Flight Training

[flydiver]

1. REAL fliers are some of the worst students. They are used to 'seat of the pants' feeling of flying and have major issues with direction reversal. Personal experience here.

2. Best way is to upgrade everything and get a buddy box and learn how to use it. Expensive.

3. Get it WAY up high, like 5 mistakes high and give him the TX with explicit instructions that he can give it back or you can take it back on a moments notice.
Do not let it get below 2-3 mistakes high. You'd be amazed how fast a plane heads toward the ground in the hands of a a newbie.
The TX transfer slows down recovery a LOT. After I pulled my Slow Stick out of the ground when trying to train a certified pilot using the transfer method I got a buddy box - cheaper than a new plane.

[flydiver]

Ouch!

My Slow Stick stuck 4 inches into the ground. It literally stuck upright.
I told my 'pilot' to slowly throttle up. Instead he shoved the elevator up and plowed it right into the ground. Took 1 second. No time for either of us to react.

I warned you.

Remove the motor and run it directly off a D-cell in a glass of water. That's right, water. No harm will come to it. I've done this several times. On a new BRUSHED motor it's called a water break in.
Change the water when it gets dirty as often as necessary. Do this maybe 10-15 minutes. Shake out, dry with a hair dryer, oil the bushings on the end with a little sewing machine oil or something like that. Try again.

Smoking and now twitching servos are a bad sign. I'd certainly check the servo gears for stripping and be suspicious of the ESC. With a crash like that I'd think other things would be broken (firewall?)

[keok]

I was surprised myself you would think that the gear box would be broken , the prop shaft would be bent and the firewall would be cracked but The ground was soft from earlier rain.
I'll try that water break in and see.
I had cleaned the motor out some more with alcohol and the twitching seemed to be less. I was thinking that the mud was shorting something in the motor and caused the twitching but I'm not sure.

[flydiver]

Mud (tiny rocks) would be pretty abrasive. It would get in the brushes causing wear and arcing. It potentially could wear the insulation off the motor wiring causing shorts and permanent damage.