patternfly

I can't believe I did this!!! Yesterday I went flying with my buddy, it was a bit cold but not too bad, he had the first flight, everything went good for him, great flyin' ! then came my turn, I started the baby up, spun the rotors and up she went, after short "warm up" hover I decided to have some "tumble" fun, I've climbed few more feet higher and went into a very sharp and quick forward loop, just as I got inverted the engine bogged down, rotor stopped almost instantly and she went down like a rock! I still can't believe this - I forgot to turn my idle-up mode!!! and of course when I tried to apply negative pitch I also killed the engine... I have never had this much damage on my bird, the crash didn't look bad at all, but I think cold temps and frozen ground did the trick Here's what I've managed to destroy:
(from the top) Flybar, spindle, both double links, head block, one grip, main shaft, frame (completely in pieces) landing shids (in pieces) tail gearbox, bent crank shaft in my brand new tt39, clutch shaft gone, canopy split in the front, servo tray cracked in half, killed my PCM receiver (that was the worst one) , stripped digital tail servo, but to my amazement, the tail boom and the blades came out un-touched!
I guess this was a good lesson

Galifrey

ouch!

the brief lesson here is NEVER take off in normal mode...

Always use idle up and then you can apply full negative pitch and test the engine before taking off...

Bright side is, at least you can replce all those broken bits wid nice carbon and ally aftermarket/upgrade parts now

Schuie Driver

Ouch!!! Your PCM receiver bit it too? How did you have it secured?

patternfly

Not only the receiver, but I just realized that my Governor and one of my 9402 servos are dead I still can't believe this! I have never damaged any parts of the radio equipment before, I guess this is payback for all the lucky times..

And just because I was so lucky before, I've stopped paying attention to how much "impact" protection I use on my equipment, in fact I didn't use anything other than double stick tape this time and trust me, this was a good lesson

Maxx-RCU

Man, that sucks! I'd like to say I've never done it but I can't!
When you set up your new governor and throttle curves you might do what I now do...normal is at least 200-300 RPM's LESS than my idle-ups. This way I hear the motor not spooled up as high in normal mode and don't try any aeros.
This is not, I repeat, NOT a crash...the Heli God's have presented you with a "Golden" upgrade opprtunity! Use it wisely! Chris

Rotoman

Last labor day weekend I took out my Ergo 60 for a nice early morning flight. No time for coffee.....who needs it? LOL. Early morning sun in the eyes so I think I'll stand back inbetween the cottonwood trees for shade. Well fire up and make a few nice circuits to confirm all is well.......oh crap. Pulled up into a nice big loop and baaaaaaaaaaah. No idle up. Well in my haste to correct this wrong I came offline and right into the nearest cottonwood tree. Had time to set the transmitter down and listen to it bouncing its way to terra firma. LOL Finally came out of the branches about 12 feet up and I managed to catch the wreckage. Well....$246 later she is good as new except the receiver antenna on that one still needs a new antennae. I get lazy and had new one on the shelf. LOL. You should get your head screwed on tight just like flying full scale before we do stupid things like this. In the future its a minimum two coffees and a quick once over in the brain before launch.

patternfly

oh man, I know what you mean! you know it's funny, I didn't have time for coffee the day I forgot my Idle-Up switch I think the moral is simple here...

TexasAirMedic

My Feedback: (2)

so here's mine..on my Ergo 60 .. I had been hovering it a while.. stopped to refuel and recharge. Took it back out, started to give throttle and NO collective started ! I't almost seemed stuck to the ground. So a little more throttle. Then suddenly, it shot up about 20 feet out of control..I basically had to put it into the ground to protect myself as it came at me. The culprit ? The swash plate had fallen down with the radio off and the pin was not engaging... once it spun enough, it engaged and had about 8degrees positive and I was not ready for that. I learned a VERY valuable lesson !

da_man

My Feedback: (30)

To prevent this, some poeple fly in one mode. They start it in a starting mode where there is only one throttle setting, low. Then if they are in the wrong mode it won't lift off. The other mode is 3d with a v curve. This curve is only good flying a spring loaded throttle.

I will try it after I get used to hovering up side down.