Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Weavling on September 01, 2003, 08:11:10 PM
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Click here for the video. (Right click and save target as) 1MB (http://www.angelfire.com/dragon/holeinhead/crashboom2.avi)
You need the latest DivX codec and maybe the player for this to work.
If it doesn't work, try later, I probably just ran out of bandwith.
To set it up, my dad picked up this basic RC plane kit for $150 or so. Included controler, plane, battery charger, etc., all we needed. It's a 3 channel (Rudder, Elevator, Throttle) plane with an electric motor. In this video, I took off, began to start a climb and turned, but my engine cut without warning and I came down quick. We're not sure what caused the sudden failure. My dad was filming as I flew, and I edited it with some sounds. Enjoy!
My first try with this plane was when I was about 13 or 14. It had a pretty bad engine, and I was taking off with a crosswind. The batteries also turned out to be low, which further reduced power. I took it off a track at my Junior High, and was barely able to get it off the ground. Once I did, I didn't have enough speed to conduct a turn, and I got blown over by a gust into a small hill and broke the prop.
The second time my dad tried it out. We got a more powerful engine and better prop, and took it off a baseball field from homeplate. He must have hit an updraft because the plane all of a sudden shot up in a 70 degree climb. Because of the low speed of the plane, and the touchyness of the controls, when my dad tried to level out, the nose pointed straight downwards, and we bent the reduction gear when it crashed.
Fastforward 3-4 years later, I'm now 17. I take it off today back at the Junior High, with a slight wind blowing from the front, and a little to the right. I didn't give myself quite enough take off room, and I was forced to make a quick turn right after lift off or else I'd fly into some trees. Unprepared for the touchyness of the controls, I got too low and my wing caught on the ground and I cartwheeled, but reletivly no damage. All we had to do is replace a snap tie that secured the engine.
This time, I give my self more room to take off, and thus I can make a more leisurly turn after I take off. After I'm up, I climb and turn right. I'm a little wobbly, but I'm in good control, but all of a sudden, I hear the engine stop. Still quite low, slow, and in mid turn, I couldn't level out, and thus I crash, and bend the reduction gear shaft again. This last flight made up this video.
My dad and I are planning to convert the plane to a gas powered engine to provide a little more reliability and power. It's a pain to guess how much juice is left in the battery, as you shouldn't charge it until it's fully out because it's Ni-CD and has a memory. One theory of what caused the engine to cut is a wire came loose on the engine. We're not sure if the wire came loose because of the crash, or if it came loose prior, and it's what led to the crash.
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Drain the battery fully, then recharge overnight.
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We know for sure that the engine cut was not battery power related, at it still had juice after the crash. I also said that I knew that you had to drain the battaries completly before you charge them.
It's a pain to guess how much juice is left in the battery, as you shouldn't charge it until it's fully out because it's Ni-CD and has a memory.
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look on the bright side, the engine dieing saved u from having to pluck it out of the power lines. :D
That thing needs a longer runway!
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Originally posted by Weavling
We know for sure that the engine cut was not battery power related, at it still had juice after the crash. I also said that I knew that you had to drain the battaries completly before you charge them.
Oh well, my wife complains about my attention span too:)
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look on the bright side, the engine dieing saved u from having to pluck it out of the power lines.
The power lines look closer then they actually are. They were about 150ft away from the crash site.
Cut out of the video (to reduce file size) was the excellent take off roll, and initial climbing turn prior to the power failure (which seems to be cause by a broken wire conection, weakened due to previous crashes).
Going to look at upgrading to a gas engine, as the electric has been a pain since day one, not enough power. Easily damaged gear reduction drives are a pain too as they run about 20 bucks a copy.
Once this one can get up and back on the ground safely a couple of times, it'll be time for something with ailerons. :cool:
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Nice auger. Something doesnt look right about the flight of that ex-parrot.
Something like a warped wing or inbalanced CG problem. It has been a few years since i have flown RC, but that just doesnt look right. Even if the engine lost power it shouldnt wonk through the air like that. It almost looks like the plane is extremely tail heavy and just stalls out then wings over.
I would suggest switching over to a gas engine, (though ive never flown electric) but there are some drawbacks.
Im sure you know you will need a starter (dont use a chicken stick) a motorcycle battery to power the starter, an electric fuel pump, and a battery powered glow plug igniter, and lots and lots of paper towels and windex. Plus even back when i was flying (about 10 years ago) 10% nitro methane was 20 bucks a gallon.
Plus forget about flying it at your local junior high. I'm sure you know how loud gas engines are. People get scared when they hear that irritating high pitched whine.
I would suggest finding a local or nearby RC club. It is a safe place to fly (no power lines) and always plenty of folks that are willing to help you out.
In fact most clubs have trainer programs where you can go out and fly on a buddy system with two radio transmitters so an experienced pilot can take over if you are going to crash. They will get your, or even their, plane up in the air and at a safe alt then you get to take over.
Landing and taking off is by far the most difficult part of any flight, IRL or RC. When i was trained my instructor always got me up to "3 level." That is where you can make three mistakes and still recover before your plane hits the ground.
After you become competent with BFM, your instructor can put you in emergency situations (stalls, low power situations, deadsticks etc..) and get you to recover and handle the plane.
The buddy system is very important when it comes to your final phase of instruction: Landing. I learned to land by starting with high speed low passes. After a few of those you progress to low speed low passes. Then finally you get to cut the throttle and touch down. All this time your instructor can take over with his transmitter.
This is the way I learned and I have never crashed a plane. In fact, I think I have broken one prop. That's it.
Finally, you might want to ditch the electric plane entirely. Go to balsausa.com and pick up a stick 40 plus. It has aileron control, is super easy to build, and has available wing kits if you have an accident. It is only 60 bucks. Ugly as all hell but very easy to fly and very forgiving.