callsign4223
Staff member
Ok, I will end the suspense first. Yes I crashed. I crashed all 3 aircraft I brought with me. Here they are in order of flight.
I was going to start off with my plane, but the battery velcro was loose. So I CA'ed it back in place and pulled out my MCPx to work off the nerves. I was flying it around doing really well, impressing the guy with me. He has been with me a couple of times now and has watched me progress. He was impressed with how far I've come. I decided to show off a bit and started doing flips with the MCPx. Everything was going great until I forgot to add negative pitch while inverted once and instead added full POSITIVE pitch. MCPx go boom. Picked it up, shoved the gear back up and kept flying.
Damage: Broke the battery holder on the landing gear, need to CA it back together.
Next up was the plane, a Multiplex Acromaster. I will point out that this was only my second time flying this plane, and the first time I crashed in under 45 seconds. I didn't even make it that long this time. As soon as I got off the ground I could tell something was SERIOUSLY WRONG with this plane. It was pitching all over the place. At the time I was too freaked out trying to control it to really analyze what was happening. After thinking back on it, I think it was WAY nose heavy. If I remember right it seems like I was constantly fighting it from pitching down. I managed to get it turned twice and was trying to come in for a landing to figure out why it was acting so badly, unfortunately I haven't managed to get any better at landing fixed wing yet. I managed to hit nose first AGAIN, bending ANOTHER motor shaft. Didn't know that at the time though. I asked my buddy to take the plane up and see what was wrong with it since there was no VISIBLE damage. As soon as he throttled up we heard the motor buzzing from the shaft, the plane rolled out 30ft and BOTH ailerons fell off. It was the most hilarious sight I have yet seen. Plane rolling across the grass and the AILERONS FALL OFF. Only thing holding them to the plane was the servos. As we walked up to the plane we were trying to see how bad the motor shaft was. I was holding the plane back and he throttled up. Then the prop FLEW OFF. Not just the prop, but the entire prop holder assembly. Just flew right off the motor and went whipping through the air. Lesson number whatever (I have lost count at this point)never stand parallel to or in front of an operational plane.
Damage: Ailerons, just need to CA the hinges back into the wing. Motor shaft, need to see if I can get a motor shaft for an Exceed Rocket motor, or if I have to get a whole new motor again.
Next up was his JR .30 size nitro. It flew awesome until the muffler came loose and the engine started running lean.
Damage: Muffler, Needs to be locktited on again.
Last up was my beloved Blade 400. I started awful, the bird was all over the place. This was it's first flight on my new DX8 and I really had some trimming to do. The second battery went much better. I actually started to do some real sport flying with it, started to really feel comfortable with it. That battery was awesome. For the third battery I let my buddy start it off. He flew for about 3/4 of the battery, then handed it back because the light was getting bad and he wanted me to get some more stick time. He had put it in idle up, and it was the first time I had ever heard idle up. I thought, what the heck, I can HOVER in idle up, it's only a minute left, just hover and get comfortable with idle up. Then I did a pitch pump and the world ended. It shot up, which I was ready for, but it also started pirouetting out of control. I had no tail control and it was going over on it's side. I tried to fight it to level all the way down and failed. About 5 feet off the ground I completely lost it and flipped TH. It was AWESOME/HORRIFYING. My wonderful 400 was a folded up pile of parts. After looking it over, it appears the tail belt wasn't tight enough and when I pitch pumped the belt just started slipping.
Damage: Bent main shaft, feathering shaft, flybar shaft, tail boom. Broken main blades, main blade grip, landing gear. Need to replace belt also. (Just did some quick window shopping on AMainhobbies, looks like about $50 in parts, not too bad)
So, while it sucks that most of my fleet is in need of repair now, I really feel good about the day. I managed to control my MCPx well and try out some more advanced moves with it. I managed to break through my hover phase with the 400. The only thing that I didn't improve on was my fixed wing flying, maybe I should leave the planks to others.
I was going to start off with my plane, but the battery velcro was loose. So I CA'ed it back in place and pulled out my MCPx to work off the nerves. I was flying it around doing really well, impressing the guy with me. He has been with me a couple of times now and has watched me progress. He was impressed with how far I've come. I decided to show off a bit and started doing flips with the MCPx. Everything was going great until I forgot to add negative pitch while inverted once and instead added full POSITIVE pitch. MCPx go boom. Picked it up, shoved the gear back up and kept flying.
Damage: Broke the battery holder on the landing gear, need to CA it back together.
Next up was the plane, a Multiplex Acromaster. I will point out that this was only my second time flying this plane, and the first time I crashed in under 45 seconds. I didn't even make it that long this time. As soon as I got off the ground I could tell something was SERIOUSLY WRONG with this plane. It was pitching all over the place. At the time I was too freaked out trying to control it to really analyze what was happening. After thinking back on it, I think it was WAY nose heavy. If I remember right it seems like I was constantly fighting it from pitching down. I managed to get it turned twice and was trying to come in for a landing to figure out why it was acting so badly, unfortunately I haven't managed to get any better at landing fixed wing yet. I managed to hit nose first AGAIN, bending ANOTHER motor shaft. Didn't know that at the time though. I asked my buddy to take the plane up and see what was wrong with it since there was no VISIBLE damage. As soon as he throttled up we heard the motor buzzing from the shaft, the plane rolled out 30ft and BOTH ailerons fell off. It was the most hilarious sight I have yet seen. Plane rolling across the grass and the AILERONS FALL OFF. Only thing holding them to the plane was the servos. As we walked up to the plane we were trying to see how bad the motor shaft was. I was holding the plane back and he throttled up. Then the prop FLEW OFF. Not just the prop, but the entire prop holder assembly. Just flew right off the motor and went whipping through the air. Lesson number whatever (I have lost count at this point)never stand parallel to or in front of an operational plane.
Damage: Ailerons, just need to CA the hinges back into the wing. Motor shaft, need to see if I can get a motor shaft for an Exceed Rocket motor, or if I have to get a whole new motor again.
Next up was his JR .30 size nitro. It flew awesome until the muffler came loose and the engine started running lean.
Damage: Muffler, Needs to be locktited on again.
Last up was my beloved Blade 400. I started awful, the bird was all over the place. This was it's first flight on my new DX8 and I really had some trimming to do. The second battery went much better. I actually started to do some real sport flying with it, started to really feel comfortable with it. That battery was awesome. For the third battery I let my buddy start it off. He flew for about 3/4 of the battery, then handed it back because the light was getting bad and he wanted me to get some more stick time. He had put it in idle up, and it was the first time I had ever heard idle up. I thought, what the heck, I can HOVER in idle up, it's only a minute left, just hover and get comfortable with idle up. Then I did a pitch pump and the world ended. It shot up, which I was ready for, but it also started pirouetting out of control. I had no tail control and it was going over on it's side. I tried to fight it to level all the way down and failed. About 5 feet off the ground I completely lost it and flipped TH. It was AWESOME/HORRIFYING. My wonderful 400 was a folded up pile of parts. After looking it over, it appears the tail belt wasn't tight enough and when I pitch pumped the belt just started slipping.
Damage: Bent main shaft, feathering shaft, flybar shaft, tail boom. Broken main blades, main blade grip, landing gear. Need to replace belt also. (Just did some quick window shopping on AMainhobbies, looks like about $50 in parts, not too bad)
So, while it sucks that most of my fleet is in need of repair now, I really feel good about the day. I managed to control my MCPx well and try out some more advanced moves with it. I managed to break through my hover phase with the 400. The only thing that I didn't improve on was my fixed wing flying, maybe I should leave the planks to others.
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I've had those myself.
