FMS - J-11 & SU-27 - Twin 70 - Maiden Flights + CRASH!!! 

20:36 "wait until the last second to pull out" Thats the only way to live life on the edge 😉

If you look back, you had to keep trimming it, which means it was slowly pulling out as you were flying.

First and foremost, I give great credit to you both for being able to handle your excellent post crash investigation knowing emotionally how you both must feel. I’ve been flying RC since the early 1980s, and if you’re at the controls, even when the airplane gives up on you, it’s still hard emotionally; you constantly question whether or not there was something you could’ve done to avoid the crash. But in this case, it was a failure in materials’ quality control on FMS part. As you said, it only takes a 10 cent part to bring down the entire system, and here, it was the control linkage, where on the FMS website, a full set costs just $5.99 (70mm SU-27 Linkage rods, SKU; FMSRZ109). The threads on the linkage rod were defective and did not have the proper full outer diameter. Take a pair of calipers or a micrometer and measure those threads, especially at the rod end, and compare that to a good linkage rod, and you’ll have your answer. The threads’ outer diameter just did not bite deep enough into the ball link. You, as the customer, should never have to take responsibility for your supplier’s quality control issues, so I hope FMS does right by this and immediately sends you a new SU-27. You won’t forget the crash, but a new jet will certainly go far to brighten your day. :-). I wish you the best with that and thank you so much for the videos. I learned something today that I thought I’d never have to worry about, but will now check going forward.

Sad loss Brian, your crash analysis is just about right. Definitely not your fault 😉

Happy New Year! Great reviews and feedback and sorry to see the crash Brian but Im not completely surprised. FMS make some great looking planes but in my limited experience with FMS (I only have the 800mm P51 Big Beautiful Doll), the elevator linkage had a similar tapered thread and pulled out causing a crash. Thankfully minimal damage and once I had reset the elevator a dab of hot glue now maintains the linkage. However I also had an issue with the Reflex unit malfunctioning which ultimately caused the plane to be written off. I have to say FMS were great and replaced the plane and the new Reflex unit works great but the elevator rod had exactly the same issue!! I am a loyal Eflite customer and have a few models which started with the Spitfire XIV which I love (but would not have had the confidence to set up without the quality instruction from your videos) and this brand gives alot of confidence due to reliable build quality (apart from the occasional bad servo) and quality of the SAFE system but I would love to invest in some of the bigger FMS models. I resist the urge though as these are not cheap purchases and I certainly cannot risk losing a plane through such a silly thing as a linkage being shoddily made. If FMS were to invest in consistently better quality linkages this would surely improve their reliability and I for one would be buying them. I'm sure there are alot of us out there that would also buy them so FMS would surely profit from a little extra investment. I'm still not sold on the Reflex system though and would swop out for a SAFE receiver (now we have forward programming) as I trust these implicitly!

Oh man that SU27 looks SO GOOD

Thanks Brian . Great analysis. I just ordered one so thanks for the heads up- I’ll probably change mine out for higher quality links

Love the honest review as always!

Excellent video and thank you so much for all.

Great job, thank you guys.

After watching a few FMS plane reviews I changed the hardware on my FMS pitts. This story is rare but not unheard of. This won't prevent me from buying FMS because I don't mind replacing the hardware.

I absolutely love how well you take it when you have a crash. I keep coming back to your great videos and your awesome attitude. Handled great. And let's give it up for the camera crew!!! Kept it all in frame !

I don't know what to say. You and the camera crew are the best in the game Aloha. My brother just love you guys

I had a similar issue on my EFlite Commander, where i noticed on the ground my elevator pushrod tail-end would not reduce its length anymore when it kept twisting freely. Ended up CA-gluing the plastic with the metal, then re-mounted the servo arm to fix the elevator center position instead.

I used to flly rc aircraft when i was stationed in germany. Just recently getting back into it. i bought a few cheap 2ch beginner planes to get used to it again and then bought the arrow prodigy 1400mm. Havent flown it yet since in in canada and its getting colder out so may have to wait till spring lol. Love watching all your videos from the trainer planes to the j-11 cause i love to see you build them. keep up the great work and bravo to your camera crew lol

Been watching the video in 4k from 20:48 onwards, still amazed you kept it in the air so long with those bonkers elevator angles.

I'm looking forward to the re-maiden flight 👍

Hi Brian. I don't own this jet, but I happened upon the crash and autopsy of your J7 test product. It's always a sad moment when a beautiful plane goes down, but your excellent review of the specific cause was a great lesson of awareness for others to know that flaws do exist in RC products and the importance of looking over the wreckage after a smash up for clues and answers, and in your case it was a ten cent part. Once again, both you and Megan have impressed me with your channel and that's why I watch and of course buy. My basement is starting to look a lot like a Phillip's basement, just ask my wife.

something else to add onto checklist before flying....during build! sorry Brian...thanks for the video... I appreciate your honesty...hey Megan! keep flying...🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

Those do sound amazing and what an unfortunate experience to have that beauty take a dive.

