Crashed the Heli yesterday
 

Well after finally getting a new clutch put in I went out with Bobby Watts yesterday to get the final setup finished.

And the first Flight went real well, Bobby did the final tuning and did some light aerobatics with it just to check pitch's, and then landed and said filler up and give it a try.

So I filled it back up and then asked bobby if he'd put it through some menuvers just so I could see that nothing will happen, so I wouldn't worry when I went to do try. And in case something did happen hopefully he'd be able to recover better then I would.

So He takes it up, starts testing the waters with it and things are going great he even mentioned that he was really surprised at how nice this heli fly's and even commented about the performance compared to his stratus, then went into a large inverted loop and starting the downward part heading back into inverted (ie: nose pointing straight at the ground) he lost all control of the helicopter. It went into Fail safe, everything nuetraled out but being nose pointed straight down that does nothing. He hit throttle hold (As I've heard/ and now learned recently that every second you don't hit the Throttle hold is pretty much $100) And she piled in nose first straight into the ground from about 50-75 feet up.

After 10 minutes of trying to figure out what happened (including a new guy coming onto the field and starting his range check, which just so happened to be at the same time my heli went in) It looks to be the brand new Switch I bought went out. I didn't think anything of it when I bought it, was just a Hi-Tech switch $9 switch this was the 3rd flight with it. Will never make that mistake again. Yet another reason I normally only buy Futaba or JR stuff no off brand names.

Surprisingly enough the Canopy took the Brunt of the crash (kind of like how a car crimples up. same thing) My parts list was surprisingly low.

Most expensive parts are the canopy, New Blades, reciever, I doesn't even look like it bent the main shaft but I'm going to replace it anyways just to be safe. Good news is Bobby was flying and just for being who he is and who he flys for, will help me out.

I'll be upgrading things like I always do, might as well while I'm at it right. And hopefully I'll have it back up and running this weekend. I have a spare canopy and Skids (the red ones that were pictured in the other thread that I think are just ugly, but since it'll cost $250-300 just to get another painted canopy I'll probably just end up flying that for now) Unless anyone here knows how to paint and can give me some tips on how to and what set up to go with for the (fine painting). I can get a Gel coated one from Min Air dirt cheap, but I'd have to paint it myself.

Sorry I didn't take pictures, In hind sight I should have had Bobby sign the crashed canopy or blade (kind of like how Allan has the side skirt hanging in his garage from that rally car) But I threw all the junked parts out at the flying field.

Re: Crashed the Heli yesterday
 

:c9598f74:

But, thank god you're O.K. and you don't fit in this helicopter you have!

I want carnage pics! Put some G.I. Joe's on next time before you crash it.

Re: Crashed the Heli yesterday
 

that sucks man, at least someone else was at the wheel so you can't be too hard on yourself.

Re: Crashed the Heli yesterday
 

I can take pictures of the totally disassembled heli with picts of the bent flybar that's wrapped around the head, the bent Center Plate that's bent, and the broken skid, but honestly that's about it. The canopy was still in 1 piece but cracked in like 500 spots, with paint chipped off, one of my blades stuck in the ground 3/4 of the way in and then broke off leaving only 1/4 left on the head (you couldn't get it out of the ground and was so close to being level with the ground anyways we just fixed it as if you were fixing a divot while playing golf.

I can't even blame Bobby, you should have seen the look on his face, he felt worste then I did, I felt compelled to make a point to keep telling him don't worry about it. (thought he was going to cry) But it didn't matter who was flying, him, me, someone else. If the switch was going to fail, there is no way of knowing, or being able to do anything about it, so why get upset.

Now if he crashed doing some crazy aerobatics and lost orientation and put it in then ya, but not over something like this.

I mean besides Heli crash's are awesome to see, if you want to look on the bright side of things!

Re: Crashed the Heli yesterday
 

That sucks Brian. Painting really isn't that bad, even out of the spray can works quite well. I have an airbrush that I use on smaller stuff like that. Masking off sections is a bit tedious, but not bad. Just muster all your patience and try it.

Re: Crashed the Heli yesterday
 

I was wondering if I should buy a small airbrush or not?

I ordered parts today, Bobby said he'll talk to Min Air tomorrow for me, and hopefully they'll have everything in stock so I can be up and flying by this weekend. I ordered more then is needed to get back up and flying, and I think the items I need to get back up and flying they should have in stock. But things like futaba servo gears etc, they probably don't carry, so I'll have to get them else where. Bobby also told me to ask if they had any painted canopies laying around, so I did. I'm going to call them tomorrow to make sure they got my order and to see if they have some painted canopies. If not it'll be off to the shop to get an airbrush and some paint.

