02/08/2000 - Purchase & Assembly
Today I decided to bite the bullet and order my first chopper.  I was originally looking for a Miniature Aircraft X-Cell .46 Graphite.  After several disappointing phone calls, I learned that MinAir decided to get out of the .46 market altogether.  Since none of the hobby shops keep the .46 Graphite in stock I had to get a different craft.  I talked to Tony at Pegasus Hobbies in Montclair, CA.  He suggested the GPH346 Option, Belt Drive.  It comes with all metal parts.  Good enough for me.  I drove to Pegasus that night and picked it up.  He had everything I needed to build except for the receiver.  I also wanted a Futaba GV-1 Governor but he didn’t have that either.  Oh well, I can add that later.

I started the assembly and worked on it for 2 hours.  The instructions are a bit difficult to understand for a beginner, but not impossible.  The kit came with all metal parts, except for a few parts in the tail and the ELE guide on the back of the swashplate.  I think I'll look into replacing these parts with metal as well.

I discovered that the “taper collar” (between the engine and the flywheel) is not included with the heli kit or with the Enya 50 engine.  I’ll have to locate one and order it tomorrow.  Also, I forgot to get a starter shaft from Pegasus.

Here’s my setup:
Hirobo GPH346 Option, belt Drive
Enya 50 engine
CSM 540 gyro
Futaba 148DP receiver
Futaba S9202 (AIL, ELE, THR, COL)
Futaba S9250 digital (RUD)
Futaba 8UAPS controller (I'm actually an airplane guy)
Futaba GV-1 Governor (On back order from Rick's R/C)

02/09/2000 - Assembly
I ordered the taper collar and starter shaft from Ron at Rick’s R/C.  He promised he could have the parts to me by Friday 

I worked on assembly for about another 6 hours today.  The craft has all of it’s pieces assembled but no lock-tite yet.  With the instructions being a bit difficult to translate I decided to build it dry first and then take every screw back out to lock-tite.

02/11/2000 - Final Assembly
The taper collar and starter shaft arrived right on time. 

I worked for another 6 hours today and completely finished the assembly process.  I removed every screw and bolt and applied lock-tite.  Tomorrow will be the first flight for this heli and the first real heli flight for this pilot.  I’ve been flying model planes for 10 years and I’ve been practicing on the CSM sim for the last year so I’m not too worried.

02/12/2000 - First Flight
Ran through 4 tanks of fuel today.  The wind was blowing a bit but it really didn’t bother the .46 very much.  A friend had a 30 sized Shuttle ZTS out and it got tossed around.  I played with the hover pitch to try to compensate for the wind.  A lower head speed seemed to make the problem worse.  I bounced the training gear off the ground a couple of times.  When I turned up the head speed it seemed quite a bit smoother. 

I discovered only one Allen screw that I missed with lock-tite.  Just one of the 500 screws holding the top frame half to the bottom frame half.  I applied the lock-tite and all seems well.

I managed to perform some mild figure eights in front of me (yes, I’m using training gear) and I was able to hover nose in, but I’m not real comfortable.  I only came close to cutting myself in half once.  I also took it up to about 50’ and did some faster forward flight and very large figure eights.  The engine bogs down a bit just below hover so I’m going to have to adjust my throttle curve.  I’m missing that GV-1 Governor right now, but at least I’m learning the curves.

02/13/2000 - Driveway Hovering
Rain today.  All day.  Finally a small window of no rain, “Let’s hover!”.  I strapped on the training gear and hovered in my driveway.  I think it was a little louder than my neighbors wanted to hear, but no one complained.  I didn’t do any nose in today because of the limited space, but at least I was able to hover a tank full.  I did do a little left facing hover and some right facing hover.  This time (no wind) I had to turn down the head speed to get a smooth hover. The rest of the rainy day I spent on the CSM sim. 

02/14/2000 - After Work Hovering
Today I ran through 2 tanks of fuel before the sun went down.  For my second flight I removed the whiffle ball training gear for the first time.  Also, I am learning a lot about wind and the effect it has on hovering.  I still don't have my throttle curve set correctly.  Just below mid stick (mid stick = hover) the head speed slows down a little too much.  If I descend to rapidly, the flair at the bottom is really sluggish and I almost bounce.    Also, during my second flight (sans whiffle balls) the tail was wagging constantly.  Nothing too violent, but annoying.  With heading lock turned on it seemed a little worse.  I have no slop in my rudder linkage and I have a good servo (Futaba S9250) for rudder control. My uneducated guess is that the gain is too high.

