Did you fly today?????

Kashkai

I suggest using this thread as the place to report your flying experiences so others can learn. Another thread on this forum started off with a guy asking for a recommendation for a plane and it's gone off on tangents about learning to fly, repairing planes and reports of flying experiences. So if it's alright with the mods, can we use a stand alone thread for flight reports only?

If so let me detail my own flight this morning. Glorious morning so I took my Parkzone P51 Mustang to the Phoenix Park for a flight before work. I haven't flown in about two months as my dad was dying so I was a little rusty to say the least I experimented with a new handlaunchig technique by using my left hand and doing an underarm launch. This way I could have my right hand already on the control stick fir the elevator/ailerons. It worked very well and I had control from the start as opposed to my usual right handed launches where the plane us flying out of control for a second or two ntil my hand gets to the control stick.

The plane flew very well as ever but I had to bring her down early on my first battery as my telemetry unit showed that one of the fells was losing power much faster than the other two. I'll cycle this on my charger tonight to see if I can resolve the problem. The second battery was fine and I hit about 15 minutes out of the 1800mah battery. I had to go to work otherwise I'd still be flying:)

poteen

Good Call. Well you all know from the other thread what happened my plane yesterday evening. Silly Newbie

Kashkai

poteen wrote: »

Good Call. Well you all know from the other thread what happened my plane yesterday evening. Silly Newbie

Don't beat yourself up about it. Like the saying goes,
"The difference between a newbie rc flyer and an experienced rc flyer is that the experienced guy has had more crashes!":D

Bruthal

poteen wrote: »

Good Call. Well you all know from the other thread what happened my plane yesterday evening. Silly Newbie

Well its not really silly, you will crash, and you will crash when you are at the stage where its simple to fly. But it does become rare enough.

Very often when learning, something happens, and you wont actually know the exact cause, it all happens in a flash, then you cant remember exactly what you did. I think you said you left the motor on too long while trying to fly level, that wont cause a crash in itself. It might distract you if you think the motor should be off while you have it on. But the crash will be through a flying mistake.

Bruthal

Prosperous Dave wrote: »

The plane flew very well as ever but I had to bring her down early on my first battery as my telemetry unit showed that one of the fells was losing power much faster than the other two. I'll cycle this on my charger tonight to see if I can resolve the problem.

Discharge it under load in the plane from fully charged and watch your telemetry readings is the best way to check cells are discharging evenly. If they discharge un-evenly on a chargers discharging cycle, they are likely for the bin. A chargers discharge load during cycling is very small, so even a useless battery may show as ok in that cycle.

Yesterday i was turning the cularis in a tight slow circle while just above stall speed, this can cause the inside wing to go below stall airspeed, and i indeed stalled the wing, 2 meters up, and just touched the grass with wing tip, and unintentionally landed. So after 23 years, these things happen, although i have to admit, i often pushed it in this low slow turn to see can i get the wing to stall. But I was still saying to myself after it though, "what are you at":D

Kashkai

No doubt that it's a dodgy cell as the quanum telemetry unit shows the voltage in each cell during flight and cell 2 was 3.2v whereas cells 1 & 3 where at 3.9v. When the telemetry detected that one cell had dropped below 3.2v, it gave me an audible alarm warning that something wasn't right.

Guess that battery will be going into the salt bucket. Luckily I have lots more batteries to keep me airborne this weekend:D

Bruthal

Prosperous Dave wrote: »

No doubt that it's a dodgy cell as the quanum telemetry unit shows the voltage in each cell during flight and cell 2 was 3.2v whereas cells 1 & 3 where at 3.9v. When the telemetry detected that one cell had dropped below 3.2v, it gave me an audible alarm warning that something wasn't right.

Guess that battery will be going into the salt bucket. Luckily I have lots more batteries to keep me airborne this weekend:D

Yea you can make up batteries from the good cells, but they are cheap enough now just to buy new ones.

As a matter of interest, a cell thats out of balance from others on a good battery does no damage as such. Its when you charge it fully, or discharge it, that out of balance cells are a problem

Hit a great thermal yesterday bang on the 30 minute mark, battery was fully used, coming around to land, and only about 100 feet up i seen the cularis going through the thermal, got near 10 minutes of circling in that one spot. Climbed gradually up to about 300 feet. No thermals up to that part of flight.

Plug

I was flying today, upside down as well:)
Crashed it into a tree quite high up and it took us a half hour to get it down, snapped in two but it snapped in the right place. Easily fixed. Will do it tomorrow.

Bruthal

Watch out for the control rods and tubes if it broke behind the servo bay.

Just flew the radian FPV, dead calm on ground, good steady wind up at altitude. Going to fly cularis now in a few minutes.

poteen

Had a few nice flights this evening (5mins) with the radian that i repaired the other day. Repairs seemed to hold up well. I just taped the cracked and oversized canopy. I was very happy with 2 of my landings.

A few problems i had. Some could be down to the slightly warped/twisted front of fuselage and some down to newbie piloting.

