J-10B fighter

[19000rpm]

I flew the J again this morning at the HS parking lot. Today we had a 10-12 breeze going and I wanted to see how she handles in a breeze. One word describes it: GREAT

A couple more words: ;D I am amazed at how stable the J is at all speeds. It's never any problem to get out of trouble even when I get it, more than a little, out of shape to see how it reacts.

It flies so well inverted it's like it was designed to be flown that way only.

I made 3 landings. 1 into the wind and a couple cross wind. The one I did into the wind couldn't have been easier. I cut the throttle over the trees and let it float in. The wind was gusting some, but looking at the J, I saw only a minimal amount of reaction to the gusts. There wasn't the even the slightest bit of a bounce as she touched down. The crosswinds were equally smooth with only a little rudder to keep it going straight.

This time when I lookd at the rockets there wasn't even a hint of chipped paint.

So far, this plane has delivered much more than I expected. That's a great feeling.

[19000rpm]

The J-10 is lost. The motor shut off about a minute into the flight as I was making a turn. Unfortunately, the turn incomplete, it headed out of sight into the woods; Murphy's Law in full effect. It had a few hundred feet in altitude so it went in deep into the trees. The trees in the foreground completely blocked my view as it went out of sight.

I spent about 2hr's looking for it that day and then another 1 1/2 hr's the next day after a big wind, hoping that if it were in a tree it might have blown down. No dice so far, but I'll keep my eyes out for it. I've offered a reward to the grounds keepers if they find it.

So, what happened?
When the motor cut off, I lowered the throttle and then raised it to WOT. The motor started for a moment and then quit again. That seemed to me to be a classic low voltage cut off scenario.

What caused this low voltage situation happen? I don't know for sure, but it had to be either a battery or ESC failure. Both seemed fine prior to take off. The ESC was new on the plane, a 30A ESC I got as a replacement from Horizon, and the 2200 25C flightmax that only had a dozen flights, or so, on it and showed fully charged on all cells.

Coincidentally, my other flightmax 25C, purchased at the same time, a few months ago, went bad the same day. Fortunately, that was discovered on the charger. So, the chances are, it was probably a bad battery, one or more cells collapsing at the same time, that caused the low voltage shut off and the subsequent loss of the J-10 and all the electronics on board.

I've been really happy, up to now, with the flightmax packs. I've got some with 80 + cycles on them that are, or seem to be, almost as new.

I do random load testing of my packs and maybe increasing the frequency of those tests might avoid a future loss of a plane.

[Gabe]

Feel your pain. I know the feeling of an EDF lost in a jungle. Its awful.

[19000rpm]

Thanks Gabe. I do feel bad about it, but I get over things like this quicker now than I used to. Shite happens as they say. I may give up brooding in a day or two. ;D

My wife, on the other hand, is taking it worse than me. She couldn't believe it when I told her. She really enjoyed watching it.

I think I may build another one. I haven't found anything I like better yet.

[elkmaster01]

19K,,,,last Sept,,,I lost radio link to my F-16 70MM EDF (ar6100) and watched is dissappear over the pines. Two days,,two people and 5 hours,,we could not find it. That was the week before I went on my hunting trip to Montana.

5 weeks later my nephew was Partridge hunting back there and found it 30 feet up a pine tree,,almost 1/2 mile from my airstrip,,,he climbed up and got it. I put a AR6200 in it and it's still flying today. Everything was fine,,just had to glue a wing and the verticle fin. Battery, ESC, motor and all servos were good.

So,,,don't give up hope,,,just maybe!!

[19000rpm]

Thanks elk.

I had a similar experience to yours a few years ago. My first plane, a 3ch Wing Dragon, spent a few months in the top of a huge 300 yr. old Live Oak. Wind, rain, sleet and snow couldn't budge it. And, then one day it was down to about 30 ft. I retrieved it with my casting rod and some heavy monofilament. To my amazement, after putting in a new battery, the thing still worked.

There's still hope for the J-10.