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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Hi Larry</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Having had a TX failure, I know from experience the
utter helplessness that a pilot feels when his plane is no longer in his
control. It sucks big time and I do not wish it on anyone. The most important
thing is to ensure the safety of everyone around you as the plane is now
simply a projectile on an uncharted course. </FONT><FONT
face=Arial></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>These are my thoughts on "Fail Safe" settings... <U>no one
else's</U>.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>First and foremost, I consider this a "failure setting"
hence the title "Fail" .... not some sort of "glitch-setting" setup to get my
plane to maintain a path of flight. </FONT><FONT face=Arial>If your looking for
a "glitch safe" setting I don't have any answers...sorry.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Now following the "Fail" part of your dilemma (i.e. your
TX has failed for some reason) comes the "Safe" part. This is setting up your
controls to make the airplane do a controlled "arrival" without 1) killing
or injuring anyone and 2) causing any property damage. Remember the plane
is going in regardless and, unless your on short final when the failure occurs
(not likely), your going to probably lose the airframe. The intent
is to not loose anything else.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Once you come to that realization, the set up is easy. I
have a spin programmed into mine. Not a fast one that we see in competition but
a slower, winding descent that will cause the aircraft to arrive
somewhere within the box (which is where I fly 98% of the
time). Slight right aileron, slight right rudder & some up
elevator with the throttle at Idle. Will this save my plane? No. Will it
provide the most safety for everyone around? I believe it will.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>For those that have PCM RX/TX's and have no Fail Safe
setup whatsoever then your odds of failure equalling disaster are high
(same as non PCM types in fact). For those with Fail Safe set to "steady
state" with idle then your a little better off as the plane will likely maintain
a relatively steady path until impact with whatever/whomever it hits.
Remember you have no control at all. And for those like myself with the
spin setup, I have somewhat better odds of containing the carnage as it's
going in within the box. Last time I checked most of the pattern
boxes where devoid of obstacles (cars/people etc) </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Now under some circumstances the "Spin" scenario I use may
not give me a lot of time but I would plan to do a couple things to get my
plane back under control. 1) Make sure the TX is "On" and you
didn't adjust the trim's with the "On" switch.... seen it done:-) 2)
push/hold the antenna into the TX (might be a contact or the antenna has twisted
loose... seen it done.) 3) Yell your frequency out loud as someone may
have turned "on" accidentally. (Or you forgot to tag up yourself and
he's on legitimately ... seen it done. ) </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Remember PCM Fail Safe is not the be all and end all. You
could find yourself in equal trouble when the RX battery dies because you
forgot to charge/check the voltage or the RX fails. It just gives you an way to
help prevent possible disaster when the TX fails, nothing more.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>These are my thoughts and I'll leave it to you and anyone
else out there to decide how they want to have their plane react when there is a
hard TX failure (not glitches). </FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Safe building & flying,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Dave Reaville<BR>NSRCA I-VP<BR>Canada West
District<BR>NSRCA 3156<BR>MAAC 56510 <BR><A
href="http://members.shaw.ca/patternwestnews/">http://members.shaw.ca/patternwestnews/</A> </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=larryc4@cebridge.net href="mailto:larryc4@cebridge.net">L
Caldwell</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=discussion@nsrca.org
href="mailto:discussion@nsrca.org">discussion@nsrca.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Monday, May 16, 2005 7:03 AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Fail-safe settings for control
surfaces</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>Hi All,<BR><BR>What is the general concensus for the best
setting for the control <BR>surfaces on a pattern plane, and why. I'm
going to be put a PCM <BR>receiver in my plane, primarily for the throttle
fail-safe, but I'm not <BR>sure what would be best for the control
surfaces.<BR><BR>I would like to have the safety of the onlookers, other
fliers, and <BR>field neighbors as the main priority, but still have a chance
to recover <BR>the plane if it comes out of failsafe.<BR><BR>I've considered
these options:<BR><BR>1) Low idle, controls at neutral but with a slight
amount of up <BR> elevator. That might be a good way to see
brief lockouts, but<BR>the plane could travel a long way if it stayed locked
at at high<BR>altitude.<BR><BR>2) Last good signal doesn't seem like a good
idea to me if it<BR>stays locked out. You could get anything
there.<BR><BR>3) This seems safest for the crowd, but probably bad for the
future of <BR>the plane. Low idle or engine off, full spin entry on the
<BR>controls.<BR><BR>Any better ideas?<BR><BR>Larry Caldwell<BR>Brookland,
Arkansas<BR>=================================================<BR>To access the
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