This evening I read through the CSM540 gyro pamphlet again to see if I have the settings correct.  I didn't!  The ATV for rudder was supposed to be 90% & 90% and the ATV for gyro (essentially the gain) is supposed to be 60% & 60%.  My RUD ATV was 65% & 65% and my ATV for gyro was 100% & 100%.  I don't know why I had it set wrong, but I put the values back to the recommended range and I'll try it tomorrow. Also I turned up position 2 (Futaba, 5 position throttle curve) to help alleviate the low head speed problem. I'll test it tomorrow.

02/15/2000 - Get'n Scary, Loop'n and Roll'n
The landing gear went back on today.  With the new ATV settings on RUD and gyro I figured I better play it safe.  Also, the wind was blowing a little harder than I wanted.  I hovered my first two tanks full.  Left facing hover, right facing hover, minor forward flight, tail in circles around myself, forward flight in a circle around myself and nose in hovering.  On my third flight I was feeling a bit cocky.  I went out over the big dirt field and brought it up to 2 mistakes high.  There I picked up some fast forward speed and pulled a loop!  My first loop with a heli! (Yes the training gear is still on)  Then, I wanted to see the aileron roll rate, so I pitched the nose down and added collective to get some good forward flight speed,  pulled to a minor incline and aileron rolled all the way over.  Yes, I know you're supposed to aileron roll a helicopter on a downward angle to keep forward speed, but I'm still a converting airplane pilot.  Besides, I had some really good forward speed going and I did not end up coming out of the aileron roll sliding backwards.  It wasn't the prettiest loop or aileron roll, but they were functional!  When I brought the heli back down below 10,000' I began to hover.  I turned it nose in and hovered for a bit.  Then I said what the heck and I landed it nose in.  That was the easy part.  Taking off nose in is the tough stuff.  I started lifting off and it started sliding to it's left.  Luckily I had thought of this before hand and taught myself to push the stick in the direction of the slide when nose in.  The correction worked and I brought it up to a 2' high nose in hover.  I considered this a very successful day and decided to pack it up.  Oh yeah, the sun had set a long time ago, so it was getting dark as well.

This evening I took the canopy off to check all bolts and screws. I discovered that the one-way bearing used for starting is loose again.  I tightened again.  Look's like this is going to be a constant problem.  I've been reading some rumors on the net that the factory metal head is assembled without LockTite.  One by one I took all the bolts out of the head (all factory LockTite'd, BTW) and applied new LockTite for assembly.  Rumors, rumors, rumors.  At least I put my mind at ease.  I inspected my main gear condition and backlash against the engine gear and the belt drive gear.  No problems.  I've also read on the net that the factory plastic main gear wears out quickly and to replace it with a metal gear.  I'm going to keep a close eye on mine for now.  I'm a little worried about the belt tension.  I don't know how tight it is supposed to be.  The instructions that come with the GPH (mostly Japanese) don't give clear instructions on checking the tension.  I guess I'll just wing it for now. (ha, airplane humor)

02/17/2000 - First Auto Rotate
The wind was blowing again today.  I flew over an empty dirt field because it's more flat than the cul-de-sac I normally hover at.  I practiced more circles around myself (difficult in the wind), mild forward flight and nose in hovering.  I decided to get brave on my third tank of fuel.  I hit the throttle hold switch at about a head height hover.  At first the heli shot up a bit until I pulled back on the collective.  That really decreased my head speed.  I didn't have enough head speed to make a perfect landing.  It bounced just a little, but no damage.  I still have the training gear on so there's not much to worry about.  Had I not had the gear on I'm sure it would have fallen to the side and damaged the nice fiberglass rotor blades.  Also, I'm sure the tail would have hit the ground.  I'm going to make my throttle hold curve the same as the idleup-1 curve so it won't lift when the switch is hit.  I tried a few more head height auto's and I did get better at pulling the collective down to keep the head speed up, but none of the landings were a "nice" landing.  Once, I did hit the throttle hold switch at head height, nose in!  I compensated for the different pitch curve, turned the tail towards me and landed.  Again, a little too hard hitting the ground, but nothing broken.  Another thing I tried was a nose in pirouette.  That went well.  I tried a 540 pirouette, starting pointing away and ended up pointed towards me.  That didn't go as well as I would have liked.  I was a little disoriented when the spin stopped and I started to cyclic to the left when I should have to the right.  I didn't crash, but it looked ugly.

