Lost my um champ

[slotcsx]

Well goin' to miss that dang thing,been flying my um champ on my dx6i from my front yard.Has been flying great, decided to try the stock radio, big mistake was going ok until I switched to hi rate the thing took off and at about a 10-15 degree climb it just kept going, out of sight and gone !!

[max2112]

Originally Posted by slotcsx

Well goin' to miss that dang thing,been flying my um champ on my dx6i from my front yard.Has been flying great, decided to try the stock radio, big mistake was going ok until I switched to hi rate the thing took off and at about a 10-15 degree climb it just kept going, out of sight and gone !!

Sorry to read about your MIA champ, slotscx. After you switched to high rates did you have any response to the sticks at all?

and WELCOME to WattFlyer! It's always great to see new faces in the clubhouse.

[lucas2696]

Originally Posted by slotcsx

Well goin' to miss that dang thing,been flying my um champ on my dx6i from my front yard.Has been flying great, decided to try the stock radio, big mistake was going ok until I switched to hi rate the thing took off and at about a 10-15 degree climb it just kept going, out of sight and gone !!

Wow, that sucks, I've had a few free flight birds fly away, but never ans RC, especially not an UM.
Just another excuse to get another!

[SHADY]

Dang that sucks dude....
Did you have your name and number written on it???

I have made a few treks into the brush looking for my favorite T28 park flyer...
Found the canopy to it, we have one more grid to look at, one member suggested dousing for it, I am really considering it...

[slotcsx]

Got no response at all after about 30-40 feet, worked on the ground and at take off, then nada. Do have name and phone number on it, but nothing after 2 days. Oh well, thats the way it goes I guess.

[SHADY]

I was flying mine the other day and thought it would be a good idea to mess with the roller switch on my DX6i while the plane was in the air...

Accidentally switched models and lost complete control, but when signal was lost it shut the motor off, as yours should've done, come to think of it..

It was dusk and the led's were on, so luckily I kept it in sight long enough to get a good idea where it went...
I don't think I've run that fast of that far in 20 years...

Had to have been a sight to see... A grown man running frantically down the street
hold a Tx and looking upward....

I ran 2 and a half blocks through the neighborhood before finding it, safely sitting right side up in some tall grass...

[dkrhardy]

Oh Jeeeezzz, knock on wood!

I'm afraid if I, do the name and ph# thing, that I'll get a call ... Uhm Mr. Hardy I have your little plane and it put a big a$$ed dent in my Benz ................... Does AMA help if you are neighborhood flying?

[slotcsx]

I don't think it is heavy enough to do any damage really. It should've had about 4 more minutes of power also. I have never lost a plane to run away before, a couple boats on 75 am, and a few cars go crazy but first for a plane, have used 72 fm and older 27 am without a hitch except self inflicked problems,bad plugs,weak batteries,and the like. Still a little puzzled as to why this happened. I decided to try the stock radio because I was getting bored,and never tried these radio's before. I have 3 of them from a sr120,an msr,and the champ. Called horizon hobby and told them about the problem, they said they could not warranty the plane because I did not have it to trouble shoot!!! Well,I have another on the way........anybody want a few radios ? Look in my garbage dumpster tomorrow.........LOL....... At 4 minutes and WOT I wonder how far it could have gone ?

[Rockin Robbins]

Unbelievable! A Champ doing a sailplane trick! (the voice of recent experience speaks) I know how dumb you feel. However, as already explained, if you lost radio contact, the controls should have assumed the fail-safe position. Usually that is throttle off or idle throttle. It is possible to reset the fail-safe positions to unsafe settings, like wide open throttle.

And you're in the same position as Horizon. No plane to troubleshoot so you'll always wonder exactly what happened. I feel your pain.

[Mr. X.]

My first plane did a fly away. it was a mini super cub. I looked for it in the swamp for hours with a kayak and gave up. I had to decide to either give up trying or to get another plane. I now have about 10.. oh well. I still think about going to find it but i'm sure its done for by now.

[dkrhardy]

Oh My! Knocking on wood furiously!

[SirSudiSavage]

Sorry to hear that bro! Im glad mine never did anything like that and i always use the stock radio. The worst thing that happened to me was a seagull attack when i was trying to fly with them side by side

[Maladroit]

A guy at RCGroups lost his Champ. He downloaded Google Earth and then used the last visual heading he had on the Champ and figured his battery time X approx. speed to create a swath to search. No grid was needed; he knew the approximate spot where the lil' Champ was supposed to be.

Sure enough, he found it less than a mile away, sitting in a bush. It had actually landed a little prematurely, but that didn't matter; he had his Champ back!

[K CLOSE]

Did the google earth thing myself to get a flyaway GWS Zero back a while ago. It's absolutely worth a try, I looked for a long time the day she went AWOL in a high wind situation. I tried google earth for haha's and found it in under and hour (with Ryanflyer helping me look) Try it

[FlyWheel]

Google Earth gives enough resolution to find an RC plane? Just how big was it?!?!?!?!

Slot, it might be stuc up in a tree, a roof or out in some ield where no one goes. You might try looking in the direction it went.

A side note: The A.M.A sells weather proof ID stickers you can fill out and stick to your plane, I think even non members can get them. Just a few bucks for a pack of ten. Certainly a good deal when compared to the price of a new plane!

Posted via Mobile Device

[kevinm]

Originally Posted by dkrhardy

Oh Jeeeezzz, knock on wood!

I'm afraid if I, do the name and ph# thing, that I'll get a call ... Uhm Mr. Hardy I have your little plane and it put a big a$$ed dent in my Benz ................... Does AMA help if you are neighborhood flying?

never underestimate the sliminess of the litigator

[slotcsx]

Don't know how you can use google, I went to there site and down loaded the newest version,the newest picture I got is 2 or more years old ! how do you get the current picture or are you talking crap?

[Zapper2003]

They aren't actually finding the plane using google earth. They're using mathematics and google earth to find them. Approx speed, approximate heading, approximate time left til dead battery, and a starting point. Calculate the distance til dead battery from your starting point using your speed/time, then using google, track your distance from the start point at your approximate heading, and find your 'crash radius'. Then start the search.

[K CLOSE]

I should have clarified....Zapper is bang on. Google earth is more about the plane being somewhere other then where you think, because it really does look different "from up there". I know some guys will do A.V. search and rescue flights with other planes to find a downed plane. This is more of the aforementioned "approximates" for an idea of an area to search. It helped me...

[HobbyJumper]

Too bad about your Champ.

At least it's not TOO expensive to buy another -- yet one more reason they ought to make a bind and fly version available!