1. I had to really push for along time on lever to turn the plane right whereas left turns seemed easier. Is this down to the twist or maybe setup of the rudder. What notch should i be in?
2. When powering up in launch i fount that i was finding it hard to gain a nice steady altitude at 50/60% throttle.to avoid a loop i was having to tap the elevator down as it was climbing but i was then finding it hard to strike a balance of a nice angle and maintaining a good climbing speed. Struggled to get it over 100ft. Is this down to plane setup / previous damage or something in my piloting.

Bruthal

poteen wrote: »

Had a few nice flights this evening (5mins) with the radian that i repaired the other day. Repairs seemed to hold up well. I just taped the cracked and oversized canopy. I was very happy with 2 of my landings.

A few problems i had. Some could be down to the slightly warped/twisted front of fuselage and some down to newbie piloting.


I had to really push for along time on lever to turn the plane right whereas left turns seemed easier. Is this down to the twist or maybe setup of the rudder. What notch should i be in?

Test the rudder on the ground, it should be central with stick in centre with hands off it, and move the same distance each way with full stick deflection. The radian comes with the clip in the second hole out from the rudder (closer to rudder=more movement). Also it has more movement with the Hi-Lo button in HI position.

Another thing to check is look from the back of the radian, along the bottom surface of the front wings, and see that they are both at the same plane, as in one is not twisted compared to the other, which would cause one wing to have a higher attack angle and so turn the radian the other way. Also see that the tail fin is in line with the length of the fuselage central line. Because the wings are curved, you will have to do several views from behind the glider to judge both wings at the same time in a couple of positions.

When powering up in launch i fount that i was finding it hard to gain a nice steady altitude at 50/60% throttle.to avoid a loop i was having to tap the elevator down as it was climbing but i was then finding it hard to strike a balance of a nice angle and maintaining a good climbing speed. Struggled to get it over 100ft. Is this down to plane setup / previous damage or something in my piloting.

If the prop is out of balance, and especially if the motor shaft is even slightly bent, which is a good possibility in a nose into ground crash, then the motor/prop wont have as much power. This should be noticable when holding the radian in hand and running the motor at full throttle, and will show as excessive vibration. It should be very smooth. I sometimes randomly stick small squares of insulating tape folded around the leading edge of one side of prop, and see if any vibration is reduced, if gets worse i try on opposite blade. Can get it very smooth with this method, even on new motors and folding prop setups that were not bad to begin with.

But anyway, we always climb at full throttle, and control the climb angle by giving a slight down input on the elevator. Dont tap it as such, but give it a controlled input. If you did not need this before then your probably climbing with too little power anyway, although there is not really a right and a wrong way, but full power is the most efficient way to climb.

Even the cularis i have requires a slight down input on the elevator while full throttle climbing. This cant be trimmed into it or the radian, because if you do trim that in so it climbs without needing a slight down elevator input, the glider will then be descending far too much in unpowered, hands off sticks test, and its this that the glider should be trimmed for.

poteen

Flew yesterday evening for a while with my Radian. Nice evening out and the breeze was all but dead by 8.30. I spoke in previos posts about getting the radian to fly level etc etc after my crashes. Its still dropping on the left wing all the time so I can only think this is to do with twists etc in the fuselage. The rudder ,elevator and wings seem pretty well setup . It basically means that Im having to implement corrrecting movements my turning right to balance error. Probably best to just get the fuselage replaced in a while but as a newbie I might just use this one afew more times for learning and when Im happy enough with my skill, ill replace it. My flying itself has improved alot.Im doing nice circuits and landings - Flying and landing in meadow reduces impact damage.

Also, My battery took over 2.5 hrs to charge yesterday!! Whats the deal with that?

Kashkai

poteen wrote: »

Flew yesterday evening for a while with my Radian. Nice evening out and the breeze was all but dead by 8.30. I spoke in previos posts about getting the radian to fly level etc etc after my crashes. Its still dropping on the left wing all the time so I can only think this is to do with twists etc in the fuselage. The rudder ,elevator and wings seem pretty well setup . It basically means that Im having to implement corrrecting movements my turning right to balance error. Probably best to just get the fuselage replaced in a while but as a newbie I might just use this one afew more times for learning and when Im happy enough with my skill, ill replace it. My flying itself has improved alot.Im doing nice circuits and landings - Flying and landing in meadow reduces impact damage.

Also, My battery took over 2.5 hrs to charge yesterday!! Whats the deal with that?

Rc planes are very sensitive with regard to their centre of gravity, i.e. even moving the position of the battery can make a previously well trimmed plane more nose or tail heavy. In your case, your repairs may have affected the centre of gravity of the plane which is causing her to lean left. Have you placed too much tape/glue on the left of the plane? Something to consider perhaps but the previous crashes are the more likely cause of the imbalance. You could try placing a small weight on the right wing to rebalance her.

You could also try using the trim tabs on your transmitter, i.e. give it a few right clicks on the rudder trim tab to see if that levels her out.

I'd agree that you stick with teh original fuse until you are happy with your flying as it won't hurt too much if you crash her again. You'd feel a lot worse if you crashed a new fuze.

