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Conference vmszoo::rc

Title:Welcome To The Radio Control Conference
Notice:dir's in 11, who's who in 4, sales in 6, auctions 19
Moderator:VMSSG::FRIEDRICHS
Created:Tue Jan 13 1987
Last Modified:Thu Jun 05 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:1706
Total number of notes:27193

1090.0. "Vanishing Helicopter" by BSS::WALKER () Tue Aug 22 1989 18:24

Let me share the most recent "DUMB" thing I've just done which turns out to 
be a bizarre event.  I have been learning to fly a R/C Helicopter (my 
chopper is a X-CELL 60, OS61 SFN, Futaba Gyro, 1200mha pack) for about 4
months, this past Sunday morning I was out with my instructor and things 
seemed to "click". I forgot to put the training gear in the truck but 
decided to fly with out them and I actually controlled the heli in a hover 
- what a break through!  After the morning session and doing a few errands 
I 
decided to practice hovering in the backyard.  My house is in a rural area 
outside of Colorado Springs and sits in the middle of 5 acres at a altitude 
of 7000ft, just off the garage apron(which faces north) is a clearing about
50' long x  30' wide and has 20' to 50' Pines around the perimeter.  I 
start to practice ( I installed the training gear - two 5.5 ft 1/2 inch 
dowels with 3in. wiffle balls on the ends placed in a 'X' pattern and 
secured to the heli with wire ties) hovering and after 5 min. I feel real 
good and decide to land the chopper and while the rotor head is slowing 
down I'll pop my head in the door to the rec room and ask my wife to bring 
out the video camera and tape my latest accomplishment.  Now the heli is to 
the right center of the clearing slowing down and I walk though the 
garage(doors already open), open the door to the recroom step inside 
partially close the door to keep the cat inside, ask my wife to bring out 
the video camera, go back outside to find the heli is GONE!!! I spent the 
next 4-5 hrs walking through wooded areas while my wife went searching the 
open fields.  No trace of it has been found.

What happened to it?

Scenario 1

	Someone waited for me to turn my back and grabbed it.
		
		Don't think so - my dog was out and would have been
		making a fuss if someone was close by.

Scenario 2

	My/neighbor's dog dragged it away.

		I think I would have found some wreckage - training
		gear or blade bits.

Scenario 3

	The radio gliched as I walked through the garage or I bumped
	the throttle/collective stick and it flew away.

		The radio was the new Futaba 9 channel PCM and I have
		turned the TX off before the RX while on the bench and the
		servos did not react by going to the end points. I could
		have bumped the stick/s as I went back out I noticed the 
		T/C was off idle but not close to half and with training 
		gear it took 60% stick for lift off.

It is real tough to believe any of the above but the chopper is gone.  Out 
of the above scenarios my guess #3 is most plausible but could it fly 
itself without wacking a tree? Maybe it is just a trip through the TWILIGHT 
ZONE.You can bet I'll never leave a machine out of my sight again even in 
the "safety" of my own back yard. A extremely expensive lesson!

Any theories, comments, or suggestions on search tactics.  I have been up 
on the roof with field glasses but no luck.


T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name
DateLines
1090.1Hidden from view?CSC32::GORTMAKERwhatsa Gort?Wed Aug 23 1989 08:148
    Maybe its sitting in a pine tree somewhere close by....
    I lost a football in a pine tree in my parents front yard and dident
    find it until about 4 years later while helping my father trim a few
    branches when out it fell half rotten.
    
    What street did you say you lived on? ;^)
    
    Bummer,-j
1090.2SA1794::TENEROWICZTWed Aug 23 1989 09:2126
    
    	Dependent on the trim and the gyro settings it's very possible
    for a chopper to do a fly away. Also did your radion have a 
    :Failsafe" mode? I actually heard of a .28 sized chopper start to
    do a fly away (dead batteries) only to run out of fuel and land
    in some brush without any damage.  If your chopper was trimmed for
    just a little forward movement it's possible that at full throttle
    it could climb out, the tail weather vaneing. If you find it I wouldn't
    expect to much. You'll probably be looking at a complete rebuild.
    Sorry but...
    	Try a reward offered in the newspaper. Tell the neighborhood
    kids of the chopper and the reward. I would expect at the most that
    it would be 500-1000 yrds away. Try and remember the direction it
    way pointing when it was on the ground. Then look in that direction
    and to it's left. If the area your looking in is grassy tie ribbon
    at the corners and look inside of a 50 x 50 ft area at a time. Then
    go onto the next area.  
    
    
    				GOOD LUCK
    
    
    	PS While your at it look for Ajai's T60 :-)
    
    
    Tom
1090.3LEDS::LEWISWed Aug 23 1989 10:0710
    
    And they say choppers are hard to fly??? :-).  That's a strange one!
    If you were in the east we could organize "Ajai's search party" again.
    
