All mourn my trainer

Sounds fair to me, one of my favorite planes has been totally rebuilt with all new materials from the trailing edge of the wing forward Including the wing (but I saved the ailerons) I still consider it to be a repaired plane.

Now the last one I dorked, I managed to even destroy the tail, broke the horizontal stab, broke the vertical stab, even managed to break the rudder. I'm thinking that one is a write-off ;-(

Sorry to hear. I say build a new one in the same color scheme. mk (new radio too)

Thats what trainers are for..and kicking butt with (the other sort)

Was it by any chance on a Spektrum DX7 2.4 gig????? I have seen a few aileron failures all using the DX7 , including me on 3 occaisions before I scrapped the TX,Rx and servos.( temporarily)

Without wanting to start a debate on 2.4, NO it wasn't. I have zero intention of using that stuff, for all the hype I've seen more problems with it than conventional radio sets.

Can't say I've heard of that but given the age of the plane and the use it got, I wouldn't be surprised to find the servo (or it's lead) failed. Oh, yes I very carefully checked it before and after the crash.

I'll do a crystal swap in the RX and see if it comes good, then do some extensive ground checks before putting it in something with gentle flight characteristics (eg. foam park flyer). If it passes all my checks I will reuse it. The impact wasn't that severe, it was the angled impact (wing/nose) that did the damage.

I know that Futaba spread spectrum has had some issues, but I don't fly Futaba. I have not heard anything about the Airtronics spread spectrum stuff. Please educate me a little because I only know of one problem with the DSM stuff and that is the brownout issue that I thought had been resolved and I would rather not put any more models (of any size) at risk unknowingly.

I ate my 30% Pitts last month to what appeared to be an aileron problem with my Spektrum DSM system. The bird HAD 4 aileron servos and I had put the lower set into a Y harness coming out of the AUX 2 plug. I had flown the plane extensively (like 12 or 14 flights) the week before with no issues. Testing after the crash showed that if the AUX 2 switch was moved, the lower ailerons turned 1/2 right and then continued to move with stick inputs. I realized I was in trouble as soon as it broke ground and I fought it most of the way around the circuit. I finally lost as I tried to turn final. RIP. I thought this was an operator error, am I incorrect?

TIA,

Jim Branaum AMA 1428

SNIP

I take it it's a biplane.... Could it be a set-up problem with the AUX2?? have you checked D/rate/expo/soft offsets for aux2? With mine, the ailerons went full right travel.... and the plane spiralled into the ground.

Yes, the Pitts is a biplane.

Maybe it is/was a set up problem with AUX2, but that is not a radio problem rather an operator error. Someday soon I will do some additional research.

Were you using AUX2 for ailerons?

No regular Aileron channel, single wing.

Lets test something. Please plug a servo into the aileron channel and another into the AUX2 channel. Turn on and test the aileron response. Then while still on, switch the AUX2 opposite of what it is and test the aileron responsiveness again. Please let me know the results because now you are making me wonder.

TIA

Jim Branaum AMA 1428