Crash Report for the Day

Hey Guy's,

I finally plucked up the courage to try my first hover! I had spent a week practising with XTR and felt fairly confident.

Saturday 10.00am I proceeded to go through all pre-flight checks , several times. Beads of sweat adorned my brow! Not that it was hot, I was begining to feel a bit nervous. Words of encouragement rang through my ears from my 9 year old Son, "I give you 30 seconds Dad before you crash!"

10.35am. Undettered, all checks complete, I proceeded up the garden, heli in hand. I now know what it must feel like to walk the green mile! I felt a condemned man with my Son behind, still encouraging me and building my confidence. "Are they expensive to repair after a major crash?" "Will you be able to fix it afterwards?" And ...."Mum will not be happy if you have to spend more money!" Bless him. I was determined to make him eat his words.

10.50am. We have a very long garden! Well okay I had another coffee in the vain hope my wonderful, supportive son would get bored and go and play with his PS2! The shame I would feel, let alone the ridiculing he would give does not bear thinking about. I suppose it's his way of getting back at me for telling him he runs like a girl! He kicks a ball like a girl! He punches like a ..........well I could go on. At this point I would like to clarify that my family and I are very close and love each other very much, but we are always winding each other up, we all have a wicked sense of humour. There are always shanagans and trick playing going on in our house. Any how, I proceed to place the heli in a nice open clear area, tx on, battery connected all controls checked and working, now I'm not a nervous person but on this occasion I was very nervous. "I'm going to watch from behind the fence Dad!" Bless him, little g*t! I throttled up slowly, the anticipation was causing a copious amount of adrenaline to race around my body! A little more throttle, then we had lift off, wow! she was smooth, a little left and right forward and back controls was needed,it seemed like about 5 mins had passed before I put her down, alas it was about 20 seconds. I looked at my son with smug look, and got ready for another attempt. Again she was smooth and I seemed to have a bit more coordination and held her up with relative good control for about 30 seconds this time! A few more attempts and I was growing in confidence and couldn't help but mock my Son for his comments. He appeared somewhat impressed that I had achieved flight, of sorts!

10.55am, I was ever growing in confidence, my Son now by my side, in awe at the 'old man' getting the heli in the air. Not wanting to drain the battery down too much, I felt one last go was in order. Again she was smooth in take off, I had her about 3 foot up, in control and proud as punch, "I hope the other battery is charged" I thought to myself, I was hooked. Then it happened, concentration went, nose turned, I was out of sorts, my Son took cover behind the fence shouting "Incoming!" I lost control, she was on me in instant, bearing down on me like a crazed hornet, I flapped at the controls, she was left, right, up, down, nose in, nose out, oh the hokey cokey! I had no idea what to do, the next thing she was bearing down on the pear tree, "Oh no, the Wife's gonna kill me!" Was all I could muster as she hit the said tree with a sickening thwack and dropped to the floor as if she'd been taken out by an exocet missile. I paused and surveyed the heli, her rotors were limp, the tail didn't appear straight anymore and my Son saying "Oops! Is it broken?" "Yes I believe it is Son, I don't think we need to mention it to anyone do we?" My Wife being the'anyone' I was concerned about. "Well Dad, there is this new game I want for my Playstation, if you know where I am coming from!" Only too well I knew! Fortunately the Wife was out shopping, so I collected up my now, limp and floppy heli and took her inside to see what exactly needs to be replaced and fixed. Flybar, main blades and clamps, feathering shaft, main gear, ring link push rods x2, horizontal fin set holder and tail boom! Doh!

Anyhow I decided to strip it down there and then and order parts online. I became so engrossed I forgot about the Wife! The dog started to bark and then she was at the door, I tried to place all broken bits in my flight box, her key was in the door, dropped the box everything scattered, bolts, screws everything, all over the conservatory floor. The door opened, she was in "Hi Guy's, I'm home!" "Hey honey, how was shopping?" I shouted from the conservatory with a mass of parts strewn all over the floor, being hindered by my German Shepherd thinking I want to play as I am on my hands and knees trying to collect up all these bits. Then he said it, yes my Son, from the top of the stairs at full voice, my Wife hadn't even put her shopping bags down, "Mum, Mum, Dad crashed his helicopter, well he actually destroyed it, and he nearly killed me!!" My world froze, the thought of her going on at me, endangering her Son's life I can vision it now. She's lovely really, but she would rather I spent money on the house rather than 'silly toys' as she called it. But I have to say she was quite calm as she strolled into the conservatory, until she slipped on a rogue ball link that had escaped the box and ended up on her backside. I did try not to laugh, honest, but I failed dismally, fortunately she saw the funny side too, but not before telling me I was taking her out for a meal!