With regard to the battery taking 2.5 hours to recharge, I take it you're using the standard PZ charger? Check that the little dial is at 1amp. It may have been turned down too far and there's only a slight trickle charge going in. The battery itself might have been overdischarged/damaged which would also cuase the lengthy charge time. Its a good idea to invest in a proper charger that lets you see the charge of each cell. I use a Sigma IQ charger which can charge all types of batteries up to 6 cells. Not that expensive at €45.

poteen

Prosperous Dave wrote: »

Rc planes are very sensitive with regard to their centre of gravity, i.e. even moving the position of the battery can make a previously well trimmed plane more nose or tail heavy. In your case, your repairs may have affected the centre of gravity of the plane which is causing her to lean left. Have you placed too much tape/glue on the left of the plane? Something to consider perhaps but the previous crashes are the more likely cause of the imbalance. You could try placing a small weight on the right wing to rebalance her.

You could also try using the trim tabs on your transmitter, i.e. give it a few right clicks on the rudder trim tab to see if that levels her out.

I'd agree that you stick with teh original fuse until you are happy with your flying as it won't hurt too much if you crash her again. You'd feel a lot worse if you crashed a new fuze.

With regard to the battery taking 2.5 hours to recharge, I take it you're using the standard PZ charger? Check that the little dial is at 1amp. It may have been turned down too far and there's only a slight trickle charge going in. The battery itself might have been overdischarged/damaged which would also cuase the lengthy charge time. Its a good idea to invest in a proper charger that lets you see the charge of each cell. I use a Sigma IQ charger which can charge all types of batteries up to 6 cells. Not that expensive at €45.

Yeah Im using the standard PZ charger. Dont think I could have over charged it because I usually kept a close eye on it and unplugged when it beeped etc etc.
I might just buy a new charger anyway and a new battery. What battery would you rec ? ALso what charger? i dont like have=ing to charge the existing battery in the car. Is there any 12v charger system i can use with an ordinary plug? Any links would be appreciated.

I have to say that when the radian is good, its real good. I got such a buzz flying it yesterday evening. Getting more confident in turns etc and landings are what I look forward to doing as opposed to dreading.

Have you been flying much of late?

Bruthal

poteen wrote: »

Flew yesterday evening for a while with my Radian. Nice evening out and the breeze was all but dead by 8.30. I spoke in previos posts about getting the radian to fly level etc etc after my crashes. Its still dropping on the left wing all the time so I can only think this is to do with twists etc in the fuselage. The rudder ,elevator and wings seem pretty well setup . It basically means that Im having to implement corrrecting movements my turning right to balance error. Probably best to just get the fuselage replaced in a while but as a newbie I might just use this one afew more times for learning and when Im happy enough with my skill, ill replace it. My flying itself has improved alot.Im doing nice circuits and landings - Flying and landing in meadow reduces impact damage.

Possibly a wing twisted, or the fuselage holding one wing at a slightly different angle than the other. Aileron aircraft can be trimmed out of that easily alright. Rudder planes not quite as well but can be for slight twists. A weight on the right hand wing may help. But only at a certain speed. But that could do fine for gliding.

Also look along the tail fin itself to ensure its straight in line with a line down the centre of the fuselage.

Firstly anyway, try trimming the rudder to the right slightly with the trim tab under the stick, 3 or 4 beeps at a time and test it. We have the rudder trimmed slightly one way on one of our radians to keep it straight.

Also, My battery took over 2.5 hrs to charge yesterday!! Whats the deal with that?

Battery taking ages is probably the charger set too low alright, it wont quite charge the fully discharged (to 20%) 2200mah battery in an hour if thats the battery your using. If it did before at the same setting its at now, its because you were not using its full capacity in flights. But make sure its set at 2A on the dial which is the max for that charger that came with the radian.


Here is the second charger i use, my primary one is a thunder power 1010, but that hobby king one is a great charger, about €20 with postage and all, i can charge any battery i have with it. It needs a 12v power supply as well, they have one suitable for it for about €7.

It is a must to be able to see how much you have put back into your battery, from this you can find over a few flights how long you can fly for, how well the battery is charging etc, as batteries do deteriorate as more cycles are put on them, and this can be seen on chargers that show the amount the battery took to charge compared to its voltage when you start the charge cycle.

Kashkai

poteen wrote: »

Yeah Im using the standard PZ charger. Dont think I could have over charged it because I usually kept a close eye on it and unplugged when it beeped etc etc.
I might just buy a new charger anyway and a new battery. What battery would you rec ? ALso what charger? i dont like have=ing to charge the existing battery in the car. Is there any 12v charger system i can use with an ordinary plug? Any links would be appreciated.

I have to say that when the radian is good, its real good. I got such a buzz flying it yesterday evening. Getting more confident in turns etc and landings are what I look forward to doing as opposed to dreading.

Have you been flying much of late?

When I said it might have been overdischarged, I meant that you might have flown too long and run the battery down close to or exceeded less than 3.2 volts per cell. I was flying my Mustang last Saturday morning and I got almost 23 minutes out of my 2200mah battery using my Quanum telemetry device which is like a fuel guage for your battery power. However, it took almost 2 hours to recharge this battery back to full power. You can charge at a higher rate than 1C but you risk damaging the battery and shortening its life. It can also go on fire if you're not careful.

