Hi everyone,

I had another crash yesterday evening. I don't know why, but the tail control rod (carbon) flew off the model while it was in hover at around 15ft. causing the heli to spin like crazy. I brought her down level but much too hard breaking the landing gear and causing a boom-strike. It wouldn't be so bad if I could just understand why it happened!

Anyway, the full story is on my website as always.

Cheers,
Rob.

Sorry,

I saw a ball link for throttle wear out. the servos was being driven by a governor so the servo activity was very high. Could be the same thing happens with the gyro? The worn out link i saw had a washer put on it such that if the link wears out the washer still holds it mostly in place. (obviously this had happened to him before) Maybe i'll start doing that too.

I had the same thing happen to me. Had carbon rod with Rocket city links. It can of the tail lever first while I was in forward flight. I saw it hanging and then it fell of altogether. I was able to hit the throttle hold and auto it in. That was my best auto ever. Still I dont understand why it came off. Both ends were new.

Thanks for your thoughts. I figure I just had a lot of bad luck due or something

Maybe you're right about the additional wear from the gyro movements Spaceman, but I couldn't find the servo end of the rod after the crash! When the rod came off the servo it went up in to the disc and that made it fly off (breaking the tail pitch control lever right off rather than coming off at the ball-link). The rod is a mess (see attached pic).

I've only had this heli for a few months now - do you really think wear is a possible cause for the rod to come off? I have been trying to work out if perhaps the servo moved too far. If the heli is sat still and I move the stick through its full motion it doesn't appear to move far enough to pull the rod off the ball-link, but what if the gyro was adding additional movement? Possible?

i guess they could wear out in a few months if the gyro was working the servo hard, maybe a littel dirt grinding away... hard to say.

Mine has a littel over 3 months on it, and the oval links are already loose. it does get flown a lot though.

I would highly suggest being quicker to hit throttle hold. If you ever see the heli beginning to pirouette out of control, take power away from the tailrotor immediately and auto it in. Don't panic, or you'll crash it. Even at 15', there's time to react, unless it was passing through 15' at a lightning fast descent.

Many moons ago, at 150 feet, one of my Raptors threw a tail rotor blade and grip, leaving the other one firmly in place. I saw it begin the violent vibration of a mid-air funky chicken, and I immediately hit throttle hold. The vibration stopped instantly, and I auto'd it in for a perfect save. I even found the slung tailrotor and got a free replacement from Ace! Now granted, this scenario won't play out well to a heli with a constant drive tail. But with your Shuttle, you shouldn't have a problem taking authority away from the tail. Sorry it happened to you, but see it as another facet to the constant learning curve we go through in this hobby.

You're absolutely right about the reaction being wrong, but I guess that's just my inexperience. I only started flying two or three months ago. As you state, I should have flicked in to throttle hold mode but I've never done anything like that so my reaction was just to get the heli down without hitting anyone.

Hopefully if/when something like this happens in the future I'll be better prepared, but for now I'll just write this one off as more experience.

Good attitude! Once you have that heli rebuilt, get back in the air and start practicing autos like it's nobody's business. Shuttle's can auto really well, especially when given a windy day. I'm sure with the temps being outrageous in the UK right now, there isn't as much wind as usual. Once you get proficient with autos in that heli, start doing them at "random". What I mean is, just when everything is going good in a typical flight, just flip the switch and bring it homoe. This will get you comfy with hitting the switch. Get really daring and have a friend stand next to you, and have them flip it while you're flying around! And might I suggest, that since you're relatively new at the hobby, don't hang too many upgrades on that heli. I'm assuming the reason you have the carbon rod is because you did a tail-mount for the servo. You really don't need that tail mount servo. The standard setup works just fine, especially for beginners. Your crashes will continually be setbacks and disasters so long as you're spending extra money to replace upgrades that you really don't notice a difference with. Keep that heli as simple as possible, and just fly the heck out of it. One recommendation is to change any hirobo z-bend linkages to rocket-city ball links. Otherwise, spend the upgrade money on more fuel, you'll appreciate that "upgrade" more than anything else, especially now in the beginning of the learning curve. And if nobody has told you before now, be extra careful around broken carbon fiber. That stuff is nasty when in splinter form, and if anything else on the heli was carbon, beware that in the crash, it may have developed a crack invisible to the naked eye, and that crack can cause severe glitching.

The reason for the tail mount is because my tail servo is deeper than usual and it got in the way of the collective servo, everything else about my Shuttle is standard.