And since my reciever and battery got crushed in the crash, obviously needed a new switch, and my current 8UH radio got knocked off the counter by my mother a few years back and cracked the case I went a head and bought a new Futaba 9CHP Super today with the help of someone who fly's for futaba ;-) Don't ask what I paid cause I can't tell you. The 2.4GHZ module will be out for it end of Feb early March at which time I'll be getting that also.

Re: Crashed the Heli yesterday
 

He's gone mod crazy the first chance he got! Too bad the switch screwed you over like that, but it sounds like your making the best of it.

Re: Crashed the Heli yesterday
 

You have really bad luck with just about everything :)

Re: Crashed the Heli yesterday
 

yep pretty much the story of my life. Only good thing about having bad luck is it's made me a really patient man. And I try to always look on the brightside of things.

Like I got a call from Chad yesterday (Kiley's real dad) telling how Jenny filed kidnapping charges against him yesterday. They had made a verbal agreement as to when he gets kiley. Which I'd known about, as I still talk to Chad and have been trying to help him get custody of Kiley. Although I feel sorry for him and told him time and time again you can't trust anything she says, and to always get it in writing. I just have to think man am I glad I'm out of that relationship.

Re: Crashed the Heli yesterday
 

Holy shit...that chick is nuts. She needs to get a psychological evaluation.

Re: Crashed the Heli yesterday
 

She has the nerve to call me and leave messages asking for favors, and "to get over myself and help her and kiley out".. She keeps wanting me to give her some of the members on here ther numbers.

She must have be having car problems a while back she asked for Enes number for a tow, then she called and asked for Steve Hills number saying she needed a new car, Then she asked for me to give her my friend Nates number cause she wants to sell the engagement and wedding rings. Which she has no idea how much they are worth because my mother was a jeweler and got everything at whole sale. Because he's owns a jewelry story in Fairbult.

I'm ya some of this would have been business related but you can't trust anything she says/does. And I'd hate to hear about other people having something happen to them.

And she wonders why I never call her back.

Re: Crashed the Heli yesterday
 

You should just have her number blocked. It sounds to me like she has BPD (boarderline personality disorder) which is extremely serious. There isn't much you can do for her, but check out this forum for facts/answers/stories/support in order to heal yourself: http://www.bpdfamily.com/

This site was practically a life-saver for my friend who also has a psychotic ex.

Re: Crashed the Heli yesterday
 

Dude, have her number blocked. And don't give her any numbers, you're just opening up other people you know to her deceitful ways. If she was still your friend maybe you could commit to helping her out, but follow hughes' advice!

Oh, and quit screwing around with these toy heli's and get your damn car fixed!

Re: Crashed the Heli yesterday
 

hahah I never answer the phone when she calls or return them, honestly it's out of fear. with all the Crap she's tried on me and on others I just don't want to risk anything.

Forget the car! waiste of money. Besides there isn't anyone to race in my town. I've seen 1 evo, and and STI and the rest are rich porsche owners who I honestly doubt would want to race anyways.

I'll stick to driving the 2005 BMW Z4 convertable.

Re: Crashed the Heli yesterday
 

Give her my number! I love the crazy bitches! Hahaha jk.

Re: Crashed the Heli yesterday
 

YOU asked for it! hahah J/K

Well thought I'd post a picture of the new canopy and matching fins I ordered.

Miniature was out of canopies all together and I honestly really wanted a sweat paint job so didn't take much to twist my arm and get one. Bob Bice Tech director at Min Air sent me to Arizona Heli for custom painted canopies.

So here it is.
http://www.arizonaheli.com/images/Krause%202003.jpg

Re: Crashed the Heli yesterday
 

Looks nice!

Re: Crashed the Heli yesterday
 

The guy e-mailed me today and asked me what stickers I wanted on it, and if there was anything else.

So I'm basically getting the same as in the picture only because I really like the whole thing. But I'm also getting my name and ama number put on in white, just below the black tribal sticker in the orange and I'm also having him put on a "powered by YS" sticker on it by where the Miniature Aircraft Sticker is.

I did however leave the artistry to the artist saying all final decisions are up to him. As I really do like his work and he seems to have good taste. But did make a point to tell him my ideas. Hopefully the Fins will turn out nice as I forgot to bring them up, but with the 3D fin set there really isn't much material to work with. As it's full of wholes to keep the weight down.

