Sgt Tom

My Feedback: (1)

Hay
Loss a plane on take-off. Very odd happening. Take-off roll perfect applied up elev. Plane did an immediate nose dive. Checked the controls and all were correct. Any ideas?

exeter_acres

My Feedback: (2)

impossible to tell.....

could be you lifted off to early and too steeply and the plane stalled?


but who knows without seeing.

Sgt Tom

My Feedback: (1)

To try to answer you. The plane had reached lift off speed and was given a very gentle up . Some one who was watching said it looked like someone turned the switch off. a/c was about 3 ft off the runwaywith wings level.

jetmech05

any one else on your freq..and possibly shot you down? as an after thought if you can't find anything else wrong replace your switch it could be intermittent

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

Switches do short out, batteries short out, RXs do die. Hard to really tell but you can check the switch and battery. I lost one plane due to complete loss of radio signal and never found a problem. Some months later I was doing something with that RX and the antenna fell off in my hands????[] Think maybe I found my trouble!!

Sgt Tom

My Feedback: (1)

Going to use the process of elimation. Thanks for info.

dignlivn

What Rx was in the Plane ?

Bob

-pkh-

My Feedback: (2)

Loss of signal, radio interference, or loss of receiver power is likely to cause other erratic behavior besides just dropping out of the sky. That's not to say that one of these problems couldn't have caused the crash. IMO, if it just dropped, it was most likely that the plane stalled due to lack of airspeed. Either you pulled too much elevator for the airspeed you were at, or the engine died or lost power after lift off (again, losing airspeed and stalling).

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

In one of my Extras I was getting elevator and rudder dips and whips while in the air. Then one day I turned on the plane and the elevators and rudder were going nuts with twitches while on the ground?? When I got home I decided to go into search mode. First I switched an aileron servo into one of the ports for the elevator servos, the elevators were twitching more then the rudder. The aileron started to twitch? Before I pulled the RX I unplugged the battery from the switch just for grins and plugged the battery directly into the RX, twitching all gone!! Plugged back into the switch and it was bouncing again, problem solved. It was dirt and crud in the switch and after cleaning it good the switch was all better. I tossed it anyway, no reason to risk a plane for a $15.00 switch. If it wasn't pilot error then just start doing the electronics search, not fun but it can be an eye opener.

Sgt Tom

My Feedback: (1)

Did it and found the motor was fluttering when I tapped the esc.

Villa

Hi Sgt Tom
I do not see a connection with the crash. If the motor stopped the plane should not have dived to the ground.

-pkh-

My Feedback: (2)

If your motor dies on takeoff, right after you pull elevator and start to climb out, it will fall right out of the sky. If you can tell you lost power before it stalls, you might be able to release the elevator and save it, but once the plane stalls at such a low altitude, you're screwed.

airbusdrvr

Airplanes only "fall out of the sky" when the pilot allows the airspeed to be reduced below a safe flying speed. This speed reduction is not caused by a lack of thrust but a lack of pitch control. Many airplanes have lost power right at takeoff and made very nice landings thereafter.

Sgt Tom

My Feedback: (1)

The plane started its climb and lifted about 2 ft. and then did a complete 180% dive. The person that was watching said he couldn't believe the way the plane acted. The plane seemed to be at full power when it reversed its direction into the dive.

Lnewqban

I agree about the switch as the suspect.

I wonder what made the elevator servo to swing to the opposite end, while the others and the esc remained in their settings when the radio signal / power disappeared for an instant.

You could try reproducing the situation by turning the switch while holding the plane on the ground.
See how each servo reacts to the lost power.

rlipsett

Are you sure the elevator is moving in the right direction to begin with. Could the plane have lifted off the ground and then you added up elevator which was actually down which I have seen before. Does your radio reverse the servos from a menu or from reversing switches. if switches make sure that they are fully engaged in the proper positions.

Sgt Tom

My Feedback: (1)

Immediately after the crash, we checked the controls and each one re-acted correctely. prior to take-off I did a control check and they were o.k. The wings were level. I think I'm going to spend the extra money and put a new ESC and receiver into the re-build,to elimiate any possiblity of it happening again. I used an arming switch as this plane does not have an off & on switch.

jester_s1

That does sound like an electrical problem. Have you checked over your batteries and connections to see if they are providing the voltage you need?

-pkh-

My Feedback: (2)

Many have crashed as well. It all depends on your type of plane, and how steep you pull for your climbout after lift-off.

If you fly plane with very little vertical performance, most of your lift is from the airspeed over the wing. If you fly a 3D plane with excellent vertical performance, most of your lift on takeoff can come from your prop thrust. My 3D planes can go about 12 feet on the ground and pull straight up for a 90 degree climbout. In this case, if you loose power a few feet up, it just drops like a rock. A well-powered plane doing a 45 degree climbout (or more) can react the same way. However, if you fly "on-the-wing", and take off with a very shallow climbout, you can probably save it if you lose power.

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

I just saw we were talking electric, most electrics don't use a switch so that idea is out the window. There could be a short in the ESC?? It's the only thing in your RX that would cause something like that?? Then again, how would I know, I just wired up my first electric a few minutes ago. I may add I'm quite pleased with myself!!!!! First time to use a LiPo battery too!!!

heavy metal thunder

Is your radio FM, PCM, or 2.4?

Sgt Tom

My Feedback: (1)

Yes I fly strictly electric. The radio is a 7c-Pcm. The plane is a high wing electri-stick. I use a very low rate of lift-off climb and don't begin my climb out until plane starts to lift-off from speed. As I mentioned before I think I'm going to replace the ESC and receiver and not take any chances on the rebuild. People watching were very confused also. Thanks for all of the imput.

bkdavy

My Feedback: (1)

Was this a maiden flight or had the plane flown successfully before this?

Brad

heavy metal thunder

You are on a PCM and if you got hit the radio would either not do anything thing or go to a fail safe mode. While having everything on the ground, turn on the TX an RX and then turn off TX. The control surfaces would either not move or go to a preenter fail safe mode in a few seconds. You might also have a bad servo. Having a bad ESC should not affect a PCM or 2.4 the way ours reacted.

Sgt Tom

My Feedback: (1)

This plane has flowen about 20 times, with no serious impacts. the last flight I did wash the landing gear out, when it when it went off of the end of the run-way and hit mud .