    Other things to consider - how much fuel was left when you went in the
    house (to give an idea how far it could possibly have gone).  Do you
    have any disgruntled neighbors that might have been bothered by the
    noise and sent their kids on a mission?  Good luck,
    
    Bill
1090.4look ma..no chopperORIENT::JONEILLWed Aug 23 1989 10:478
    Are you sure it's not one of those stealth coppers ? It could
    be sitting right in front of you.....
    
    
    
    
    
    seriously, I hope you find it.
1090.5Oh! No! Not another one!!HPSRAD::AJAIWed Aug 23 1989 10:509
    I haven't had any luck finding my T60, though it disappeared into
    the woods with 4~5 pairs of eyes on it. In your case, no one was
    watching. Man, you are in tough shape. 
    
    I can only commiserate with your loss, and wish you all the best in
    finding it.
    
    ajai (and been there before)
    
1090.6Reply to .1BSS::WALKERWed Aug 23 1989 12:134
    
    -.1
    
    I live in Sundance Estates on Sunburst Dr.
1090.7A fly-away is a definite possibility!MDSUPT::EATONDan EatonWed Aug 23 1989 12:4024
            
    Bummer! I never believed a copter could do a fly away but it is
    possible. A couple of years back I read an article about a guy 
    with a GMP Cobra. He had just fueled up and did a test hop to check
    the tracking. When he set it down he hit a little hard and up the
    helicopter went with no control from him. He got a call later from
    some people who had watched it come down in their pine tree after
    it ran out of fuel. What makes the story even more incrediable is
    that there was no damage due to the soft landing in the pine tree.
    Talk about luck! The cause of this fly away was found to be the
    switch for the reciever. It had a 'false' detent before the real
    ON detent. The bump on landing had caused the switch to flip the
    reciever off. I've been real careful with my Cobra every since I
    heard this story.
    
    Most likely you've had a fly away. You might try contacting the
    police in case anyone reported it crashing into their property.
    Another tactic is to try Kay's favorite and offer a reward to the
    kids in the nieghborhood.
                    
    Hope you find it soon. 
    
    Dan Eaton
                                     
1090.8Update on SearchBSS::WALKERRalph WalkerFri Aug 25 1989 22:0214
 I have put a ad in the local paper offering a $200 reward also put
    the ad on the local cable TV bulletin board.
    
    Told neighborhood kids of reward and shown pictures of helicopter.
    
    Placed a poster at local Post Office.
    
    Alerted hobby shops and local Radio Shack.
    
    Had a friend fly me around the area for 2hrs conducting a air search.
    
    
    None of this has had positive results yet but I'm trying.
    
1090.9I am cheapskateHPSRAD::AJAIMon Aug 28 1989 13:164
    My address labels on my T60 offers only a $100 reward.
    
    ajai
    
1090.10Such a DealBSS::WALKERRalph WalkerWed Aug 30 1989 00:292
I figure there was $1200 worth of hardware that flew away so getting
    it back for $200 would be a deal.
1090.11CSC32::GORTMAKERwhatsa Gort?Wed Aug 30 1989 03:436
    re-.1
    Ouch! I'd rather see a really spectacular crash than to just loose it.
    I hate loosing anything anyway.
    
    Good luck,-j
    
1090.12LUNER::WEIERWed Aug 30 1989 12:564
    Is it possible that someone (or YOUR dog?) is playing a practical joke
    on you???  Maybe your wife or a neighbor hid it somewhere?
    
    	No clues on this one .... GOOD LUCK!!
1090.13another hintMUCTEC::HERMANNTue Sep 05 1989 04:0512
    i bet,it's on top of the house,in a position you wouldn't see it from
    an airplane or from ground...
    it is more likely CLOSE to the house than far away.
    (if it wasn't taken away by someone else)
    i've had two "fly aways" and it always came down VERY close by.
    i hope you find it soon!
    if so,besides finding the cause,replace the receiver battery,
    because it was discharged to zero! a new battery is cheaper than
    loosing it again.
    good luck,
    hermann mueller,dsc munich
    
1090.14Mystery SolvedBSS::WALKERRalph WalkerMon Oct 30 1989 10:2118
    Its BACK! A few weeks ago a neighborhood kid stopped my wife and told
    her he thought he found the missing heli, my wife who was just getting
    home from picking up a new puppy forgot to get the kids name or phone
    number. So she has been camping out at the school bus stop for a few
    days but turned up nothing. Yesterday I got a call from a neighbor and
    he gave me the name and number of the person who found the machine.
    
    It seems as the leaves fell off the scrub oak the sun would reflect off
    the canopy and thats how it was spotted. The landing/crash site was
    about 1/4 mile due north (same direction the breeze was blowing) from my 
    house. Damage: Canopy trashed, radio tray trashed(radio and gyro still
    work), training gear trashed, tail boom took a hit from the blades but
    can be straightened, main shaft and blade axle bent, one main blade
    cracked and dinged othe like new, several control rods bent.
    
    All this may sound bad but it certainly is not as bad as I thought it
    would be, besides the engine and radio gear are fine and it is great to
    have it home again.