Horrible Discouraging Day

[hghost]

Have been waiting for a day with little to no wind...today seemed to be that day.

Had to do some work for a neighbor who is down and out, so planned to go late this evening to my new field, I finally got all cleared and mowed and raked.
It now looks good .

After getting my neighbors work out of the way, i charged up some batteries, paced the floor and got all my gear together.

Decided to go with the small planes, 2 Champs and one of the small Mini Super Cubs. Could not wait for the batteries to charge up, it was exciting.

Loaded my mule, headed to my field...no wind blowing it was almost perfectly calm

Started with the New champ that was never flown, hand launched it and around it went, something seemed odd, handling was strange, but it has been since last
year since I flew a plane ( just Sim only ).....it wanted to circle, and go in strange directions....rushed it around to get it back to me, and as i did right in front of me
it nosed over and I had no control, sheared wing right off the thing .( in all my hard landings and crash's with a Champ, never had a wing shear off)

I thought maybe it was my error or simply being a new Champ the control throws maybe off....anyway picked up the pieces and put them back in the box and got out the
Volantex Mini Cub, 3 ch version....

Got out the TX and added batteries turned it on, installed the battery in the plane, checked the controls and the movements and checked the motor, throttled it up for a bit and made sure all worked well. hand launched it as it is small....plane acted like it weighed a ton, as soon as it left my hand it went straight to the ground and broke
the Prop and knocked off the landing gear .

Two tries, to failures.....that was disheartening and scary.

So i got out my trusty Champ the one I flew most of last year. It had been put back together after a head on crash into a pole. But was great, so i will give this one a go.

Got out the Tx for it, loaded batteries, installed battery on plane, checked the controls and the motor and ran it up some.
Hand launched it, took off great like always, made a circle, it acted odd as well....suddenly went into a left turn, and continued in a left turn, I had to jerk on
the Tx stick to turn it right, when i did that it would nose up and than back to the left, needless to say, it kept drifting away from me in that left hand circle and
finally into a tall tree on the fields edge .

It seemed as if, I had no control at times with these planes. All three acted strange and all three had a different Tx used and the First Champ the handling was weird,
and the Mini Cub, simply nosed straight into the dirt...the second Champ flew great at first, but then went into a left circle on it's own...and trying to turn it and or get it back towards me was impossible. Mind you there was little to no wind at all. I had no control and it seemed they were under powered at times ( the Champs that is )

And I have No Clue what the Mini Super Cub's problem is....( may be me ?)

So needless to say I broke a wing on one plane and a prop and gear on another and the Third one is in a tall tree, to small a tree to climb, but to high up to reach
with anything.

It just seemed something interfered with the control of the planes, I had little to none.

All are 2.4 Ghz system . It is suppose to be set up so there would be no interference. It is close to the Interstate, but so was my other field . I can not think of anything that would have interfered with the signal.

The Champs seemed under-powered from what they normally was. My wonder are these little batteries gone bad. They charged up fine seemed to have power in my hand, but
maybe they dropped off quick in flight ? I had them higher up than i normally flew them, simply because I have the ability in this new field and there was little wind, they both started out fine, but quickly started handling odd and me with little to no control after a bit.

So my waiting and complaining about the winds bought me a beautiful day to fly, only to watch it all go bad in a hurry.

Now I have to hope for some wind to blow my Champ out of a tree ( after much complaining about the high winds) and I am discouraged and a little afraid to fly in that field again, my worry is something near that is causing interference with my TX signal ?

Glad i did not take my HZ Super Cub today after all that mess.

I had a Horrible day and I am discouraged and not sure what to do and how to find out what caused the problems.

Worse part is this is the same field I first tried to fly in many many many years ago, that i watched Balsa go Boom. I simply gave up back then...Now...that worry and concern is there. Things have changed the place is not as big and the old farm home is gone that use to be there and the Interstate is close and runs down one side of it.......and that really worries me if something is interfering with the signal, especially do not want one to get away and go over on the Interstate that is a real fear
for me now.

