Smooth move Exlax! or Way to go Roberto!

[OzarkCopterBum]

Pulled a MAJOR boner saturday. Got the heli out and for some reason a coupla neighbors came over to watch "expecting a crash." Anyway, rattled all the links, checked the volts and applied the starter and WHOOPS, its a hot start. Well I was pretty stunned and didnt really know what to do other than to not let go of the rotor, so I pressed it into the ground, surprised I didnt break the skids. Reached over and applied throttle kill switch and nothing, finally remembered to pinch the fuel line and killed it. Well, between the mix of the fuel and clutch smoke my eyes were watering and I'm sure the neighbors thought I was about to cry. I probably could have at this point. So I drag it back in to the bench, recheck all the links and find the epoxy header gasket is blown so I replace that and give it awhile to dry in the meantime go over the links again. Again out in the yard, this time no audience, check the sticks apply the starter and WHOOPS again. This time I pinch pretty quick and schlep it all back to the bench and am preparing to dissasemble and deceide to check the links once more. I flick the tx on and am waiting for it to boot and I happen to notice it says Raptor for model name where it should say Stinger. DOH!

I had been messing around on the sim trying to figure out expo and my curves and had forgotten to reset to the REAL model. So now I'm in for a clutch and liner but the real big hurt is my pride and the 4 or 5 days I'm grounded waiting for parts. The heli is doing its part but I'm really considering buying another matching heli so I can hopefully keep one in the air.

[flyinfool]

Yep, been there done that. :oops: Just once.
Its called learn by burn.
The trick is to have learned so that it never happens again.
Even if it’s an expensive lesson as long as one learns from it, all is not bad.
Hope you are able to get it back into the air quick.

I now always check for the correct model even when I just landed the same one.
I also, as a double check, and as part of the preflight, check that all controls are moving in the right direction.

I also like to keep 2 matching helis for the same reasons.
Of the helies that I do not have "spares" of, it seems that they are always the ones that are down for something or other.

[bono1]

Hey Robert,

Sorry to hear about the hot start, but it happens. When it happened to me I had forgotten to loctite the bottom bearing in my fury. On start up it would rev up but return to idle very slowly. I thought that I had checked everything, but I quess not. One more start and the thing reved and the fuel line had to be removed to kill. Bent fly bar was all the damage from the hot start. Checked again with a different throttle servo and again it did the same thing. Different receiver and the same thing. On the last start before I was to throw the whole thing in the trash my friend Rob,that had been holding the rotor head, picked a bearing off the ground and said what is this. It was the lower main bearing. Without it, it would start and rev and return to idle as it should. After loctite all was good. So, you are not the first and sadly will not be the last. Just learn from your mistakes and try to not make the same one twice.

Sam