Test Flight

2008-11-06 November

Hmm... Early in the morning, I have been waiting for the time to test flight my Raven TR3703 after the fix. Today is the day!!

0730 Loaded up all equipments and the Raven into my car, drove to the nearby field.

However, when i reached there, looks like it was raining very lightly..



I have waiting for this morning to fly the Raven but I don't want to take the risk of any new issues resulting from this tiny droplets of rain. So I head back home, put the Raven in my parking garage, at least I need to start up the engine and see the rotor spining!! :)


There!


2008-11-07

They day is clear to day!

Packup all the stuff. Filled up the tank.

Start the engine.
Try again. Hmm.. now I have new problem, the starter. Looks like the nut at the starter head not able to hold the head properly and it is slipping. After few tries, taken out the glow plug to ensure no 'hydrolock', I manage to start the engine.

There she goes, hover at about 4 feet hight, 10 feet in front of me. Looks like it flies with no problem at all. I landed her to check the engine temperature using the famouse finger on the backplate method and realize that it was pretty hot. So I adjusted the HSN one click richer.

Fly again about the same hight and same position, suddently the Raven started to spin!!
At that split second:
1. No response from rudder control!
2. It just continue spinning counter clockwise, at 180 degrees than I realize I need to bring it down before anything thing bad happen.. and can I bring it down safe ly??

So I reduce the throttle, it goes down while spinning for about another 360 degrees. The Raven TR3703 landed on her skid quite hard and luckly the blades did not touch the ground at all. And the engine still running. Everything still good!

At first I thought that it was due to battery has ran out but other controls are still working. Looking at rudder servo, I realized that the ball link has came out from the servo ball!
When I put it back I can feel how loose it was, very easy to go in and out again. I quickly rotate the ball link end 180 degree since the other side able to hold to the ball quite good.

Then, since the engine is still running, I continue to fly the Raven, hover it for about 10 minutes utilizing half of the tank.

Thinking back, the problem with the ball link must have due to the previous crash... another item which me and the others have overlooked.

Completed the test flight with this new minor finding.


Lesson learnt:
1. Need to have 10mm socket to fix the starter nut easily next time
2. Need to carefully inspect parts after crash
3. Ball links are very important, make sure they will not come out easily!