aramsdell
08-25-2007, 11:34 PM
Last week I suffered a tragic loss. On my fourth test flight I lost meningful elevator control and blew backward in the wind almost a quarter mile landing in a pond next to the club field. I was at the far end of the farm filming another pond being dug. The heli was recovered but the camera still hasn't.
Lost a bunch of electronics. I've since decided on an underslung/forward mount.
The design of my new landing gear/mount will allow moving the camera and batteries around for a forward low mount or a center underslung mount.
Post mortem on the crash...... I tried to blame my electronics(servos) but they still worked after being submerged AND still powered for an hour +. I totally stripped them and used WD 40 on them . They still sit disassembled. Before I did that I load tested them. They weren't as fast as I would like nor as strong. One was noticably weaker in one direction. They did all work though. Near as I can tell the temporary tilt lock I used for the test flight failed and the camera and it's wide angle lens began swinging up and down. This started oscillations with the ships CG moving back and forth. This was amplified by the steady 15+ mph wind.
Well it's pilot error..(hang head)
This is an early pic of the rebuild. The ship is my own driven tail Swift platform.
This will be close to 2 to 2 1/4 lbs with camera.
The upper frame is 1/16 aluminum sheet. The black plate on the side is birch ply and may get lightening holes depending on how stiff it acts on spoolup. The yellow legs are basswood I believe. The skids are Swift booms. and of course pool-noodle.
The previous version only gained about 1 lb and had most of the cowl still on with the camera out fron and the battery moved back and stock landing gear. It had 515 RT's and the 550+ on 8T pinion. I liked it's performance. I am going to go to the 600+ I think and 530 or 550's spinning slow.
Lost a bunch of electronics. I've since decided on an underslung/forward mount.
The design of my new landing gear/mount will allow moving the camera and batteries around for a forward low mount or a center underslung mount.
Post mortem on the crash...... I tried to blame my electronics(servos) but they still worked after being submerged AND still powered for an hour +. I totally stripped them and used WD 40 on them . They still sit disassembled. Before I did that I load tested them. They weren't as fast as I would like nor as strong. One was noticably weaker in one direction. They did all work though. Near as I can tell the temporary tilt lock I used for the test flight failed and the camera and it's wide angle lens began swinging up and down. This started oscillations with the ships CG moving back and forth. This was amplified by the steady 15+ mph wind.
Well it's pilot error..(hang head)
This is an early pic of the rebuild. The ship is my own driven tail Swift platform.
This will be close to 2 to 2 1/4 lbs with camera.
The upper frame is 1/16 aluminum sheet. The black plate on the side is birch ply and may get lightening holes depending on how stiff it acts on spoolup. The yellow legs are basswood I believe. The skids are Swift booms. and of course pool-noodle.
The previous version only gained about 1 lb and had most of the cowl still on with the camera out fron and the battery moved back and stock landing gear. It had 515 RT's and the 550+ on 8T pinion. I liked it's performance. I am going to go to the 600+ I think and 530 or 550's spinning slow.