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I confess to serious error


Geoff S
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A favourite is changing a servo - and not realising it works the opposite way. Hitec seem to rotate opposite to Futaba for example.

I once stood next to a 1/12 scale pilot (well, normal sized pilot of a 1/12 scale combat model) who immediately after hand launching exclaimed (in words probably unacceptable to this forum) that there appeared to be something awry...then said words along the lines of, "whoops, wrong model" - and proceeded to reprogram his transmitter as he flew...with reversed ailerons AND elevators while avoiding the attentions of other models chasing his tail streamer!

...and yes, of course I was one of themdevil

I did once get away with reversed ailerons but it was on the maiden of someone's Nova trainer which had a lot of dihedral and quite low rate ailerons - after some mental head scratching and adding lots of rudder when "turbulence induced wing dips" failed to respond to aileron, it dawned on me that the ailerons were reversed and I just left the ailerons alone (most of the time...and recovery was fraught and very nearly terminal) while I negotiated the circuit on rudder. The cause - an eager volunteer rushed to carry the model onto the strip after the range check, I didn't call him back and I missed my customary control check before taxying out...but my fault entirely.

Edited By Martin Harris on 09/02/2016 22:57:47

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I had a luckier escape when I retro fitted a servo for nose wheel steering to try and improve ground handling on take-off. The fit out went OK and even the programming to take the most of the 5 point curve and setting a switch. It all looked good, the nose wheel responded nicely. But I was focussed on the nose wheel and never watched the rudder direction.

My first attempt at a take off run was bit confusing, especially when rudder input against the torque effect just made it worse. After a second attempt standing behind the model, it dawned on me what the problem was. No damage as the plane hadn't built up speed to tip over. Quick servo reverse for the nose wheel and I was in business and my take-offs were much better than they had been.

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Posted by Geoff Sleath on 09/02/2016 21:34:20:

In my case I was on the right model so model match wouldn't have helped. In addition to my little faux pas at the field my Taranis navigate buttons did the sadly all too common trick of disappearing into the case (it happened on my other Taranis). Then, to add insult to injury, I broke the fragile plastic as I was gently (as I thought) cleaning it with Ultraclens before glueing it back in place. Still T9 (hopefully) have come up trumps and some new buttons should arrive tomorrow.

Well I never! the taranis does have warts after all. And there's me led to believe it was as perfect as Kylie's derriere.

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Posted by Braddock, VC on 10/02/2016 09:20:31:
Posted by Geoff Sleath on 09/02/2016 21:34:20:

In my case I was on the right model so model match wouldn't have helped. In addition to my little faux pas at the field my Taranis navigate buttons did the sadly all too common trick of disappearing into the case (it happened on my other Taranis). Then, to add insult to injury, I broke the fragile plastic as I was gently (as I thought) cleaning it with Ultraclens before glueing it back in place. Still T9 (hopefully) have come up trumps and some new buttons should arrive tomorrow.

Well I never! the taranis does have warts after all. And there's me led to believe it was as perfect as Kylie's derriere.

Interesting comparison teeth 2

Kylies derriere and the God of Thunder wink

John

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Way back in the day, probably Kate eighties, on 35MHz I flew two models on one Tx (not at the same time) had a guest fly at another club took off (hand launch from a friend) it was a Blob, a modified slope soarer with a .15 on the front. Problem was the ailerons needed reversing. Pressure of trying to impress led me to forget, the moment it needed a correction it rolled straight in, hit the deck before I even worked out what had happened. Ever since that I don't just waggle the sticks, I hold it over to the right and check right aileron up, pull back stick elevator up etc. Piling in a perfectly good plane makes you a little more diligent. Never had a problem since.

Shaunie.

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After an acceptable length of air time, showing a way to fly using the buddy, we hand the tranny to the rookie for further practice, standing beside them. During these flights, the new boy has the luxury of handing over the transmitter when the model gets away from them. On this occasion, after a number of successful circuits, the model gained speed towards the ground, and as usual my response was “ lift the nose……..throttle back……lift the nose !”. In these few seconds, the model was racing towards the ground at a high rate of knots. My prodigy promptly turn towards me and thrust the tranny into me……………up……side……down…………….THUD ! ! !

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Hi Geoff I have done this/had it happen to me a couple of times and one of those was on my Riot. The interesting thing is that on both occasions I had done nothing to the plane or the transmitter since previous flights which were fine. On both occasions I was using a Spektrum Dx6i. I have had others say this has happened to them with their 6i and that it is a known fault. I haven't checked this out but it would be interesting if you also used a 6i. Good job it didn't happen on your recent DB Moth maiden you told me about.

Les

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I was much, much more careful with the Tiger Moth and everything was checked and rechecked several times. I guess I was getting a bit blase with the Riot after a few 100 flights.

No, I was using a Frsky V8R4-II with my Taranis. Somehow the weight of the aileron channel had been changed from 100 to -100 as I discovered when I examined it carefully. It must have been me when I was messing with the settings with gloves on in the cold and wind. In any case I should have checked the controls before I took off as I usually do. It was short exciting flight

Anyway the Riot didn't owe me a lot and I like it so much I've got a new airframe and it's ready to go again.

Geoff

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Posted by Geoff Sleath on 12/02/2016 23:57:48:

Anyway the Riot didn't owe me a lot and I like it so much I've got a new airframe and it's ready to go again.

Geoff

Isnt it funny how we say it doesnt owe me anything yet we still go to the bother of a patch up, I have a 25 year old fun fly that has been repaired so many times that it is 90% epoxy - still flies mind - but aint too pretty - I would never post a piccy of it

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Posted by oldgit on 13/02/2016 08:07:37:
Posted by Geoff Sleath on 12/02/2016 23:57:48:

Anyway the Riot didn't owe me a lot and I like it so much I've got a new airframe and it's ready to go again.

Geoff

Isnt it funny how we say it doesnt owe me anything yet we still go to the bother of a patch up, I have a 25 year old fun fly that has been repaired so many times that it is 90% epoxy - still flies mind - but aint too pretty - I would never post a piccy of it

Aww go on, post a piccie just to make us lesser mortals feel good laugh.

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