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<DIV><FONT size=2>I have my settings to lock everything in place and drop the
engine to idle. When you hear the engine drop (or notice no pull if there are
other noisy planes close by) a quick wiggle of the wings lets you know if you're
locked out of if your engine is dead. In fact, often it's possible to know
you're locked out before you hear the engine because you can instantly feel the
plane not responding. We don't realize it all the time, but we're always making
tiny adjustments and you can tell immediately when the plane doesn't respond,
even in level flight.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>My thought is that I don't want to *cause* a crash by throwing
the controls into a configuration that could take me from a controlled attitude
to a dangerous attitude if I get just a short signal interruption. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>I think all of the points made are good ones, there's no
perfect answer. I'm just hopeful each time I fly that I don't "loose it". I
think the most important thing is the throttle cut. Beyond that there are pluses
and minuses to both freezing all surfaces and putting it into a spin. Maybe the
ideal solution is a system that would freeze the surfaces for lockouts of only a
second or two, and then the ole' autopilot fly in circles approach for longer
lockouts.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Keith</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=knowhow3@bellsouth.net href="mailto:knowhow3@bellsouth.net">Rick
Kent</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> Tuesday, May 17, 2005 12:58
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: Fail-safe settings for
control surfaces</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
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<DIV>You're one of the luckier ones then. What was the plane's
attitude at the time of lockout?</DIV>
<DIV>Point to ponder: Do you think you'd have noticed that "I ain't got
it" revelation sooner with the surfaces set to hold or set to a spin?
The engine throttle-back could be misconstrued as a flameout, so I
don't think that's too reliable an indicator of lockout by
itself.</DIV>
<DIV>Just curious. I would think it depends what you were doing with the
controls at the time of lockout.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Rick</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV id=IncrediOriginalMessage><I>-------Original
Message-------</I></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV id=receivestrings>
<DIV dir=ltr style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt" <i><B>From:</B></I> <A
href="mailto:discussion@nsrca.org">discussion@nsrca.org</A></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt" <i><B>Date:</B></I> Tuesday, May
17, 2005 12:28:33 PM</DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt" <i><B>To:</B></I> <A
href="mailto:discussion@nsrca.org">discussion@nsrca.org</A></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt" <i><B>Subject:</B></I> Re:
Fail-safe settings for control surfaces</DIV></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Rick,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2> My Prophecy went into failsafe
(idle and hold for all other channels) and came out after about a second
( it seemed like an hour ). I suspect interference but was not
able to find any one month later using the district 6
scanner.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Paul</FONT></DIV>
<DIV
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; rem_MARGIN-LEFT: 5px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=knowhow3@bellsouth.net
href="mailto:knowhow3@bellsouth.net">Rick Kent</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> Tuesday, May 17, 2005 9:08
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: Fail-safe settings for
control surfaces</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
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<DIV>It would be interesting to see statistics on how often a
plane comes out of failsafe and the pilot regains control before
meeting with Mother Earth. It's never happened for me, but
admittedly, I don't use the feature often. Had two sport
airplanes go into lockout when I did use it, and I watched both
spin in.</DIV>
<DIV>I agree a spin recovery isn't the easiest thing to execute
down low when you're in a panic, but I'd venture to say it would
buy you more time than being in a vertical dive while in lockout
would--IF the receiver recovers signal in time. I think it just
comes down to dumb luck really, in what attitude/altitude the
plane is in when the lockout occurs. The question is what are the
odds that your plane would only go into lockout in level flight
vs. the middle of a snap, roll, inverted dive, etc. Assuming
worst case scenario, i.e., no signal recovery, the spin at least
puts the plane back on the field so you can find it, and hopefully
the spin would serve to somewhat lessen the descent speed at
impact. Maybe a flat spin would be better in that regard.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>My luck with such things dictates that it doesn't really
matter what I plan for--the plane's going in, and hard.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Rick</DIV>
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