I use mostly 2200mah batteries in my planes as they are the right size/weight/power for my little squadron of 6 planes. I started off with 1300mah batteries but they deplete far too quickly for my faster planes.

I bought a transformer for my original PZ charger where I could plug the charger's "cigarette lighter" plug into the transformer and then plug the transformer into the mains supply in the house. The company I bought this from has since gone out of business unfortunately. You could try this one for your PZ charger:
http://www.modelmaniacsonline.co.uk/products.php?ProductID=8414&CatID=464&SubCatID=588&Title=HobbyZone+1.5A+AC+Power+Supply&ManCode=HBZ1004UK

but I'd invest in a decent charger that lets you see how much juice is in each cell i.e. if you have an unbalanced lipo. This is the one I have:
http://www.sussex-model-centre.co.uk/shopexd.asp?id=29152

Glad to hear you're getting the hang of the Radian. She is a brilliant plane to fly and so graceful in the air. Just watch the landing speed doesn't get too low or she can stall and nose in. Try not to turn too sharply while close to the ground as this will also induce a stall. My tip is to plan your flight in advance, i.e. know what you want to do and therefore know how you are going to do your approach (into the wind), that its clear of trees etc and that if you have to overshoot and go round, there are no obstacles in your way. This way, you shouldn't have any nasty surprises.

I've been flying my Mustang a lot lately as she's a great flyer (one I'd recommend if/when you want to move to a faster plane), has no nasty quirks but can do amazing aerobatics. Had planned to maiden my new Wildcat this morning but slept in and had to miss out on what would have been a great flying session on a beautiful, calm morning here in Dublin.

Kashkai

Pretty good morning in Dublin so I decided to give my Wildcat her first flight in the Phoenix Park. http://www.parkzone.com/Articles/Article.aspx?ArticleID=2172

Although the wind was gusting a little, it wasn't too bad...........or so I thought.:eek: I gave her about 80% throttle and handlaunched her into the wind (this plane has no undercarriage so rog take offs are not an option). She flew straight up with no issues whatsoever which was a relief. I gave her some nice gentle circuits to get a feel for her and then a couple of loops and rolls. She is a very responsive little plane and will turn on a sixpence. The only negative is that she was buffetted a lot by the wind which was ranging from a steady breeze to some tree swaying gusts. The wind appeared to be getting stronger by the minute so I thought I'd bring her down while I had plenty of juice left in the battery. This is when the fun started.

As I brought her in to land, the wind was rocking her up and down and from side to side. I did a few go rounds to try again and again. However no matter what I tried, i.e. bringing her in steeply on full throttle to maintain airspeed or coasting her down, the wind just wouldn't play ball. At this stage, the battery level indicator on my Quanum unit was dipping below 9.8 volts and therefore very close to lvc. As I didn't want to even attempt an unpowered landing, I had to get it right on the next approach. So I took her out downwind a fair bit and turned her on final for a long glide in. It was interesting to say the least fighting the gusting wind but I landed her in one piece.

All in, she's a great little flyer, quite fast and very manouverable but she doesn't like the wind much. Think I'm going to like her:D

Bruthal

Prosperous Dave wrote: »

When I said it might have been overdischarged, I meant that you might have flown too long and run the battery down close to or exceeded less than 3.2 volts per cell.

3.2v per cell under load may be ok, but if its down to 3.2v per cell while with no load on it, then its over discharged.

3.7v is the nominal, 4.2v fully charged, so 3.2v is almost completely discharged. But 80% discharged is down to about 3.6v no-load, which is a good no-load minimum to stick to for a longer battery life.

The battery chemistry is damaged when at or below a certain discharge level, and this discharge level is indicated by its no-load voltage, or its on-load voltage, but because loads vary greatly, any given level of charge is hard to be precise with on-load, except when familiar with a particular model, although 3.2 to 3.3v loaded is usualy not too bad.

So that means a lipo at 3.8v no-load could be down at 3.3v with a good load on it, but the chemistry in the battery is still at a 3.8v charge state so its not being damaged once its within its C rating load.

In reality though, every charge and discharge cycle takes its toll on a battery, but the better its kept within the 80% discharge limit, the longer life cycle they will have on average.

poteen

I flew my Parkzone Radian yesterday evening. I had completed 2 flights but wasnt overy haapy about the CG of the plane and was trying to figure it out. I put it up for one last flight but i lost control of it in a loop at about 100 -150 ft . I spent 1 hour looking for it last night and another 45 mins this morning but no sig at all. I was flying it in a rural arae close to my house. I figured at the time it was in the next field ( a meadow) but after combing that field pretty well and a few around it, i cant find the radian. What do i do ? I dont think it was flying level enough or well enough to have sailed of or maybe it did but i thought it was nearing a stall at the time.

Im sickened.

Bruthal

How long after losing control of it did you still see it for? Did you keep struggling with the controls until out of sight?

Another radian with camera on it might find it.

poteen

robbie7730 wrote: »

How long after losing control of it did you still see it for? Did you keep struggling with the controls until out of sight?

Another radian with camera on it might find it.

