a little help on my first fly and crash :(

[davide_s]

Hi All,
I'm absolutely new on rc airplane, the king of the beginner, so I'm sorry for the question, I'm searching for an explanation on what I wrong during my first fly.
I Attached the video (just few seconds) about my first try to fly my first plane (ft racer)
Before start I cheked:
- servo connection and direction was ok
- center of gravity checkedand was ok
- battery was a 4S 3400 mha (maybe to heavy ?)
- propeller was a 9x4.7

- I put throttle at 100% (may be not correct)
If someone, looking the video, is enable to understand what I wrong, many thanks in advance.

 

[BrickPlane]

Take off throttle should be around 70% ish. Looks like you got a torque roll there. You'll need to apply some correction on the sticks for that.

The racer is not super beginner friendly, as you've found out.

 

[davide_s]

Take off throttle should be around 70% ish. Looks like you got a torque roll there. You'll need to apply some correction on the sticks for that.

The racer is not super beginner friendly, as you've found out.

thanks for the reply !
there is a way to reset this torque roll ? resetting to factory radio transmitter could be a solution ?

 

[BrickPlane]

thanks for the reply !
there is a way to reset this torque roll ? resetting to factory radio transmitter could be a solution ?

Not really. The torque roll is not anything wrong with your setup, it happens on sportier planes, especially ones with ample motors. If your radio is capable, I suppose you could do some input mixing to make it track straight and then save that mix to a switch to create a "takeoff mode". But that's more work than should be necessary, as it really comes down to experience on the sticks. Less throttle on the takeoff (generally 50-70% depending on the airplane) will help tame it.

Also, make sure the wings/tail are as square as possible. A slight misalignment may not present an issue during pre-flight glide tests, but can cause problems under throttle.

 

[Merv]

There could be many things at play. It's hard to tell with the video you posted. I'd like to see the video at full speed.

At full throttle the plane should have been pulling away from you hand quite hard. If the prop were on backwards, you will only get 40% of the power you should get. The numbers on the prop need to be facing the direction of travel.

 

[davide_s]

Not really. The torque roll is not anything wrong with your setup, it happens on sportier planes, especially ones with ample motors. If your radio is capable, I suppose you could do some input mixing to make it track straight and then save that mix to a switch to create a "takeoff mode". But that's more work than should be necessary, as it really comes down to experience on the sticks. Less throttle on the takeoff (generally 50-70% depending on the airplane) will help tame it.

Also, make sure the wings/tail are as square as possible. A slight misalignment may not present an issue during pre-flight glide tests, but can cause problems under throttle.

thanks for your explanation !

 

[davide_s]

There could be many things at play. It's hard to tell with the video you posted. I'd like to see the video at full speed.

At full throttle the plane should have been pulling away from you hand quite hard. If the prop were on backwards, you will only get 40% of the power you should get. The numbers on the prop need to be facing the direction of travel.

Thanks !
here it is the full speed video

 

[Merv]

...here it is the full speed video...

It looks like you have plenty of power. The plane starts heading down as soon as it leaves your hand. I don't think it is torque roll but I could be wrong.

I think the problem is somewhere in the elevator. Could you have had your thumb on the elevator? Was the elevator setup backwards. Was there down trim in the elevator.

The problem could also be too much down thrust of the motor or the plane could be nose heavy.

 

[BrickPlane]

It looks like you have plenty of power. The plane starts heading down as soon as it leaves your hand. I don't think it is torque roll but I could be wrong.

I think the problem is somewhere in the elevator. Could you have had your thumb on the elevator? Was the elevator setup backwards. Was there down trim in the elevator.

The problem could also be too much down thrust of the motor or the plane could be nose heavy.

Having watched the full speed, I tend to agree. Slow-mo makes it look like it rolls. But full speed it's just nosing down really hard.

 

[PsyBorg]

Watching it in slow motion you could see a perfect arc. Its hard to tell from video but it almost looks like the tail was not parallel to the main wing. That coupled with maybe too much down angle. It looked like it had plenty of power seeing it pull his hand at throttle up.

 

[The Hangar]

It looks to me like either the elevator is reversed or it’s majorly nose heavy, which is very possible with the big battery.

