My First Auto!

[Mart61]

Hi guys

Having got one flight under my belt with both the 600 and 450, I noticed the 600 was running a little rich, so I went in 4 clicks on the needle valve.

Having got the 600 airborne, the smoke had died down considerably. However, to my mind, the head speed seemed considerably higher than the earlier flight and, about three mins into the flight, I thought "Something smells hot!"

And then, without warning and with the heli about 6 feet in the air, the engine just stopped. No decreasing speed, no pinking, nothing. Stone dead it was.

At first I thought "That's a little odd! What the hell do I do now?!" So I did the logical thing, bought it back tail in and landed it uneventfully.

Cool! My first auto! OK, not very high, but still an auto?

Just had the plug out and inspected the piston - looks fine but the plug was a bit cooked looking. Hope I've not done any more damage.

You guys experienced this? What, if anything, should I inspect for?

[moonmanflyer]

It might be the plug popped Martin, put a new one in and see what happens, if it makes any funny noises, it will be an engine strip down.
Congrates on your first auto though, mine was exactly the same,engine failiure

[sacko]

Too lean id imagine, 2 clicks at a time remember.

It was very cold out today, if anything it should be needing to go richer with the weather.

Nice one on landing it

[trillian]

Just one short lean run probably (hopefully) won't hurt anything.

Do you do the backplate check when in doubt? It's not very scientific but fairly conclusive at least that you're not too lean.

Sometimes you can still have a fair amount of smoke and still be lean.

I have had one forced auto on my Raptor 50 by just not paying attention and running out of fuel. But only about 10 feet up and it settled down very gently.

[boxy]

well mate at first we thought you had done it on purpose it looked that controled hope you have not done anything untoward good luck and i will see you next weekend

[Nick B]

Nice one Mart,another trick learnt on the sim pays off

Hope you aint done any damage,im with Paul,2 clicks at a time...your headspeed will gain if you lean out from a rich mixture,this is why they say tune with no gov on me thinks

[POLAR BEAR]

My 1st auto was down too a fuel tank failier on a Rap 50, did,nt realize at the time but the govner kept the head speed up, right up to the point that the piston had a hole blown through 150ft in the air and at the far end of the field Kev.

[Mart61]

Do you do the backplate check when in doubt

Yeah, it was hotter than a jolly hot thing when I landed!

it looked that controled hope you have not done anything untoward good luck and i will see you next weekend

Nice one Mart,another trick learnt on the sim pays off Hope you aint done any damage

Thanks guys. I don't think I've done any real damage, other than to the plug. I've fitted a new one but can't be bothered to go run it now. I'll try it next weekend. Fingers crossed.

[Tripler]

If its an OS engine, it should be ok mine have been
Thats how I also learnt to do autos, fiddling with the mixture to much

What with fuel type changes and trying to tune it to perfection I've prob done about 11 unplanned auto's at verying hights and speeds
Some VERY High and some Very Fast.

It all adds to the learning curve and after the first one they become less worrying and not a problem.
Still not the proper way to learn though

Hope alls well with the engine

[Brian Gifford]

I'm VERY impressed, Martin. Nice one, mate!

[Sesame]

Well done martin, as you say an auto is an auto, Ive seen people come off a little badly by panicing when the engine dies when only up a few feet, all to easy to slam the throttle shut in error. so well done for the auto and not panicing

my first few autos were due to engines dying, its only when I started to actually try and do them on purpose I really had problems

[coptermanic]

Nice one Martin, and congrats on an escape with your first unintentional auto!!!!!!!! Sounds like running too lean=too hot=cooked plug.

BTW my first unintentional [and successful] auto with the 600 was far more careless - I ran out of fuel!!!!!!! Thank heavens I had remembered what Grant Cooper told me about autos!!

[Mojo]

Nice one Martin.. Forced autos always test your ability.. lol!! I can't bring myself to flick the hold switch any higher than a foot off the ground

[cupracing]

nice one martin!, my first unplanned small auto with my 600 ended with a broken under carriage. I can do them in the sim but I just freak out in real life. Thats the only thing that worries me about the 600