[NSRCA-discussion] Scary night of flying

[Paul LaChance]

Hi all,

I finally flew my Prestige tonight after not flying it since the NATS 2008. 
I have not flown it or ANY planes for 2 full years.  I charged everything up 
and all seemed well.  Flew my first flight and landed without incident.  I 
checked the plane over and checked all my batteries and all looked well.

Flew flight 2,  all was going well.  Flew the Advanced pattern twice and 
landed.  Checked my batteries again and they still read over 6 volts. 
Engine was running great and all was well.

Flew flight 3 and that is where things got scary.  I flew the sequence once 
and everything was going well.  When I started my second sequence the plane 
got sluggish and was not feeling right.  I landed ASAP and as soon as the 
wheels tounched down, I went to add rudder to stear towards the pits and had 
no rudder, no elevator, and only one aileron was working but it barely moved 
and was very sluggish.  I shut the plane off and checked the batteries and 
they were barely reading 4.5 volts.  This was a 5 cell nicad pack.  I guess 
I had a cell short and kill the pack.  I was just amazed and am very lucky 
to have been able to get the plane back on the ground before the battery 
completely failed.

Has anyone had this happen before?  What would cause this?  I am going to 
get a new pack in the morning and try to fly again tomorrow evening.

Thanks in advance for the help,

Paul