Flying in the wind

[crabfu]

It's been windy here lately, but I need my fix, so took the gaui out and tried it in the wind today. I've flown it in the wind before, but just not this strong. According to the weather.com, it was in the 13-16mph range... not a heck of a lot, but that's around the range where I start to get nervous flying a 400 size heli, so I don't fly in that kind of wind all that often. I don't fly unless it's fun.....

Went through 8 packs and everything is still in one piece, so that's always good... no inverted stuff, just normal flying around the yard. So... it was a bit hairy, a wild ride, but it handled it better than I thought that it could. It was getting pushed around side to side, but I thought it would be more, like a kite. The hardest part was maintaining altitude, kept dropping, or lifted by a couple of feet in a fraction of a second. It weren't purdy, ok down right ugly, but sure was exciting. I probably won't be flying the gaui in this kind of wind too often ( that's what the garage is for ) but had to try it, and I am amazed how well it did all considering :) Love this heli!

-Crabfu

[SurfCity]

I am amazed how well it did all considering :) Love this heli!

-Crabfu
:thumbup:

[t-driver]

it's amazing what this little heli can do......
i also fly in windy conditions, next time try little more rpm with same pitch.
(i have a trim knob on my tx for that)
this way maintaining altitude will be a bit easier.

[J-Heli]

(i have a trim knob on my tx for that)

it's the hover throttle knob right?

[crabfu]

it's amazing what this little heli can do......
i also fly in windy conditions, next time try little more rpm with same pitch.
(i have a trim knob on my tx for that)
this way maintaining altitude will be a bit easier.


Yeah... I should have tried that, but I didn't.... dunno how often I will fly in the wind, but will try it next time. I actually have normal set up with low head speed, and idle up1 setup just like normal mode but with higher head speed but same pitch curve, and idle2 set for flat throttle curve and +-12. So I could have easily just flipped into idle1 or 2, it just didn't occur to me at the time, was too busy having a heart attack I guess.

-Crabfu

[J-Heli]

, was too busy having a heart attack I guess.

-Crabfu

:rolling

[Gr4yb3ard]

I think we shared the same heart-attack ;-)

I flew mine in about 5-7mph winds, we did pretty good, good practice, but got near the hedge and the turbulence got me. Mainshaft, link, blades this time.

Duplicating the maneuver with the 450 showed just a slight wobble.

Back inside, I got the 200 back up and running, and hovered about three feet off the floor. When the a/c kicked on, I was in trouble (that's when I flat-lined), but I did an emergency landing on the couch and all's fine.

My first run-in with wind and SHS (space heater syndrome). I'm thinking the rotor diameter is small enough for turbulence to be a problem.

Gr4yb3ard

[crabfu]

Yeah 200 keeps you on your toes for sure, add any extra little variable and it turns rather exciting.

I don't think I'd be flying in the wind too much... got rather close to objects that could do some good damage, after looking at the hat cam vids, it's just too risky for my skills :) But it's good to know how it handles in windy conditions.

-Crabfu

[crabfu]

Well it wasn't as windy as the other day, but was fighting a bit of a breeze today, makes normal flying rather exciting :)

LuRvahoCGis

-Crabfu

[J-Heli]

That's great flying without wind :thumbup:, and it's even harder to fly like that with wind like that. I wouldn't even fly my T-Rex in that wind. Nice job :noteworthy!

[crabfu]

Thanks... like I've said, it actually handles the wind surprisingly well :) Flew a few packs through in the breeze, and then on the last battery, lost tail control on lift off.... throttle held and landed it ok. Turns out the tail bearing split! Yup the bearing itself split in half! I've rebuilt it and just tested through a pack and it's back up and flying nicely again.... especially now at night there is no wind :)

Anyway here are some pics of the exploded bearing.

[J-Heli]

That's interesting. I've never seen a bearing split in half like that. Glad to hear there was no major damage. Keep us posted.

[crabfu]

Yeah me neither... It did NOT crash, nothing got banged around or anything, just the sheer rpm force, stressed & vibrated it open I guess.

-Crabfu

[mjr_larkin]

nice head in hover.

I got tired of waiting for eerie calm conditions so I went out to the park with decent gusts and it was like riding a bull (i imagine anyway). Good news is I hung on and went through my two packs just fine. Looking forward to a calm day or my 500 size heli to come :D

[crabfu]

nice head in hover.

