Pre-flight Inspections Are A Must!!!!

Tony

Tony

Staff member
Tony submitted a new Article:

Pre-flight Inspections Are A Must!!!!

A mistake that a lot of people make in this hobby, is they think of what we do as "flying or driving TOYS". I'm here to tell you, these things are NOT toys! Maybe the little bitty 3ch coax heli's that you can get in the mall are toys, but anything from an mCP-X to an 800 Trekker can and have been proven to be lethal. The same goes with planes. I have seen quite a few people with massive scars or missing fingers because they got their hand or arm in the prop. I have seen pictures of what can happen when something goes wrong on a helicopter, and lets just say, it's not pretty.

If you think about it, no matter if you are flying an airplane or a helicopter, they are flying lawn mowers in the air. I bet you never even get your hand close to that spinning blade on your mower, do you? Well a heli or a plane is no different. You have a blade, or blades, and this time, there is no shroud with the classic picture right above it.

View attachment 8346

So the dangers of this hobby brings me to the point of this article. Pre Flight Inspections!

Before you fly, be it a helicopter or an airplane, you MUST do a pre flight inspection of ALL items on that aircraft. I had slacked off for quite a while and didn't do any of my inspections on any of my aircraft. This almost cost me dearly. My 50" Edge 540T had a battery tray that was coming loose. If I hadn't have seen this before taking off, I would have done a snap roll and the battery would have flung about the fuselage. If it stayed plugged in, my CoG would have been shifted WAY to the rear, making the plane all but impossible to bring back down in a controlled manner. If the battery would have come unplugged, then all you can do is just sit there and watch it slam it's self into the ground and hope like hell you don't hit anyone or anything.

The very next day, I decided to toss my 450 in the air that I had just flashed to V4.0. It needed a test flight to verify the settings and see if it was stable on the ground. The day before, as stated, I had flown this heli and it just felt off and I landed it after a very short flight. Upon taking off, even with the new firmware in the gyro, it still felt off to me. Even though I was oblivious to the issue that this heli had.

Again, it was a short flight testing it out, and I started to walk inside to post my findings. As I was walking, I had the heli by the head block, and I felt it moving and I walked. Thinking the crap Corona servos were to blame, I held it up and started to wiggle the blade grips. It was not my servos (even though there is a lot of play in them). The swash ball that connects to the DFC link arms had started backing out. Once inside, I found out that there was only about 1.5 turns left and it would have fell out. If I had done anything with hard collective or cyclic, this could have ended in tragedy.

Between my planes having issues, my heli almost taking me or my cars out, and the horrific tragedy that happened in New York, it is a MUST that you do your pre flight inspections! I will bet money the heli that killed the guy in New York had a flaw that most people would have over looked if it had not been for a pre flight inspection. I"m sure this guy did a pre flight inspection, but over looked this one little flaw. Be it a cracked link end, or like me, a swash ball that was coming out.

Please, every time you get ready to fly, sit the aircraft on a bench or table, and physically touch every part of that aircraft. wiggle the blades, wiggle the swash, check the tail, pull on the battery, wiggle the wings, check all control surfaces and make sure you don't have a broke hinge. Once YOU feel safe that this aircraft is not going to fall uncontrollably out of the sky, then go out and have a blast.

And when you are done flying, you are done trying to rip the blades or the wings off the aircraft, check it over as you are pulling out the battery and shutting it down. These things are not toys, they are machines. And they have proven to be just as deadly as a machine in the last couple weeks.

Stay safe and have fun. That is the name of the game!
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Read more about this article here...
 
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D.O.G.

D.O.G.

Goblin 380 Supporter
Being new to the Heli world. I'm always finding something loose or not working properly. Lost blade on take off once. Excellent advise Mr. Tony.
 
H

Hoveringandscared

New Member
I have fallen victim of this myself, having changed the prop on my extra I had forgotten to tighten it after balancing, needless to say that soon after take off things got very quiet!
 
Derek

Derek

Well-Known Member
I'd just like to bring this article into the light again. Preflight inspections are incredibly important. Whether it be our expensive $900+ models or our inexpensive little foamies....please check and then double check that your bolts are tight, the bearings are smooth, and belts are tight.

