PilotDaz
08-09-2007, 01:54 PM
I just got my 9303, and I love it! I'm coming from an 8103 which is very similar but this one has so many more features.
Not many people understand the desire for a kill switch, but I had one programmed onto my 8103 and found it useful for the following:
1) You are heading for a bad crash and you know it's too late to save it. Killing the engine can save damage.
2) You've already crashed and the engine is still cranking - you're too flustered to switch out of idle up and bring the throttle to 0 and the trim to 0 (3 movements to kill the engine are too many in that situation).
3) You want to show off and do an auto-rotation with a dead engine, not an idling engine. Risky? Sure, but so is flying these things, and they sometimes die on their own anyway, so why not practice deadstick autos when you're good at idling autos? I love them, and so do the spectators.
4) Same as #3 but doing a hovering auto at the end of a flight.
5) I love to kill the engine after landing but with full headspeed and zero pitch, to let the blades freespin. It sounds great and gives me a chance to listen to all the parts moving without the engine. Great for listening for worn bearings etc. Killing the engine with the throttle trim forces your pitch to -10 while doing this and bleeds off tons of headspeed.
Yes, as one person mentioned you can just set your Throttle hold to do this, but I prefer to have a throttle hold for.. well.. holding the throttle! So an extra kill switch is very handy IMO. So how do you do it?
The 9303 allows 5 flight modes, so I've created a kill switch by setting ST-4's throttle curve to 0%-0%-0% (flat line at the bottom of the graph).
By setting it to flight mode ST-4, you should be less likely to accidentally select this mode and kill the engine. I've set my extra flight modes to be on the RUDD D/R switch, so killing the engine is as simple as pulling both the flight mode and this switch towards me (both outside switches). The 1 caveat is making sure you're not in throttle hold.
To set up the extra 2 flight modes, go into DeviceSEL in the system menu and activate F. Mode Extra with the switch of your choice. This way you can use your Gear switch if you like.
That's a long answer, but I hope it helps.
Not many people understand the desire for a kill switch, but I had one programmed onto my 8103 and found it useful for the following:
1) You are heading for a bad crash and you know it's too late to save it. Killing the engine can save damage.
2) You've already crashed and the engine is still cranking - you're too flustered to switch out of idle up and bring the throttle to 0 and the trim to 0 (3 movements to kill the engine are too many in that situation).
3) You want to show off and do an auto-rotation with a dead engine, not an idling engine. Risky? Sure, but so is flying these things, and they sometimes die on their own anyway, so why not practice deadstick autos when you're good at idling autos? I love them, and so do the spectators.
4) Same as #3 but doing a hovering auto at the end of a flight.
5) I love to kill the engine after landing but with full headspeed and zero pitch, to let the blades freespin. It sounds great and gives me a chance to listen to all the parts moving without the engine. Great for listening for worn bearings etc. Killing the engine with the throttle trim forces your pitch to -10 while doing this and bleeds off tons of headspeed.
Yes, as one person mentioned you can just set your Throttle hold to do this, but I prefer to have a throttle hold for.. well.. holding the throttle! So an extra kill switch is very handy IMO. So how do you do it?
The 9303 allows 5 flight modes, so I've created a kill switch by setting ST-4's throttle curve to 0%-0%-0% (flat line at the bottom of the graph).
By setting it to flight mode ST-4, you should be less likely to accidentally select this mode and kill the engine. I've set my extra flight modes to be on the RUDD D/R switch, so killing the engine is as simple as pulling both the flight mode and this switch towards me (both outside switches). The 1 caveat is making sure you're not in throttle hold.
To set up the extra 2 flight modes, go into DeviceSEL in the system menu and activate F. Mode Extra with the switch of your choice. This way you can use your Gear switch if you like.
That's a long answer, but I hope it helps.