Recent near mis.

[Lota Fun R]

A friend was flying his Trex 700 in front of him, just taking off and the bolt that holds the blade grip broke, it sent the blade right passed him and landed about 70 yards away.

He is an aggressive pilot that fly's hard 3D, many flights on the heli. It made quite an impression on him and was visibly shook up by what happened, It nearly missed impaling him in the chest with a 710mm CF blade by about 2 feet.


Some better bolts may be in order but the main thing is to fly as far away from yourself as you can comfortably.

Be safe and have fun. :)

M

[mkoutnik]

Damm, that's awfully close! I bet he had to clean his shorts out after that one...:D

[ticedoff8]

Damm, that's awfully close! I bet he had to clean his shorts out after that one...:D
I'd be interested in what failed.

Blade grip?
Blade root?
Bolt?
Was the nut loose?
Was the bolt too short and the nut didn't engage?
Did he forget to put in the blade spacer washer and over-tighten the blade bolt thereby cracking the blade grip?

Material failure is one thing, screwing up on the maintenance or assembly is another.

[SirCrashalot]

Soooo Glad your Buddy didn't buy the farm! I have a few stitches scars from blades. . .OOPS!

[Ots]

Yeah, I have this thing about hovering above head level. Anytime someone is hovering anything big low I get the creeps, especially when it's head level.

[blax1]

Yeah, I have this thing about hovering above head level. Anytime someone is hovering anything big low I get the creeps, especially when it's head level.

Yes me too Ots, Now I have a 90 its treated with great respect as are all of my heli-s but a 90 with 710's on board Sheeeeesh :eek:
I try and keep it above my head and a fair way out, actually our MAAA which is the same as your AMA is saying at least 9 meters out from the pilot, also - I think these days a lot of guys are really spinning these things up, like 2200,2300 RPM and beyond, not good IMHO.. :(

I'm glad your mate is ok

[tdswan]

I've gotta admit, that's one thing that's always in the back of my mind. Every pre-flight, I'm always checking my grips for end-play. That's one failure I never want to have. I've had a tail blow apart and that was only on spool-up. It wasn't even up to full speed. It scared the crap out of me. Thankfully noone was hurt and the heli wasn't damaged...aside from losing the tail grip.

[heli-cuzz]

Yeah, I have this thing about hovering above head level. Anytime someone is hovering anything big low I get the creeps, especially when it's head level.


I try to keep my blades below my ankles when hovering. :D

[blax1]

I try to keep my blades below my ankles when hovering. :D
Inverted. :)