Digital Trims - was ( Speaking of lessons learned )

[Atwood, Mark]

I have to chime in here...  My Stylus has Mechanical trims...but they have electronic memory...so bumping them while the transmitter is off does nothing.  In fact, "centering" your trim is as simple as turning the Tx off after the flight and centering the mechanical tabs.  When you turn it back on, your trim is where you set it, and the tab is centered...the trim "offset" is put in automagically.

>From my perspective, the best of both worlds :)

-Mark

-----Original Message-----
From: Keith Black [mailto:tkeithb at comcast.net]
Sent: Monday, January 19, 2004 5:23 PM
To: discussion at nsrca.org
Subject: Re: Speaking of lessons learned (was are you looking for
something)


Eric, Thanks for your concern. As to the trim increments, after this
happened I thought the same thing. In fact, when setting up the radio I had
considered changing them to be lower (I've wanted to do this for a while),
but the last radio was set to 4 and the trims weren't perfectly centered.
Therefore I was concerned that if I reduced the granularity when switching
radios and before getting everything perfectly centered I wouldn't know
exactly where the trims should be. Prior to this my logic to have finer
trims has been to have more precise trimming, not so it won't go out of
control if the trims get whacked out. :-D .  But you make a good point that
bumping the trims doesn't mess things up as much with a lower trim setting.

I'm surprised to hear about the tape on the battery flap. Is this a common
problem?

Del, to me there are many positives to digital trims, but the biggest is
probably the fact that when you bump them while handling your radio that's
turned off the trims don't get messed up. The number of times I've
inadvertently bumped my trim is much greater than the number of time's my
neck strap has gotten caught on it. :-) .  Of course differing opinions and
perspectives is what make the world such a wonderful place. We can all pick
what works best for us, and often learn from other's opinions.

Keith Black

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Henderson,Eric" <Eric.Henderson at gartner.com>
To: <discussion at nsrca.org>
Sent: Monday, January 19, 2004 2:38 PM
Subject: RE: Speaking of lessons learned (was are you looking for something)


Keith,
       I read your note while holding my breath. I was so relieved when you
got it down safely. How much weight did you lose during the flight???

I have a bunch of 10X's and I noted that they tend to balance a bit tail
heavy with the shorter 72 meg antenna. All mine now have a small 3/4"
stand-off and use a 5/8" key ring that can't touch any thing, even the
switch.

Also I always use the lowest trim option so the effect of accidental
beep-bumping is minimized.  I appreciate that you probably wanted max effect
on a test flight.

I would advise taping the battery flap shut with some clear packing tape to
prevent the battery dislodging from heavy use.

Regards,

Eric.


-----Original Message-----
From: discussion-request at nsrca.org
[mailto:discussion-request at nsrca.org]On Behalf Of Keith Black
Sent: Monday, January 19, 2004 2:08 PM
To: discussion at nsrca.org
Subject: Re: Speaking of lessons learned (was are you looking for
something)


Speaking of lessons learned!

Saturday I went flying in a brief window of good weather. I was anxious to
go not only because I'm always anxious to go but I was also anxious to try
out my new 10X.

I'd spent a lot of time making 100% sure that everything on the 10X behaved
exactly as my old 8103. As the plane reaches lift-off speed I gently pulled
back on the elevator and the plane pulled up hard going straight up. I
thought to myself "that wasn't very smooth". I apply a slight bit of down to
level it out but still it's going straight up, and beginning loop backwards.
Now I push a lot of down to keep it from coming over. I'm thinking "I can't
believe I missed the setup that bad, there's no way... fix the trim and see
what's wrong on the ground". I feed in down trim, barley any effect, now I
feed in a lot of down and finally get it leveled out, then suddenly vroom
straight up again. I think "OH NO, CHECK THE ANTENNA", but it's up. Shove in
down, get it level, hit trims more, plane levels then surges up again. Back
off the throttle, hold down, plane levels but is so slow it's mushy and I
think maybe the ailerons are also gone. Wait, no it's turning now. Level the
elevator trim again. Then I hear that beep, beep, beep, beeeep of the trims
moving BY THEMSELVES! "Oh NO the radio's flaking out! Did I spill water or
my cleaner on it? It wasn't having any problems before!"  Now the plane is
doing a wild porpoise routine all around. I think to myself that there's no
way this things getting on the ground without being destroyed. I call for
help, no pattern fliers there, mainly newbies, finally one seasoned pilot
comes to my side. I tell him the radios got problems, the trims are going
nuts. He encourages me to just get it down the best I can. I make a long
slow porpoising circle to line up for landing. He says, " the field's wet
and soft just set it down out there and maybe it won't get damaged too bad."
I pull up the retracts, try to level it out, it's coming at the runway at a
45 deg angle, I've got to get it down before it gets too close! Kill the
engine, forget the trims now just hold down, it's pretty sensitive, just
easing off the elevator slightly makes it porpoise up again. It's level now,
gentle, gentle...  I can't believe it, it's on the ground smooth as silk!

Now I look down at the radio and see what the problem is! The ring that's on
the end of my neck strap was caught behind the elevator trim. The weight
from the radio on the strap was pulling the trim back to full up trim! With
the trim precision set to 4 steps per click full up trim was a lot of trim.

I can't believe how close I was to loosing my plane over something so
stupid! I've used that same strap with my 8103 for the last two and a half
years and that's never happened, but on the 10X the trims are just enough
closer and/or higher to allow the ring on the end to get wedged between the
trim and strap connector.

I should point out that I was not using the strap that comes with the 10X,
the one I was using is more comfortable, but from now on I'll opt for
control over comfort. :-D

Keith Black

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "D Suding" <junk at velocitus.net>
To: <discussion at nsrca.org>
Sent: Monday, January 19, 2004 12:11 PM
Subject: Re: Dennis Suding, are you looking for something?


> Okay, I left my wings to my Temptation at the field one night last week.
> My wife is 9 months pregnant and my mind isn't with my wings. Thankfully
> Tony Quist recognized them and took them to the nearest hobby shop
> (Franks)
>
> Let this be a lesson, kids: Don't forget your wings!  It's hard to fly
> without them.
>
> Thanks again Tony!!!
>
> -D
>
> > Dennis email me privately.
> >
> > Tony
>
>
>
> =====================================
> # To be removed from this list, send a message to
> # discussion-request at nsrca.org
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