Electric woes.....

A tale of woe from Graham Birt, after a bad days flying.

To set the scene, a great afternoon, clear blue skies, gentle breeze and two warbirds, Kyosho Spit on electric and Hanger 9 P51 on IC.
 
Len very kindly agreed to meet at AD to ensure we could fly and it was only the two of us. Len very unselfish because he was not flying so I looked forward to a master class.
 
Now I think most of you have seen my electric Spit flying like a pylon racer on electric, it is a great model and super flyer, quite typical ARTF with dodgy retracts but hey, wheels are only for take off and landing so no problem.
 
Take off great, gear up, model performing well, Len takes over and as is his way performs some great but measured aerobatics which shows the model off to perfection!
 
Suddenly a loud bang at about 250 feet, and all power is lost, model intact so Len brings her in dead stick to a perfect landing. We thought lost or broken prop perhaps maybe a lead melted but no, on opening the cowl the motor had "exploded"! See the images - this is a Dualsky (Al's Hobbies), motor about 40/46 equivalent, on a 5000mAH, 5 cell LiPo - just imagine the power required to split that outer casing! The magnets had obviously vacated their seating and fouled on the inner and that was the result. The motor was just over a year old and I estimate about 3 hours use in two models, the Spit and a Piper Pawnee. Just goes to show you can be as safe as you like but this sort of problem is totally unforeseen!

 
Now Dualsky are a low end/middle market manufacturer in Shanghai, and I am about to tackle Al's in Bristol regarding the incident.
 
So we rise above this problem and prepare the P51. This is a seasoned flyer but I have always had issues with the mechanical retracts which give a 50/50 chance of collapse on landing, (especially my arrivals)!
 
Anyway away she goes, another great flight, Len has a go and suggests that maybe the elevator throws are a little excessive, so I bring her in for a perfect landing which no one will believe, and we lower the throws to 65%.
 
Fuel up and away, so much better and easier to fly, mental note to keep throws on elevator and ailerons to a minimum in future, at least on low rates. Engine starts toget a bit lean an "hunting" so I bring her in and notice the port leg looks a bit floopy, but after all they are mechanical retracts, what more could you expect!
 
Touch down slight bounce but otherwise perfect then the inevitable collapse. Model was fine except for wingtip scuffs but the leg was floopy and unattached. The images show why. Now I ask myself, why would a manufactuter as up market as Hanger 9/Horizon, fit such rubbish retract linkages. OK, I suppose if we were all perfect flyers achieving absolutely smooth take offs and landings and always on tarmac the set up is fine, but we are not, even the best of us, yes Len even you, bend the odd model.

 
So what is the moral of this story?
 
First and very importantly people like Len bother to be there for the less experienced flyers and that is what a club is all about.
 
Second, you can safety check your equipment to the limits but unforseen s**t happens.
 
Third, ARTF's are a great way to get flying quickly but they have their limitations, on the positive side they always look fantastic in the air. 
 
Fourth, regarding the Dualsky, I guess you get what you pay for or indeed deserve.
 
Fifth, always under estimate control surface throws on low rates, you can always put 100% on high rates in case you get it wrong but in my limited experience, less is more.
 
Happy landings.

Graham Birt