Death of an AXE CP

[atomicplatypus]

I killed my AXE today! It’s presently -10 but feels like -18 and perhaps that’s too cold for plastic? I was doing some basic hovering and slow side to side passes -- just warming up. Suddenly I hear a “crack”, bits of canopy fly everywhere and my AXE plants itself into the ice!

I didn’t hit anything and my AXE folded in mid air. Somehow the blade hit the canopy during a hover. Looking at the wreckage I can see the centre hub has sheared away from the main shaft. With that separated the whole head can flop from side to side which may have resulted in the blade to canopy impact.

Hmmm… could the plastic have simply sheared in the cold? Alternatively I thought perhaps the blades somehow hit the canopy first then breaking the centre hub. However I don’t see any issue with the blades other than some slop in the links. The links are all still connected.

Sigh… I just rebuilt the head after flying into a bush a couple weeks ago. I think my AXE will be grounded for a while after this crash. I think I’ll go fly my TREX some more.

Total Damage:
1. 2 servo arms snapped and possible gear damage
2. Shattered canopy
3. Broken centre hub

[rockjock3]

Heck, I think I would snap from the cold at -10.

I bet it was probably cold induced. I can't imagine that thing being too flexible and forgiving in those temps. CF and/or AL would be much better.

[crfiddy]

sorry about your axe i feel for you man. crashed mine last night.
bent mainshaft, tail mount & wiring damaged, grips, spindle, main blades, canopy all destroyed.
flyin indoors in so cal.
ten degrees way to cold for me.

[strat1960s]

I would imagine that a few of those plastic head parts might become brittle in cold temperatures. That being the case, bittle+high g-forces from rotating could = broken parts and crash.

I still have my AXE CP, gy240, 3 x BP 910 lipo packs and a nice charger. I also have a lot of spare parts and blades. I'll be putting them up for sale when I get back to Montana in a little over three weeks. Since you crashed yours, if you want to try another AXE CP and I'm not flying mine I could hold onto it for you. Let me know. Otherwise, when I get home, I'll just advertise it on a few of the RC Heli websites.

Ted