When it was in a spiral / decent / loop and i couldnt gain control , I shut off the throttle hoping to save the motor / props on impact and reduce speed . I did this when i lost the plane behind a tree line. i had gotten downwind but when i say down wind, there was hardly any breeze at all. I dropped all then and went looking for the radian

Bruthal

poteen wrote: »

When it was in a spiral / decent / loop and i couldnt gain control , I shut off the throttle hoping to save the motor / props on impact and reduce speed . I did this when i lost the plane behind a tree line. i had gotten downwind but when i say down wind, there was hardly any breeze at all. I dropped all then and went looking for the radian

Ok, if you kept a note of the exact line the plane went behind a tree and also of where you were standing, it should be not too difficult to find.

When searching, its hard to cover ground with any method unless you have a map of the area, and far better again is aerial image of the spot where you were, including surrounding fields. So go onto maps.google.ie and set it as satellite images, centre on the spot you were flying from and have it zoomed out enough to cover a few hundred meters each way. Copy and paste into paint, draw a circle with centre right where you were flying from, and if you print this, you can search fields much more methodically, as once you are actually in a field, its hard to tell which way to go in reference to where you were when flying.


We found a plane before using this. And during the first search on the evening we lost it, we were clueless as to where to look as we searched, but the next morning, with printed image of fields, it was a lot easier to do a proper search patern with a bit of method to it.

If you are on the google.maps.ie, you should be able to judge along what line the glider was from your position, and use this as a search line. It really is far clearer where your looking with a printed image though, as its much easier to know your on the right line etc, or where you are in a field.

poteen

robbie7730 wrote: »

Ok, if you kept a note of the exact line the plane went behind a tree and also of where you were standing, it should be not too difficult to find.

When searching, its hard to cover ground with any method unless you have a map of the area. So go onto maps.google.ie and set it as satellite images, centre on the spot you were flying from and have it zoomed out enough to cover a few hundred meters each way. Copy and paste into paint, draw a circle with centre right where you were flying from, and if you print this, you can search fields much more methodically, as once you are actually in a field, its hard to tell which way to go in reference to where you were when flying.


We found a plane before using this. And during the first search, we were clueless as to where to look, but with printed image of fields, it was a lot easier to do a proper search patern.

If you are on the google.maps.ie, you should be able to judge along what line the glider was from your position, and use this as a search line. It really is far clearer where your looking with a printed image though, as its much easier to know your on the right line etc, or where you are in a field.

Thats a good idea robbie - Thanks a million. im going to try that. Im a bit doubtful of my position though now the search has dragged on a bit. I kind of panicked and dropped all and ran for the radian . I really should have taken a more accurate line. I have close to 2hrs of a search done so i am a bit doubtful.

Ill try that method this evening.

ps. Is theer anyway a range check can pick up something??

Bruthal

poteen wrote: »

Thats a good idea robbie - Thanks a million. im going to try that. Im a bit doubtful of my position though now the search has dragged on a bit. I kind of panicked and dropped all and ran for the radian . I really should have taken a more accurate line. I have close to 2hrs of a search done so i am a bit doubtful.

Ill try that method this evening.

ps. Is theer anyway a range check can pick up something??

If you can roughly judge where you were compared to something nearby, your house etc maybe, and then the line you last seen it, get the map from maps google, in satellite mode, and if you draw a line from where you stood, out to where radian was, but that is a little too far left of where your radian went down, and another line from your position a little too far to the right of where it went down, you will now have a narrow area in which it should be. And once you have the printed A4 aerial image with these lines marked, as well as a circle of a few hundred meters diameter centred on your fliying position, you should find it.

The range check thing cant do anything. What could work would be moving the control surfaces and if your close you might hear it. But that will be futile now, the battery would be dead now, even if it stayed plugged in at impact.

What are the fields like, short grass, crops? It can be tricky to find a plane in a field full of wheat for example. But if you can reasonably accurately note where you stood, and the trees it went down behind, you should find it with the above method.

How far away was it when it went down behind trees?

poteen

robbie7730 wrote: »

If you can roughly judge where you were compared to something nearby, your house etc maybe, and then the line you last seen it, get the map from maps google, in satellite mode, and if you draw a line from where you stood, out to where radian was, but that is a little too far left of where your radian went down, and another line from your position a little too far to the right of where it went down, you will now have a narrow area in which it should be. And once you have the printed A4 aerial image with these lines marked, as well as a circle of a few hundred meters diameter centred on your fliying position, you should find it.

The range check thing cant do anything. What could work would be moving the control surfaces and if your close you might hear it. But that will be futile now, the battery would be dead now, even if it stayed plugged in at impact.

What are the fields like, short grass, crops? It can be tricky to find a plane in a field full of wheat for example. But if you can reasonably accurately note where you stood, and the trees it went down behind, you should find it with the above method.

How far away was it when it went down behind trees?

about 250ft - 350ft id guess away from me when i thought it went down so maybe 200ft to the tree. It went down (if my guess is right) in heavy meadow but usually id expect the tail of it to be sticking up from the nose dive ?? I have scanned the field i thought it went down i fairly well and some surrounding fields. I Have gone into google maps now and followed your plan with the circle and lines. I will try it out later on.

Thanks again robbie for all your help - I hope it produces a result !

