Flew My First Full Pack, then...well, you know...

Yeah! I hovered a full pack without corkscrewing the heli at Bob Miller field today! I went on to hover a couple more packs. I never could really relax though, as I tend to over control and plant them, but it was going too well. I did have a problem with a low voltage brown out. It happened first on the ground after a couple of long hovers, when I heard the motor pitch of the sound change, and did not take off. I noticed the controls were no longer responding, hit throttle hold, and nothing happened. The blades kept going for another few seconds, then spun down. I checked the receiver and sure enough, one blink. I changed out the battery, hovered again, and after about 6 minutes I noticed the heli starting to act odd, not responding well, so I landed her just as she browned out again...

I decided to take a break from the ERazor 450 and wanted to take my CopterX 250 for a spin. I hovered a couple packs, and on the third one I put her down a little hard during a practice landing, and suffered a blade strike... Since she is sooo small and light, it tore her up pretty good.

Bummer, as I was doing a fair job of hovering her twitchy little self. This is going to take a lot of work... What happens in a blade strike in this situation is when I landed her hard, the blades momentum and pitch angle kept them moving down and they dipped, snapping the feathering shaft that secures them to the main rotor head while striking the tail boom (that's why the tail boom is so mangled). Looks like the main shaft is also bent. Will know more when I work on her in a week or so... gonna let her sit for nowas I am going to have to take her completely apart, inventory and order parts.

I wanted to fly my airplanes, having brought the MX2 and the PT-19 Cornell, but there were no Instructor Pilots to box with and I don't feel ready to fly them without an IP. My Cubby's are in the hurt locker. So... I took the ERazor for another spin. Flew wonderfully, but started to get away from me too far. I tried to bring her back but couldn't, and started to lose her orientation. I turned her a little, to the right (she had been tail in to me), and I think she was starting to return to me when I felt I was not in control; I felt she was starting to roll hard. I hit throttle hold and she dropped. I think if I had not lost my nerve and waited, I could have hovered her down or even brought her back, but I freaked out when she rolled. She smacked into the berry's on the far side of the field, and the walk of shame was made worse by my having to walk around in circles until I could find her. She wasn't in too bad of shape. The elevator servo, one that always goes, was stripped, the blades were toast (nice CF ones), the requisite feathering and main shaft bends are there and a few teeth are missing from one spot on the main gear. The landing gear are broken (one is missing). Not too bad, all in all. I am waiting on a bunch of 450 blades, and I don't have the landing gear (Xheli has been out of stock for a while on those, which could be a problem. When I bought her I wasn't aware she was not an Align clone, so I am dependent on Dynam ERazor parts).

Looks worse than it really is.  Good thing I had the animal crackers to make the owie go away...

After a couple of days of this, despite the good company, I was done and decided to pack up and head home. I didn't fly my airplanes, though I did run the MX2 motor (only got about 6 minutes at 3/4 to full throttle). I had let it sit in the sun for about 20 minutes, and when I went to pick her up to pack her, I noticed this:

You can see that the cockpit EPO got all cobblestony in the sun... Hmm....

UPDATE (5/7/11): Turns out it also melted the paint behind the canopy gluing the canopy magnets together... Also caused the elevator corners to droop.

Well, tomorrow is the KOAST Fly-In over in Ocean Springs at their field (their website is wrong, it IS on Saturday, May 7, starting at 8 am). Fly fee $5, Lunch of fried chicken and fixin's $5. I won't likely fly again for a week, unless I get lucky and some parts come before I leave for Meridian for a week, so I may not have much to post.

All in all, while I feel a bit bummed (just tired I think), it was a really good day!