Instructor

My Feedback: (16)

[&o]Just a heads up for you FASST radio users. A friend of mine went ot fly his Kaos this past week and crashed it on the very first flight. He had flown this combination for the last two years since he switched to the FASST system. I was not there to watch this, but I was told after he took off and made a right hand turn, the plane just picthed over and went straight in, to say the least it was totaled, to inlcude the motor and radio. I just got a call this morning from a club member and they talked to this flyer and this is what he thinks happened. When he picked up his transmitter, his right thumb was on the dial on the right hand bottom of the transmitter. Now anybody that has a FASST system knows that when you press the dial button, it puts the transmitter in "Reduced Range". I told him to make sure when you go to take off your plane, the blue LED is not flashing, if it is just press this dial again and it will go back to full range. Just thought I would let everyone that flies the FASST system is aware if this........

Larry

M_Callahan

Hi Larry,

Thanks for the heads up.

The manual for the 7C says that to get into low power mode you have to...

Hold down the dial key while powering up the transmitter.

While it is power down mode.

The transmitter will beep once every 3 seconds while in power down mode.
The power mode is displayed on the LCD screen. Something like "PwrDn"
will flash on the display.
The power will switch back to normal after 90 seconds.

To get back to normal power before the 90 seconds is up you can press the dial key.

I can see where it could be easy to accidentally get in low power mode.

Not a good way to start the season.

Mike

bikerbc

What do you use the Reduced Range for? And how easy is it to accidently slip into that setting? That sure seems like a poor idea if it is easy to to accidently set that without realizing you are doing it..I have a few planes that I would really be upset to lose to somthing like that..Dumb thumb is one thing but dumb radio would be a tough one to swallow..

bikerbc

What do you use the Reduced Range for? And how easy is it to accidently slip into that setting? That sure seems like a poor idea if it is easy to to accidently set that without realizing you are doing it..I have a few planes that I would really be upset to lose to somthing like that..Dumb thumb is one thing but dumb radio would be a tough one to swallow..

Instructor

My Feedback: (16)

Like I said I wasn't there to witness this. I don't know if he was holding the dial when he turned on the radio or not. I have a 10CAP 2.4 and I remember holding down the dial to get into Power Down mode when I turn on the raido. The Power Down mode is used to range check the transmitter to the receiver. When doing this, the Blue RF LED is flashing. After the range check is completed, you press this dial again and the transmitter goes back to Full Power for maximum range and the Blue RF LED is now on solid. Also you have 90 sec to perform this test. After 90 sec, the Blue RF light will go solid letting you know that the transm,itter is now in full Range Mode. I just did this test on my 10CAP radio:

Turned on the radio, pressed the dial and nothing happened.

Held the dial and turned on the radio and the monitor screen said: Power mode, On or Off. And Power Mode was highlighted.

So I don't know if he was holding the dial when he turned on his radio or not. I haven't tried this, but I remember nothing working on the receiver until I selected the Power Down mode on my 10CAP 2.4 GIG radio.......

Larry

dignlivn

Larry


I agree with Mike, the Tx had to be Off and he turned it On with his thumb
on the dial (pressed).


Bob

pdm52956

My Feedback: (1)

Buy a JR/Spektrum and all your troubles will vanish...............

Sorry...had to do that......just kidding.

jetmech05

I doubt that is what caused the crash...after all it goes back to full power after 90 seconds...so power on tx then power on the airplane then start up and taxi to takeoff get airborn in less than 90 seconds? This is pure guess on my part I wasn't there
Good flyin to all

bikerbc

Ahh now I understand..With my DX8 you push and hold the trainer button to range test and as soon as you let go of the button you have full power rest..Also you need to Select range test from your funtion list etc...

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

What tx was your friend using?

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

Range testing, as you can't collapse the antenna to do a range check.

jefflangton

My Feedback: (23)

Its operator error not a fasst problem. I doubt that he "accidentally " went to power down mode,its not that easy. Probably dumb thumbs or forgot to charge battery. However,if you want to blame a radio, blame spektrum or jr and everyone will believe you.

scale only 4 me

My Feedback: (158)

Well on the 10c you have to press that "push" button on power up and again to confirm power down mode, there is now way to do it by accident,, then it makes an audible beep sound the whole time with the blue light flashing.

If you're so out of touch you can tell somethings up,, ya might want to take up fishing

danbartee

When people ask what reduced power is for it makes me wounder how careless people really are, standard rule of thumb, range check aircraft at the beginning of every flying session, went flying on Sat(Range check 1st) then fly, Sun (range ck) then fly, Mon (range ck) then fly, was taught that way when I was 10.

grimbeaver

I'm with most of the rest of the people here. Don't own any FASST gear but this sounds fishy and also there was no mention of what TX was involved. I vote close this thread and let's move on before it turns into another my radio is better then yours flame war.

flycatch

My Feedback: (26)

I had a similar malfunction and traced it back to a faulty on/off switch. Electronics fail when least expected and normally don't give a warning.

GerKonig

Darn! Too late to say that my radio is better thanyours?

You are right...

Gerry

Instructor

My Feedback: (16)

I want to thank everyone that has responded to this thread. I talked to the owner of the Futaba FASST radio, a 7 chanel and he said that he thinks (THINKS but not sure) he had his thumb on the dial when he turned the power switch on. He also said he didn't look at the radio since he has done this same thing for the past two years. He said after he started the engine on his plane, it was about 85 seconds after he took off until the crash happened. How he knows that for sure, I don't know......

Larry

scale only 4 me

My Feedback: (158)

All due respect,, why bring forward a thread in which you have no first hand info or even where at the scene where this problem occured??

Like I said before, if he did accidentally hold that button down while turning on the radio,, he needs to be in touch with what he's doing much more to be a safe flyer,, it's not easy to put it in power down mode. The way you discibe it,, it's user error all the way

Instructor

My Feedback: (16)

Hi Scale Only 4 Me,

You are right. I didn't mean to say it like it was a radio problem. What I was trying to say is, "just be carefull and make sure you look at the Blue RF light before you start your aircraft, and make sure it is not blinking". I guess it's possible this could happen.....


Larry

scale only 4 me

My Feedback: (158)

Fair enough,,
Truthfully it's hard to believe he could turn the radio on, start engine, taxi out and take off,, all in under the 90 second window. Possible I guess, but not very likely.

I guess the lesson is to have a good pre-flight routine, and stick with it always,,

Better luck to your friend in the future

poison

Jr and Spectrum are not crash proof I have seen many brownouts with Spectrum. Still no answer what reciever was he using if it is a hobbyking orange one I have seen problems with them if they are mounted by servos or battery so we don't know all the facts here. This is why we should do range checks more often and flight checks everytime we fly so who knows if it was pilot error or equipment error no one is perfect.