16 Comments

1. 1

   Was anyone else hoping it would crash?

   That would have been pretty sweet.

   Comment by James — January 23, 2006 #

2. 2

   Excellent stuff, i gotta get me one of those! :D

   Comment by Bob — January 23, 2006 #

3. 3

   OMG HOW CAN YOU AFFORD THIS WHEN I”M WAITING 60 YEARS FOR A REPLY TO MY SUPPORT TICKET!!!1one

   Seriously, though, I want one of those. Although I bet I’d manage to crash it on the first day I had it.

   Comment by lbft — January 23, 2006 #

4. 4

   It’s not as expensive as you might think! This kit is available at HeliHobby.com (part# CN1020BRF) for only $199. It’s easy and cheap to repair. That’s good because you’ll repair it a lot! Mine is two years old - and still flying! It’s a great hobby!

   Comment by David — January 23, 2006 #

5. 5

   Having solver all other problems with their servers and being the best host in the world, the Dreamhost wacks have bought a heilcopter. Cool!

   –Matttail

   Comment by Matttail — January 23, 2006 #

6. 6

   Aww, I wanted to see it flying amongst the servers in the data center!!

   Hey, who’s the loser off to the left that gets 2 LCDs on his desk?

   Comment by Chris Meller — January 24, 2006 #

7. 7

   Re: Chris Meller

   All of us. :) Dell 2001FP’s.

   Comment by Kelly — January 24, 2006 #

8. 8

   Sweet! If I apply for a job, will you guys pick me up in the chopper?

   (in before “GET TO THE CHOPPA” jokes)

   Comment by phoenix — January 24, 2006 #

9. 9

   Try these ones for size:

   http://www.digitalcreations.net/helistuff/raptor90-alanszabojr.wmv
   http://www.digitalcreations.net/helistuff/raptor90-alanszabojr2.wmv

   Sorry, David, for busting your chops, but I just _had_ to do it. :)

   JCAB

   Comment by JCAB — January 24, 2006 #

10. 10

    That’s OK, I’m still learning. I can only hope to aspire to reach a portion of Alan’s greatness.

    Comment by David — January 24, 2006 #

11. 11

    Just when I thought you guys were weird enough! xD!

    Comment by noa — January 26, 2006 #

12. 12

    Sweet! i want one now lol

    Comment by Dee — January 27, 2006 #

13. 13

    Oooh, I got one of those Dell 2001FP’s, they’re niiice.

    Comment by David Harrison — January 28, 2006 #

14. 14

    BUFFERING BUFFERING BUFFERING.. why didnt you do a Quicktime movie?

    /got an Apple 20.1″ Cinema Display a couple months ago.. its awesome.
    //goes well with the DP 2.5 G5 =)

    Comment by Chris — January 28, 2006 #

15. 15

    Ugh.. I had to download the file and open in VLC so it wouldnt buffer for 20 years.

    Comment by Chris — January 28, 2006 #

16. 16

    [...] After getting the fuel situation all sorted out I started on the radio setup. I disabled the collective channel so I would adjust the throttle without the helicopter trying to take off of my test stand. I got my flight box battery fully charged, tested my starter motor and glow plug starter. So far so good. But my luck was about to change - significantly. I had just filled the gas tank about 3/4 full. When I removed the filler tube all of the gas I just pumped in just shot right out all over the grass! What was that all about?!?! The tank shouldn’t be pressurized until the engine is running! Something was wrong. Perhaps the muffler line was clogged. So I disconnected it and filled the tank again. This time the gas stayed in. I reconnected the muffler line again. I turned everything on, connected the glow plug starter, set the throttle and started to turn the engine over. Nothing. I adjusted the throttle. Still nothing. I pumped some gas directly into the carburetor. I removed the glow plug so I could crank the engine to get the fuel flowing. That seemed to work so I replaced the glow plug and tried to start it again. Miraculously it started! For some reason it revved and slowed over and over again. I’m not sure what that was all about. The throttle servo (and others) seemed to be going crazy oscillating back and forth. I don’t know why. Without the engine running the electronics seemed to be working properly. I tried several times to get the engine running and stable, but couldn’t. When the electronics wasn’t oscillating wildly the engine seemed to be having real problems. I finally had to pull the fuel line to shut it down. I had been holding the rotor head to keep it from spinning and may have burned out the clutch in the process. It was smoking by the time I got the engine stopped! What a mess! I’m not sure if this thing will ever fly again. I’ve been so spoiled with electric copters I don’t know if I could ever go back to nitro. But since this copter has to be so much more stable than my Hummingbird V2 (Fixed Pitch) copter I would love to fly it just one more time to see how much better it handles than the little Hummingbird does. Since this was my first RC chopper and I’ve invested so much in it I kind of hate to just walk away from it. The last time I flew it I still had the training gear on it. I did pretty well at hovering at any altitude (up to 50 feet) but I had to keep the tail pointed at me to maintain orientation. Since then I’ve been using several computer simulators to improve my skills. I’ve been using a R/C AeroChopper (DOS program with wire frame graphics) for many many years. The graphics aren’t great, but it’s a pretty good simulator. I’ve become quite a “hot shot” on that simulator. Lately I’ve upgraded to a Real Flight G3, which has awesome graphics including several photo realistic flying fields. My personal favorite is the “sod farm”. It takes a good bit of skill and experience to take off, turn around and run straight into the van parked behind me. So far I can only hit it (directly) 2 out of 10 times. I guess I still need more practice. Anyway, I’ve been flying my FP Hummingbird (in the house) for quite a while now and I’m getting pretty good at keeping it in one place (reasonably under control). I’ve even flown it at work, check out the video on the DreamHost blog! On the Real Flight G3 I’m flying the Bell 222 (modified so the retractable landing gear works) and can keep it reasonably under control. I’m getting pretty good at nose-in flying and disaster recovery. That’s why I thought if I could get the Excel airborne again I could probably do pretty well with it because it’s got plenty of power to handle a bit of wind and it reacts very well too. Oh well, we’ll see if that ever happens. [...]

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