Tweet
Went flying today and had some really good flights with my faithful old Scooby-Doo.
Then went to fly the Airskipper, in which I've been running in my new YS 50 engine. Decided to lean it out those last couple of clicks to get it really singing, and boy, was it? Anyway, of course this meant that the head speed was a bit higher than normal, which I duely took on board and thought I'd sort out my throttle curves after the flight.......
I decended down from a height, during which time the head speed increased even more. As I brought it back into the hover at about 30 feet, there was a brief but noticeable 'funny' noise. All was ok for about 2 seconds, and then it started to pirouette with no tail control. I couldn't bring it down imediately as it was drifting (still pirouetting) over the pits, other flyers and the cars, so I let it float by before hitting the throttle hold and attempting to get it down safely in the waste-land.
Well I did of sorts, considering the spares that I already had, I still need to buy a set of blades, a feathering spindle and a tail casing, so a pretty cheap crash really.
Anyway, the cause of the tail failure seems to be that the belt drive has lost between 60 and 70% of its teeth, in patches throughout the entire belt. It's not like it lost a few in one place when it hit the ground as the missing teeth are spread out around the whole belt. There's lots of dust around the belt drive and its accociated drives.
I suppose it could have been caused by (my thoughts so far);
1) head over-speed,
2) belt too tight,
3) belt too loose, or
4) belt over-twisted in the boom.
Any other possible causes I should look out for?
Then went to fly the Airskipper, in which I've been running in my new YS 50 engine. Decided to lean it out those last couple of clicks to get it really singing, and boy, was it? Anyway, of course this meant that the head speed was a bit higher than normal, which I duely took on board and thought I'd sort out my throttle curves after the flight.......
I decended down from a height, during which time the head speed increased even more. As I brought it back into the hover at about 30 feet, there was a brief but noticeable 'funny' noise. All was ok for about 2 seconds, and then it started to pirouette with no tail control. I couldn't bring it down imediately as it was drifting (still pirouetting) over the pits, other flyers and the cars, so I let it float by before hitting the throttle hold and attempting to get it down safely in the waste-land.
Well I did of sorts, considering the spares that I already had, I still need to buy a set of blades, a feathering spindle and a tail casing, so a pretty cheap crash really.
Anyway, the cause of the tail failure seems to be that the belt drive has lost between 60 and 70% of its teeth, in patches throughout the entire belt. It's not like it lost a few in one place when it hit the ground as the missing teeth are spread out around the whole belt. There's lots of dust around the belt drive and its accociated drives.
I suppose it could have been caused by (my thoughts so far);
1) head over-speed,
2) belt too tight,
3) belt too loose, or
4) belt over-twisted in the boom.
Any other possible causes I should look out for?
Comment