I didn't work on the heli at all tonight.  The wife and I are headed to Mammoth for a week, so I needed to start preparing for that.  I'm taking the SIM with me so I'll be able to get my "fix" while I'm there.

02/26/2000 - First inverted lift
I flew for two tanks full today.  That's all the fuel I had left.  That's 1 gallon run through this engine.  Pretty soon I'll be leaning the engine out a little to get better performance.  I did a couple of loops and rolls.  On one of the loops I held it upside down and pulled full negative pitch.  With the whiffle balls still on it didn't climb very well.  I tried it again with the whiffle balls removed and the inverted ascent was very nice.  The engine seamed to bog down a bit more than when right side up, but that's probably because I haven't fine tuned the inverted side of the throttle curve.  When I finished my last flight, the engine wasn't running very well.  It's idle was very erratic.  I figured it was because I had sucked the last of my fuel from the container and I sucked in some dirt or other debris.

02/27/2000 - Wasn't the fuel
When I tried to start the engine (on a brand new gallon of fuel, 15% again) it sounded terrible.  As I revved up the engine a little, the blades were barely turning and the sound got worse.  I shut it down and decided I needed to investigate.  On inspection I noticed the flywheel was spinning very easily.  The first thought was that the glow plug had come loose or fallen out.  Nope, it was tight.  I decided it must be the flywheel nut, which requires taking the engine out to tighten.  We went back to Chuck's new house and started disassembling the heli.  After getting the engine out we discovered that the flywheel was loose from the engine.  The taper collar had worn and was free spinning on the crankshaft. The taper collar I have has the two cuts that do not go all the way through.  I cut one of the cuts all the way through so the taper collar could compress more.  Put it all back together and it worked.  I'm going to go ahead and order a new fan, flywheel and a couple more taper collars to have as spares.  Also, when I was disassembling I noticed that the one way bearing was loose again.  This is the third time I've had to tighten this set screw.  I'm definitely going to have to replace this with a system that actually works.

My flights were very successful (3 tanks).  I did a forward flip (at a very high altitude) and I did just a little backwards flight.  I started getting confused on my backward flight and quickly turned the tail around to recover.  I practiced some clockwise, tail-in, circles around myself as well.  I'm more comfortable with counter-clockwise but I do need to improve both directions.  Of course I did a few loops and rolls as well.  Also I pulled half a loop and held inverted for what felt like ten minutes (actually more like 30 seconds).

02/28/2000 - A little windy
I flew for 1 tank today after work.  It was a bit windy and getting dark, so I didn't do any loops or rolls.  No whiffle balls today.

03/01/2000 - Still windy
Same as Monday.  Just 1 tank and a few tail in circles around myself.  I did do some more nose-in and I'm feeling a lot more comfortable.

03/02/2000 - Yup, windy
Same as Monday and Wednesday.  1 tank

03/05/2000 - More rain
I got rained out most of the day.  I was suppose to meet friends and fly at 8am but the rain kept us on the ground.  I did get to fly for 1 tank in the late afternoon.  I flew in front of my house in the cul-de-sac.  A few neighbors came out to have a look and watch me crash into there cars, but I managed to fly safe and land in back in the driveway.  I did do a few high-speed pirouette's that looked completely out of control.  1 tank today.

03/08/2000 - Almost lost it
Today I flew for 1 tank after work.  The sun was setting and the wind was blowing a bit.  At one point I decided to barrel roll cross wind.  The entrance looked fine but I was lower than I normally try it.  When it went inverted I pulled the collective all the way down and the heli didn't climb.  I had to roll out the rest of the way close to the ground.  It all turned out OK, I didn't hit the ground.  My guess is that my engine is still running very rich (still breaking it in) and the performance just isn't there.

Also today I ordered my Futaba GV-1 governor and my extra receiver for my Giles-202 from Tower Hobbies.  I originally had a back order with Rick's R/C, but he didn't get them in stock and Tower did.  Sorry Ron.  Rick's R/C is an awesome shop and I'm sure my next order will be placed there.