I love your videos so much! You were the one who helped me bind by first RC Plane! (Sport cub s2) Great Video!!❤

Great model. I agree with your analysis Brian. It happens and you actually controlled her nicely even without a major surface functioning. Fix her up and modify her to be a twin battery version.

FINALLY, a plane I could use my 10ch (non-safe) reciever in!

😂😂😂”shibity-ballzs!😂😂😂😂 I rewatched that and you saying that like 15 times to the point I was laughing out loud. Great video as always Brian. Keep them coming.

First off I don't fly at all but your video was great. All the technical looks into the jet said a lot . The crash was always a bad thing. I really like how you broke it all down to find the problem, & I also agree. I would measure all rods & take apart to make sure there's no problem. Thanks for video.

Thank you for your video Brian. I'm going to replace the linkages with dubro linkages

Great review Brian and Camera Crew!! Hate to see something like this, but this is what helps us all out when these problems are found by influencers. Thanks for all the work you out in to this awesome hobby guys!!👊🏼👊🏼

Crash sucks, but this really is a manufacturer issue. I had a pushing rod missing central part of the thread. It's either X-Fly Su27 or freewing banshee, but for now they flies good. FMS really owes you a new fuselage. Hopefully they will have full parts support for this aircraft soon.

On the RCINFORMER site, he did a build on the SU-27, he mentioned something similar to the tail wing scrubbing up against the fuselage

Great NTSB investigation…. Thanks for taking the time to show us what happened.

Spent the last week watching the real thing from the Zhuhai airshow in China, I need one of of these, Great vid, cheers!

That Su27 has some thrust. Just before it crashed it was literally climbing vertically after at being almost stationary, recovering from its fall

How did they take off i have a eflight su30 and havent maidened it yet as i am nervous about how it may react on takeoff and landing

I almost spit out my coffee at "shibbbittyballs" LMAO as far as crash reactions go this was a 10/10

So sad about that mishap with the Su-27. It really is a gorgeous EDF. I managed to snag one of the last eFlite Su-30's earlier this year and absolutely love flying it. The FMS Su27/J11 are the same plane as the eFlite Su-30. Personally I only fly it with 6000 or 6200 packs (60C -120C) for the extra margin on battery. 3.5min is my timer with 30 sec reserve. I land with about 30% left. RESPECT THE TIMER with this plane. I also now only fly with the ordinance on as I think it does look better with it. Additionally I thought flaperons/thrust reverse would be needed because my first landings used up A LOT of runway on rollout (fortunately I fly it at a local airport and have a long enough landing/takeoff distance). I have since learned how to slow her down with high alpha and power so landings are much less rollout and slower. I also custom painted the exhaust/engine panels to add various other metal shades and discoloration that you see on the full size plane. Looks so much better. If you want I can send you some pics. Pilots need to know this plane is heavy, it has power but if you fly it like a heavy plane and manage your energy and throttle you will have great success. Don't get it too tight a turn at slow speeds or it will bite you. I am disappointed at the price point FMS has for this plane, considering you were able to get the eFlite one for about $100 less and it was BNF. I get rising costs and all but still this one is a bit more for a PNP than I would expect. 'm also not thrilled with FMS' marketing ploy with this saying it is 'limited production', it seems they are creating artificial scarcity and demand. They are already sold out but then I saw they only had like 10 of each available. That seems strange and not cost effective. I'm not a fan of manufacturers that use this type of marketing to 'scare' customers into an urgency in buying now because of limited stock and no potential future stock, especially on something this expensive. I'd love to pick up another one to have as a spare but that price point is just a bit much right now.

Hi I just bought a su27 also I was wondering what you put the safe gains on?

fantastic plane , Strange how you did not notice the poor threads when you assembled the model.

Love the new runway. You almost had that! Foam Tac time.

Another great honest review. Did you check the J11 threads by chance? This may be a nieve question, but I wonder if the twins could be set up with separate batteries to help keep the puff down?

Great video and crash investigation. FMS seems to owe you a plane on this one. Or the company that manufactures the control rod. It’s obvious what the malfunction was. Also as you had to keep trimming during the flight. My guess was the failure was already starting to happen causing the need to trim. Thank you for the extra step to determine what happened in this situation. So we now know it was not pilot error. That Brian Phillips has been cleared of any wrongdoing and cleared for flight status. Get him back in the air. 😂 Awesome plane, review, investigation and video Sir.