Anyone have any ideas or suggestions on how to find out if it was a signal interference ( and these little 1 cell batteries , not sure how i can check them, especially after they show Ok on the charger )

Just a really Sucky day all the way around .

[sham]

Sounds very depressing.
Also sounds like interference reducing signal input for throttle and affecting control.
Interference, as such, shouldn't happen, but I think atmospheric conditions play havoc with radios sometimes.

I didn't fly once because with a range check something wasn't right. Another day in the same location and it was fine.

Further to this, wireless PC networks work on 2.4ghz and its far from impossible for interference from microwave ovens or nearby microwave transmitters. Any odd looking aerials (antenna) around? Especially line of sight data transmitters... Do US freeways have wireless traffic cameras or anything?

Another possibility is that there was a problem with the plane that nose dived, and some wind higher up that's badly affecting the little champs.



I wish you luck with repairs and retrieval

[flydiver]

That's is discouraging.
3 different planes.
3 different TX?
All not working right? If so, the likely problem is something you are or are not doing.

Are you SURE your batteries are OK? Simply charging until a green light appears means little. It is no indicator of ability to output adequate amperage. Old/abused/worn batteries can sag VERY soon and not perform right.
With a 'real' RC plane you can get a wattmeter and check battery performance. With those twinky little micros I have no idea how to do a performance check other than compare to a KNOWN GOOD battery.

Are you keeping your batteries charged all the time? BAD! Use storage charge for long disuse.
Do you keep them in a very warm place? BAD! The higher the temp, the faster they go bad. I keep them at storage, in a ziplock in the fridge.
Are they charged AND warm all the time (months)? BAD BAD BAD; Combing the bad effects of heat and high voltage.
Do you fly them to LVC routinely? BAD; Many many ESC have a poor LVC setting. The micros are NOT good.
Do all of the above > ruin your lipos quickly!

Do you KNOW the batteries you put in the TX were good? If not > potentially no control.

Do you double and triple check ALL surfaces for proper trim, lack of binding, and proper and movement? If they've been sitting around for months (you say they had), then EVERYTHING should be considered suspect. If you don't, you can pay the price. I don't know why but my planes go out of trim if not used for a long time.

SIMS are good. But they are not real flying. It's easy to get rusty.
Hard to factor in flying skill and flying readiness without actually watching you fly.

Interference is possible but in general is the last thing on the list of probable causes. Pilot is generally the first, which includes proper preparation to fly. Kind of harsh but flying isn't very forgiving.

[hghost]

I am not sure about the little 1 cell batteries for the Champs. I charged them up on my Big Charger and they showed OK...But a couple of them would not work ( after i got home and checked them with the broken wing Champ)...suspect battery issue...with them now ( I have 12 of them ) someone else I read said allot of those little batteries never last more than one year of flying, one even said some of those Champs Motors did not last very long either...hard to say for sure..but I dare say those batteries simply are no good .

All my other batteries are in storage mode...I have checked them several times through the winter, they so far are all fine.

These little E-Flite 150mAh 1S 3.7V 25C LiPo Batteries for the Champ was charged fully and than I ran them for 3 minutes each to bleed them off before storing them ( as I do not know how to check them) Did not want them fully charged but not to far down either . Probably simply went bad.

I checked the control surfaces before I flew and also ran the motors up before flight .All seemed Ok before I launched them. It was after I got in the air things started to go crazy after a couple minutes .But normally those Little champs have power to spare they just did not feel that way nor handle that way?

The little Brushed Mini Super Cub ( I have no clue ) I "think" maybe the suggested CG is off....it was tail heavy and I had to add a few grams of weight to level it...but when I started to launch it, it just "felt" heavy ( hard to explain that feel )..but could be that added nose weight caused the Nose Dive...I had no time to even re-act it happened so fast.

It is being repaired as I type this...no damage I can see other than the Prop and the LG and battery door assembly...some glueing and install another prop will cure it..But i will re-measure and re-check the CG..I still suspect their recommended CG measurement may be wrong. The Little SC uses a 500mAh battery...they check perfectly and it had plenty of power , almost jumped out of my hand when I ran it up to check the Motor , so has to be pilot error and possible CG is incorrect.

