(Sorry, this is long for a first post) I made the rookie mistake of trying to get my Axe CP off the ground a little without the training wheels when I first got it. I already see the error in my ways.

Ok, now that we have that out of the way. I crashed it from about 4 inches off the ground, but not too hard, and mostly because it moved to the left and I over corrected. It scuffed up the wooden blade ends and broke one of the connectors on the stabilizer control hub. I did some precise supergluing on the hub connector and she was back up and running. Later after running it up a couple times and putting the training wheels back on I decided that was enough.

I picked it up to go in the house (see where this is going?). I forgot to turn the transmitter off and inadvertently hit the throttle when opening the door. Ouch. She flopped and flopped, I didn't want to let go but I had to and then pulled the throttle back. The thing can put a pretty good couple bruises on an arm (Im an idiot, what can I say).

I ordered the needed replacement parts - new control hub, blade grip, flybar link, one linkage from the linkage set, and a set of plastic blades. Everything seemed to go back on just great.

Tonight after putting the last piece on (flybar link) I powered it up with the intent of just running it, but no lift yet. I got just a hair over half throttle and it throttled down by itself. I tried again getting maybe 1/3 throttle and it quit again. Another try less than quarter throttle, and then no blade spinning at all. It almost seems like some safety mechanism is cutting the throttle or something. I will say when it ran up that first time at half throttle everything looked and sounded normal.

Any ideas what could be causing this?

Thanks.

Seems like it was a battery charger issue. I ordered the first set of parts from Tower Hobbies but I forgot I needed the flybar grip. So I replaced all but the flybar grip. It only costs $2.69 from TH but shipping is $3.99. So I procrastinated for a couple weeks until this weekend when we were driving close to home and happened to see a local hobby shop. I stopped in and saw they sold the Axe CP and asked if they sold parts. Turns out they did and they sold the flybar grips. I replaced it today.

When I plugged in the battery to the charger it turned green after about 15 minutes. I assumed the battery was charged. After posting my initial question I decided to plug the battery back in. After a couple hours I put it back in and plugged it up and the Axe CP spun up to the point of wanting to take off with no problems.

Looks like the battery wasn't charged! I made sure to order extra parts, and now that I know a local shop sells them I should be in good shape. Seeing how unlucky I've been so far, I'm sure I'll need those parts along with a lot more training.

Don't sweat it or feel badly, thebarge. There's a lot to learn with a first plane or heli, and it often involves replacing parts. You learn, no big.

One thing, though- you mentioned you forgot to turn off the tx. Please don't do that while the heli battery is still plugged in- the heli can spin up out of control if you do. The right order is unplug the battery from the heli, then turn off the tx, and reverse order turning things on. Basically, never have the battery plugged in on the heli if the tx isn't on.

Yeah I think I learned that one the hard way. I wish there was a switch to unplug power to the motor that didn't involve removing the cover. Either way, that thing really doesn't like to be held onto when it's at full throttle

Been there and done it, got a Flintston bandaid for my finger. [X(]

Yeah I had to ice down my forearm afterwards

Ya know - I should have read your post better before. So just turning off the tx isn't good enough to just transport it inside? So far I've seen no odd behavior with the CP when turning of the tx before the heli, but I haven't had it that long. So I should leave the tx on and pull the cover and unplug it first before turning off the tx?

Absolutely- it's an FM datalink; not going into a bunch of details, it's vulnerable to radio noise to a degree even with the radio on, but if you turn the transmitter off it can hook up to any other signal on the air, which as likely or not can flip the servos around, start the motor, or any other random thing. When the tx is on it transmits a carrier that the receiver can lock onto and not respond to those other influences (like listening closely to one person when you're in a noisy, crowded room), but if you don't have the transmitter on then all bets are off. Turn the tx on before you plug in the battery, and unplug the battery before you turn the transmitter off.

Didn't think of that! Thanks for the info.

Hey Barge,,, I bet you have broken the nubs that connect the fly bar to the fly bar carrier ,, if that fly bar is all floppy and when you touch it you will know what i mean ,, then the nubs are broken....

Brad//