Aeroplus 111" Edge 540 V3 assembly

[Pancake]

Got 3 perfect flights in today before a servo failure. It was sunny, and a little gusty as you would expect from spring time in Colorado. I'm feeling better about the motor with the new rings, and the tune is starting to settle down. Still not ready to get low and slow yet. In the middle of the 4th flight I did a snap and the plane came out doing the funky chicken. :yikes:

Rudder was locked hard over. We had a quartering crosswind gusting to 20mph. I managed to knife edge the plane around and by the grace of God managed to set her down in a 3 point landing before it veered into the field. I actually think the crosswind helped the situation.

Out of the... Dozens of Hitec servos I have flown over the years this is only the 2nd failure, and the only one to lock hard over. The "slave" servo locked up and the "master" smoked itself trying to go to neutral. I'm packing these bad boys up and sending them to Xpress for service!

 

[Pancake]

Servos are finally being warrantied. Hopefully have her back in the air this weekend!

 

[Pancake]

Well, last trip out started great. My buddy Tim brought out his old AW 50cc edge 540 for a re-maiden with his new dx18. I took a flight to make sure the new 7950s were going to work, and limber up my thumbs. Engine was still pretty rich and burbling so I barely tweaked the high needle 1/8 turn so it would peak without surging/ 4 stroking.
Got a few flights in, started bringing it down and doing more 3d. Sun came out, and despite some wind Buzz from Magnum fuels shot some video, and the plane was flying great. I'm still a little rusty, it's a little tailheavy, and this plane is so responsive to control inputs it was hard not overcontrolling! Plus, I'm still getting my rates dialed in. My buddy Tim shot some video on Facebook, so that was cool. Not my best flight, but it does show some of what this awesome airplane is capable of! Hopefully Buzz can shoot me over some still pics.
It was time to charge up my batteries, and when I pulled the canopy hatch I saw one of the canopy dowels fell out. I mentioned it might be time to put the plane away, but Tim said he would stick around if I wanted to burn more gas. So I said OK. As soon as I throttled up and the plane moved some geotex from the runway blew up and caught the tailwheel hard. Plane was thrown sideways and jammed the left wheelpant and axle into the runway making another tear and almost ripping my gear off. My 2nd sign I should have stayed on the ground. Nothing but my wheel pant was broken, so we started it back up and went flying. About 4 minutes in doing lots of 3D, lots of low and slow the engine just stopped about 20' up during a rolling harrier. Nothing to do but level the wings and watch it plant itself in the field inverted.
The plane is pretty rough. Prop, cowl, motorbox, canopy hatch, rudder, hinges, wingtip, and fuselage sides have substantial damage. I checked the Venom temp guage- my previous high temp was 287. This flight 351! I can only assume it got too hot doing low and slow and the carb vapor locked. Even with all my baffling, and plenty of exit air it just wasn't enough. The engine was still acting rich and changing tune so... I'm going to check the plugs and see what they say.

Anyway- plane flies great, and I will get to be the guinea pig on Aeroplus "Free wood" program. I will be ordering a new cowl, canopy hatch, and rudder from AP in addition to wood for the motorbox, wingtip, F1, pipe tunnel, and maybe some pieces for the fuselage and covering for the VW symbol on the belly pan.

 

[Rusty 73]

Sorry to hear about your damage , time to order a whole fuselage and rebuild her easier than trying to fix all the small damage on the fuselage .

 

[pawnshopmike]

Well, last trip out started great. My buddy Tim brought out his old AW 50cc edge 540 for a re-maiden with his new dx18. I took a flight to make sure the new 7950s were going to work, and limber up my thumbs. Engine was still pretty rich and burbling so I barely tweaked the high needle 1/8 turn so it would peak without surging/ 4 stroking.
Got a few flights in, started bringing it down and doing more 3d. Sun came out, and despite some wind Buzz from Magnum fuels shot some video, and the plane was flying great. I'm still a little rusty, it's a little tailheavy, and this plane is so responsive to control inputs it was hard not overcontrolling! Plus, I'm still getting my rates dialed in. My buddy Tim shot some video on Facebook, so that was cool. Not my best flight, but it does show some of what this awesome airplane is capable of! Hopefully Buzz can shoot me over some still pics.
It was time to charge up my batteries, and when I pulled the canopy hatch I saw one of the canopy dowels fell out. I mentioned it might be time to put the plane away, but Tim said he would stick around if I wanted to burn more gas. So I said OK. As soon as I throttled up and the plane moved some geotex from the runway blew up and caught the tailwheel hard. Plane was thrown sideways and jammed the left wheelpant and axle into the runway making another tear and almost ripping my gear off. My 2nd sign I should have stayed on the ground. Nothing but my wheel pant was broken, so we started it back up and went flying. About 4 minutes in doing lots of 3D, lots of low and slow the engine just stopped about 20' up during a rolling harrier. Nothing to do but level the wings and watch it plant itself in the field inverted.
The plane is pretty rough. Prop, cowl, motorbox, canopy hatch, rudder, hinges, wingtip, and fuselage sides have substantial damage. I checked the Venom temp guage- my previous high temp was 287. This flight 351! I can only assume it got too hot doing low and slow and the carb vapor locked. Even with all my baffling, and plenty of exit air it just wasn't enough. The engine was still acting rich and changing tune so... I'm going to check the plugs and see what they say.

Anyway- plane flies great, and I will get to be the guinea pig on Aeroplus "Free wood" program. I will be ordering a new cowl, canopy hatch, and rudder from AP in addition to wood for the motorbox, wingtip, F1, pipe tunnel, and maybe some pieces for the fuselage and covering for the VW symbol on the belly pan.

Ouch. That sucks bro. But I'll look forward to the re-build thread.

 

[Pancake]

Some fun before the shut down.

I'm waiting for word on what everything is going to cost. A new fuse, hatch, cowl, and rudder might not be that much less than a whole new airframe. If AP can cut everything I need I can fix what I have. I've rebuilt a couple 3DHS planes with new motor boxes etc... It's a bit of a pain, and I will have to re-cover the fuselage. I could fix the engine box with some big gussets if it comes down to it!