My heli ran away... CPll kept it leveled

[tribe3]

This is an incredible story; yesterday afternoon I went to the local school's soccer field to do a couple of flights and show the heli to my brother in law. One minute into the 3rd battery I came out of a loop and the heli starts feeling erratic... It starts drifting up and away and not responding to my Tx. At one point the tail starts pirouetting out of control - now at pretty high altitude - and there was nothing more that I could do except watch astonished how the heli became a dot in the sky and the wind was blowing it far away.

I was really worried about where the heli could come down!! This is a very populated area and I was really afraid the bird could hurt someone but there was nothing I could do...

By the timer in the TX I knew the heli had to be down already... I grabbed the bag and we started heading to the car. As we walked to the car I get a call from my daughter and she asks If I'm flying the heli... I was surprised..I tell her that I just lost it...

She tells me that she is coming from the mall and there is a heli "LANDED" in the middle of an avenue!!! 1 mile in straight line from the soccer field!!! I tell her to grab it. She gets to the heli and tells me that when she touches it everithing starts moving! CPii was active and kept it leveled all the time. The heli went into aotorot and landed hard but flat. The blades didn't even touch the ground!! not a scratch to them.

Most important was that it didn't hit anybody or property and the miracle that my daughter was driving by and saw it... Amazing.

[tribe3]

The reasons of why it ran away?... I have no clue and will have to look into it in the next days. This can be a dangerous and expensive experience if it happens again.

The ESC was fried; I was having random problems with the switching BEC giving me a low Volt warning... I don't know

[vanguy]

Wow, this is an incredible story and the chance that your daughter find your heli is like the odds of winning a lottery. What radio are you using? As well, interesting question on just what will CP2 do if the radio signal is lost, does it default to "center stick" and keeps the heli level which seems to be the case here. Glad this was a happy ending.

[tribe3]

I'm using a DX7se and AR7600 Rx. I'm sure CPll was active because I told my daughter to disconnect the battery before putting the heli in her car; she didn't think it was that important and didn't do it - she doesn't have to know - So, a servo started burning and filled her car with smoke. She called me again and I said throw it out of the car... She didn't but disconnected all the cables she could see including the battery.

I agree. The odds of finding it 1.059 mile away are infinitesimal.

When I get home I'll upload the google map with the trajectory of the heli.

[vanguy]

Tribe, interesting to see if you can diagnose the cause of this. One thing I try not to do is let the heli fly to far from me because they do get small very fast and than you have no way of knowing the orientation. I can imagine you feeling when your heli became a dot.

[pril250]

Wow, what an amazing chain of events and coincidences, the Heli Gods were with you that day my friend. Hope you get her up and floating again soon.

[icerat4]

This is one crazy story. cheers to know one getting hurt...Lesson learned here for today..Dont fly your heli outa your flying range.Wind sight etc....I too have to admit once i went outa range when all i saw was a dot...NOT SMART AT ALL... Sice then i keep it in eye distance wheres as i can see it which isnt to far away ..Bad eye sight old age But very nutty story ...

[tribe3]

Originally Posted by pril250

Wow, what an amazing chain of events and coincidences, the Heli Gods were with you that day my friend. Hope you get her up and floating again soon.

The heli gods alright!

Heli is not so damaged. The mainshaft was bent but the blades didn't touch the ground... I alrady replaced it. Tail fin lost half but the tail assy looks OK - Have to check it better - I replaced the landing gear, and the rest of the damage is basically electronics. The ESC is fried, one servo burned; and the motor got a little meshed in the bottom but I made it run and it doesn't vibrate at all.

[tribe3]

Originally Posted by icerat4

This is one crazy story. cheers to know one getting hurt...Lesson learned here for today..Dont fly your heli outa your flying range.Wind sight etc....I too have to admit once i went outa range when all i saw was a dot...NOT SMART AT ALL... Sice then i keep it in eye distance wheres as i can see it which isnt to far away ..Bad eye sight old age But very nutty story ...

Crazy indeed! I normally don't let it go that far either,; my eyes are old too ... but I don't control the heli like I would like and sometimes it gets far very fast! Anyways... this was something different. It wasn't that far away when I lost control. Will have to check...

[nightflyr]

You were very fortunate, both that no one was injured and that you recovered your bird .