And he also said these are custom painted so he said it would ship out Feb 22nd. Which should actually work well. I should hopefully have all the bugs worked out by then and I won't have to worry about the temptation of wanting to fly with it till I get comfortable flying again. And it'll be just in time for the Birmingham Alabama meet in March that I'm going to.

Re: Crashed the Heli yesterday
 

After having flown planes and knew a very good heli pilot I hate to hear when someone's plane or heli buys the farm. I luckily only had one close call when I lost an engine on a twin engine plane. Fix it up and do it better. If you ever make it to Minnesota for a fun fly or anything surely let me know so I can come watch.

Re: Crashed the Heli yesterday
 

I plan to talk to Bobby about how he does it when he traves around the world flying. I heard him say he brings it as carry ons. and that if you take the head, and Tail boom off it'll fit. But not sure what he puts it in.

I'm thinking someone makes a traveling bag/case for it.

I'll be up there in Sept for sure for a Wedding might just bring it along.

Re: Crashed the Heli yesterday
 

Well after 2 days of working out problems I finally had a good day of flying today. Finally felt comfident enough with the heli not doing something stupid on me that I started to try entry level 3D flying today.

Basic Rolls, Loops, and minor tail first flying around. And the last flight of the day I started throwing in some tail spin menuvers. (but doing everything real slow just in case something went wrong)
I started doing inverted flying around as well and inverted hovering but at height. I'd say I'd take a picture for you guys of me doing an inverted hover but I'm still not at the point where I'm 100% comfident with bringing it closer to the ground where it would look much cooler.
Still like my buffer zone just in case as yesterday I had a crash coarse in having to do Auto's twice, once while luckly finishing up a barrel roll going back to upright.

The clunk in my hopper tank didn't have free movement so I couldn't get fuel when inverted. I'll see if I can get someone to take some pictures tomorrow but I'll be pretty high up.

Re: Crashed the Heli yesterday
 

Hi Brian-

Glad to hear you got it up and going. I just crashed my heli yesterday. First crash that actually did a little damage. I had a bent flybar and decided to take it outside anyways and put it into the ground about 8 feet up. Shattered both blades, wrecked the canopy and the flybar case. About $20 damage. Nothing too bad other than the downtime. I'm getting pretty good at hovering and basic flying around. The collective pitch takes a little getting used to. Way different than my fixed pitch heli but way more fun with a real heli now.

I've been downloading a lot of videos off Bob White's helifreak.com site. Great site with alot of info. It's more geared towards the Align heli's but my heli is real close to the Align trex 450.

When learning 3D stuff, which is probably the easiest trick to do, rolls ??

Re: Crashed the Heli yesterday
 

Yep the Align products seem to be the new "Raptor's" - relitively cheap and great flight characteristics.

3D:
make sure you are in Idle up (if you have idle 1 and 2 make them both the same set up incase you accidently switch it to far) and that the throttle curve is set up so that you'll maintain head speed during inverted flight. Basically looking at a "V" throttle and "V" pitch curve.
Meaning if the stick is exactly center the pitch on the blades should be Zero. when you are full stick(ie: up) your pitch should be somewhere between 10-11 degrees Positive, when you are full negative stick should (ie: down) be between 10-11 degrees negative pitch.
Throttle curve in Idle up 1 and 2 should be so if you are at full negative stick you are at 100% throttle, 1/4 stick you should be at 75% throttle, at center stick or Zero pitch I run 50% throttle, 3/4 stick i'm back at 75% throttle, and full possitive stick I'm back at 100% throttle.

To start doing 3D: just get some pretty good height incase something goes wrong you'll be able to hopefully recover, and some really good forward speed and then pull back on the stick. (don't just yank it, but actually try to do a big loop) when you get the the top where you are now inverted just bring the stick down into the negative pitch, and as you come back down you are bringing the stick back to positive collective until you finish the loop.

Basically unlike a plane where it's constantly getting pulled forward, in a helicopter you have to use the Pitch of the rotor blades to make the helicopter keep moving.

And at first I do recommend finishing the loop and not trying to sustain inverted flight, if you have a fuel issue it'll happen when you are inverted. So continuing the loop will bring the helicopter back to the upright position and if you have to Auto you'll at least be upright again and have a better chance at saving it.

Keep trying them and if you aren't experienceing any motor issues then when you get to the inverted section of the loop you can actually then try to sustain inverted flight for longer periods of time.

