Oh Man! That sucks!! I would love to say I feel your pain and express my condolences for your loss, but I have not stopped LMAO. Been there as well- it is just part of what we do!
I had a similar experience on my very first RC glider flight though mine was more to do with inexperience. I spent months building a fully balsa-ribbed 2m glider and tried to launch it with a tow-line in the local park. I lost control and it went in while still under full line tension and snapped the fuselage in half so it only flew for perhaps 5 seconds. The wings actually survived as the nose took the full force and the wings separated from the fuselage on impact but I was so disheartened that I never tried to rebuild it or build another again.
Aww, poo. 😞For anybody who's not read the excellent Comment made by @richardo212 yet (maybe it needs to be Pinned?) it seems that the problem was caused by the use of a non-standard transmitter aerial. A fault in the new wiring meant that the RF-output module amplifier doobrie thingy [stop me if I'm getting too technical] got fried, turning the Tx into a digital paperweight. Verily, hindsight is a harsh mistress. Sometimes it's best to go with what the manufacturers supply. I'm far too dim and scared to mess with anything more complicated than dunking choccy Hobnobs in my tea, but even I test new RC gear in an expendable 'mule-plane' in case gravity strikes unexpectedly. Sadly, that old adage, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" comes to mind. On the positive side, it was brave of you to upload this video; I'm sure it'll help someone else avoid a similar problem in future, so thank you.🙂
As a seasoned Free Flight competitor I got REALLY REALLY good at repairing model aircraft. My "best effort" was smashing a Free Flight power duration model every fortnight for six months before I eventually got the model trimmed. Mainly due to the fact I was flying it with an engine I had modified giving some 0.57 bhp when the model was designed for an engine of about 0.22 bhp. Even when trimmed it wouldn't hold trim in the Australian sun so I remade wings and tailplane to geodetic rib construction and THEN it became consistent. So collect all the bits and carefully and methodically put it all back together. Use cyano, epoxy, carbon fibre sheet, rods and cloth. Go over the electrical connections very carefully - with an eyeglass. Flex the wings, tail and fin etc. whilst having someone cycle the controls to see it you can replicate the fault. Flying off a slope you may well have just encountered a spiralling turbulence. Less likely to occurr flying off flat terrain. A Psychologist once told me I was stubborn. I told her I thought it was an asset. NEVER. EVER, give up.
Hey Ben, did you ever determine what happened? Beautiful plane. Is it possible you switched the transmitter off by accident somehow? I know it is probably not likely, but I think I have done this in my sordid past aircraft flying attempts! I hope you built an even better version!
I'm very sorry. I recall years ago when I tried to teach myself how to fly RC...with windrifter and then powerpod on 100" wingspan glider,..my aircraft would sometimes come back in a 5-gallon bucket.
I lost a motor glider (not nearly as impressive as yours) due to a battery connector (on an extension harness) failing as it was loose. Took me a while to find out. It was devastating, although I am sure your disappointment is justifiably deeper. Beautiful sailplane. I feel your pain.
On all of my models I run two 5 cell battery packs with separate switches and charge jacks, before every flight I check the charge under load of each battery using a test meter with a built in load. I check the voltage on battery A then battery B. Next I turn on the switch for battery A and check the controls while on battery A only. Then I turn on the switch for battery B and turn off the switch for battery A and check the controls while on battery B only then I turn Battery A back on and check the controls while on both batteries A and B.
oh dear, what a tragedy. my sympathies. one question: what did you do with ZapAGap at minute 1:38? or did I see something wrong there? From my own experience, I have already wrecked a model aircraft because of the use of ZapAGap near electronic components that were damaged because of the fumes. Just curious... greetings from Switzerland
Losing a bird you are excited for, on the maiden, is always devastating. Having it from a signal/connection issue is trust breaking. I have to admit I was wondering why you were going to maiden it in gale-force winds... Then I saw, Ah, slope soaring. You can take heart that your craftsmanship and piloting don't look to be the culprit here. I suspect It is more recoverable than it looks. It usually is. Good luck.
Unfortunately this is part of the hobby, Ive lost a fair few models over the 4 decades i have been flying, Some were dumb thumbs when learning but most were radio faiture ( im talking 35mhz inold days and later on spektrum here lol ) I changed to frsky a few years ago and never lost signals again. I see this was due to some mod you.did to the antenna though so at least you know what the problem was, nothing worse than having intermittent loss of control that can come once in maybe every 2 months and last berween 5 and 20 seconds as soektrum did ..
I notice that you were using a non-standard 5dBi antenna on your transmitter. This achieves 3dB more gain normal to the antenna axis by reducing the gain at higher elevation angles (relative to a standard 2dBi monopole). Also the quickest way of blowing up the rf amp is if the antenna becomes disconnected or the antenna wire breaks or if it shorts out. The impedance mismatch because of the broken wire (or short) causes the transmitter power to be reflected back into the amp causing large rf voltages to be developed in the amp (SWR) and it goes POP!!! It probably wasn't this, but it's something to consider when changing the standard antenna.
You're sooo bang on .. the handset had a swr meter in it and while working was actually great. It was my mod of the new rf wire had let go and cooked the amp.
A bit of glue and good as new. I have wrecked quite a few models. All models meet their maker in the end unless not flown. I hate smashing a model on its maiden after hours of balsa bashing. 😢
