Simon Chaddock Posted April 29, 2014 Share Posted April 29, 2014 Flying my Cessna O-2 it was low (about 20ft) and maybe 100yds away flying away from me. Not wishing to go any further I set it for a left hand turn, no effect, so the instinctive reaction - put on more aileron. Loss of signal? The fail safes may have kicked in but the Orange R615 'resets' pretty quickly (a couple of seconds) so the next thing it is banking violently to the left and heading towards the ground. Corrected with full right aileron and up elevator. Just about got onto level flight at about 6ft up and was congratulating myself on a good 'save' and crunch - into a small tree but fortunately not too much damage. Cause of the crash? Probably pilot error. Arguably I put the plane into a 'difficult' position (low, distance and direction) but from then on it was pilot error. Yes I very briefly lost the radio but if I had not reacted the way I did most likely all would have been well. The problem is would any normal mortal be able to resist moving the stick further if the plane did not respond as expected. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Wright 2 Posted April 29, 2014 Share Posted April 29, 2014 Simon You do not mention the weather conditions , as an apparent loss of control can often be due to low air speed, caused by turbulence or the pilot trying to maintain a downwind ground speed similar to the into wind leg. Assuming there were no conductive obstacles, like cars or metal fences, between the model and TX it would be unlikely that signal loss would occur at that height and distance , but if the ground was very wet it does raise the vague possibility of a reflected signal . I don't think most pilots could resist some stick waggling if they thought the initial inputs were not having any effect. 35 OR 2.4? Tom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Chaddock Posted April 29, 2014 Author Share Posted April 29, 2014 Tom Conditions were almost perfect with very little wind and a slight haze. The O-2 is on 2.4. Of course the O-2 has an ESC and motor at each end with the Rx in the middle so if there is any shielding of the antennae it will be twice as likely! Had this happened at any altitude I doubt I would have really noticed it. My 35 gear never gives me any problems - but then of course not many use it any more. Edited By Simon Chaddock on 29/04/2014 16:41:57 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TigerOC Posted April 29, 2014 Share Posted April 29, 2014 Orange receivers notify you of loss of signal by blinking. The number of blinks indicates the number of frames lost. Did you happen to check the receiver on recovery for this? Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Chaddock Posted April 30, 2014 Author Share Posted April 30, 2014 Rob Yes but unfortunately I only thought of it after I had disconnected the battery! Silly really as i had specifically mounted the Rx so its LED was clearly visible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cymaz Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 We have an issue now and then with Rx glitches and that's with 2.4ghz.. Some club members, and myself included, think that it could be something to do with high intensity micro wave links for mobile phones and other communication equipment. I could be wrong Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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