Gohbee
Senior Heliman
Location: SC
| So far we've crashed the prototype 4 times. To date, we've been fortunate with every crash and only sustained minimal damage. Either by luck or good fortune, we've yet to break a main frame component. (It's just a matter of time!) Below is a description of each crash and the culprit behind it. I won't name any names to protect the innocent! 
The 1st Crash was due to a ESC going out due to static electricity interference issues.
The 2nd Crash was from a gyro going out in a 6 foot hover. Likely due to the same issue as above. The problem has now been solved and we haven't had any issues with any ESC or gyro that we've tested. Incidentally the interference was coming from the tail belt. We fought this problem for quite a while. Thankfully with the help of the Flightpower team (Clintstone) and the Castle Creations team, we think we've got this one solved. We're now running a different type of tail belt and the issues have gone away.
3rd Crash was from running a receiver pack too low. One of the pilots forgot to check his Rx pack voltage before flying. I guess we'd had so much fun we lost track of how many flights we had on it. Lost control at about 150 to 200 feet in the air. The attached pics are from this crash. Notice how the break-away skid pads worked. (Saved the frames!) The main blades, battery and frame survived. We ended up replacing the boom, a boom support and the landing skids. We probably should have replaced the flybar, but we just straightened it, installed the other replacement parts and got it back in the air for more testing. We calculated the retail cost for this crash was right around $29. (Including the flybar we should have replaced.)
The 4th Crash was from unsecured batteries. We were testing a 10S setup with two 5S packs and one of the 5S packs was not secured correctly. The canopy was off and we were flying right side up. The pilot gave a sharp negative pitch input and one of the batteries came loose and went up through the rotor disc. Fortunately the flybar hit the battery not the main blade. However the battery is no longer usable. This crash is the one that didn't even break the skids....and from what I understand was a pretty hard landing. (I wasn't there to witness it.)
So, there you have it. All in all, I'm very pleased with the guys we've got test flying them. They're doing an excellent job. We've made and are continuing to make adjustments when we see or perceive a problem. For sure, if the cause of a crash was due to something mechanical or in the design, we will fix it BEFORE we go to market.
-David
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