Bruthal

poteen wrote: »

about 250ft - 350ft id guess away from me when i thought it went down so maybe 200ft to the tree. It went down (if my guess is right) in heavy meadow but usually id expect the tail of it to be sticking up from the nose dive ?? I have scanned the field i thought it went down i fairly well and some surrounding fields. I Have gone into google maps now and followed your plan with the circle and lines. I will try it out later on.

Thanks again robbie for all your help - I hope it produces a result !

It should do, its just far easier to know exactly where you are and have looked with an aerial image, and also which way to keep looking as the shape of the field your in should be recognisable in the aerial image in your hand.

Kashkai

Sorry to hear you lost your Rad. Mine flew off on me last August and even though I was on a hill and saw where she went down, it still took an hour of searching to find her. While you might think she's a large plane, if she's lying in long grass, you could pass within a few metres of her and not see her. Pity there isn't anyone near you with a fpv set up (Robbie - fancy travelling?;)) who could do an aerial search for you and pinpoint the position.

Robbie's suggestion is methodical. Start off where you where standing and walk in the direction of the Rad's last known sighting. Now she could have veered off left or right when you lost control and she can glide a fair bit so go further than the point where you think she might have gone down. How far she went depends on how high she was when she flew away, unless she went into a spiral and thus crashed closer to you. So you'll have to remember what her attitude was (i.e. flying straight and level or in a bank) when you lost sight of her.

You will find her, just takes a bit of time. With a bit of luck, she'll be in one piece, although the battery is most likely dead at this point.

For future reference, some guys use these high pitched buzzers to find models that have gone down in long grass:http://www.njttechnical.co.uk/lmf/.

Have you any idea why you lost control? In my case, the batteries in my DX5 had run down. Did you have fresh batteries in your tx? If so, then maybe you have a dodgy receiver. I took out the stock AR500 receiver in my Rad and put in an AR6200 that has a satellite receiver for better all round radio reception.

Kashkai

Woke up at 6am and headed into Dublin to fly my Wildcat in the Phoenix Park. I recently purchased some new 2200mah Turnigy Nanotech batteries from Hobbyking and wanted to see if they lived up to their reputation for speed and endurance over regular lipos. 5 batteries and one huge smile later, I was a convert. According to the timer on my DX6i, I was getting 18 - 20 minutes out of each battery and this was with plenty of loops, rolls, immelmanns, stall turns, screaming dives and fast fly bys. So as you can see, I wasn't sparing the electrons;).

It was a great morning's flying, blue skies and calm winds. The little Wildcat has been nicknamed the "Fat Penguin" on some rc forums but this little plane, while not as pretty as my Mustang, is one great little flyer. She is incredibly sharp and responsive and flies like she's on rails. She has the same powertrain as the Mustang but as she's smaller, she's faster and just as, if not more, nimble than the Stang.

I was late for work but what a great way to start the day with an hour and a half's flying with the Wildcat:D

Bruthal

poteen wrote: »

Ill try that method this evening.

ps. Is theer anyway a range check can pick up something??

Not sure if you found it yet, but if you do and it has been raining on it, dont connect up anything to a battery until you ensure all electronics are completely dry.

poteen

Robbie, I was just coming on to Boards to update you. Thanks for all the help and yourself as well Dave.

So I went with the plan of searching for the plane using the sat map. I had found nothing. Yesterday evening my neighbour rings the house to say that there is a plane stuck up a tree near her house. She must have known it was mine as Im the only plyer for miles. I couldnt figure out where she was talking about as I had searched all the trees I thought.

When I went over I couldnt see it for a few minutes until suddenly ... I DID! I dont know how it landed the way and direction it did. It was pretty much on the same line i last saw it but was 22ft further on and in the far side of the tree as opposed to the near side. It took almost 30 mins to climb the tree which I hadnt done since I was a kid. I crawled out along the top bow and had to shake the tree for ages. It dropped half way and got caught again. Eventually I got it to ground. Amazingly it was in pretty ok shape. There was a slight chip on the leading edge of the wing but the canopy was still on and the under carriage was sheltered so no rain got in .

Overall, I got away with it. Im not sure really what happened .The centre of gravity aint right in it and the fuselage is slightly distorted from my newbie crashed so it isnt the easiest to fly as Im always having to counter the imbalances. It probably got to much for me and down it went.

Heres a Photo attached of the plane when I found it in the tree - Have a laugh .

Thanks again guys.

Kashkai

Congrats on finding her. Its pure relief when you do - I know:o:D

I guess I was luckier than you in that my Radian crashed into a tree but fell to the ground so no climbing for me - just as well as I hate heights:D. Here is a video of my flyaway taken from the camera that I had attached to the wing of the Rad. You can see the point where she goes out of control and heads away and finally crashes into the tree and hits the ground. There was no damage to her apart from a few little chunks of foam knocked out. I used Gorilla glue to fill these in. This stuff expands and fills gaps but if you use too much, you'll end up with a "wart" of glue on your plane.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lj5vND4VWTk

Some people mark their planes with a telephone number so some good samaritan can call them if they find a lost plane. Of course, if the plane has done a kamikaze on their house, you might not want them to call you;):D

Kashkai

Took the Wildcat to the Park again this morning for some more fun but it turned out to be a case of fight or run with some birds.