My one Champ is still setting in that tall tree...first of the week if it has not blown down I will simply cut the tree down...think I will tie my Mule to it and see if I can shake it down that way first....that Mule in Low range has allot of torque, should be able to rattle the tree pretty hard with it..I hope anyway.

I have taken the wing off the Champ and glued it back together. I will put some packing tape on it and I am going to put a piece of carbon fiber on it to stiffen the wing up some. I have some very thin and light pieces I can cut and install on it.

But i think i will order me a few New 150mAh 1S 3.7V 25C LiPo Batteries for these Champs....need to figure how to keep them from going bad after one year...and how to store them and check them like I do all my other batteries.

The Older Champ was beaten up from last year...it is possible those controls were messed up...? the rear horizontal Stab was pretty flimsy, but everything worked Ok when i first launched it...so not so sure...after a few days in the tree, it is hard to tell what damage it will have.

Still frustrating and demeaning.

All batteries in TX were fine and all three planes used a different TX and I used Different batteries in each them.

Just rattled me , and worries me...I have allot of small planes, may just take a couple more of them out, next pretty day I get and see what they do....They have my Tactic set up in them so we will see what happens there..I have a small J3 Cub I think I will give it a go...it uses a 800mAh battery...it checked nose heavy allot as the battery sets directly under the nose right behind the cowl...so it had to have some weight added to the tail to level it up . I will re-check the CG on that one to make sure it is right before I give it a go...I have two of them exactly alike...so i have a spare for parts if needed. It is made of a different foam material it feels like a plastic more than a foam. Suspect if it were to hit to hard it will crack easier I think.( I pray that does not happen)...

I am just weary of the place now....One house has several of those Dishes on it across the street from the field...I assume they are just satellite dishes, never had them interfere with anything before.And the Interstate is the same one at the other field I fly just a couple miles down the road...so do not believe anything on the Interstate would cause any interference, never did before.

Just a horrible and odd day that day....It will all come out in the wash as they say....sooner or later.

Thanks Guys

[flydiver]

2.4GHz is supposed to be more resistant to interference than older 72MHz. Is it really? Hard to tell. There are just so many variables, the pilot being the biggest one.

Micros - seems hoards of people love them. IMO they are 'virtual SIMS', a disposable plane that flies somewhat like a real one but is not. At $100 they are both an amazing value and a pretty cheap piece of kit. They have their place for some people. We had a guy at the field that would bring down a half dozen of them and fly the hell out them. He was pretty good at it. Lost touch for months while he went through cancer treatment. Next time I saw him he had no micros at all and was flying 3-4 park flyer size planes at a time.
I asked why. He said they were MUCH easier to see and MUCH easier to fly. He wished he had switched earlier. No more micros for him. Personally I've never bothered after watching a couple friends get them, be excited for about 2 weeks and then never fly them again. Seems $100 mostly wasted.

I wish I could advise you on a decent way to test those 1S batteries but I simply don't.

[hghost]

I flew the champ more than any other plane , last year.....

I now have many more of various sizes.

I wanted to use these to get use to the field and distances -line of sight that sort of thing before i attempted to fly a larger plane there. ( the idea anyway)

It took me awhile before i flew my SC on the other field, for the same reason.

This new field is more open and no tall pines close just a few tall narrow tree's ( like the one the champ is stuck in on the fields edge).....

Yeah these little batteries are a pain....have the wing glued up on this New champ....going to install it on the plane later...already repaired the Mini Super Cub...no major damage on it.


I ordered a few more of those little batteries....that will be the next test.

Very windy today...hard to tell when I will get a chance to fly again....weather has been odd around here, especially the winds.

Thanks Fly

[Knackered Sailor]

I've been away for a few days and came back to your sad tale. Really sorry mate must have been a wretched experience. Hopefully new batteries will get you back on track.

[hghost]

I charged some batteries today...and rechecked them.....they all charged up and I ran them in my broken Champ...they ran great..ALL except the 1 , I simply threw it away....