My sisters boyfriend rescued a Parkzone Typhoon 3D plane from the hobby store trash bin. He brought it to me and asked if it could be refitted with new electronics and would it fly again. I was intrigued.

We stripped all the original electronics from the plane and place and order for new electronics. New electronics arrived and we began the installation. Servos went in place without issue. Installed the receiver, esc, and motor...no problem! After getting the receiver bound to the transmitter....it's time to fly.

Prior to the first launch, I just happen to think that it wasn't me that plugged the esc into the motor and I didn't recall tightening the prop adapter. In fact, it was my sisters boyfriend that did that part. Now....it's surely not his fault....he didn't know any better. The prop adapter was only snug tight so I got an allen wrench and tighten that up. This plane is turning a 13" prop....a loose 13" prop could have caused a bit of damage and/or personal harm.

Something else that I thought of was the wires from the motor to the esc.....are they hooked up correctly so that the prop spins the correct way? Come to find out, the motor was turning the wrong way. Quick fix...swap two wires and we're good. Can you imagine what would have happened if we would have tried to launch the plane and have the prop spinning the wrong way? Hmmmm, I don't want to find out.

After making those changes, we did a quick pre-flight check of the control surfaces...all was good there. Time to fly!

Facing the wind....throttle up......LAUNCH! After a few trim clicks, the plane flew very very well. We'll have the buddy box setup for him next time and we'll be in for a good time.

So....do yourself and your family a favor....do your preflight inspections of all parts and pieces....do your preflight checks of your control surfaces and motor direction on your planes and check your swashplate movements and tail sections. You'll have a fun flight but more importantly, you'll have a safe flight.
 
Admiral

Admiral

Well-Known Member
Inspections should be fully carried out after minor incidents as well, I found out the hard way after a minor tail problem with the tail of my Flasher 500 at the field I came home, repaired the problem and it had started raining so I unwisely decided to test it under the covered pergola. Hovered about 6" for about 30 seconds all good tail under control, about to shut it down WAM, BAM, Duck the 500 slammed into the pergola roof leaving a large hole, oops there goes all the brownie points with the misses. Inspection after the incident found two things the could have caused the accident, one was the cause and the other happened in the crash the upper solid FB linkage was broken and the servo linkage came out of the servo arm, I think it was the servo arm which an inspection should have found a hairline crack in the upper FB linkage may have still been missed.

Proved two things to me inspection are critical before, after and between flights and all be aware of the environment in which you fly even a little test flight.

PS. Took about 12 months to get any brownie points back.
 
Blackwarrior

Blackwarrior

Member
I certainly agree with all the safety checks, but I'd like to make a comment on some of the absolutely stupid and irresponsible things ppl do when there bird is in flight.

I watched a YouTube vid the other day whilst searching for the kds flymentor, this guy was hovering his 450 heli showing off with no fingers on the sticks, very clever I thought.... NOT... Then the idiot hovered it over his head and grabbed hold of the skids, then throttled down. He had had hundreds of views, I couldn't believe it, search YouTube for kds flymentor, you will find it... I did make a comment calling him an idiot, he just replied with thanks.. Can you imagine young kids looking at that thinking that's a good trick.. Makes my blood boil..

That's my pennies worth, not just safety..

Happy and safe flying
 
Tony

Tony

Staff member
There is a group out there that does stupid crap like that. I try to keep it off of here to keep new pilots from trying this stuff. Like doing auto's with a 700 size helicopter that is tied to a rope coming off the back of a truck, skiing, and other stupid crap.
 
V

vimy

Member
I treat models the same way as pilots of full sized aircraft.

Pilots of full sized aircraft go through a pre-flight inspection, so the same should be carried out by pilots of models.

Tony, I saw the pix of that accident. Shocking. This comment about a possible mechanical failure is new to me:

'Minute Mechanical Error' May Have Led to Teen's Remote-Control Helicopter Death, Expert Says - ABC News

I read the above article and noted a person by the name of Whey Roberts, commented he won't fliy 3D with glow plug helis, they are too dangerous.

The stresses on the rotors and airframes of helicopters must be enormous.

That is why I get annoyed at the media dumb arses that can't get it through their thick skulls in referring to models as toys.

