Can you believe my bad luck?

[jklong03]

I've lost two Super Cub LP's in less than a week! First was a RTF and I flew in too high of upper winds and let it get too high and lost it downwind.

Bought a second BNF, did all my mods and picked a calmer day at a site near my apartment. Did one short hop and actually got it back around and landed with no problems! Second flight I took it up higher to set the trims on the radio and without thinking, flew right in front of the sun and lost sight of it. Immediately throttled down, was wearing sun glasses but couldn't regain sight of it. Had my name and number on it this time, but don't know where it came down and no one has found it, or at least called.

Talked to a local pro and he said most likely problem was letting it get out of range, that the RX in the out of the box planes was too weak but that the TX was fully capable of maintaining control as far as you can see it, but the RXs in the park flyers was not up to the task.

Anyway, here I sit $400 (US) spent and no plane to fly! This sux.

[renard80]

What lousy luck! Losing one plane is bad enough, but two in such quick succession - I really feel for you.

I don't know how high you were, but (at risk of contradiction) I believe most people find the stock Rx perfectly OK at long distances.

I can only wish you luck in finding her. She could be on the ground or high in a tree, perhaps hidden by leaves. I remember two of us spending several hours searching for his lost plane when he suddenly spotted a flash of white up a tree. She had glided off to the side, away from her original flight path. So fingers crossed for you!

[hghost]

Sorry to hear that and two is worse.But that posses a Question by us Newbies.I understand height allows one to recover from mistakes, and in most video's I watch, the first thing everyone does is climb and get altitude really fast, and many so high I wonder how they can tell what their plane is doing. And unless your planning to do some loops and rolls whatever, why would you fly so high ? I mean I have been using a Simulator and yes it is not 100% like the real thing, however extreme altitude seems to be a issue with the Cub as well as other planes.....seems one can fly fairly low and slow and make many adjustments and trims without the high flying antics, so many seem to think . Am I over analyzing this or am I simply completely wrong or am I on to something ? The wind in higher altitude even on a fairly calm day is still much harder than at base....it does not take much wind to carry the Cub away at all. Unless your flying over tree's it would seem to me that Tree top level is a good altitude to fly the Cub , unless again you are doing loops or allot of aerobatics . Why would you need to fly any higher than a couple hundred feet if that much ? Of course I know it depends on location and weather etc etc....but It seems most issues happen with wind and or landing..and even on landings it seems the wind causes most of those crashes and or plane loss and damage. So...am I on to something or way off...your input is valuable to me and greatly welcome, in my desire to learn. And again I am sorry jklong30 for your loss.

[flydiver]

That's sad to lose planes like that. The harsh reality is those were pilot mistakes. Flying downwind in strong wind and flying into the sun, both were avoidable. It's very challenging to get a high plane back in high wind. Most newer fliers simply are not up to the task. Unfortunately most folks learn to avoid these problems the hard way. Trees are the same issue. You stay away from them after one eats your plane.

The RX in a Cub is a stock Spektrum. They have a potential range beyond what you can see.
Range is not controlled by the TX for the most part, it is mostly limited by the RX.
They are considered park fliers because they have a single short antenna and it can get shadowed by the battery or motor and lose connection.
The TX antenna should also be at right angles to the plane. Do not point the antenna at the plane. The signal radiates off the antenna like a stone thrown in water with the center being the weakest generation.

Show this to your 'local pro'.
www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=783753

[renard80]

To hghost:

Your post above shows very sound reasoning.

Experienced flyers often like to get way, way up - providing the conditions are suitable. For example, it can be fun to get really high, then fool around with aerobatics, or cut the throttle and treat her as a glider.

The pilots in most of those videos you refer to have the experience and confidence to fly high.

But there is no need to fly ultra-high. The accurate phrase 'height is your friend' just means you shouldn't fly too close to the ground while learning. Simply give yourself enough airspace in which to practise. If the brown stuff hits the fan, you need room to bring her down safely.

You may have seen what happened to me recently and to spindeepster last year. In each case, disaster may have been avoided had we had more height in which to recover when our planes were looping. But that doesn't mean flying at 40,000 feet! ;D

[SussexFlyer]

Sorry to hear of your loss and misfortune. The replies above all offer good advice. The important thing is to LEARN from your mistakes.

Even when you have been flying for some time mistakes are made. Last week I was flying and the battery died (no fault with the battery, it had just reached the end of its charge). I landed no problem deadstick but had I been flying in high wind and been downwind I would not have been able to fly her back.

Agree totally with the comments re height. Treetop height or a bit above is fine for normal flying. The main thing which I don't think has been mentioned is to USE the throttle, by which I mean do not fly everywhere flat out! Slower flying gives you thinking time. The cub is a docile light aircraft and will fly very slowly indeed. Check out the low speed handling at height, find out what happens when you turn at low speed, check out the stall etc and you will then be fine. And, when you progress to flying loops use full throttle on the way up but cut the throttle on the way down, gradually reapplying it as you level out.