I noticed your Right Knob is set about in the middle. Do you have AS3X set to 1X? If so, then you need to turn the Right Knob all the way up to achieve 1X. Right now you have AS3X set to about .5. If you set AS3X set to 2X, then setting the Right Knob to the middle position will give you 1X.

Thats a beautiful thing!

In the video it looks like it rolled to the left. The left elevator link came off, so it should have rolled to the right when pulling elevator. Not quite sure what could have malfunctioned. When pulling hard elevator it is possible that you had a high speed stall and subsequent spin left. The Su-27 and the mig-29 are stall critical at low speed high angle of attack. Great video!

Thanks Brian .🇬🇧

Great video as always brian 👍 crashed my su 27 on 5th flight. Had full power out, zero control and it glided off into a field . Even the lights went out. Hopefully fms will replace the plane . Was gutted such an amazing plane, bit of a pain to get off grass though

What was the control surface that was stuck that caused the crash? - i've heard the phrase a few time on a couple videos but i'm unsure as to what they are?

Sorry to see that happen Brian. I was also curious to see how slow you could get it to fly for an actual landing.

Hi, I enjoy watching your videos. Especially EDF jets, I’m still learning. One suggestion , if possible: Could you record the RC transmitter while you fly the airplane? I would like to see how you maneuver during tricky challenges. Hopefully others agree with this suggestion. Many thanks for the testing, I bought the T-28 and it’s so nice.

Ouch! Great flight , at least until... Sticking with the Rafale.😮 Looks like what my battery looked like after crashing my FW F-35A.

Sad to see a beautiful plane go down. I think you found your Roll rate problem. I turn the plane over and check your Elronds. See if you were adjusting for the elevator problem.

FMS is on a roll, I love that J-11. I need to grab a Rafale first but the J-11 is coming to my Hanger as well, although the SU27 may be a better choice because of the color. Here in the PNW it's Grey allot of the time. How is FMS getting the great sound out of their EDF Jets, it's like Vudu magic. Odds are FMS uses the same part for both planes so checking that part is a must on both

You almost saved it there. That sucks. That’s why I gave up planes and choppers. It’s not if but when they’ll crash. I stick to boats and cars. Your investigation does seem to point to that faulty thread. I’ll just enjoy watching you enjoy flying! Good luck!

very cool model and I really like it friends, continue and greetings from Indonesia

my twin 70 fms a10 is not a pack puffer but the same packs in the SU 30, puffed them. both pull 120amps on the ground. the su30, assume same for this su27, I think is an airflow/heat issue. that battery bay offers no where for heat to escape.

Excellent video

Excellent video. Love the ntsb investigation. 👍🏻🤓✌️

Awesome video! You are right, crashes are part of the hobby. I’ve done that a few times myself. I love that large scale Trojan setting in the background. I have a couple in the same scale as your smaller one back there, but I’ve always wanted to get a larger scale and fly it. Do they fly similar to the smaller scale? i’m sure you have a video on that one, I’m gonna have to find it and watch it. Keep up the good work. I enjoy your channel.

Is the su 27 any different than the eflite su 30? Esc or motors different? Or just same plane different paint. Thank you!

Hey, I just set up this jet and my taileron was stuck during flight check. The issue: one of the tailerons had paint over the screw. The paint was catching on the unpainted screw on the fuselage. I peeled the paint off the screw and pushed the taileron a smidge from the fuselage and no issue. I have the SU-27 and it was my left taileron

There is also the E-FLITE SU 30 that is the same model with some electric differences its made for E-FLITE by FMS

This may not be related to this awesome video but would you know how to get nx-8 firmware 3.06? Maybe you have it? Spektrum has 2 new updates but they are public beta and I do not like to have them imstalled just yet and can not see the 3.06 anymore on their website...

feel bad on the lost su27, just having a bad part on linkage thread and the plane was lost. I face same issue like these past few month. I made a quick decision to emergency land after gain some control. Even the damage is minimal but still i feel very bad on small crack and dent.😭😭😭.

That was the best near-save ever! Nice effort but sadly, the airplane failed you in the end.

Once your NX radio is all configured to your home wifi network doing updates is super easy, no need to visit the website. Just FYI the october update was super buggy, and there is a new one thats supposed to fix it, but there are still people saying there are problems. If I hadnt done a recent update I would wait and see if there is another version coming.

