My ESC for my accipiter badius burnt up in flight today and made the motor cut out. I need to know what causes this to happen
so when i oreder a new one it doesn't happen again.

Thanks

When an ESC burns up in flight, that means the motor system was drawing too many Amps, and overloaded it. The other major cause for an ESC burnup is plugging in the battery backwards, but that's pretty obvious when it happens.

Was the motor damaged in a crash perhaps? Did you install a larger propeller on the plane? Did you use a different battery than what's recommended by the manufacturer? Too much load in the form of binding or an oversized prop, or too many Volts, will push the Amps beyond the limit of the ESC, causing it to overheat and burn out.

Then there's always simple random component failure, which isn't uncommon when you're talking about inexpensive electronics.

If you cooked the MOSFET ( 2203n I think), you can get then at Newark Electroinis for $2.60, get a few, before replacing find problem. You can put up to 3 2203N's on this board, if you put 3 in, it becomes a 40 amp controller.

Good luck

The cheap brushed motor in my Beaver shorted out in flight, after many flights, and took the esc with it.
Result: big crash.
Since that I went brushless.