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Konrad
Very Strong User
This is to @Flying Dutchman ’s point.
I was flying on the coast under a marine layer max altitude of about 125 meters. This meant there was no bright sun light. While visibility was clear as far as distance the ability to make out details was rather limited.
I was flying the Taft Scorpion in these conditions and thinking all was fine having made a few flights. I was noticing some trim problems with the rudder so I was flying inverted to isolate the cross talk between rudder and aileron roll. Well I was having some issues finding the trim tabs on the TX. So I glanced down at my Tx and then back at the aircraft. By the time I had found the aircraft it had moved a great distance. While I could see, it I had lost situational awareness. The wings weren’t level but working with the inverted rudder response I wasn’t sure how the wing got where the were. I gave a bit of elevator input and it was the wrong way. I corrected that, and got the plane stable. By this time I was well past 500 meter and low. Normally I’d punch up into the vertical and and turn for home. But with low marine layer that wasn’t an option. So I did a high speed horizontal turnaround turn. Last thing I wanted was to slow down and stall. On the way back I was fighting the rudder correction I added while inverted. Well, I again lost orientation this time being low and crossing over a large rise I hit the top of this rise. The debris field was surprisingly long at 10 meter, as I actually hit rather flat, level and at speed. Google maps showed that the impact point was about 500 meters away.
What this is showing me is that with Tandem we have ranges similar to what we had in the old days of 72mHz. On purely 2.4 gHz I’d have been reluctant to fly with so much moisture in the air (very low cloud base, almost fog)! So while the radio performance was phenomenal I should have heeded that nagging thought in the back of my mind that the low light conditions would hamper my vision (larger pupils resulting in a narrower field of focus).
The result is that I again lost a Taft Scorpion due to pilot error. I have to admit this is getting a bit old.
There are human factors issues here as it takes me over an hour to get to the field. And with charged batteries I didn’t want to discharge them across a resistor. So I talked myself into flying when maybe the wise move would have been to say it wasn’t a good day to fly fast heavy aircraft.
I was flying on the coast under a marine layer max altitude of about 125 meters. This meant there was no bright sun light. While visibility was clear as far as distance the ability to make out details was rather limited.
I was flying the Taft Scorpion in these conditions and thinking all was fine having made a few flights. I was noticing some trim problems with the rudder so I was flying inverted to isolate the cross talk between rudder and aileron roll. Well I was having some issues finding the trim tabs on the TX. So I glanced down at my Tx and then back at the aircraft. By the time I had found the aircraft it had moved a great distance. While I could see, it I had lost situational awareness. The wings weren’t level but working with the inverted rudder response I wasn’t sure how the wing got where the were. I gave a bit of elevator input and it was the wrong way. I corrected that, and got the plane stable. By this time I was well past 500 meter and low. Normally I’d punch up into the vertical and and turn for home. But with low marine layer that wasn’t an option. So I did a high speed horizontal turnaround turn. Last thing I wanted was to slow down and stall. On the way back I was fighting the rudder correction I added while inverted. Well, I again lost orientation this time being low and crossing over a large rise I hit the top of this rise. The debris field was surprisingly long at 10 meter, as I actually hit rather flat, level and at speed. Google maps showed that the impact point was about 500 meters away.
What this is showing me is that with Tandem we have ranges similar to what we had in the old days of 72mHz. On purely 2.4 gHz I’d have been reluctant to fly with so much moisture in the air (very low cloud base, almost fog)! So while the radio performance was phenomenal I should have heeded that nagging thought in the back of my mind that the low light conditions would hamper my vision (larger pupils resulting in a narrower field of focus).
The result is that I again lost a Taft Scorpion due to pilot error. I have to admit this is getting a bit old.
There are human factors issues here as it takes me over an hour to get to the field. And with charged batteries I didn’t want to discharge them across a resistor. So I talked myself into flying when maybe the wise move would have been to say it wasn’t a good day to fly fast heavy aircraft.
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Konrad
Very Strong User
Being as I’m a glass half full kind of guy, this crash had some good out comes. That is I’m comfortable with the RF link and range of Tandem with a lot of moisture/humidity in the air.
Another lesson is to make sure you are comfortable finding ALL the controls without needing to take one’s eye off the model. With the X18s I had only about two dozen flight total with that radio. While I did a flight check with all the sticks and switches. I didn’t flex my muscle memory for the placement of the trims. Note that the trims are on the same axis as the gimbal. On my X9E they are offset a bit.
Another lesson is to make sure you are comfortable finding ALL the controls without needing to take one’s eye off the model. With the X18s I had only about two dozen flight total with that radio. While I did a flight check with all the sticks and switches. I didn’t flex my muscle memory for the placement of the trims. Note that the trims are on the same axis as the gimbal. On my X9E they are offset a bit.
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Konrad
Very Strong User
Well, the replacement has arrived. An FMS BAEHawk 80mm as a result of some 20% off Father’s Day sale. Much to my surprise the EPO foam is about 1/2 the density of the Taft and Freewing jets.
I plan to interface with the reflex gyros though the S-Bus line from the Tandem RX.
I plan to interface with the reflex gyros though the S-Bus line from the Tandem RX.
Konrad
Very Strong User
Really starting to like Ethos. The canned mixes are fine and the start up wizard is good. This should make it easy for those moving away from Spektrum or Futaba OS. With the way the free mixer is set up there is still much the same power we had with OpenTX. I'm still not comfortable with the interface: but that will come with time. After all I think I've only programed two simple models one intermediate and have Mike Shellim's templet for the advance F3F mixes.
But what I'm really liking is the freedom within the mixer area. I just did a simple throttle to elevator mix to correct a thrust line issue with my Freewing Venom. Because it takes time to accelerate a body I didn't want the correction added all at once. I tried to find a way to slow down the compensation without slowing down the elevator control response. There is no such option in the canned (pre-made) mixes. Using the ideas discussed in Mr.D's video (see link earlier). I was able to accomplish what I think I want.
The key was to start from scratch using the free mixes. I spent far too much time trying to modify the canned mixes. Mr.D's video does mention the need to start from scratch. But I had to find this out for myself.
But what I'm really liking is the freedom within the mixer area. I just did a simple throttle to elevator mix to correct a thrust line issue with my Freewing Venom. Because it takes time to accelerate a body I didn't want the correction added all at once. I tried to find a way to slow down the compensation without slowing down the elevator control response. There is no such option in the canned (pre-made) mixes. Using the ideas discussed in Mr.D's video (see link earlier). I was able to accomplish what I think I want.
The key was to start from scratch using the free mixes. I spent far too much time trying to modify the canned mixes. Mr.D's video does mention the need to start from scratch. But I had to find this out for myself.
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