There is no moral to this story, aside the fact, CONCENTRATION. I will put this down to experience and hopefully be all fixed up for next weekend! My Wife is going to friends for lunch, My Son will be at friends too. Just me and the dog, fortunately the Wife can't speak dog so if it goes pear shaped next week, no one will know. Pear shaped! Lets hope not, I look at that pear tree now with disdain for breaking my heli!

Who knows I may have another episode to write next week!

All the best

Great first flight Axel, Just beware the pear!

Love it. I can see my future in your story. I have yet to attemp to hover I'm still on the SIM. Please keep writing you are an artist.

next time NO AUDIENCE, I was linked to the RADD school of flying and sure enough it says NO AUDIENCE. cus you begin to show off a bit and WHAM!

seems exactly what you did, showing too much confidence with your boy near, everyone does it, me included I have two broken birds, falcon 40 and coaxial commanche.

Better luck next time. Live and learn, errrrr crash and learn, lol.

Man Nice writing!! Funny as heck though. I am laughing with you and
not at you....

I agree about fly'n alone for a few, but now that I think about it I was
showing off when I crashed my 450 last week. Maybe its just the
showing off part!

Good luck on your next flight..........

Thanks Guy's,

I'm glad you enjoyed it. I have been known to be quite eloquent in my descriptions, it makes me happy when I can make people laugh, and if I am priviliged enough to make you guy's laugh then my world is all the better. I am sure there will be plenty more to follow!

And look I have a signature! Thanks Nuttcaze it's great, you the man! Glad you didn't include a pear tree!

expertly put
all i can say about it is you`ll be replaying that scenario over and over,again and again
it often makes me wonder why we all do it

lets get a crash report thread going, post any pics and vids that you can, also share any funny stories attched to the crash, as most of us know, everyone crashes so lets see em

Guess I have to upload to youtube.

I can't get the vid to play, have you tried uploading it to youtube?

All I got was sound and no video

I'll need to start trying to tape my adventures...

Anyhow, Friday afternoon, decided to play around a little, against my better judgment (it was a bit breezier than I was comfortable with). Normally I practice at the end of my driveway (large, hard, flat surface) since I couldn't go to the park (little one was napping), but too much traffic so I moved back into my yard. I have lots of open space, so wasn't too concerned.

This was working out OK, bit a little rough since the grass didn't allow any sliding around on the training gear. So anyhow at some point (the last point, I guess), I dropped down too hard on the practice gear, popping one off, and allowing the bird to flip over on it's side. Since I wasn't fully spun down yet, did a bit of damage and ended my flying for the day (and most of this week, I am guessing).

DAMAGE:
Blades, Feathering Shaft, Flybar, Horizontal Stabilizer (it keeps breaking, I keep supergluing), tail boom (will need to straighten it myself as ThinkRC was out of stock), and lost a short linkage (gone, kablooie).
UPDATE:
Straightening the tail boom was easier than I had thought it was going to be, thanks to a propane torch and heat-resistant gloves. It still has a dent from where the blade hit it, but at least it's straight and usable again. Plus the heat gave the green coating on the aluminum this really cool defracted look...

LESSON LEARNED:
Go with your instincts. I should have waited for less wind, wife to get home so I could go to the park.
Also, ZIP TIE training gear on, even if they have good clips. They still come off...

First let me tell you that I’ am from Holland so English is not my first language.

I have some experience with RC cars (racing the National Championships) but as I got older the speed left me. At the club where I use to race we had some guys who bought a heli (HB FP) They (the older members) all stopped racing with cars and started flying heli’s. Thinking that it could not be that hard to do I bought a HB FP too. I placed myself in a new dimension. It was very hard to learn. At first I only cleaned the floor with my heli. Than at a nice summer evening the older members kicked the car racers from the track and started to fly outside. Thinking that I had more space there I took my lovely heli outside and placed her on the track. Knowing that it was my first attempt to fly outside all the other members took there heli’s out of the air and waited for me to take off. I still don’t know what went wrong but as soon as I placed my fingers on the sticks she took off like a rocket. She went straight up for about 50 meters. Everybody was looking straight up like they were watching fire works. As they were looking up, I was trying to get the lady under control pushing the sticks in every direction and byond that, at the same time looking up to the heli and down to the TX. As you all will know, what goes up has to come down and so she did. But coming down from 50 meters, nobody knew where she was going to land. At first everybody was standing still looking at the heli but when she came closer to earth all the spectators started to run in different directions. Finely she hit the ground just aside the tarmac into the grass. I had to dig out the parts.

