New flyer getting frustrated

[Foamforce]

After the first crash we replaced the prop. Thottle was at zero and not armed. Connected the battery and immediate smoke from the motor then ESC caught fire.

Yeah, so what happened here was that the initial crash stuck the motor and overloaded the ESC, fusing one or more of the transistors into an ‘on’ state. Normally, there wouldn’t be any electrical flow from the ESC to the motor with the throttle off, but the blown transistors were just dumping that current right into the motor, but not turning it because it wasn’t timed. All that current burnt the insulation of the windings of the motor first, and then the ESC got hot enough to catch fire. That’s tough, but it gets better! Fwiw, you can usually tell a blown motor or ESC visually. For a motor, look at the windings. They should be shiny. If they’re dull or black, it’s a bad sign. I’ve had a few that have gotten hot enough to turn dark and still work, but it’s a crapshoot. For the ESC it’s usually more obvious. The shrink wrap will usually visibly melt.

Good news about the Tutor. The COG points are pretty good out of the box. The Tiny Trainer is a little off, causing some difficulties with that model, but you don’t have to deal with that on the Tutor.

Where do you live? Somebody from the forums might live close to you and be able to help in person. I’m in Madison, WI.

Good luck! Post videos!

 

[Burnhard]

My five cents are, when crashing, always take out the throttle. Chances that you can power through an uncontrolled situation are rather limited while damage is increased. When you take out throttle, you reduce speed and when you hit the ground that means less damage (and less risk for anybody near you). I have had so many crashes over the past years but never actually burned a motor or ESC.

The gliding idea with the high grass is actually the best. If it glides, it will fly.

 

[bisco]

tough plane to learn on without help. many newbies will pull too much up elevator causing a stall, and then unavoidable crash because you don't have enough altitude to recover.
as mentioned, a sim is a big help, or a cheap rtf from amazon with a gyro is how i learned, and very easy.

 

[Houndpup Rc]

As you are teaching yourself to fly consider the building a pusher style plane like the FT Mighty Mini Explorer. A plane like this moves the motor and ESC out of the nose so they don't get crushed in a crash.

If you have the money a flight simulator (or this one) will help a lot instead of crashing over and over while you learn the basics. A simulator does not help with aircraft setup issues but is a big help with learning the correct stick movements.

Even Picasim which is free helped me a lot!

 

[ithink2020]

As you are teaching yourself to fly consider the building a pusher style plane like the FT Mighty Mini Explorer. A plane like this moves the motor and ESC out of the nose so they don't get crushed in a crash.

If you have the money a flight simulator (or this one) will help a lot instead of crashing over and over while you learn the basics. A simulator does not help with aircraft setup issues but is a big help with learning the correct stick movements.

I can't help with the electronics, but I can suggest PhoenixRC SIM. It is free (abandonware) and is available to download at https://www.rc-thoughts.com/phoenix-sim/. I highly recommend it!

You can download many of the Flitetest models here to use in the sim. Some additional FT models (along with others, like the AreoScout) can be found here. Unfortunately, the Tutor is not available for Phoenix. However, there a many trainer-type models that can help you learn in the SIM. Also, something I'm working on is to cut the throttle whenever I'm about to crash in the SIM. I'm trying to train myself for the inevitable crash IRL.

You don't need the dongle. I downloaded the emulator and use it with a FlySky FS-I6X transmitter. I've been trying to practice on the sim every day for the past few weeks. I'm just getting started on the build process (getting the paper templates cut out) of the FT Simple Scout.

 

[Santa Cruz]

Too much elevator, make sure your trim buttons are setup properly in your Tx. Also make sure the cg is correct.