first flight and disaster strikes

[saffa365]

I have never flown a rc plane before and after some research decided that i would go for the super cub lp and i bought a dx6i transmitter, i also got carried away and bought a Precision Aerobatics Extra 260 , wich i have built and it looks amazing , but i dont think this plane will see the runway for atleast 6 months, i just enjoy building things like this

any way i bound my transmitter to the sc and headed off to the local soccer fields in Mill Hill , i did notice that there wasnt much throw on the servos, but being a newbie i thought maybe this the way it is supposed to be, (clearly not)

i Had a mate hand launch it for me and off it went , i kept it airbourne for about 2 mins , but it had such huge turning circles and it took ages to pull the plane upwards , needless to say i got the plane into a nose dive from about 50 feet and down she went straight into the ground, i smashed the cowling into a few pieces , cracked the gearbox, and nearly snapped the firewall in half and not to mention i snapped the wing into two pieces , we did have a good laugh , after all you cant grow to attached to you first models.

So ive glued the gearbox with superglue and also glued the firebox into as closer to original position as possible, i have also wrapped loads of Gaffa tape around the fire box and strapped the wing up , it looks sort of okay lol
im going to try fly her tomorrow without the cowling , dont know how much of a difference this is going to make.

I have since found out that the DX6i comes preset to only give you 50% throws, im sure if i had known this i would have got atlest 5 mins of flight time lol

any comments are welcome, im not going to let this get me down , ill just carry on and try keep her in the air

[flydiver]

It's probably of little comfort but the vast majority of first flights end in disaster (and 2nd, and 3rd, and so on.....).
It's not likely to matter how the TX was set up as long as it wasn't set up seriously wrong. In general too little travel is better than too much for new fliers as over control is a major issue. I've trained lot of new pilots. I can have a plane that is flying fine, so well that I could just set the TX on the ground and it would happily fly off into the distance with no issues at all. Hand over control to a new pilot and within seconds it will be plummeting toward the ground like an out of control missile.

I don't own a DX6i but I have LOTS of buddies with them and I've set a bunch of them up. They do not automatically set travel to 50%. That's something you did...somehow.

Note - In general you do not pull the plane up with the elevator. Up and down are primarily controlled with the throttle and fine turned with the elevator. If you got it into a dive that you could not get out of that's something you did, not the TX.

You won't have much luck gluing the gearbox or firewall....with anything. The plastic does not glue well.

[shockmunk]

So let me me get this strait, the elevator should be used for minor adjustments?

[flydiver]

That's correct.
Any plane that is not grossly overpower, which the Cub in stock trim is NOT, will NOT climb more than a few feet of vertical on elevator alone while cruising without stalling. LOTS and LOTS of crashes are the result of that misunderstanding. Up elevator > lose airspeed > stall > crash
This is normal.
Even at full throttle if you give it full elevator it'll barely loop. If you try to go straight up it'll stall. If you even put it at a 45* climb it'll slow down, and finally stall. Normal behavior. Normal planes do that.

If you want to climb you give it throttle. Properly trimmed you don't even give elevator. It's designed to climb with more throttle > also NORMAL for airplanes.
To descend, back off the throttle.

OTOH if you are cruising merrily along and you give it DOWN elevator, now you have gravity working with you and you'll plummet like a rock and under power to boot. To pull out you DO need elevator and it should do so easily because you now have extra speed making the elevator more responsive. But you can't put straight up, it'll stall again.
If you really didn't have any up elevator throw at all to pull up, well, then you are out of luck in this circumstance. That's a setup error. In this sport errors have consequences.

But, you really didn't want to do a dive that close to the ground in the first place. That was an error also.

If you mod the Cub to be a grossly overpowered monster then you can do more outlandish things with the elevator, and all control surfaces. Seems this has become some kind of norm but in a way it's not really flying. It's hauling foam around behind a prop.

I don't suggest this route until you can actually fly. It'll just make you crash even faster and harder for now.

[freediverga]

I thought the DX6i had a switch to change from 50% to 100% throws control? or you can set it to do so.

[saffa365]

The DX6i is set up standard to give only 50% throws, if you do a search on the internet this will be mentioned many times.
It is easily overcome by going into the mix 1 and Mix 2 menu , change the settings from INH to ACT ( not Automatic crash technology) and then you can change the percentages of the throws anywhere up to 125 %
Thanks for the replys , it would definately help if i had a local club but unfortunately im gonna have to teach myself .
I had two flights this morning and all my repairs seemed to have held up , i will take on board your comments about the elevatorand throttle

Many thanks for the info

[flydiver]

Jan 8, 2012 4:02:56 GMT 1 freediverga said:

I thought the DX6i had a switch to change from 50% to 100% throws control? or you can set it to do so.

Yes-that's called [Dual Rates]. It's not automatic, you have to set it up. HOW MUCH you set it is up to you. There is no magic amount, depends on the plane, the mechanical setup, and the pilot.

Saffa-don't know where you are getting your info but it's plain wrong. There is a lot of newbs leading other newbs down a wrong path-good intentions, poor information.
For a simple RET (rudder/elevator/throttle) you don't have to mix anything in the DX6i. You can, but it's certainly not necessary.
What are you going to mix with what else, and why? You only have 2 control surfaces. Doesn't make any sense.

Bluntly-I fear your settings are messed up. They may work, but they are not right. I suggest you start at the beginning and get things right before you get into habits you may regret.

Addendum-just got done reviewing the entire DX6i manual. No where are the throws at 50% to start. You can put them there [Travel Adjustment] or [Dual Rates], but they don't start there.

[saffa365]

Cheers flydiver, i appreciate what you are saying.

the Error i should have mentioned was that , because ACT was still on at the reciever the throws were minimal , do you know how to turn off the ACT , bearing in mind i bought the bind and fly
i have disconnected the sensors ( i did before i tried to fly)
i do appologise for giving out wrong info, my confusion is due to the the delta mixing in spectrum transmitters is set to 50% (wich is not found in the Manual anywhere

[flydiver]

If you pulled the sensors, it's disabled. It should no longer have any bearing on the way it flies with one possible caveat. In the older LP version if you pull the sensors but ENGAGE the ACT switch it acts like Dual Rates and cuts down the throw. This can be useful while learning since new fliers tend to grossly over correct.

I do not know if it does this with DX6i (gear switch?). It probably something you can figure out by eyeball on the ground by moving the sticks a given amount and throwing the 'appropriate switch' (whatever that is). Hopefully someone can help out with this, I can't.

Yes, it is completely normal for [Delta] to have the throws reduced. You are mixing ailerons+elevator. If the throws were additive they would end up being excessive.
This is true for ALL TX in this mode.

Note re-ACT: I have NO idea why they bother except that to new fliers the concept sounds very appealing. It did to me. Everyone pretty much hates it in real life. Even reviewers that will bend over backwards to praise obvious flaws in a plane can't seem to do more than sort of shuffle around the device and try to best ignore it.
I wrote them a letter. It was ignored. Horizon never admits to flaws in their designs.