JasonJ
06-20-2008, 01:05 AM
It happened. Dagnabit, it happened. I put some Trueblood dampers in the head of the RCT-450, flew it, way better, it rocked, etc. I go in, and grab the Falcon, and I said it. Sweet Lord, I said it. I said "Hey honey, why don't you come and watch this". Her response: "Okay, I'll put the cat on the leash". I tasted the coppery bloody taste of dread, and said "no cat", but didn't really believe she actually meant it, or even said it. I might of hallucinated. Whatever. I went outside and started ripping around. I hear the words, those horrible words: "Hey Gryphon, look at the helicopter". It was pure reflex, I looked, sure as shyte, there was the cat. On a leash. At the other end of the leash, the wife. That was all it took. I looked back at where the Falcon should have been, and it was at this point over my left shoulder. I gave forward cyclic, and it came right at me. It impacted my left bicep and fell to the ground, and promptly did the chicken because that was how quickly it happened when I gave not only forward cyclic, but also full collective. I hit throttle hold, norm, dropped the throttle, turned off throttle hold, and disconnected the battery. The only thing damaged was the canopy, the flybar was bent, and I only had a 1 inch shallow gash in my arm. I straightened the flybar (didn't have any spares), balanced the head minus blades, balanced the blades, dialed it in, put on the spare canopy, and it flies better than ever.
Lesson learned. Never, ever, under any means, allow any cats on leashes near where you fly. The distraction is too much to resist. I was on a solid no crash streak too. And it really stings when you get it in the arm when a 400 size helicopter nails you at idle-up. Oh well....
Lesson learned. Never, ever, under any means, allow any cats on leashes near where you fly. The distraction is too much to resist. I was on a solid no crash streak too. And it really stings when you get it in the arm when a 400 size helicopter nails you at idle-up. Oh well....