Later that night when I got at home my wife asked me if I had fun playing with my helicopter. Yes honey I had lots of fun. I’ am getting better every time.

I waited a few days until she went out shopping with my daughters before I took the damaged heli out of the box. I had so many parts that I was able to build a whole new type of helicopter.

Crashing is a part of life for a RC helicopter pilot. I don’t know why but I still love it.

I did this a while back but it seems to fit in here.

The training gear is still intact

Crashed the crap out of my Belt CP V2 today... Decided to try idle up mode to get a feel for how it works. Big mistake! It was more like "crash immediately mode".

Here is the damage report:



1) Main rotor blades
2) Feathering shaft
3) Flybar
4) main gear
5) tail boom
6) tail supports
7) horizontal stabalizer
8) tail server control rod
9) Potentially a bend motor shaft

That's what I can off the bat... Lots of replacement parts. What do you think? Should I buy the replacement parts or just get a new kit like this HK-450?

http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewitem.asp?idproduct=8467

Looks like the kit is cheaper than the parts.

-Keith

get a new kit, wether it be the HK 450, EXI 450 or the Copter X 450, but I would get something with a full metal head on it rather then plastic.

Hey Kshep,

Get this CopterX 450AE V2 at Hobbydaddy at 60 dollar. It is full metal!!!
It costs twice as much as the HK-450, but it is worth it. Upgrading the HK-450 costs more. I know from first hand experience

If I badly crash my HK-450, I will buy the CopterX. Indeed, spare parts are cheap.

Hey guys, thanks for the tips. Will I be able to use my electronics from the Belt CP V2 in these?

-Keith

Yes, you can transfer all of the electronics from the Belt CP to the CopterX (or HK-450)

pevr wrote:

The training gear is still intact

Yea. a lot of good that did me, huh?

I'am realy sorry for you. The crashing make heli flying expensive

Nevertheless it is fun and I had my share of crashing. I did a landing with the tail to much down. Heckrotorblades dameged. That was a 50 euro landing. It takes time but one day you go out flying and make good landings without any damage. That day the sun will shine and make it all worth.

pevr wrote:

I'am realy sorry for you. The crashing make heli flying expensive

Nevertheless it is fun and I had my share of crashing. I did a landing with the tail to much down. Heckrotorblades dameged. That was a 50 euro landing. It takes time but one day you go out flying and make good landings without any damage. That day the sun will shine and make it all worth.

This where I am at now with this. It's a real blast along with the thrill!

That was great flying without the landing gear.
How high was your heartbeat?

The first time I took my heli up (never used landing gear) my heartbeat was around 160 and my hands were wet.

They are little monsters and we keep them under control. That’s the kick!

pevr wrote:

That was great flying without the landing gear.
How high was your heartbeat?

The first time I took my heli up (never used landing gear) my heartbeat was around 160 and my hands were wet.

They are little monsters and we keep them under control. That’s the kick!

I almost had heart failure LOL

I don't know why but every time I start up my monster I have to go to the toilet.
Have you ever tried to fly a heli when you had to go

I realy wished I was over there.

Now I have to work until I'am 67 (new law) But realy I can't wait to leave Holland. Take the heli and the wife (in that order) to a country where I can fly in peace

Don't feel bad, I'll probably end up working till I drop dead with or without a law.

Donnie D

Well finaly it was nice weather so I took the Cp V2 out for a spin. It was only my eh eh 2nd time
that I was going to fly. My first ended in a stupid crash. But this time I was doing better and making
progress. I could get it from the ground about 1/2 foot and keep it under control. I tried to get it a little higher, but that needs some more practise.

So eh this kid comes up to me and starts yapping about, I lost control, and landed harder then i wanted. No worries though. One rotorblade hit the horizontal fin (carbon) broke it, and the blade was damaged. So eh I was luky this time. Can't wait to practise again. At this stage I can't imagine that
I can fly this thing, but I am sure I'll get there.

See ya.