I got tired of waiting for eerie calm conditions so I went out to the park with decent gusts and it was like riding a bull (i imagine anyway). Good news is I hung on and went through my two packs just fine. Looking forward to a calm day or my 500 size heli to come :D

Riding a bull.... now that's a good analogy! Thanks... getting more comfy with head in on the gaui, but add wind into the mix and that bull starts bucking more than my nerves can handle. Congrats on on your successful windy flights :)

-Crabfu

[Gr4yb3ard]

Crabfu!

That's an interesting failure!!!

It appears from what little I can see in the picts, that the outer race seperated into two halves. Is this the case?

If that indeed was what happened, then apparently the bearing was dry, and centrifugal force spun the balls out and they wore a groove into the outer race.

Let's verify that, as if so, it means:

1. It could be a freak accident. or that we need to pay more attention to an appropriate lube for a high-speed open bearing (not an easy choice).

2. We need to ground the entire fleet, and have all GUI-200 pilots tear down thier tail bearings, under the supervision of a certified A&P, repair & replace, then forward completed paperwork to the FAA. I'm sure an Airworthiness Directive will be forwarded to you all soon.

Gr4yb3ard
"...Regerlatury Compliants?, That mean's 'me sticks 'me cutlass in the small 'o yer back, and 'ye takes that last step to the feed them fishies..."

[rotorhead58d]

http://flying-hobby.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=3_5_9&products_id=2270

one of these + 5 ep 100 cf blades.:shock:

[crabfu]

yeah the bearing separated, micro ball bearings probably got shot out like a bb gun lol. I did not lube or pack the bearings. I'm not sure exactly why it happened, but I thought the bearing would be the last thing to fail in this little thing :)

-Crabfu

[Gr4yb3ard]

Huh,

Really, it should have lasted lots longer...

Guess if you're going to be accused of flying too much, you'd d*mned better leave some evidence.... ;-)

G4yb3ard
"...out to sea again, see 'ya lads..."

[rotorhead58d]

i think you guys jinx'd me. i took my blade grips apart, and sure enough, the one bearing was split.

question...when you take apart your head, and take the spindle shaft dampeners out, how much room do you have between the head block, and the spindle? mine seems like it has an awful lot. almost as if the head block has been slowly getting reemed out by the spindle. new head block time for me.

[psindrup]

Thanks... like I've said, it actually handles the wind surprisingly well :) Flew a few packs through in the breeze, and then on the last battery, lost tail control on lift off.... throttle held and landed it ok. Turns out the tail bearing split! Yup the bearing itself split in half! I've rebuilt it and just tested through a pack and it's back up and flying nicely again.... especially now at night there is no wind :)

Anyway here are some pics of the exploded bearing.

Dang! Not nice! :thumbdown:

How many flights do you think you had on it, before the tail failed miserably?

Peter

[crabfu]

i think you guys jinx'd me. i took my blade grips apart, and sure enough, the one bearing was split.

question...when you take apart your head, and take the spindle shaft dampeners out, how much room do you have between the head block, and the spindle? mine seems like it has an awful lot. almost as if the head block has been slowly getting reemed out by the spindle. new head block time for me.

Hmmm I've replace a head block because of that... the dempeners always seems way too loose, I know they are loose to start with but just got really loose. I ended up using split canopy gromits as dampeners for a while, and it worked well, but eventually replaced it with the new head and stock dampeners.

-Crabfu

[crabfu]

Dang! Not nice! :thumbdown:

How many flights do you think you had on it, before the tail failed miserably?

Peter

I'd guess between 60-70 flights @ 4-5min flights. I keep a flight log, marked when I changed out tails etc, but not if I changed out the bearings. But that estimate is probably pretty close.

-Crabfu

[psindrup]

I'd guess between 60-70 flights @ 4-5min flights. I keep a flight log, marked when I changed out tails etc, but not if I changed out the bearings. But that estimate is probably pretty close.

-Crabfu

Thanks

I have the metal tail bling upgrade laying in my drawer - perhaps it is time to get it installed. :smokin:

Peter

[crabfu]

Thanks

I have the metal tail bling upgrade laying in my drawer - perhaps it is time to get it installed. :smokin:

Peter

I've had problem with the tail bling too... slowly broke little parts, turned into hybrid of stock and metal tail, until it eventually turned back into stock. Bearing issues are bearing issues.... just hoping that it's a freak kind of thing and doesn't happen to others, or too often :)

-Crabfu