I have considered this myself and will probably do it when I start getting better. At the moment I'm mailnly working on hovering in al orientations and bringing it round to tail-in, as well as some "sliding" in all directions. I also spend a lot of time on the sim practicing this.

Unfortunately I found this out the hard way - I spent ages picking splinters from my fingers Weds evening!

Thanks for all the wise words. Hopefully I'll be back in the air either tomorrow or Sunday - I got home from the hobby store with all the bits I need a couple hours ago!

If those splinters are from the carbon rod make sure you get them all. It will cause infection.

hey confuzed ,, sorry to hear bout your crash. i had my fisrt run in with the ground today also . I saw your shuttle pics on your website looks good. , i have a shuttleplus also, can i ask you have u had any probs with your engine mixture? and how many turns is your needle set at. anyway hope u get her in the air soon, i love the shuttleplus.
James

@venture32os:
I think (hope!) I got it all out, it was mainly in one finger. Of course my finger looks a mess since I finished!

@pilot77:
Sorry you met with the ground too - I hope it didn't hurt your Shuttle too bad?

My engine (OS32) runs pretty smooth at the moment, but it did run badly shortly after run-in. My LHS guy tweaked the low-speed needle and since then its been pretty sweet. I'm afraid I don't know what the actual settings are. The high-speed adjustment is around 1 turn out IIRC. I usually adjust it a couple clicks according to the conditions to keep it smooth.

hey guys i dont know if this applies to your links coming off or not but i had a loose link on my throttle and when i put a new link on it it was still loose found out the ball was worn down might want to check it also.
chuck

Hi confuzed, nah shuttles ok going out shortly for a quick fly. hope your repairs came along okay too. oh ok so u r running the high speed needle one click out, i found that if mine is adjust out any further the heli seems to run way to rich, is your heli running rich at that setting? Vortex gave me some good info on checking the setting, so i have done this, i think it is running a little to lean at 1 turn, but can;t set it out any further or the headspeed slows to much, anyways happy flyin,, let us know how u go when your repairs are done, ps, like your website, nice pics .
james

Rocket-city ball links may not be your best choice for tail rotor.
Due to extreme activity of fast servos they wear out quicker then
the original Hirobo or Jr.Take closer look at them and you notice that there is no difference in the size of the ball opening on booth sides,there for less material supporting the ball and links coming loose very fast.

FWIW, i've been flying these since 97 and never had a Rocket City ball link fail me, either by popping off or breaking. Can't say the same for other brand links. I never had problems with Hirobo linkages, but it was a personal thing to change out all the z-bends and use RC links in their place. I did this even when I was a rep for Hirobo/Altech, and I had no problem telling other owners to do the same.

This is also part of a maintenance issue. Nothing on a heli has a permanent lifespan, and everything has a service life. If you feel a link providing too much slop, change it out (balls are suspect too). If a bearing feels rough, change it out. If fuel tubing is too soft, change it out. Replace your batteries once a year. This is just the tip of the iceberg!

Its interesting to hear everyone's thoughts about the ball-links. The link that came apart in my crash was the servo end of the tail rod, with a ball on the servo arm. The tail mount is, I believe, the NHP kit.



I wish I could have found that end of the rod, but it is lost out on the field somewhere. I would like to see if the plastic part of the link is actually broken.

I've repaired most of the damage now. I haven't flown this weekend because since putting the tail back together there is a noise from the boom, like the tail drive belt is rubbing the side of the boom. I took the tail off again to make sure the belt wasn't twisted but it seemed fine so I fitted it again, but I still get the noise!

Try this idea.
Get a double balled stud (like minature excell makes) and mount the link on the inside ball. The weight/mass of an unsupported control rod is considerable compared to a the original wire/rod supported thru guides, and can be thrown off. The 2nd ball on the stud may be enough to retain the link if it gets thrown of the 1st ball, although the movement might get sticky. Also seen small washers/lg panhead screw combo used to screw on the ball (TT type ball/bead). Washer should not touch the link in normal use but be just big enough to retain the link if it falls of the ball. Either system MAY buy you enough time and control to get down in one piece.

Elmo Te

Thanks for the suggestions. I don't know if my LHS stocks double ball links, but I'll probably try to put a washer in. Anything to save my bird!

The photos of the damage to my Shuttle are up on photoalbum now:

http://photoalbum.org.uk/gallery/vie...e_crash_damage