Death of the MPXT

Well, sooner or later it was due to happen. I've lost one of my balsa planes to interference.

I was flying at glitch park (Kambah), and had foolishly let my Mini Pulse XT get low and slow in one of the worst parts of the field.

When I suddenly came to my senses and realised where I was I started advancing the throttle for power to climb away from the ground. At just that moment she started to buck violently upwards from a glitch. I went full noise. As I started correcting that she inverted from another glitch (no - not a stall or snap roll - she had enough speed). I started to correct that, but by now she was only two metres from the ground. She took another hit and went in at full throttle. The result of this is unfortunately pretty much what you would expect. The wreckage of the crash was strewn over 5-6 metres.

The plane was destroyed with no realistic prospect of rebuild. Even the wing was badly damaged (you can't see it from the photo but significant parts of the Leading Edge were crushed by the impact).

So, is there anything to learn from this - well, it was wet and I knew I was taking a risk by flying (wet ground causes reflections of radio waves creating glitches - particularly as you get close to the ground). I was also in the part of the field were glitches are worst even when it is dry.

Might be time to think about that 2.4Ghz gear again. As for the MPXT, this was her second flight of the day, and her 51st flight overall, so she just made her half century. I certainly would have liked to have had her for longer (had done two knife edge circuits that morning and was feeling well pleased with myself), but heh 50 flights - it could have been worse.

I haven't figured out yet whether all my components okay - my main concern is the Eflite 480 brushless - it looks like it took quite an impact. And what to do next - I don't know. Maybe an Eflite Mini Ultra Stick - but maybe I'll just hold off for a bit.

BTW - I've started a scratch building project - the MMUS - Multi-role Micro Ultra Stick - built along the same lines and proportions (but smaller) of the Eflite MUS, but with the idea of being an indoor flyer, but with enough wind penetration to fly outdoors. More details in the next post.