[Ivor Hill]

Hi I have been meaning to write a warning post about this type of thing for some time. There have been several reports of guys loosing there heli that are fitted with stablization, in one case a very expensive heli fitted with a gyrobot 900.
If you loose radio contact for any reason the stablization system will still operate,so unless fail safes are set up the reciever ( my futaba recievers anyway, I assume other makes are the same ) will lock onto the last recieved signal, so if you were in forward flight the heli will continue to fly stablized untill the battery dies or you regain radio contact.
As I understand it recievers are set this way so that so the pilot will not notice a momentary loss of signal,but with a continuous loss of signal the heli will crash, not necassarily if a stablization is fitted. With good radios it is posible to set up fail safes so that the swash levels and the throttle can be set at a given speed or cut.
I fly on the moors miles from any residentual area so I have set mine to level the swash and reduce throttle to just below hover speed in the hope that the heli will land safely but if you are anywhere near people maybe you should set it to cut. Needs thinking about. Hope this helps

[vanguy]

Ivor, how do you set your heli that if it loses radio that it will level the swash and reduce throttle?

[halley]

Originally Posted by tribe3

I told my daughter to disconnect the battery before putting the heli in her car; she didn't think it was that important and didn't do it ... I said throw it out of the car; she didn't

She's at that tender age when she obviously knows everything, especially how to ignore dad's advice.

[Ivor Hill]

Originally Posted by vanguy

Ivor, how do you set your heli that if it loses radio that it will level the swash and reduce throttle?

Hi, On my futaba 9c I go to f/s failsafe and and set ail, pitch,ele, rudder and throttle to f/s, the swash will then level if stablization it on and radio is off.Stablization will still operate. You can also set % on throttle and col pitch to set headspeed and col pitch, needs a bit of playing to get this correct. Easy if you are setting it to cut but bear in mind that if you get total loss of signal you cannot autorotate, thats why I prefere to set it to hopefully land gently or at least not to hard. Hope this helps Ivor

[vanguy]

Ivor, I have a JR9503 hence I need to find out how to do what you did. On another note, it is funny to read that you fly on the "moors" which of couse we have no such thing in America. But this is the beauty of this site for people around the world to share in their flying environments. I would love to fly in some open desert or in the middle of the ocean.

[tribe3]

Originally Posted by halley

She's at that tender age when she obviously knows everything, especially how to ignore dad's advice.

Now that I read my words again I think I need to have a conversation with my daughter...

But... she did find my heli

[Ivor Hill]

Originally Posted by vanguy

Ivor, I have a JR9503 hence I need to find out how to do what you did. On another note, it is funny to read that you fly on the "moors" which of couse we have no such thing in America. But this is the beauty of this site for people around the world to share in their flying environments. I would love to fly in some open desert or in the middle of the ocean.

If you are old enough to remember the film The hounds of the Baskerviles thats where I fly. BTW I should have said that I use Flymentor and Helicommand not sure if CP2 behaves in the same way. Ivor

[nightflyr]

Originally Posted by vanguy

Ivor, I have a JR9503 hence I need to find out how to do what you did. On another note, it is funny to read that you fly on the "moors" which of couse we have no such thing in America. But this is the beauty of this site for people around the world to share in their flying environments. I would love to fly in some open desert or in the middle of the ocean.

VG, you set fail safe when you bind your Tx to your Rx...set your sticks in the setting you wish the helicopter to be at and rebind... if you get LOS the Rx will fail safe back to those settings

[vanguy]

Originally Posted by nightflyr

VG, you set fail safe when you bind your Tx to your Rx...set your sticks in the setting you wish the helicopter to be at and rebind... if you get LOS the Rx will fail safe back to those settings

Night, I bind with my left stick all the way down and the right stick in the middle hence I would assume for me, my birds should autorotate down with a level swash. I would guess my CP2 would also assume that the stick is centered and keep the bird level.

[nightflyr]

you would want your throttle just at or below mid stick to allow the helicopter a shot at ...
"auto-autorotation"... and make sure the CPII is powered up and in the on position.

And check it afterwards by powering up the Tx & heli and turning off the Tx and see that the swash is in the correct position

BUT UNPLUG YOUR MOTOR B4 YOU BIND