 

[SSgt Duramax]

My first boof happened kind of like that too, although I was in the air longer (slightly). I had just pulled the RX/power pack from my mini speedster back into a lighter tiny trainer I had built for my daughter. I wanted to test fly it and make sure it was GTG for my daughter. I revved it up and tossed it and nose dove straight into the ground.

I had to reverse the elevator for my speedster, when I pulled back on the stick it blasted into the ground full throttle. Luckily, all I had to do was reglue the motor mount back in an toss a new prop on.

 

[davide_s]

There could be many things at play. It's hard to tell with the video you posted. I'd like to see the video at full speed.

At full throttle the plane should have been pulling away from you hand quite hard. If the prop were on backwards, you will only get 40% of the power you should get. The numbers on the prop need to be facing the direction of travel.

thanks for your preciuos suggestion !

 

[davide_s]

Not really. The torque roll is not anything wrong with your setup, it happens on sportier planes, especially ones with ample motors. If your radio is capable, I suppose you could do some input mixing to make it track straight and then save that mix to a switch to create a "takeoff mode". But that's more work than should be necessary, as it really comes down to experience on the sticks. Less throttle on the takeoff (generally 50-70% depending on the airplane) will help tame it.

Also, make sure the wings/tail are as square as possible. A slight misalignment may not present an issue during pre-flight glide tests, but can cause problems under throttle.

thanks

 

[davide_s]

thanks to all for the replies and suggestions !

 

[PsyBorg]

It looks to me like either the elevator is reversed or it’s majorly nose heavy, which is very possible with the big battery.

Good catch about the battery. I just looked at the video after glancing at op. A battery that big sitting on stated cg for a 2200 would certainly achieve this result.

 

[quorneng]

david_s
To be perfectly honest I would not hand launch it like that. Yes it may have the power to climb out of your hand but you can only be confident it might if you know how it flies.
It was not at a controllable flying speed as it left your hand. It was pointing up at about 45 degrees so about half the available thrust would be required to just overcome gravity leaving little left to speed it up. As a result it had neither sufficient speed for stable flight nor for the control surfaces to work.
It may not be easy to hold but it really need to be launched horizontally positively but not thrown. Like that all the available thrust is available to accelerate the plane as quickly as possible.
A bigger heavier battery would do you no favours either as the concentrated extra weight makes getting the right CofG even more critical and of course it has to be travelling that much faster before it achieves a safe flying speed.
Sometimes more power does not a mean an easier hand launch.
I hope it can be repaired easily.

 

[davide_s]

david_s
To be perfectly honest I would not hand launch it like that. Yes it may have the power to climb out of your hand but you can only be confident it might if you know how it flies.
It was not at a controllable flying speed as it left your hand. It was pointing up at about 45 degrees so about half the available thrust would be required to just overcome gravity leaving little left to speed it up. As a result it had neither sufficient speed for stable flight nor for the control surfaces to work.
It may not be easy to hold but it really need to be launched horizontally positively but not thrown. Like that all the available thrust is available to accelerate the plane as quickly as possible.
A bigger heavier battery would do you no favours either as the concentrated extra weight makes getting the right CofG even more critical and of course it has to be travelling that much faster before it achieves a safe flying speed.
Sometimes more power does not a mean an easier hand launch.
I hope it can be repaired easily.

thanks for your precious details !
to be honest, the video is related to a second crash.. (the plane was compromised in many parts) and i decided, after a frustration day , to re-build it with more accuracy after this experience.
thanks again to all of you for your interesting.

 

[Matthewdupreez]

thanks for your precious details !
to be honest, the video is related to a second crash.. (the plane was compromised in many parts) and i decided, after a frustration day , to re-build it with more accuracy after this experience.
thanks again to all of you for your interesting.

If I were you I would build the ft scout instead. The scout IS a trainer plane, and the racer is NOT

 

[davide_s]

If I were you I would build the ft scout instead. The scout IS a trainer plane, and the racer is NOT

I think you right,
just a couple of questions if you know:
I saw in the store that for ft-scout the landing gears are not included, what prodcut do you suggest ?
the ft racer is no more available in the store, there is a possibililty to order ? (I live in Italy, I searched for resellers in Europe, but I didn't find available of ft-racer)
thanks in advance