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Century Helicopter . MTA Hobbies . Model Rectifier Corp

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Safety - RC Helis are not toys > My Chopper Bit Me
 
 
cerberus
Senior Heliman
Location: Southeast Louisiana

I see it now, Fox TV will get ahold of this thread and the result will be,

"When good helis attack! See what happens when rc helicopters quit taking commands from their owners and turn to bite the hands that fuel them..."




$to_be || !($to_be); $that = $the_question;
03-18-2002 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
BladeRunner
Elite Veteran
Location: Ontario Canada. Member of "some sort" s

Bit Me!

It's easy to say in hindsight,but, if your PCM is set to "hold" the last position on ALL controls it's an accident waiting to happen.

It has been touched on briefly here but there is a BIG difference in having the throttle set to "hold" and "go idle". Other controls are debateable how they are set, the throttle should always be set for idle, if something happens and you lose control switching off the TX will let you go into a "lockout" and the controls should go where you have set them.
I'm not sure that everyone makes that connection, I spoke with a newer pilot today in fact, he just got a PCM radio and thought that "hold" for all controls was the recomended setting.
I would set the throttle to idle and not to "kill" the engine, if it's a lockout it may pass and you may regain control. If you set it to close the throttle completely you have no choice but to auto in if you get control back. That's my opinion, FWIW.
03-18-2002 Over year old.
 
 
mikencg
Heliman
Location: Cincinnati, Ohio

I agree that PCM should fail to idle on the throttle and the other channels should hold last input. I have found another option to be helpful also. I program in just a little rudder in lockout. I do this for two reasons. First should the helicopter go into lockout for just a second I will see the tail kick along with hearing the motor cut to idle. It gives me a good warning that something may be wrong and to bring it in. The second reason is since I have programmed my heli to hold last inputs, the slow pirouette generated from the tail input may help stabilize the helicopter. For example should I have some left cyclic the tail input will neutralize this as the heli spins. Depending on the situation it may not help at all.
03-18-2002 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
xcelllogo
Senior Heliman
Location: San Diego

I wonder how long till we have some sort of system that is mandatory where if we get locked out that we have some sort of device that just shuts off the helicopter PCM or PPM. (like in monster trucks.) I bet as more people start RC helis more accidents will happen and AMA will start to get stricter. Anyone have any insight on this?? I hope you get better soon Alvin as well.

Adam
03-19-2002 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
av8er
Senior Heliman
Location: NH, USA

I hope they won't laugh at me wearing my motorcylce helmet Glad ur ok. Hang tough and don't get too close...........SAFETY.....try not to hover at eye/blade level, or stand right behind ur tail blades.....sometimes i wish i still have to wear glasses (got lasik...20/15) a whole new world. stay safe
03-19-2002 Over year old.
 
 
Itsindilas
Veteran
Location: Greece-Athens

Hello,

Very Kinky guy, first time I see someone having a fetish with helis.
Mate you have to go to a doctor. That's masochism!!!!!!!

Just teasing you next time be carefull!!!!!!
I wish you safe landings
03-19-2002 Over year old.
 
 
Raffy
Key Veteran
Location: Chicago, Illinois

Check your heli before flight.....

If you sense just one glitch....STOP altogether. Buy a new different brand radio and to be safe from any vibration, choose PCM!
If accident like this happen more often, one day we might be required to where an outfit just like the RIOT POLICE are wearing complete with an armor shield in front of us while flying!
03-22-2002 Over year old.
 
 
BladeRunner
Elite Veteran
Location: Ontario Canada. Member of "some sort" s

Chopper?

Lapointe, I think BOTH terms(altitude/atitude) should apply when thinking about safety.
03-22-2002 Over year old.
 
 
MobileRaptor
Veteran
Location: Orange, Texas

Post-Mortom

Hi Alvin

Received the post-mortom on your attack prone FP-R129DP Reciever today. The results are (drum roll) a failed/bad solder joint an the PC board. Most likly encurred during a previously hard impact.

We've talked safety alot in this post, but how many of us have install a receiver that has been through a crash back into a repaired heli or just repaired the visable damage, check to see if all the servo move and went flying. It may not bite you on the maiden but if it's damaged it will get you sooner or later.

