me that it's better to be safe then sorry. I also check all the clevis connections each flight. This whole check only takes about 3 to 5 minutes and nobody is on my frequency so they aren't having to wait for me. Great save. I agree with the rest, that radio is bad.

Gibbs

RE: VERY scarry experience at the field
 

So to sum it up;

You took a radio you knew to be problematic flying at a field you were unfamiliar with, during a dead cross wind, on a plane you don't know how to land all without thought to performing a range check?

All this without damage to spectator, pilot or plane?

You really should buy a lotto ticket while your luck still holds.