One of those days you wish you never had ... but you know you will in this hobby

wollins · August 15, 2013, 06:45:33 PM

Well, went out to the field to finally taxi test the TIFFIE and crashed my P-51 and knocked out the gear on my BirdDog. (again!) P-51 is pretty much written off and lost the batteries as well. (caught afire)

In case anyone sees it I left the plane in the bushes (didn't want to bring that smell into my car) and will go back to pick it up tonight. I learned that one should always have a big garbage bag in the car!

Oh, and the good news ... the Tiffie taxied really well. Very solid even though there was a wicked crosswind happening (from the west) ... at one point she almost took off!

Colin

battlestu · August 15, 2013, 07:53:54 PM

Ouch sorry about the P51... But glad the taxi test went well

Papa · August 15, 2013, 08:38:36 PM

Yeah this hobby engenders moral fortitude, patience and a great respect for Murphy's Law!

Sorry you had such a day but glad the new one is looking good

Jack.

wollins · August 15, 2013, 09:43:53 PM

Just back from the field ... retrieved my smelly debris.

Yeah, it was the weirdest thing ... perfect takeoff, nice roll out to the right, made a nice smooth uneventful circuit and then just as I was passing the trees at the far east of the field for the second time I just lost response to inputs ... nothing. It seemed like the exact same thing that happened to Glen and his Extra over the weekend and it went down pretty much in the same spot! Dunno what happened ...

Colin.

P.S. As for the Bird dog ... no biggee ... came in for a smooth landing which got overextended because of the crosswind and just ran off the field into the beans and that was enough to rip the gear out. (Kinda like what happened to Greg and his P-51 over the weekend.

pmackenzie · August 16, 2013, 03:36:31 AM

Was this on Airtronics? Did it go to fail safe/ motor off?

IIRC Airtronics has failsafe on all channels, but you have to set them via the transmitter.
Taking the step to do them and putting things like LG and flaps down can tell you if it was a radio link problem, or a power supply problem.

And of course there is always the possibility that it was a mechanical issue or a stall/snap/spin

piker · August 16, 2013, 11:07:29 AM

Hey Colin,

That sucks! But at least it wasn't the Typhoon. Is the P-51 repairable? I bet it is... maybe a winter project.

Robert

wollins · August 16, 2013, 11:19:46 AM

Hey Pat, I'm pretty sure now that it was the internal Bec that failed on the CC 100A ICE esc that I had in there. This was totally my fault ... and it bit me. That Esc's Bec is only rated for 5A which is borderline for a plane with full house controls (flaps etc) and electric retracts ... I should have went with my gut and gotten a standalone Bec. (as I normally do)

I've been making a few technical mistakes lately and that's been a concern.

As these models get bigger and/or more expensive I literally can't afford to be making mistakes like this. A good example was when I lost my F5D Swist last year due to it throwing a prop. It's only when the same thing happened again this Summer with my Wasp/Reverb/Swift (and whatever else they call them) that I realized that its either I have really bad luck or maybe ... just maybe it's something that I'm doing wrong.

Fortunately I was able to bring her down safely.

Anyways, because the F5D Swist have a cut down prop that was not rebalanced I just naturally assumed that it was the cause of the problem. However because it happened again with my Wasp with perfectly balanced blades, I re-opened my "investigation" into the situation. Turns out that the Aeronaut folders that I was using are only rated for up to about 16K rpm and I was turning over 22k in both of these situations! Its no wonder that I threw blades!
Anyways ... we learn as we crash. (hopefully!)

Colin

wollins · August 16, 2013, 11:23:35 AM

Quote from: piker on August 16, 2013, 11:07:29 AM
Hey Colin,

That sucks! But at least it wasn't the Typhoon. Is the P-51 repairable? I bet it is... maybe a winter project.

Robert

Nah ... the front of the fuse is burnt pretty bad. Wing's good and I could get another fuse (they sell them) but I don't think I'll bother ... plane given me various problems from the very start. Shame though cause it was a great flyer, even though I only flew her about seven times since I bought her in 2010!

Colin

bfeist · August 16, 2013, 02:05:05 PM

Which P-51 is it? If you're thinking of trashing it, maybe I'll stand outside your house and garbage pick.

wollins · August 18, 2013, 03:13:44 PM

Sorry for the tardy response Ben, but upon closer inspection it just might be repairable!

Colin

piker · August 18, 2013, 11:04:35 PM

I knew it! You guys give up too easily...