Quote from: msatin on Yesterday at 11:14:36 PMPerhaps RealFlight (RC Flight Simulator) should include various types of failures into the their sim

Thats a really good idea Mark!!  It would go a long way in evolving piloting skills.... and would be super fun without the cost   

I started covering with fabric-texture plastic covering, Oratex.

I used translucent white for the bottoms of the wings, ailerons, elevator and stabilizer, and also on the rudder which will be painted.

I'm trying to do a nice job, so I'm working slowly.

Good choice on the Apprentice.

3S 3200 (or 3000 up to 3300) seem to be the most popular, and can often yield 10+ minute flights.

Hi All
I have finally put together my first big boy plane, the Apprentice and have a question re batteries. I have a single 3s 2200mAh that im using for setting the plane up, I want to get a couple of batteries for flying. The plane will take 3s 3200-4000mAh. Is it worth buying the 4000 mAh battery? It's heavier, more expansive and does it really offer that much extra flight time? I would appreciate any opinions on this, please help the new boy 

Perhaps RealFlight (RC Flight Simulator) should include various types of failures into the their sim

It's interesting that both the output gear and the the smaller white gear, both had broken teeth.
Would one losing teeth cause the other to lose them as well?

A member crashed an airplane and found an aileron servo that would not work properly.  It skipped when it was deflected a little to one side. Typical symptom of broken gear teeth.
I did not witness the crash.  It would be good to know the plane's attitude when it mated with Mother Earth.

Question- did the servo break cause the crash or was it due to the impact?

Took the servo apart:
Two of the black output gear (attached to the servo arm) teeth were broken.  One of the smaller white gear teeth was broken as well.  See photo.  The broken teeth are in the middle.  The sharp end of the screws point to the missing teeth.

Why is it dangerous?
Two things can happen when teeth are broken in flight...based on personal experience:
1) the servo will not deflect the flying surface.  When it is an aileron servo, you usually still have one good servo in the other wing.  The plane will still fly but with sluggish control.
2) dangerous.  When the servo starts to deflect near the broken gear, the pressure on the control surface will make the output gear to skip and lose neutral, sometimes significantly.  The next deflection can cause the control servo to doubly deflect.

Note the first photo where the pieces were embedded in the white grease.  If the teeth broke because of the crash, I would expect the black output gear pieces to be embedded beside each other.
The teeth were found on opposite ends of the white gear which means they broke when the gears were turning...in flight.

My opinion: I believe the gears broke in flight and caused the control problems.

Coming to a future episode of "Mayday", the crash investigation TV show.

Frank

Dear Members,

On behalf of TEMAC, I'm looking to purchase 2-3 Spektrum Tx's with wireless training preferably built in, or least capable.
These will be used to replace the the outdated Tx's we use for training students.
If you have an older Tx that is just gathering dust, let me know and we'll work out a fair price.
You can contact me at [email protected].
Thanks very much.

Mark S.

On Tuesday several flyers came out to fly. I saw Glenn, David, Rob, Mark, Alex, Simon C, Kenny, and more were coming in when I left.

The sky was blue, and it was windy, but manageable.

Alex took this photo of David, Glenn, Simon and me, after we flew our jets together.

Just letting you know. This coming Sunday.  Athol Cohen will be selling most of his collection of tools, models and equipment.
I cannot go because off a family trip to Kinsgton this weekend.

Frank