The cost to repair this receiver was $31.95 including shipping and the work was done at Radio South, People I Trust and never had a problem with. The Repair took 10 days from drop off to back in my mail box.

The question is, should a receiver be inspected after it has been through a hard impack, From the whelps on Alvins arm and back, I think so.

None of my flying recievers have been through a crash without being inspected by Tony at Radio South, I consider it cheap insurance. Also $32.00 is cheap compared to the cost of new PCM receiver or the cost of repairing 2 crashes, I.E. the first crash and the second crash because the receiver wasn't repaired.
04-03-2002 Over year old.
 
 
wiljam
Senior Heliman
Location: Santa Paula, California

You can get some kevlar body armour to keep that from happening....lol im glad to see that you didnt get hurt any worse.
Will
04-03-2002 Over year old.
 
 
alvinrc
Veteran
Location: Mobile, AL, USA

I Am Back

MobileRaptor,
Thanks for the report on the reciever. It was as I had suspected.
Makes a believer out of me.
I wondered what had become of that reciever after I discarded it.
My new R149DP that Tony at RS fixed me up with is working great.


wiljam,
Great idea and I am thinking of maybe some kind of roll cage to stand under when flying.

BTY - I am all recovered now and doing battle once again with flying my chopper.
04-03-2002 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
wiljam
Senior Heliman
Location: Santa Paula, California

I remember in the old days trying to learn how to fly my Cricket in my parents front yard, there were several times I had to go into a defensive, arm over my head run to avoid my hilo trying to attack me due to "dumbthumb".

Will
04-03-2002 Over year old.
 
 
heliraptor
Key Veteran
Location: Colchester, Essex, UK

We must set throttle to idle on PCM

Hi Guys

Just another re inforcement for those guys that still have it set to hold. Pulled this off of the BMFA web site in the UK.

BMFA SAFETY NOTICE - PCM / FAIL-SAFES
Report from the BMFA Technical Council - 30th October 1999
Compiled by Andy Ellison. R/C Power Technical Committee.

On Sunday 14th March 1999 eleven year old Adam Kirby was struck by a radio controlled powered model aircraft and killed. The coroners inquest into the accident has concluded that a contributory cause in this tragic accident was the settings of the computerised transmitter based programmable failsafe.

In this instance the radio in use was transmitting in pulse code modulation mode (PCM) and the programmable failsafe was set to HOLD.

On Saturday 30th October, after a long study and information gathering exercise, restricted by the legalities surrounding a case of this type, the BMFA Technical Council sat to deliberate proposals put forward by myself relating to the use of PCM radio and its association with programmable radio failsafe devices. This was in order that the problems associated with its usage could be clarified and passed on to R/C fliers via this publication, the BMFA members handbook and by the instigation of competition rule changes. The following report is a synopsis of my findings.

Please bear in mind that the terminology relating to this topic varies greatly from one radio manufacturer to another, and so for the purpose of this safety notice I have generalised. The term HOLD refers to a scenario whereby the servos HOLD the position they were in just before the interference arrived. The term PRESET refers to the moving of the servos into pre-programmed positions which were defined by the operator before flying, and FAILSAFE is a generic term to cover both.

Happy flying and be safe

Lee
04-03-2002 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
FlightPower
Veteran
Location: Herts UK

IMO, PCM failsafe = (lock-out) (in helis) is the cost that comes with the benefits of PCM1024 - i.e. there's better reception in 1024 with the penalty of more drastic consequences if that reception is lost. (In my case the RX signal was made tentative by a poor quality base loaded antenna - but not a big enough issue to warrant trashing the machine).

I've had a raptor crash twice from PCM lock-out and have had a further two lucky recoveries owing to the time delay to resume normal service. It's really a feature that I'd prefer to be able to switch off.

FYI, Multiplex do a receiver that combines enhanced frame rate (1024 equivalent) with an interpolated best-guess on interference feature like PPM - technically it sounds like a better solution, I hope Futaba pick up on this and improve on the dangerous and frustrating PCM lock-out issue swiftly - at the very least to reduce or remove the time-delay.
05-14-2003 Over year old.
 
 
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PowerHelis . JR-Spektrum . Gyro Hobbies

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Safety - RC Helis are not toys > My Chopper Bit Me
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