Gregor99
Elite Veteran
Location: Western Wa
| Flew early in the AM. Even with 3 cups of coffee, I was still groggy and my mind was wondering. I'm working on backward flight and should know better than to try new stuff when I'm not quite all there.
About 3 minutes into the flight I lost orientation and fell victim to a bad habit that I'm need to break. Because the air is so clean 1-4 feet off the ground that's where I usually fly. The higher I go, the more turbulance there is. The wind swirling over the fences creates unstable air above 8 feet.
Anyway, I lost control and instictively attempted to recover with the cyclic. I should have used the collective, or at least the throttle hold, bit didn't. The heli rolled quickly one way, too far, then the other way as I over corrected, all happening about 1 foot off the ground.
By the third over correction, the heli was too low and the blades hit the grass. I didn't think to hit T.hold until it was over and I heard the motor spinning.
Damage was the usual suspects plus two surprises. Both blades, the spindle, flybar, main gear and canopy. The main shaft is probably bent too. The frame was OK.
The first surprise was the almost new Extreme 400x motor. The shaft snapped right off. Not sure how that happened. I heard the shaft was weak and its true.
The second surprise was that all 3 servos lost thier gears. I had heard the DS285s have weak gears, but so far they've held up to a couple blade strikes. I ordered the metal gear upgrades which by far are the most expensive part of this crash.
In the next few days I expect to be going over the crash in my mind, and trying to figure out where I went wrong and what I could have done differently. The main thing I really need to work on is the altitude. With another 4 to 6 feet I'm pretty sure I could have saved it.
Canton MO backyard flying club
West Coast Chapter |
oh, there's my king
LHS was closed today wonder If I could get walmart to carry EC3 connectors?
