Have you ever found yourself in a position of some failure in communication between your fingers and the control surfaces of your RC aircraft? I have twice found myself in this very position with my Assassin combat wing in the last 3 days.
The first event was due to a broken rx antenna. I tossed the wing into the air, it climbed steeply to about 75 feet up and 75 ft downrange, then followed a beautiful parabolic arc controlled by gravity until I briefly regained control. I was able to shut the motor down and put it into a twisting dive before again losing contact. The resulting bounce was quite spectacular. It rebounded at least 10 feet into the air before coming to rest, its battery flailing like an overstuffed disemboweled intestine. Damage: None.
The second event occurred this evening. I soldered the antenna back on this RX and did a range check. Everything was A OK. Tossed the wing in the air and did a few vertical climbs and dives, pulling out just above the ground. My confidence was renewed so I made a wide circle to the north, out over the cemetery behind my house and beyond the road on the other side. That's when I lost contact again. She arced over, inverted through the top half of a loop. I wiggled the right stick like crazy. I momentarily had control and pointed it back toward me. It was probably 200 feet above the ground. Then, nothing. It went silent, nosed down and impacted perpendicularly to the ground. The resulting bounce was incredible! Must have been 15 feet +! As I walked over, I noticed I again had elevon control. Damage: One motor connector came detached from the wire. Cause of crash: I did not have the rx properly secured and the esc connector worked just loose enough to loose contact.
If it had not been almost dark, I could have soldered the motor connector, tossed it right back up again. Tough bird!
The first event was due to a broken rx antenna. I tossed the wing into the air, it climbed steeply to about 75 feet up and 75 ft downrange, then followed a beautiful parabolic arc controlled by gravity until I briefly regained control. I was able to shut the motor down and put it into a twisting dive before again losing contact. The resulting bounce was quite spectacular. It rebounded at least 10 feet into the air before coming to rest, its battery flailing like an overstuffed disemboweled intestine. Damage: None.
The second event occurred this evening. I soldered the antenna back on this RX and did a range check. Everything was A OK. Tossed the wing in the air and did a few vertical climbs and dives, pulling out just above the ground. My confidence was renewed so I made a wide circle to the north, out over the cemetery behind my house and beyond the road on the other side. That's when I lost contact again. She arced over, inverted through the top half of a loop. I wiggled the right stick like crazy. I momentarily had control and pointed it back toward me. It was probably 200 feet above the ground. Then, nothing. It went silent, nosed down and impacted perpendicularly to the ground. The resulting bounce was incredible! Must have been 15 feet +! As I walked over, I noticed I again had elevon control. Damage: One motor connector came detached from the wire. Cause of crash: I did not have the rx properly secured and the esc connector worked just loose enough to loose contact.
If it had not been almost dark, I could have soldered the motor connector, tossed it right back up again. Tough bird!