Honey Bee Fp problem

[spunkmyer]

Hi...........

Well I took her out today for the first time to my local field and and need some help, I did my pre-flight check everything is ready to go, nobody was around with dogs, children etc wind at no more than 1mph if that. The swash plate, servos, paddles and blades have been balanced or level at 90 degres. Ok way to much throttle and before I knew it she was twenty feet high so I reduced throttle and she started to come down and moving forward I kept her pretty level and increased throttle as reached around 10 feet high at this point her nose lifted and her tail dropped as I came to a hover.

Every time i tried to hover the same thing her nose would rise and her tail would drop and then she would come back to earth with a bump.

I re-checked servos and swash plate all level, I tried to trim her out but no change the only thing i can think of is the COG.

Foward flight is ok and turning is ok I did half a circuit unitl i tried to hover.

At this point I am confused and lucky that nothing has been broken.

Help!.

Mike

[Adrian]

when i had my hb i added about 1oz to the nose, used a scale weight (from my missuss cooking scales) and taped it to the front of the 4 in1.

[spunkmyer]

It never did this when I hovered at home, but I was using a different battery so COG seemed level but maybe I need better eyes

Mike

[erisaman]

The CoG will also depend on what type pof battery you are using, simply because a LiPo is much lighter and is normally mounted under the 4-in-1 whereas the NiMH (? can't remember which is the alternative ) is usually mounted in the OEM cradle under the rotor shaft.

Could it have been possible for the battery to have moved and disturbed the CoG? Perhaps when taking off and climbing to dizzy heights - I say dizzy 'cos I'm barely off the ground with my HBFP!

[spunkmyer]

Its rather strange as I check the COG before each flight but this was with a new battery and I'm wondering if with the training gear, heat sinks etc if its too heavy.

Mike

[Gav]

Have you got the stock blades on? I am guessing the head speed it too low when you slow down a bit and even a gentle breeze will blow your heli backwards. Does it do the same thing indoors? I have some old CF blades if you want to try them? They are a bit chipped but even so they still work ok and I think you'll find a difference with the handling as your head speed will be allot faster. Let us know if want them.

[simoncalver]

Check the cog all up ie trainers and canopy etc,then slap a bit of weight in the nose and that will do the trick

[spunkmyer]

Ok Gav it does not do this indoors it hovers very well, but that was before I changed the battery. I was expecting soom problems with flying out doors but it was a very clam day no wind and it was cold and overcast so no real thermals.

I seen a few honey bees flying around in videos with no problems and you can see in the video branches moving etc due to wind, Well i'm new to this and learning alll the time but the honey bee acted like a kite when I tried to hover she just dropped her tail and tail dived while rocking left to right until she hit the ground no amount of extra throttle help just seem to make it worse.

Simon I will try moving the cog futher forward but I was sure I had it right or maybe my eyesight is screwd

Thanks for the offer of the blades Gav I have PM you.

Thanks for the advice so far everyone

Miike

[spunkmyer]

Well I had a good look at the heli this morning and made sure cog was corrent swash plate was level including servos. Little bit more wind today but not much, so i took her up for a flight. Now she still wants to put her nose up so I moved the battery futher forward so the tail is slighty high and I flew a circuit around and landing with a bump need me practice there. So she flew very well but a cross wind started to blow across the park so I tried to keep her nose into the wind put this just pushed her nose up each time.

I manage to hover for a few seconds before she was pushed up by the wind so increased forward flight and flew around me then she started to slid slip in the wind, the gyro was do it is best but I think the tail motor gave out as she started to spin around very fast and headed down to earth. I tried to slow the spin but being new just made crash even worse.

Well the NSTB has started their investigations at the crash site and can confirm pilot error caused the crash, the helicopter a Honey Bee Fp suffed minor damage to rotor head, failed tail motor, and dent fly bar.

NSTB findings are the the pilot needs more indoor and sim time.

Mike

[Holst]

It sounds a bit like trying to fly my 4#3b in the wind.

Once the wind picks up the nose or the tail you dont have enough pitch on the rotor to get it back level again.
As your heli is bigger it should handle the wind a bit better than the tiny 4#3B but with such a large pitch on the blades and low headspeed they will always find it hard in the wind.

[spunkmyer]

Well it does say to use indoors or outdoors without any wind. But I am getting there but seem to be doing it backwards, Im better at forward flight than hovering. I can fly around ok but its the landing and hovering that need work. Well time to step back and practice more hovering etc.

Well a new order will be made for a few spare parts when I get the time to look at her

Mike

[spunkmyer]

Ok had a look at the wreckage to yesterday and heres what was broken:

left/right pitch servo teeth stripped of gear(new servo one fitted)
flyby control paddle broken (new fitted with new control rods)
rotor head ball joint broken New head fitted also with new rods)
Main shaft bent so I took my tin hammer and repaired it

But I think I may have damaged the 4in1 I really hope I have not damaged this part

OK did some test all servos move along with swash plate, so then I started to spin the main rotor up to half throttle but the tail rotor speed keeps changing, it will speed up and slow down when sitting on the floor and in flight the heli will slowly spin round & round. I adjusted the gain and got the tail steady to a point but you can hear it still changing speed. it does this very quickly and it never did this before.

Any ideas.

Mike

[spunkmyer]

Well just a good look at the heli and thought ok lets plug main motor in to the tail motor as the voltage should low enough not do any damage to the main motor, As I slowly pulled off the tail motor plug from the 4in1 one of the small connecter pins came with it so thats the problem.

Later today I will open up the 4in1 and see if I can repair it.

Mike

[wil1972]

Well just a good look at the heli and thought ok lets plug main motor in to the tail motor as the voltage should low enough not do any damage to the main motor, As I slowly pulled off the tail motor plug from the 4in1 one of the small connecter pins came with it so thats the problem.

Later today I will open up the 4in1 and see if I can repair it.

Mike

Mike,

these are hard little buggers to fly outside when you are learning because they are so light and fixed pitch. I'm still rather green myself and can fly it ok inside but they are a handful outside in standard form. I have a spare 4-in-1 if you are stuck this easter for one.

Basically ditched mine in a group of plants outside today when the wind picked it up - was either that or the neighbours window - only a broken control ring this time

I see you are also SW london - could meet up somewhere and have a fly if you want.

cheers

Brian

[spunkmyer]

Brian I sent you a PM.

Mike