1. The M3 x 20mm machine screws for the wing on my new 80mm FMS BAE Hawk started slipping as I tightened them. When I looked closely at them, I found that they had almost no threads. I replaced them with screws I'd ordered from RTL Fasteners. 2. What are you going to do when all those Lipos catch fire on the counter?

honest video, that's what I appreiate. Now we know and they do. Thanks From France

Yeah the links are stripped, I had that on the T28 800 they must have a bad batch of them. I will have to let Meave know, thanks for sharing Brian. My Su should be here Thursday

That's how I fly,and the reason I'll never be a su owner...smh. thanks for all you BOTH do for us you are my inspiration into the hobby!

I love the looks of that J-11! Too bad about that crash, but stuff happens.

Having an uncorrectable roll, that’s EXACTLY what happened on my E-Flite F-18 Blue Angel (minus the pushrod failure), albeit right from takeoff. Nice attempted recovery, almost looked like you were gonna pancake it on the road for a second (which would’ve caused very limited damage actually.)

Just curious what you think would have happened if you flipped on SAFE right before that crash. With only one elevator working it would roll as it did (but also climb) if you pulled back on the right stick but SAFE could use the ailerons much faster than a human to counteract the roll. Do you think it could have saved it?

Any warrantee for defective material? Looks like the linkage pulled out just when you pulled up on the stick.

Good post crash analysis. Also I would wager there is a lot more force on that surface than would be on a regular small aileron or elevator because it’s so much larger. Love the blue jet hope to have one one day!

Great video Brian, thank you! I was wondering if you received any warranty from FMS? It is clear you got a faulty part.

just for another check - swap the shafts on the ball joints. It's pretty clear that there are many "missing" threads on the bad shaft... the same effect should be evident with the bad shaft in the opposite, ball connector.

NIIIICE 🔥

Did you make that IC5 to IC3 adapter for the tester? I can't find one.

Models this large and powerful should really be 12S... we'll be there soon!

Contact FMS and send them the video comparison of the linkage. I suspect that they will send you a replacement ;-) Good video; good analysis. Camera person called it when she first saw the tapered linkage. She said "check the threads on the other one"... Anyway, FMS needs to send a replacement...

I like the blue one because you can see better. It’s the the quality control is the problem and not the customer.

beautiful jets! i would love to own a SU-27 one day, but the thing i dont understand is, why fly this on a main road? and not on a specialized flying field? is there no flying club nearby? sorry for the crash :/

cool jet and flight,bummer it went down

Bummer, personally I always glue that clevis end tip to the rod once a jet is set up for safety and to help prevent what just happened. The glue will break loose if you use pliers to twist off the clevis.

That's why I like building kits, I have seen linkage rods with almost no threads or no thread brand new in a bag. Now you have to check all linkage on every model. Oh No hahaha

Awsum

Is this the exact same size as the eflite su30. And is the foam the same as the eflite? Is it just a copy of same? Thanks

V hi quality video. I am gonna give u most unusal explaination of crash! RECEIVER DIDN'T GET NECESSARY POWER.. & my crashes look exactly like that every day In order to save every g of weight on my planes to get 20+ mins of unlimited vertical, I don't use BEC. eg for my 2s planes I put 1s 650mah battery and 1 800 mah which gives power to receiver too.. When receiver battery temporarily sags below 3.9V u get same all control surfaces full deflections & a weired dance.

No doubt it was caused by the defective part. With this NTSB info recorded on video, do you have leverage to go back to the supplier for a non argument full replacement?

this threaded rod is a manufacturing defect, but the flight was superb 👌

Ouch !! It sucks losing a plane like that 😕

Your videos are very good, thank you, the failure is evident as you show it in the video, it occurred to me to zoom in on the video at the time of the failure and it is clearly noticeable how the elevator is loose.

tell the mechanic to layoff the vodka!!! also pilot are always responsible throughout the flight process: preflight check including the linkages. pilots have the final say go/no go checks. I always say take off is optional and landing is not. I know it easy to judge but teach everyone personal responsibility and safety

"Shibbity balls!" 😆

My guess by reviewing the crash, it appears to me your left aileron stuck up and I believe the elevator broke on the first time you hit the ground the plane hit before you got it back up but with half an elevator and a stuck left aileron caused a left roll leading to the final crash.

All these edf's like this, talking about the more expensive Edf's seem to have the same problem when they crash... I.e my rafale, the nose just broke off, and continues to do that.. I think my last flight on it had myself a gear failure, the landing gear mount in the foam gave way, and on the other side, the bearing on the retract go pushed up.. which it bounced and hit some gravel/mud. I will repair it, but These jets based from Europe just seem hard to fly in general and are not really forgiving.

I agree with Rocky they owe you a plane good video and advise check everything

Nice flying!! then ouch!!!!!!!

Could you do a video on jail Breaking a AR631

Brian I'm sorry about the crash I would contact fms and see if they will replace it for you. You have it on video to show them what happened. I love your videos

The twin EDFs, are contra rotating?