Well folks, here we are on the eve of the Memorial Day weekend. The "gateway" to summer! And in Chicago we are thinking about building arks and other floating craft!! The 550 is back together and ready to fly, all I'm waiting for is flying weather.
It took me about 4 hours to rebuild the tail and replace the main gear. Thought about using the KDE main gear, but that requires KDE's bearing holder and I don't have one of those yet. The KDE gear is slightly larger than Align's and made out of a different plastic and seems stronger. Unfortunately, their screw pattern is different so you need to use their bearing holder if you want to use their gears and since I'm working out of the shop stock I stayed with the Align parts.
Everything is still the same parts, only replaced where damaged. The only change I made is I added the 90mm tail blades instead of using the standard 85mm blades. This should give me more control with the tail with the added 5mm of surface.
This time I am going to make sure that the CoPilot is working before I fly. I mean I bought it I should use it right?
Well, that's all I have for now, I will let you know how the flying goes when I get out to the field. Until next time God Bless America's Military and have a safe and enjoyable Memorial Day weekend.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Monday, May 9, 2011
Note to Self...
Well folks it's been a few weeks since I've added to the blog, or flown for that matter, and I must say it showed yesterday! It was a beautiful day here in Chicago, blue skies and a light wind. After not being able to fly for a while I was excited to get out and work on my hovering, so off to the field I went.
Once there I set the blades, plugged in my battery and proceeded to crash!
So in the 90 seconds of flight here is what I learned.
1) Every time you get to the field GO THROUGH A PRE-FLIGHT CHECK. Make sure all screws are tight all ball-links are connected and radio and receiver are working correctly.
2) If you hear a little voice in the back of your head saying something ain't right, LISTEN TO IT!
3) See numbers 1 and 2!!!!!
The reason for those two lessons are as follows:
I didn't pre-flight and shortly after getting the helicopter airborne I lost all stick control. After getting to the crash site I found one head control arm popped off. You loose one servo you quickly become an observer and not a pilot.
The other lesson was much harder. While watching the heli spin up I noticed it was acting a little strange. I kept wanting to nose over without any control inputs and as soon as it got a little air it started moving to the left and away. I don't know what was causing those movements but if I would have listened to my little voice I would have set that sucker down and taken a closer look at the thing.
As it is, I am down for a little while waiting for parts. During that time I am going to make myself a pre-flight check list to follow and start to drum that list into my thick skull. In the mean time I think I might spend a little time with my airplane, this way I can shake off the bad feelings about crashing the heli and get some stick time in before I take to the skies again with my "flying chainsaw."
Once there I set the blades, plugged in my battery and proceeded to crash!
1) Every time you get to the field GO THROUGH A PRE-FLIGHT CHECK. Make sure all screws are tight all ball-links are connected and radio and receiver are working correctly.
2) If you hear a little voice in the back of your head saying something ain't right, LISTEN TO IT!
3) See numbers 1 and 2!!!!!
The reason for those two lessons are as follows:
I didn't pre-flight and shortly after getting the helicopter airborne I lost all stick control. After getting to the crash site I found one head control arm popped off. You loose one servo you quickly become an observer and not a pilot.
The other lesson was much harder. While watching the heli spin up I noticed it was acting a little strange. I kept wanting to nose over without any control inputs and as soon as it got a little air it started moving to the left and away. I don't know what was causing those movements but if I would have listened to my little voice I would have set that sucker down and taken a closer look at the thing.
As it is, I am down for a little while waiting for parts. During that time I am going to make myself a pre-flight check list to follow and start to drum that list into my thick skull. In the mean time I think I might spend a little time with my airplane, this way I can shake off the bad feelings about crashing the heli and get some stick time in before I take to the skies again with my "flying chainsaw."
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