It trivialises what is a potentially lethal object.
 
P

pvolcko

Well-Known Member
I watched the video clip. They had some heli pilot on there that actually spun up a 450ish size heli while it was in his hands! And this is who they're going to for "expert" advice on safety issues with these things?!
 
trainrider06

trainrider06

Active Member
EyeStation said:
Just a reminder!
[video]https://youtu.be/J_8mdH20qTQ[/video]
Click to expand...

Poor kitty! It looked like it settled down and was enjoying the flight though LOL....

- - - Updated - - -

I know all too well about not looking my heli over good.....:( smacked my TRex 500 Pro DFC tail first into the pavement because of a servo mount to linkage not properly secured.....and I knew better than to let that thing spool up without a proper
preflight! Actually if I'd done my usual postflight inspection I'd caught it! So I screwed up even worse!
 
Dbell79

Dbell79

Member
My intructor did not make a pre-flight check when he took my Apperntice 15e up. The plane took off and made an immediate nose dive, totaled it. I found later the ailerons were plugged into the hole where the rudder went. I'm out a $300 plane and looking for a new intructor. See the proof...image.jpg

image.jpg
 
Heliman450

Heliman450

Well-Known Member
All good advice. After my last crash, I've also made a change to my practice strategy. I watched Tony's introductory videos and am going back to square one. I've set my pitch curve to restrict the altitude the heli can reach so it doesn't get carried away. In the case of my Blade 450X on the simulator, this is 73% to keep it just light enough on the training gear to do the very low level exercise using the four squares' principle.

From my investigations into the differences between the simulator and the real model, I know that this number will be a few percent different. Unlike me, don't try and jump forward and try something, which you can do on the simulator in the real world. Fortunately, it was at the field early in the morning with no spectators.

Be careful out there!
 
B

Batwing

New Member
My nephew got a little WL 977 heli at Christmas and he asked me to set it up and fly it since I have some big RC gliders. As soon as I put my hands on the controls I was bitten by the heli bug. New Years eave my first ready to fly 977 arrived. A second soon after, more batteries and parts and I just had no respect I flew it indoors out doors off the front porch. Finally, I was showing off for my niece and nephew at Easter doing flybys of my head. As you RC pilots know you have to imagine that you are in the bird to fly it. As I the heli approached me a bit of a breeze hit the bird and the result was a very slight blade knick below my sunglasses. I did not really notice it and I picked up the heli to check for damage when my niece started screaming your bleeding! I was really bummed since I still had more batteries and the heli was flyable. However, explaining to my family and friends was so embarrassing that I now I am super careful regarding where I fly to make sure no one is around me. Very important since I have finally finished my Align TRex 550L and it is ready to spool up. The electric motor and battery are comparable to my electric lawn mower!
 
D.O.G.

D.O.G.

Goblin 380 Supporter
Batwing said:
My nephew got a little WL 977 heli at Christmas and he asked me to set it up and fly it since I have some big RC gliders. As soon as I put my hands on the controls I was bitten by the heli bug. New Years eave my first ready to fly 977 arrived. A second soon after, more batteries and parts and I just had no respect I flew it indoors out doors off the front porch. Finally, I was showing off for my niece and nephew at Easter doing flybys of my head. As you RC pilots know you have to imagine that you are in the bird to fly it. As I the heli approached me a bit of a breeze hit the bird and the result was a very slight blade knick below my sunglasses. I did not really notice it and I picked up the heli to check for damage when my niece started screaming your bleeding! I was really bummed since I still had more batteries and the heli was flyable. However, explaining to my family and friends was so embarrassing that I now I am super careful regarding where I fly to make sure no one is around me. Very important since I have finally finished my Align TRex 550L and it is ready to spool up. The electric motor and battery are comparable to my electric lawn mower!
Click to expand...

You don't want that to happen to you while flying the 550L. That knick would of been serious facial damage.
 
trainrider06

trainrider06

Active Member
i reckon we all have done some stupid things, one time when I was working on my Blade SR I had it on the bench, was gonna check pitch settings.....hehe she powered up on me and took off, don't know how I did it but I reached out and grabbed it as it was taking off, caught the skids and shut it down. i was lucky the thing didn't take off into me.....
 
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