I hope you decide to buy another one. Third time lucky!

[Dillzio]

Sorry to hear about your misfortune. Learning the hard way can really suck.

As you've probably worked out, you'll be much better of if you get taught to fly by someone experienced, or at least do a lot of reading up online first.

Like fly said, there are a list of simple rules we all need to follow to avoid things like this from happening.

Never flying downwind is one such rule.
Being aware of the position of the sun, not flying in front of it, and if possibly standing under a tree to shield your eyes from it or keeping your back to it.

Admittedly, I've failed to follow these rules before. On one occasion I lost the cub and ended up getting sent pictures of a gay man's thingy supercubclub.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=sccgeneral&action=display&thread=2933

On the other my cub got away from me and crashed into a car (all caught by the onboard camera, video now on youtube) supercubclub.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=crash&action=display&thread=4312

These things serve as powerful learning experiences and do end up giving us some interesting stories to tell, I consider it all part of the hobby

Other such rules include:
Never fly the plane over your own head (you will loose the plane's orientation)
Taking precautions against crashing the plane into yourself while landing (eg don't have the plane headed DIRECTLY for you)
Don't try flying too close to yourself, despite the temptation when you're trying to get a good picture of yourself flying it (I recently had a rude reminder of that particular rule supercubclub.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=vidrc&action=display&thread=5044 )
Be aware of how long your lipos take to die and keep track of time while flying
Plan a clear tree-free path for landings and takeoffs
While landing, don't lower your plane prematurely unless you're SURE you're in front of any trees in your path (I've made that mistake too supercubclub.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=sccgeneral&action=display&thread=2674 )

Those are just the ones that come to mind now, I'm sure you'll find many more tips on beginner threads.

Considering how much money you've just lost on two cubs, it may also be a wise investment to get a RC flight simulator for your computer as well, that's probably the best way to avoid crashes as it allows you to make and learn from all your mistakes on the computer.

You're off to a very bumpy start but as you can see from my checkered history for some of us it's all part of the hobby - I hope you stick with it. Good luck finding your cubs too!

[realbob]

OMG. this is sad. Don't be discouraged, you will get the next one to work.
I fly my plane not too high, since a low wind at ground level (5mph) can sometimes be much stronger up in the air with strong guts. Almost lost my drone once... Tought I could go higher, but about 400ft high high the wind flip it over!

PS: Never tought of big scale?, hard to loose sight of it!

[iandhunt]

I don't like to fly high since I can't see the plane as well. I top off at about 100 - 200 ft. I almost lost my cub one day during a massive wind gust about 150 feet up....nothing worse than having full power and your baby is floating away from you.....

[jklong03]

Well, on to my third attempt! I very much appreciate all of the good advice and well wishes from all of you! I totally agree with the "pilot error" comments, I was an idiot both times!

Yesterday, I traded an old laptop and printer to someone who had a Super Cub LP RTF still in the box for an even trade, so no money riding on this one (Yet)

I went out to the local club's field a couple of weeks ago. All of the pilots there could relate to my story, seems a lot of people have had at least one "get away from them" in their history. They mostly fly gas 1/3 scale monsters (my ultimate goal to be honest) but one of the guys had a beautiful Super Cub built from stick and monocote, a more powerful outrider motor, a beautiful plane. Anyway he got it in the air and let me fly it around the field for about 8 minutes, giving me tips all the time, so I really got my hand feel back for flying and not getting nervous.

Just got back from taking the new cub out to a local area where I had a huge field adjacent to a huge empty parking lot. Did two takeoffs, kept her upwind all the time and sun was not an issue as it was still behind our lovely Utah mountains to the east.

Anyway, it flew well, but I could tell the winds were still a bit too much for this light of a plane, so after the second successful landing, upright and in one piece I called it a day and will wait for a calmer day for my next flights.

So I guess, happy ending to the story, many valuable lessons learned and I now have more "awareness" of potential issues thanks to your advice above! Not to mention the plethora of spare props, wing rubber bands and misc things (Thanks Hobbyzone for always putting the extra screws and stuff in there), three sets of chargers, a spare TX, and two lipos (remember the extra, more powerful one I bought when I got the first plane was in it when it went AWOL.

[Crazy Horse]

May 26, 2013 15:22:42 GMT 1 jklong03 said:

Well, on to my third attempt! I very much appreciate all of the good advice and well wishes from all of you! I totally agree with the "pilot error" comments, I was an idiot both times!/quote]

I wish I had a quid for every time I have been an "idiot", I would be living the life of Riley.

Happy days my friend.