Post by blastfromthepast on Jul 14, 2014 21:49:19 GMT -8
I have been involved with R/C since 1968. I bought my first digital proportional radio (Citizen ship) after saving all my lawn mowing money from the whole summer. Before that I flew with a galloping ghost system. I have been in and out since the, with my most recent reemergence in January 2013. I have been flying mostly planes until I purchased a V450D03 and followed the setup instructions and ground testing to the letter (kind of boring but turned out to be necessary!). I was practicing the stationary hover when two things happened! First without advancing the throttle it suddenly jumped into the air ( kind of acted like it was holding back) and got about 80 feet into the air! I cut throttle (too much) and then recovered at about 20 feet and just went hands off as I assumed it would self stabilize and hover, WRONG! It was flyin g backwards and loosing altitude rapidly. The bird continued to loose altitude and power and controls did not effect it! Bad tail first crash and the following investigation reveled several problems Two mine and ONE I feel was Walkera's, while searching for parts and pieces I then noticed the wind which had kicked up (about 15-20 MPH) and knew I had had tunnel vision regarding the hover flight and hadn't noticed it kick up! Secondly I had reverted to my plane reactions, pulling back on right stick did not make it go up like plane, it just sped up the crash at the last moment with semi disastrous results. Tail boom twisted and bent. landing skid damaged, tail rotor shaft bent, servo linkage damaged, stabilizers both destroyed, and tail boom support rods damaged. The other thing which I didn't notice at first is that the motor is a OUTRUNNER! I placed the battery on its holder and butted up against the motor. That explained the sudden throttle change, the motor had to wear off the part of the battery that was rubbing against it and the RPM's jumped without the hindrance of the battery contact! The bird will sit until after the 3rd of August as that is when my disability check arrives. (plenty of time to reflect and READ!) LOL I can practice on the simulator and keep kicking myself for NOT noticing the outrunner vs. inrunner. I do feel a note or warning regarding the battery contacting the motor body should be included in the basic instructions. Other than that the usual reason for crash, PILOT ERROR! LOL
It is bad to loosed 3 weeks in the Colorado Summer as it is kind of short! LOL But it is what it is. I have noticed since the crash that on the average between 2AM and 4:30AM it has been dead calm ( new flight time!) LOL. I am sure I will be asking more questions as the repair parts are ordered and installed next month. Hopefully any other Newbie to helicopter flying will learn and laugh from my mistakes.
Kevin