OK Who Crashed today ? Besides me :)

[CHELLIE]

Originally Posted by xuzme720

Ballast? Bigger battery!

bigger battery in the nose

[xuzme720]

If you've GOT to add weight, why not make it useful?

[CNY_Dave]

I thought batteries always went in the nose?

[mclarkson]

Hey, you know that friction fit battery that's nice and tight and hasn't given you any problems in over two years of flying so don't worry about it?

Yeah.

Popped right out of my light Stryker during a negative-gee maneuver at about 30 feet.

The plane fluttered down and landed on its nose with no damage and the battery, fortunately, did not short out in the snow so no harm done. (But it may - just may - be time to think about a real battery retention system of some sort in there.)

This is actually the first time in almost 3 years of flying that I've managed to lose a battery in flight.

[pattern14]

[QUOTE=mclarkson;902768]Hey, you know that friction fit battery that's nice and tight and hasn't given you any problems in over two years of flying so don't worry about it?

Yeah.

Popped right out of my light Stryker during a negative-gee maneuver at about 30 feet.

The plane fluttered down and landed on its nose with no damage and the battery, fortunately, did not short out in the snow so no harm done. (But it may - just may - be time to think about a real battery retention system of some sort in there.)

This is actually the first time in almost 3 years of flying that I've managed to lose a battery in flight.[/QUOTE) Thats' pretty good going there Mcclarkson I've lost more batteries than planes. Usually spit them out during a combat clash, but ejected them from my Me 262 at least 6 times, from my Ar234 at least 4 times, and lost count of the others falling out of my X-planes. Only ever found 2, as they usually fall into a dam, long grass, or some other snake infested death trap. Thank God for HK batteries, or I'd be seriously out of pocket Landing in the snow is obviously the way to go

[50+AirYears]

Not today, actually last Monday, and maybe not really a crash. Flying in the park across the street, I kind of misjudged the wind drift (about 12 mph, 28 degrees F) and realized I was over the woods to the East of the park. Turned back, when a tree reached out a branch and grabbed hold. Broke the plane into 4 pieces. Two pieces were allowed to fall to the ground, while the tree held on to the other two parts. Since it was late, I recovered the two pieces from the ground, and wasted some time trying to shake the limb the plane parts were in. The tree kept a firm hold.
Went back the next day with a saw, got some revenge by removing the 40' vertical branch, and got a pleasant surprise when I was able to recover the tail and wing Starboard panel without any extra damage. A bit of 5 minute epoxy and a new prop, and I'll be ready to go again.

[mclarkson]

Take that, tree!!

[spitfire]

Way to show that tree who's boss!

[50+AirYears]

I have to say that sawing a 2" limb off a tree, even if it was almost 40' long, was not as satisfying as a couple times at other fields, chopping down 8" or 10" trees with an old GI machette. Better whole body workout, too.
Charlie Brown had kite eating trees, I get the plane eating trees, especially when I'm flying free flight.

[spitfire]

Trees prefer free-flights I've found... They must taste better for some reason.

[gramps2161]

Originally Posted by spitfire

Trees prefer free-flights I've found... They must taste better for some reason.

That's because free-flights are all natural with no extra additives.

[xmech2k]

I finally did it! After flying at our field for around 6 years now, I finally nailed one of the utility poles. And I've seen many, many planes go into the wires or the pole. I was loitering with my Radian when someone took off with his beautifully painted Spacewalker. I wanted to watch him fly, so I dove to lose altitude so I could land, and smacked right into the junk at the top of the pole... Tore a little bit of foam(already fixed), took a second search to find the canopy, and never found the spinner and prop blades. Didn't get a pic of the crash site, as just as I started walking out there, the pilot in the Spacewalker ejected near the crash scene! So someone hiked out there for him just ahead of me and picked up the pieces before I got there. So amazingly little damage. Unless something unseen shows up, just need to replace the spinner/folding prop.

[NJSwede]

My 3DHobbyShop 58" Edge bit the dirt today. I was doing harriers a few feet off the ground when the motor seized. No chance to recover, so I just kept holding up elevator to try to set it down as gently as possible. Landed in a huge mud pile and ripped out the landing gear and some of the "guts" holding it. Should be easily fixable, but I'm still bummed since it was one of my two favorite planes (that and the 72" Extra).

[dahawk]

Whew ! I now have an appreciation on how valuable these 3DHS planes are. Glad you savedher. On those planes, you don't get too many chances.

I'm going to post a report and some pics sharing my experience on our 3DHS fly-low-in. The best non-flying weekend I ever had ! Well a little bit of flying bit today after Ben Fisher(owner of 3DHS) maidened my Formosa II.

Hawk

[50+AirYears]

Does this count as a crash? I was rearranging some stuff on a shelving unit in the garage when one of the shelves collapsed, dropping onto one of my best FF hand Launched Gliders, best Catapault launched FF Gliders, and an old ERC toy park flyer I got years ago from Tower. The ERC and the HLG might be repairable, but the Cat is toast.

[Nitro Blast]

Originally Posted by 50+AirYears

Does this count as a crash?

Sorry to read that, but it isn't a crash. its even more pain full....... hangar rash is the WORST!

[NJSwede]

Originally Posted by dahawk

Whew ! I now have an appreciation on how valuable these 3DHS planes are. Glad you savedher. On those planes, you don't get too many chances.

I'm going to post a report and some pics sharing my experience on our 3DHS fly-low-in. The best non-flying weekend I ever had ! Well a little bit of flying bit today after Ben Fisher(owner of 3DHS) maidened my Formosa II.