Seems the issue was the older Champ....( still in that tree btw...did not have the heart to cut the tree down...will wait for winds to blow it out.... it was banged up anyway. )

PILOT ERROR is all I can say...and maybe that one beat up Champ had issues I have yet to understand,and I figured out today about the way the winds at certain height blow across that field...tree's at my level not moving...BUt tree's at higher level swaying and the winds swirls there and worse on one side of the field....( should have payed attention to that before ) Spent some time just studying the tree's and the wind directions at low and high levels by them...as there are no leaves out yet, it is hard to tell at times, but setting watching tells allot. ( flew the Champ Higher than normal so simply my not have had enough power to get threw the higher winds at that height, it is all I can figure )

I made another Crazy mistake today...i glued up the wing for the Champ, but before I installed it , I decided to paint it a Cub yellow so it would stand out more.....( HUGE MISTAKE ).....I used Top Flite LustreKote Paint.....no where does it say harms foam.....AT ALL...but take it from me...all the time spent making sure that wing was glued perfect and making sure the Dihedral angle was perfect....It melted my wing...it looked like someone poured Acid on it...and it dissolved Really Fast .

So I had to order a wing and i ordered a few new batteries as well.

BUT....

All the Bad times ended today when I charged the batts for my New X-2 Heli, I purchased awhile back...been waiting for a great day to try it...after the past few days of destruction , I was reluctant, but I new I could try it in my yard and I also have a height limiter on it so it won't get away....

Needless to say that limiter just got in the way....after a few attempts I unplugged it went from 2 and 3 channel to 4 channel in my yard...it does great.

Decided to take it to the field I been flying in, ( or I should say attempted to fly in)...also wanted to see if there was any interference there as well.

gave it a go...WOW...that Heli is GREAT....setting on the second 5th channel for strong winds this Heli will go FAAASSSSTTTTTT...........

Even on occasions when the wind kicked up a little....turn it into the wind....plows through it...Great flying Heli...and so easy to get use to and fly, ANYONE can do it.( If I can anyone can )

It is a Coaxial Copter...but it will fly outside and in the wind with little issue.

www.hobbypeople.net/index.php/hpheli-x-2-rtf-350-size-dual-rotor-outdoor-helicopter.html

www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIXEGVCzCZI

There are some other Videos on You Tube showing it flying in allot of wind....


But this thing is great...so at least i salvaged some flight time with something

When I get some more good days will give my SC a go....got some nerve back and know now there is no interference going on at the field...the X-2 Heli, had no issues and it also is the 2.4 Ghz set up.....this thing is extremely fast and will climb very very high if you let it....

So over all learned a few things and had a blast....along with silly mistakes...

Thanks Guys

[hghost]

Even Greater News..... while I walked down my driveway to get the mail this evening, I looked over to see if the Champ was still in the tree....just as I looked a Gust of wind blew it out. I saw it blow across the road way.

So I walked down there and picked it up....no damage done ( other than what i did before)...I threw the battery away

But I will do some checking to see , what happened , but just on my quick look the Rear Horizontal Stab is real weak and looks to be about to snap...the vertical stab looks Ok, rudder appears fine....so have no clue yet. The rest looks great.?

[Dparture]

Two rather different thoughts re cause of original April 18th problems... and coming from a newbie, take them for what they may be worth...

1) To the extent that 2.4 gHz from Wifi can be a problem -- Folks have been installing 2.4gHz WiFi boosters in part to enable outdoor connectivity, just wondering if you might have noticed any new and proximate antennas mounted on roofs or buildings in the immediate area? They can take the form of a rods, square patch antennas (6"/15cm and upward), even parabolic grid antennas (~ 24X"36"/50cmX100cm) which would look something like a WW2 radar dish.

2) DX5e intermittent power switch cutouts? -- I don't think you mentioned which Tx you have, and this is probably old news here, but as someone transitioning from sailing r/c to aircraft, I researched the less costly radios and found a fair amount of chatter about DX5e eventually developing (in a year to multi-year timeframe) a problem with its power switch, causing intermittent control issues?