Strange Crash

[Nitrospazzz]

Was just out doing a tank of hovering with the Bergen EB and ended up putting it into the ground. I can't figure out what was going on though.

I was flying without my camera gear (thank god) and it seemed like it was flying a bit tail heavy. I landed and checked the balance but it was fine. I continued flying just putting in a little forward cyclic during hovering. Then all of a sudden it pitched forward fast. I was about a foot off the ground so I wasn't able to save it, hit throttle hold or anything.

A quick look at everything looks like I broke main blades, tail blades, one main blade holder, spindle, flybar, a link or two in the tail, and the "elevator" cyclic pivot point got pulled out of the pitch arm. All the electronics worked fine afterwards and seem ok. Really didn't need this, I just sent in my insurance money as was going to start taking pictures.

Batteries were FULLY charged, they just came off the charger 5 minutes before flight. So I know that isn't what caused it.

I am glad it happened low to the ground without my camera gear and without a crowd but it still pisses me off. I know its going to be a $400-500 crash and a week of downtime. Plus I can't bring it to the funfly now and I was meeting people there to discuss AP and help them get pointed in the right direction.

[Nitrospazzz]

Further inspection revealed what went wrong. I mentioned that the elevator pivot point on the collective arm had something wrong with it. The threads were not stripped AT ALL, infact they were perfect. If it had been pulled out or happened during the crash there would be damage to the threads. So it looks like this had vibrated itself loose and that was causing the odd tail heavy feeling. There was just slop in the system. Then as I continued to fly it it worked its way the rest of the way out. As soon as that happened the elevator went full forward and thats when blades met driveway.

I am really glad I was able to figure out what went wrong. Also looking at it again it is going to be a lot less expensive than previously thought. If I got with the cheaper NHP 800's I should be able to get it back in the air for under $250. :mrgreen: Very good news for me.

So I am going to call Rick's and Bergen tomorrow morning as soon as they open and get the parts ordered. I have a funfly this weekend and people have requested that the Bergen be there for a demonstration.

[Gary Travis]

Check the socket head screws that go through the elevator yoke and hold the elevator arm. I think you will find that they are loose. Also make sure you used the socket head screws, In have seen people in the past use the tapered srews and creat the same problem you had.
Gary

[Brady Longmore]

Sorry to hear about your crash. I had mine when I felt just about ready to get started with AP too. But, looking back on it as a newbie to helis I am actually kind of glad for the learning experience it has been to repair the heli and get it back to flying. I had Gary build and set up my heli for me so it was a good experience for me to get in there and get my hands dirty with the machine, so to speak. Except I could have done without the expense of the repair. :lol:

Ever since my first crash I have been a lot more observant with my heli. If something just doesn't seem right - even if it's flying fine - then I land and inspect until I can figure out what's going on. Just the other day, I was just hovering a bit and the heli was flying smooth as glass, but I could hear a barely audible "chirp" coming from it. I was tempted to just keep flying as the controls were fine. But, I decided not to just let it go and landed to discover some stripped out teeth on my main gear.

Anyway good luck with the rebuild.

[Nitrospazzz]

Its going to be a easy rebuild. But as you said I am somewhat glad that it happened. Because of this I will do weekly checks over every thing, I should have done this from day 1 but didn't.

Now lets just hope Rick's and Bergen can get me my parts fast enough...I gotta a funfly to attend :glasses2:

[MarkWebber]

Which funfly are you off too?

[Nitrospazzz]

I am going to the SWARM funfly in Franklin, WI near Miluakee. www.swarmheli.com

Was a lot of fun last year, expect the same this year.