Hawk

I heard from Gary that you showed up and seemed to have a good time! I wish I could have been there!

The Edge is being repaired already:
http://www.3drcforums.com/showthread...540-repair-log

[jaydav]

I did...well, yesterday that is! Stryker Q Down

Stryker Q Down

[Brian VT]

Ouch on the Stryker. She gonna be okay ?

Flying a Champ in my yard tonight. 10-15mph breeze (good practice for making saves with "real" planes).
On my 3rd battery, wfo "hovering" into the breeze, @ 10 feet up, it did an instant nose dive.
It looked like the prop. shaft was bent but it turns out that the motor mount broke free. Easy fix !

[jaydav]

Originally Posted by Brian VT

Ouch on the Stryker. She gonna be okay ?

Flying a Champ in my yard tonight. 10-15mph breeze (good practice for making saves with "real" planes).
On my 3rd battery, wfo "hovering" into the breeze, @ 10 feet up, it did an instant nose dive.
It looked like the prop. shaft was bent but it turns out that the motor mount broke free. Easy fix !

the nose and battery area have "super compressed foam syndrome"... so the front end is soaking in water right now waiting for a re-shaping. After that a little glue here and there and a couple carbon rods and the body should be ok....... I am missing some plastic pieces for the cover (over the motor and esc) The two plastic pieces the cover slides into to hold it secure. one cant buy those......anyone have a completely destroyed body that has those pieces?

[DHC Beaver]

Crash?who?me?
I haven't had much luck trying to get my Auto-G into the air.I have already built new blades for it,despite it never having actually flown..
Where's the wind when you need it?

[stuart]

uproar bit the dust today,I'm using a new hitec optic 6 tx with the assan module and rx's from hobby king.....lost signal after a few seconds of flying and she death spiraled in to total destruction. the first glitch was while in a turn right after gaining alltitude and i had hoped to land asap and fought the controls for a split second ...then total loss of control.

i did the range check and everything was fine...or so i thought. i tried range checks on the ground with my 2 other planes brought today and found at a long walk away[approx 300ft] the signal wasn't holding or reacting quick enough....but what really stunk is it worked fine 95% of the testing and easily would have passed for good.

I've dumped the assan 2.4 module and installed the hitec 2.4module that came with the tx. the tx also came with 2 optima 7 rx's pre bound to the tx. I'm trying to figure out the channel options for the optima6 channel rxs as a 3pack costs $112 shipped and I'll need to switch around 10 planes from assan to hitec. the damage to the roar isn't as bad as the damage to the wallet for new rx's.

[kyleservicetech]

Originally Posted by stuart

i did the range check and everything was fine...or so i thought. i tried range checks on the ground with my 2 other planes brought today and found at a long walk away[approx 300ft] the signal wasn't holding or reacting quick enough....but what really stunk is it worked fine 95% of the testing and easily would have passed for good.

I've got Spektrums "Back Yard Receiver" model # AR6115E in a little 12 ounce model built some 15 years ago. A range check showed over 200 feet and still going.

Didn't know if I should trust the range, so went with transmitter at full power. A quarter mile later, still solid signal. Other wattflyer readers have checked this little receiver at a mile range!

[fhhuber]

The range is not the issue with the various types of Spektrum RXs. (except maybe the micros) The "antenna diversity" is.

I have tested all of the types of Spektrum RXs I can (and I have almost all of them) and ALL (including the micros) will fly the appropriate type models to where they are just dots in the sky... or until LVC shuts of the motors of the micros circling up as fast as I can send them up.

With proper installation they are extremely reliable. When I have found issues with my spektrum controlled models (and other people's) its always turned out to be some other part causing the issue. Bad switch, bad servo, bad battery...

I found that Hydramax NiCd batteries have a mis-sized connector and every one that I have does not make good connection with any brand RX,or switch harness.
Issues like this often get blamed on the RX, but its not the RX's fault that its not getting reliable power.

Orange RXs (Hobby King) on the other hand... I bought 3. 2 DOA. the 3rd never had more than 200 ft range and it failed in 3 flights.
Not worth my time to try to save $50 on an RX and risk $100 to $300 worth of aircraft on that kind of a gamble ever again.

******

Back to the thread topic:

My most recent incident...

Showing off a Dynam Me-262's impressive performance I was flying at a site I wasn't used to. I was coming in for landing and bounced off of a fire hydrant. (the only "target" in 1/4 mile)
The good part is... the plane just has a little cosmetic damage. Bent the nosewheel back in place and its flying fine. Tough bird.

[kyleservicetech]

Originally Posted by fhhuber

Orange RXs (Hobby King) on the other hand... I bought 3. 2 DOA. the 3rd never had more than 200 ft range and it failed in 3 flights.
Not worth my time to try to save $50 on an RX and risk $100 to $300 worth of aircraft on that kind of a gamble ever again.

Yup
With all the models out there, from the "Cheap" foamies, to the $$$$ Giant scale models, I've kind of used the "Thirds" formula. One third of the $$$$ for the radio, one third of the $$$$ for the power system, one third of the $$$$ for the model itself.

So, for your new 1/4 scale $$$$ model, don't make much sense to use an $ Orange receiver, and for your $ Foamie, don't make much sense to use a $$$$ receiver. Bottom line, the more valuable your model, the more $$$$ should go into the radio system (And the power system for that matter). Regardless of radio brands.