Next would be Rolls, they are personally IMO easier then loops but at when first starting out do Loops because you are actaully climbing rather then staying in a straight line, and that climbing gives you an even greater "cushion" incase something goes wrong.

anyrate rolls: start with fast forward flight and then you just push the aileron stick to one side or the other. (normally its easier / more natural to move the sticks to the outside of the radio not inward) meaning if you are coming from the right heading to the left you'd move the aileron stick to the right which would normally pull the heli away from you. And basically just like a loop as you are coming around during the roll you have to give collective Pitch inputs try to be at Zero Pitch when the heli is on it's side then you just give it negative pitch when upside down and then as it's rolling over again to up right you give zero pitch and then back to positive pitch and continue on as if you are in forward flight.

Honestly a Simulator is your best bet at learning the stick movements. But don't expect your heli to react exactly the same as the simulator. You basically just use it for muscle memory.

Hopefully in learning loops you'll get used to the collective inputs of going to inverted and those same collective imputs are the same for rolls or any other trick you learn.

Hope that helps. (there is a fun fly coming up in WI on the 24th I think) it's listed on the Helifreaks website and also RCuniverse. Might be some guys there that can help, etc.

Re: Crashed the Heli yesterday
 

Hi Brian-

Thanks for the great tips on where the sticks should be for doing some 3D stuff. I appreciate it. I still haven't gotten the simulator yet because I'm still
learning basic flight with it. My parts won't be here till probably Thursday. I ordered all kinds of stuff this time around. Even stuff I don't need. I think on my next order, I'm gonna get some carbon fiber blades. I was up in the cities last weekend and stopped at a Hobbytown USA. Nice shop. Wish we had a good hobby shop like that around here.

Anyway, my radio is the one that came with it. The throttle & pitch curves are all preset. It's not as fancy as something like yours or a Spektrum Dx6 or 7 radio. However you can easily throw one of those in mine. Probably best this way when it's my first collective pitch heli. I don't wanna have to learn to program the radio & fly at the same time. I think my curves are the basic/most common "V" You'd think that this brushless motor doesn't make much power but beyond 90-95% throttle, she starts to generate some serious amount of wind.

I only have just the 1 idle up switch. What's the difference between your idle 1 & 2? I can tell you that at mid stick, my pitch is zero and low stick is -9* and high stick is +9*. Which is just a bit low to what you're running. My book actually shows 7* as the high. Bob White from heli freak said he likes 11*.

I just need to get mine fully trimmed in. We got a shitload of snow here in central WI and the only decent days that i've been able to take it out, it's been a bit on the breezy side. Every time i make some fine tunes to the swash, it's affecting my pitch of course so my main concern is to just get it fully trimmed out. Can't wait till spring. I did take the training gear off it the other day. Last week I was actually flying around normal in 3D mode(but not doing 3D stunts). It's alot more fun because it seems more responsive. One thing you have to train yourself is to NOT treat the throttle stick normal or you'll come slamming to the ground with the negative pitch. You knew that of course. Not that I did that or anything but I just have to keep it in mind when in 3D mode.

Do you have any current pics of yours? I want to get a pic of my 2 heli's side by side once I get the canopy painted on my new one and get the parts of course.

I can't seem to find any info on that fun fly on the 24th in WI. Are you sure? Unless it's the 24th of a different month because we got alot of snow here.

Later.

PS- You're sig says you're in S.C. So you left MN again?

Re: Crashed the Heli yesterday
 

Well since you asked I just got my new canopy and fins today and couldn't resist putting them on and taking some pictures I have a lot on my myspace profile and will upload some High Resolution ones later tonight, still on Dial up (Been sick so I had to push getting High speed back till March 7th...aarrgghh I want to play Call of Duty Damit!!!)
Honestly learing to fly a fixed pitched heli then trying to transfer to one that isn't, is very hard, because with a fixed pitch you have to use the throttle to hover. where as with a non-fixed pitched you don't it's all about the collective. Like you said fixed pitch you have to bring the throttle down to get it to land well doing that (at the same rate of speed) with a non-fixed pitch will definetely slam it into the ground Something you'll have to get used especially when you are in 3D/idle up mode where you'll be maintaining your engine rpms regardless of pitch.

Well so far this is all I found for the event in wisconsin.
http://www.rcuniverse.com/community/...2008&cobrand=1

I swear when I first saw this it said there was going to be flying, maybe I miss read it or it changed due to weather?

Anyrate 11 degrees is perfect - also this is just a starting point on my heli I remembered bobby took out some of the Positive pitch and put more in for negative because it would climb really fast when up right but not at the same rate when inverted. Basically you want your rate of climb to be as close as you can get it both upright and inverted. Getting everything to be equal is pretty much the key with heli's at least that's what's been my experience.

Anyrate I'll stop this novel short - here's some pictures of the canopy