AntiCrash Made me crash my HZ Super Cub?

[three08]

Well I took my super cub for it's first flight a few weeks back, it lasted about 10 seconds.
I hand lanched at full throttle into the wind and everything was going fine but the area I was flying in has a few small hills and as I was taking off the plane passed over one of the hills, it started to turn to the right and I seemed to have no controll so it nose dived into the ground from a few meters.
The cowl was damaged beond repair and the prop was bent, I also suspected that the shaft was bent so I ordered the parts I needed, changed the sharft and I left off a bearing causing the new shaft and the gear box to burn out.

Anyway now I have everything fixed and it's all ready to fly, but I'm too scared to fly it...lol

On the first flight I had set the controlls to zero and there was no wind at all, the only thing I can think of is that the ACT took over as I went over the hill, what do you guy's think happened?

[Airhead]

Hey 308,

Sorry to hear about your problems with your cub on your maiden.:( I don't know too much about how the act works, I've heard some good and some bad stuff about it. Someone here will give you the info you need.
Well, welcome to WF. Great place to be.:)

[rx20040]

TURN THE ACT OFF!!!!! I had a firebird freedom with ACT and I couldn't find out why it was crashing until I turned the ACT off. I think they should rename ACT as Annoying Crashing Technology! I think the sensors get confused when you fly over asphalt or anything else that is not grass green. It sounds like something on one of the hills you flew over was not grass green and the ACT took over, and locked you out until it saw something green, but by that time, it was too late.

[three08]

Thanks for the fast replys, I don't think I will be using ACT again, I might even go down to a club and see if I can get a little flight training before my next solo flight.

[vanepico]

my grandad gave me one of these but i havent ever used it he said they were good but they must be flown on a flat field they work by detecting the light through a sensor mounted either +(forwards, backwards etc) or x(diagonal) and when it sees darker light it makes movements so all the sensors see brighter light a advise(not that ive ever done this) what about gyros on the two axis? also you might aswell remove the act as its extra weight and sell it if you dont have a flat field to fly in

[cbatters]

Confused by the original post.. how high was the cub flying and how high are the hills you are referring to if you flew over a "hill" and the flight only lasted 10 seconds?

WIND
How much wind was there?

EXPERIENCE
Have you flown any other planes before?

ACT
Works by sensing the difference in light between the upper and lower sensors. It is known to get fooled by water and snow. It is also inneffective unless you are flying at over 100'.

You can disable act on the transmitter or by putting a piece of black electrical tape over the lower sensor so you can use ACT on/off switch as a dual rate control.

ANy flying experience

Clint

[three08]

It was only a few meters off the ground I'I'd say 4 meters at the most, the hills are very small but they are a little steep in places.

I have no real flying experience, I had a 2 ch plane that never really work very well, after about 5 crashes I couldn't glue the wings up any more. I have spent about 20 hours on FMS, don't know how realistic it is but.

[cbatters]

It was only a few meters off the ground I'I'd say 4 meters at the most, the hills are very small but they are a little steep in places.

I have no real flying experience, I had a 2 ch plane that never really work very well, after about 5 crashes I couldn't glue the wings up any more. I have spent about 20 hours on FMS, don't know how realistic it is but.

4 meters is very close to the ground which also explains the crash / short duration. (The "hills" you refer to must be pretty small bumps / knolls.)

Check out the sticky on the home page for good advise for \successful flying. One of the most important thngs is to get the plane up to a reasonable altitude (30-40 M) so a small mistake does not cause the plane to crash. At 4 meters you are one puff of wind away from crashing.

Most common mistakes are;

1. FLying too low

2. FLying in too much wind

3. FLying too slow with high nose up attitude near stalling.



Clint

[three08]

It wasn't that I was flying at 4 meters, I was still taking off. It was at full throttle, and I had a little bit of up elevator. I didn't use the rudder at all untill the plane did it's turn and started flying towards me, once it became clear that the plane was going to hit the ground I tried to level it out a bit but I had no controls. ( I beleve ACT had locked me out of the controls as I still had the elevator on) cbatters (http://www.wattflyer.com/forums/member.php?u=9490) what is the link to your home page?

[cbatters]

It wasn't that I was flying at 4 meters, I was still taking off. It was at full throttle, and I had a little bit of up elevator. I didn't use the rudder at all untill the plane did it's turn and started flying towards me, once it became clear that the plane was going to hit the ground I tried to level it out a bit but I had no controls. ( I beleve ACT had locked me out of the controls as I still had the elevator on) cbatters (http://www.wattflyer.com/forums/member.php?u=9490) what is the link to your home page?

Common new flyer mistake - too much up elevator, resulting in nose up attitude / stall / uncontrolled turn / crash.

Try 2-3 clicks down elevator and keep the plane level after it it takes off - allowing air speed to build before pulling back a little to get the plane to climb.

I would also consider doing a few hand launches without power to trim the plane. Should glide straight ahead for 40-50' with a firm level toss with no wind. (Make sure there is no wind until you get some experience.)



Clint

[vanepico]

i say take the act off. still think its whats wrong, possibly a faulty unit. for the amount they are worth you'd think it would tak more than just a few small hills but next fligh try and climb as quick as possible as cbatters said but dont let it stall. make sure it gathers enough speed. with my skybug i never have to pull the elevator stick all the way back on take off(sorry thats a bit off topic). as i see it the ACT is just another thing to go wrong and if you learn without something like that you usually catch flying much quicker

[fezz]

i flew my cub right out of the box with anti-crash off. i want the full throws of my inputs. Now, thats not to say we havent crashed the cub a few times - we have, but the crashes didn't come from flying at 50 or 100 ft. where ACT is effective - they came from coming in to land or flying in too much wind.

But, after a dozen flights now we are getting comfortable with the plane and the cub is such a good flyer.

I have come to realize i get the most enjoyment when flying in optimum conditions on smooth air. Wind and foamies are just not that much fun for me.

pick a good day and keep ACT off - find the right throttle speed for your size park and the plane will do all you ask of it.

[cbatters]

And just to repeat, you can tape over the bottom sensor with electrical tape to disable ACT and then the ACT switch on the transmitter can be used as dual rate control.


Clint