7HV mid air stall- well possibly.

[Mike Sanders]

These things happen so fast, it is difficult to remember exactly what happened in the second or two between flying normally and hitting the dirt. You play it over and over in your mind but you are no closer to knowing what was the cause of the incident.

This has happened to me about 30 times. I know that some have been pilot error and I think I can pinpoint some of the mechanical failures. Some have just baffled me.

Never mind, it's all part of life's rich tapestry. Keep your chin up.

[atomiccomp]

When you say it refused to pull out - Did you however manage to get the heli horizontal again? ie. did the elevator work but the heli went in flat, or did the nose refuse to pitch up from the dive?

Just like the elevator had stopped working. Pulling back on the stick didn't level it off. I should have tried rolling it left or right to check. I don't recall the pitch working either it was just like the radio had locked out. I've spoken to one off the lads in the club who saw it go in and he seemed to think it had started to level off when it ploughed through the trees. As the night rolls on I am remembering less and less about the finer points of what happened.

[atomiccomp]

These things happen so fast, it is difficult to remember exactly what happened in the second or two between flying normally and hitting the dirt. You play it over and over in your mind but you are no closer to knowing what was the cause of the incident.

This has happened to me about 30 times. I know that some have been pilot error and I think I can pinpoint some of the mechanical failures. Some have just baffled me.

Never mind, it's all part of life's rich tapestry. Keep your chin up.

Cheers dude, I don't mind crashing (which this year I've done plenty) as it's all part and parcel of the game. It's when you have no idea why it went in it's frustrating.

[bigpops]

If you have SD card logging enabled on the Taranis, then check those logs. It logs the RSSI (along with everything else like stick and switch positions), so any lockouts will show there.

[myxiplx]

You say damage included a servo gear set, which servo?

It could easily have been a servo failure. A stuck elevator servo would result in a loss of elevator control, and also affects collective in that as you apply collective the stuck servo would result in the model tilting, which of course any FBL unit then would detect and correct, with the end result being that you end up with very little input on the collective side of things.

[Mike656]

Sounds to me, like you were pulling too many g's for a slow head speed? If you were trying to level out after a 150 foot dive, a low head speed could struggle. Adding a lot of collective at the end of the dive could bog the blades down, giving the appearance of a stall. Seen a club member do something similar when experimenting with low head speeds.

[kenny d]

It's happened to me , first time just thought I messed up but second time I knew I had givin it full elevator , turned out to be the wires going into the elevator servo , they were disconnecting at high g force , it was a bad solder joint , Kd

[Peteski]

Just like the elevator had stopped working. Pulling back on the stick didn't level it off.

In that case, the odds are that it had stopped working. If that happened to me I'd keep pulling back on the elevator, as I'm sure you instinctively did. So if that did nothing I'd suspect the servo wasn't responding. Obviously doesn't answer the why part, but if your damaged servo happens to be the elevator then that would be further evidence to suggest it was a simple servo failure and nothing more complicated. The fact that you still had servo response on the ground suggests it probably wasn't the radio side unless it momentarily lost signal.

[myxiplx]

In that case, the odds are that it had stopped working. If that happened to me I'd keep pulling back on the elevator, as I'm sure you instinctively did. So if that did nothing I'd suspect the servo wasn't responding. Obviously doesn't answer the why part, but if your damaged servo happens to be the elevator then that would be further evidence to suggest it was a simple servo failure and nothing more complicated. The fact that you still had servo response on the ground suggests it probably wasn't the radio side unless it momentarily lost signal.

You'd have seen any loss of signal in the logs Peteski, the OP mentioned that he'd checked them and they just say "nothing to report" which means he had good signal all the way to the ground.

[Granpappy]

The 7HV is a heavy old beast but I find it to be ideal for my sort of flying. I would consider it a shame to bin it but if it's not for you then I guess that would be the way to go. It is like a tank but I wouldn't call it cumbersome. If you put something like an 850MX motor in it and fine tuned the fbl to how you want it then I guess it would out perform most light weight 600's. My X50E is pretty light and on 12S, pretty scary, but I just tamed it on the fbl settings. You can always do the opposite with a 7HV as long as you have the motor to cope with it all.

[atomiccomp]

Cheers for the input chaps, granpappy currently my 7HV has an 800mx motor with a YEP 180HV ESC and seems powerful enough it just feels heavy in the air. That said it grooves quite nicely on a low head speed as long as it's flown carefully/smoothly.

All the servos have plenty of pull and the one with the notches post crash is the pitch servo.

I have also setup logging on my Taranis so if this happens again I will get more information. It's a shame I didn't remember much else as it happened so quickly. But it definitely felt like a radio lock out.

I have to say the compass prices are a bit steep. The swash plate is also knackered and its the same swash used in the original 6HV and it's a whopping £55! Compass know how to bend you over on parts prices. The blade grips are also £95 for a pair!