I was on the second battery doing some rolls when about five crows started flying towards the plane. I turned away from them but they followed and then got quite close to the plane. I increased speed and tried a loop to out manouver them but they followed, too closely for my liking. So I had tried to play nice but they weren't going away so I turned the tables and started chasing them. While the Wildcat was faster, they could turn quicker and this went on for five minutes with them getting close, me pulling loops and stall turns to get away and then I chased them. In the end, they flew away, just as my quanum telemetry screen beeped that the battery was running low. I'd call it a draw;)

Had more fun with the remaining batteries before I headed to work, late again! Wonder if its possible to get fired for flying too long before work

Bruthal

poteen wrote: »

So I went with the plan of searching for the plane using the sat map. I had found nothing. Yesterday evening my neighbour rings the house to say that there is a plane stuck up a tree near her house. She must have known it was mine as Im the only plyer for miles. I couldnt figure out where she was talking about as I had searched all the trees I thought.

I forgot to say look up into trees, i recovered one or 2 other people`s planes in trees in the phoenix park flying area in the 80`s when i used to fly there, when i was able for climbing trees:D.

Kashkai

robbie7730 wrote: »

I forgot to say look up into trees, i recovered one or 2 other people`s planes in trees in the phoenix park flying area in the 80`s when i used to fly there, when i was able for climbing trees:D.

Thats the funny thing about rc flying, how trees can have such a magnetic attraction for planes. I mean, you could be standing in a huge field with just one tree and guess where the plane will end up?:rolleyes::D

Bruthal

Prosperous Dave wrote: »

Thats the funny thing about rc flying, how trees can have such a magnetic attraction for planes. I mean, you could be standing in a huge field with just one tree and guess where the plane will end up?:rolleyes::D

If you could see the track of the flight path during a flight, it would not be all that surprising. The eagle tree setup can connect to google earth and shows the flight path, its amazing the area you cover.

It is surprising when a plane goes off on its own and hits the only tall tree for miles alright though.

Kashkai

Had a very lucky escape this morning while flying the Wildcat.

It was a little breezy when I sent her up but after a full week flying her, I thought I had her measure. Had a good thorough work out with plenty of loops and rolls etc but the wind was noticeably picking up because at 60% throttle, she was almost hovering in the air about 100 feet up when flying into the wind.

So with 10.5volts left in the battery according to the telemetry, I decided to bring her down for a landing while I had enough reserve left in the battery. As usual with the Wildcat, she was rocking and rolling quite a bit in the ground turbulence so I gave her more power than I usually do when landing a plane so she could maintain headway into the wind during the approach. Everything was going well until she was about 6 feet off the ground when a sudden gust lifted her up and then dropped her. It was too late for a go round so I chopped the throttle and pulled her nose up to get her to plop down on her belly as opposed to nosing in. This is where I had the lucky escape as she could have stalled anyway and nosed in but she landed on her belly in some longish grass which cushioned the fall. There was no damage but I decided to call it a day despite having another 3 batteries ready to go.

The Wildcat is a great little flyer, quite fast, very aerobatic and will do everything you want her to do. However, she is fairly unstable and suffers in the wind due to her fat little body and relatively short wings. I would recommend her if you want to have some fun with a fast and aerobatic airplane but only after you've "earned your wings" or it could be a short acquaintance;):D

poteen

The price of my lost radian the other evening apart from the tree climb was that the battery is totally done for now. It drained to nothing as it stayed plugged in.

Quick question for ye. Im obviously gonna buy a new battery for the radain but should I get the same 1300 one or a bigger battery ?

Bruthal

Your battery will be for the bin anyway. No point even trying to charge it.

We use 2200mah batteries in our 2 radians, it is a slightly tighter fit at first, but works great, it handles better as well, centre of gravity will move very slightly forward, which is not a bad thing.

If you use the velcro strap on the 1300 battery, you wont need it for the 2200 one, it wont go around it anyway i dont think, but is not needed for it.

This one will fit into the radian. It will need the EC3 blue plug soldered onto it though.

Or get these adaptors and save any soldering.

Or get the EC3 plugs and solder them on.

I have some of the EC3`s as they seem out of stock there, but they can be got easy enough on ebay etc, as can them adaptors, just put in EC3 on ebay for the blue plugs, or Male xt60 to female EC3 for the adaptors.

SLIM19198

Are LiFe batteries any good for these?

Bruthal

SLIM19198 wrote: »

Are LiFe batteries any good for these?

They are lithium ion type batteries with a nominal voltage of 3.3 compared to the lithiom polymer (lipo) which have a nominal 3.7v.

The LiFe ones will work, but they will need a charger that can charge lithium ion batteries, and for the same cell number, they will have less voltage fully charged.

SLIM19198

Yeah, but no LVC needed and no fear of draining them too far!

And they are Lithium Ferrite, not lithium Ion! ;-)

Bruthal

SLIM19198 wrote: »

Yeah, but no LVC needed and no fear of draining them too far!

And they are Lithium Ferrite, not lithium Ion! ;-)

Well that told me, winking and all.

