Auto saves the day

CyprusFlyer · 07-10-2012, 01:14 AM

I learned to do auto rotations a few weeks ago, just love doing them and usually end the flight with an auto from 200 feet or so.
Sunday first flight I was about 2 mins in when the heli started to pyro on its own, thought strange and put in opposite tail and nothing

Obviously lost tail control and pyro rate increasing, hit throttle hold and pyro stopped and managed to get it down with just one cracked under carriage strut.
My push rod link had pulled off the servo ball, could not understand why, a lot of effort required to get it on and off.
I have the KDE tail stuff on, the bellcrank is shorter so had to move the ball in a hole on the servo arm to keep Vbar happy, can only think that the link caught on the servo somewhere near the centre at extreme travel.
So I have mounted the servo from under the mounting frame and moved the ball on top of the arm, nothing to catch on and a better angle through the guide now.

hANDYman · 07-10-2012, 06:34 PM

Nice save... Auto's are a nice thing to know. Imagine the damage it would have sustained had it piro'd itself into the ground!

heliwaz · 07-10-2012, 07:54 PM

Quote:

Nice save... Auto's are a nice thing to know. Imagine the damage it would have sustained had it piro'd itself into the ground!

Oh it bares not thinking, but write off comes to mind.

I have done autos but i didn't think the tail would stop spinning if you had a problem as you described. Did it still keep spinning but slower?

CyprusFlyer · 07-11-2012, 01:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by heliwaz

Oh it bares not thinking, but write off comes to mind.

I have done autos but i didn't think the tail would stop spinning if you had a problem as you described. Did it still keep spinning but slower?

It stands to reason, the heli always has a tendency to spin the opposite way to the blades due to opposing motor torque, as soon as you cut the motor, this disappears, the effect was immediate, just had to match orientation with where the heli stopped.(it was about 45 deg angle off horizontal too).
Got into the habit now of cutting the motor as soon as any problem appears, glitches too can be caused by motor vibrations so thats two saves now after putting the wrong battery on a Logo a while ago (ESC shutdown).

squeky · 07-11-2012, 11:46 AM

Had the same thing happen a week or so ago, except the grub screwing holding the tail grips loosened and I lost tail authority. When I hit the throttle hold, the blades and grips went flying! Heh, managed to get it down from 40 feet up with no damage other than needing a new tail slider assembly. Good thing I've been practicing autos lately.

07-10-2012, 01:14 AM	#1
CyprusFlyer Registered Users My HF Map location Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Pissouri, Cyprus	Auto saves the day I learned to do auto rotations a few weeks ago, just love doing them and usually end the flight with an auto from 200 feet or so. Sunday first flight I was about 2 mins in when the heli started to pyro on its own, thought strange and put in opposite tail and nothing Obviously lost tail control and pyro rate increasing, hit throttle hold and pyro stopped and managed to get it down with just one cracked under carriage strut. My push rod link had pulled off the servo ball, could not understand why, a lot of effort required to get it on and off. I have the KDE tail stuff on, the bellcrank is shorter so had to move the ball in a hole on the servo arm to keep Vbar happy, can only think that the link caught on the servo somewhere near the centre at extreme travel. So I have mounted the servo from under the mounting frame and moved the ball on top of the arm, nothing to catch on and a better angle through the guide now. __________________ TREX 550E LOGO 500SE & 600SE & 600SX Synergy E7 zzzzzzzzzzzzzzTDR

07-10-2012, 06:34 PM	#2
hANDYman Registered Users Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Burnaby, British Columbia	Nice save... Auto's are a nice thing to know. Imagine the damage it would have sustained had it piro'd itself into the ground! __________________ Dx8 / Dx7 (modded) mCPX (brushless) / FBL 450 PRO (beastX) / FBL 550E V2 (3GX) TH Edge 540 / 3DHS Extra 300 SHP / Radian Pro RealFlight 6 / iCharger 306B

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07-11-2012, 11:46 AM	#5
squeky Registered Users Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: MD, USA	Had the same thing happen a week or so ago, except the grub screwing holding the tail grips loosened and I lost tail authority. When I hit the throttle hold, the blades and grips went flying! Heh, managed to get it down from 40 feet up with no damage other than needing a new tail slider assembly. Good thing I've been practicing autos lately.