Notice i said Life batteries are lithium ion type batteries. The clue is in bold there. Lipo batteries are also a type of lithium ion battery.

SLIM19198

Didnt mean it in a bad way, but the benefits of life is no LVc needed, can be run to dead and recharged with almost the same characteristics of lipo, long run, sharp cutoff, but with almost no risk of flame ups!

Even though they are 3.3V, wouldn't they be more suitable for beginners, or is the voltage too much of a drop?

Bruthal

SLIM19198 wrote: »

Didnt mean it in a bad way, but the benefits of life is no LVc needed, can be run to dead and recharged with almost the same characteristics of lipo, long run, sharp cutoff, but with almost no risk of flame ups!

Even though they are 3.3V, wouldn't they be more suitable for beginners, or is the voltage too much of a drop?

I know you didnt, was just laughing at the winking thing:D

The eflite ESC in the radian has a lowest cutoff of 9.2v i think, so it would work well with a 4 cell LiFe battery.

We know the LVC is to protect batteries, but if they had no low voltage cut-off in the ESC, you would risk running the voltage so low that the reciever cuts out if you kept trying to run the motor on a plane that has the receiver powered from the ESC BEC.

I dont believe reducing the power to the aircraft motor would benefit beginners. The biggest hurdle for beginners is trying to fly without experienced help.

I noticed the 3 channel radians cant be got anymore, hard to believe, as they were very popular. I was looking for one for someone this week myself.

Kashkai

I've noticed the Rads were out of stock everywhere. Damn shame that as she's a great plane. I wonder if it's because the sales of the Rad Pro aren't as good as Parkzone would wish. I know two guys who bought the Pro, didn't like it, sold them and bought the original Rad.

If you are going to use LIFE batts to "run to empty" you'd need a separate battery for the receiver. Otherwise what powers the rx when the battery is drained? Or where you thinking about cars where a drained battery wouldn't result in the loss of the model?

Kashkai

Flew my Messerschmidt 109 for the first time on Thursday evening. This Parkzone plane has a reputation for being tricky to fly and it is well deserved!

She has a 3 blade prop and has a tendency to torque roll to the left on take off, whether it's rog or hand launched. I did the latter but as I used my left hand to launch her, I had my right hand on the sticks to control her and get her safely airborne. She is very sharp in the air and any over correction can quickly induce a spin. She needs to be flown more than my other planes that are more forgiving as she tipstalls quite easily. Landing her is tricky as she glides a long distance under power but if you chop the throttle too much, she stalls. Fine balance needed!

Check out my you tube channel for a video of her first flight - DKLSOR - Parkzone Me109

SLIM19198

No, I was just commenting that if you did run empty, that the battery is still useable, unlike Lipo that cannot be used again when completely dead.

LiFe can be charged again from completely dead!

Bruthal

Prosperous Dave wrote: »

I've noticed the Rads were out of stock everywhere. Damn shame that as she's a great plane. I wonder if it's because the sales of the Rad Pro aren't as good as Parkzone would wish. I know two guys who bought the Pro, didn't like it, sold them and bought the original Rad.

If it was because the pro didnt sell well, you would think the original would be back out. I prefered the original myself, easier to get flying each time you put the wings on as well, as on the pro you are fiddling with 4 servo leads to plug in each time, if you remove the wings. The cularis i have has the servo plugs glued into the wing lock mechanism, so you just plug the wings in and out as easy as the original radian, works great.

If you are going to use LIFE batts to "run to empty" you'd need a separate battery for the receiver. Otherwise what powers the rx when the battery is drained? Or where you thinking about cars where a drained battery wouldn't result in the loss of the model?

Spot on, i had mentioned that about the receiver power in the post just before your one im quoting here. Its particularly important in gliders to have the voltage cut-off in the ones where the receiver is powered from the ESC BEC, because if there are thermals, a long flight time can still be had when the LVC has kicked in, so there will be a long time left for the battery to run the receiver and servos, even if the motor wont run much now.

If you have no LVC, once the LiFepo4 battery gets to about 2v a cell, it is empty, and will rapidly drop to below the voltage required to operate the receiver and servo`s, so it will be of little use to actually power the motor in an aircraft. As dave says, no problem in a car.

While it can be charged from a very low voltage, that does not mean LVC is now not useful, particulary in aircraft. Deep discharging will reduce the life of any battery.

poteen

i tried flying my radian this evening but its just too hard now with all the damage to the fuselage from my crashes while trying to learn. Its too distorted now. I have been trying to buy a fuselage the last few weeks but they are out of stock everywhere i have looked. any tips or ideas where i might get one? i usually buy from rc pitstop

SLIM19198

http://www.rcpitstop.co.uk/parkzone-radian-pro-bare-fuselage-pkz5467-1895-p.asp

Ilyushin76

SLIM19198 wrote: »

http://www.rcpitstop.co.uk/parkzone-radian-pro-bare-fuselage-pkz5467-1895-p.asp

Thats for the radian pro,I think poteen has the original radian.
One here but you have to email them for postage costs to Ireland.The seem to be in stock in every rc shop in the states but very few in the uk.