03/09/2000 - GV-1 and 148 Receiver arrive
Fed-Ex guy delivered my GV-1 and receiver right on time.  I installed the GV-1 in the heli and will test fly tomorrow, or this weekend.  For details of my installation, check it out.  One thing I discovered while configuring the throttle servo with the new GV-1 is that my ATV settings for throttle were 100% and 47%!  47%???  Where did that come from.  I set it back to 100% and resized the linkage.  I did not relocate the ball joint to a different location on the servo arm or on the throttle arm on the engine.  The 100% 100% ATV is now OK!  Since the heli idled OK before all of this, I can only assume that I never got 100% throttle opening.  The top end of the throttle must have been limited by the 47% ATV.  This explains a lot about the lack of performance I've seen.  I've been attributing the poor performance to the fact that I'm still running REALLY rich.  The test flight this weekend will prove to be very interesting.  If the test flight goes OK and all my changes prove to be good, I'm going to start leaning out the low end needle and really get some great performance!

03/11/2000 - GV-1 flying
The GV-1 is awesome.  I flew for only 3 tanks today though.  Everything went fine.  I'm working on cleaning up my aileron rolls, loops and stationary tumbling.

03/12/2000 - First real Auto and first crash
Went flying this morning at the Davis field near Lake Perris.  I was doing some 3D stuff when the engine started to bobble a little.  I headed straight back towards myself and about half way there (about 40 feet up, maybe 100 feet away) the engine quit.  It was running too lean and it got too hot.  I managed to slow the forward speed down and turn the tail toward me.  The landing was harder than I would prefer but no damage was done.  I flew a couple more times trying to richen up the high end.  

Later that day we went back to Temecula and we flew at our normal area.  I was trying a new trick.  540 degree hammer-heads.  I did one without any problems.  On my second attempt the tail wagged back and forth quickly when the 540 degree turn was done.  It proceeded down about half way to the ground and the tail suddenly turned 180 degrees.  It was now facing straight up but headed straight down!  I pushed forward cyclic to try to save it and it started to level out.  Then the tail went around again about 90 degrees.  Now it was facing away from me at a 90 degree bank.  I pushed full right cyclic but did not recover in time.  It hit the ground with a lot of forward speed at about a 45 degree down slope and about a 45 degree left facing bank.  The copter bounced about 20 feet away before the tail boom separated from the main body and it began beating itself to death.  

Upon inspection of all the parts, we discovered the set screw that holds the tail rotor blades the the slider shaft was backed almost completely out (pictures on the way).  Also, there was no evidence of lock-tite.  Whoops!  I guess I missed that one.  Hard lesson to learn.

Damage is typical for a crash like this. Boom, belt, blades, feathering shaft, flybar & paddles, etc.  Lucky for me none of the expensive items were damaged (except for the NHP fiberglass blades).  The servos, receiver, CSM540, GV-1 and Enya 50 all test OK.

03/13/2000 - Ordered replacement parts
Today I ordered a bunch of parts from Hobbies 'n Helis.  The guys there seemed a little too busy to help me.  They kept wanting part numbers and I didn't have them.  We finally got it figured out and he said he'd ship it.  In addition to the repair parts, I ordered some upgrade parts.  "Super Fan", header tank, boom mounted rudder servo.

03/15/2000 - Parts arrived, more parts on order
I received the shipment from Hobbies 'n Helis.  I'm disappointed in the parts however.  HnH told me he had a pitch slider, but then he hand wrote on my receipt that he didn't have one so he didn't charge me for it.  That's fine, but he should have called and told me I should look elsewhere for it.  Luckily Rick's R/C has an upgrade part so I ordered it from there.  Also, I ordered a "frame set" from HnH and when it arrived, it was only the bottom half of the frame.  I assumed I was getting a complete frame, but I assumed wrong.  I think HnH should rename that part to a "Lower Frame Set".

I started replacing parts and quickly learned the frustration with non OEM parts.  The tail boom is 2 inches longer than stock and does not have the hole (or slot) in the back for the tail assembly to mount to.  Also, the "Super Fan" doesn't have a hole for the GV-1 magnet.  I'll work on that some other day.  I'm going to concentrate on getting the GPH back up in the air first.  Most of the re-assembly is complete.  As long as the pitch slider arrives from Rick's, I should be able to fly this weekend.

03/16/2000 - Final parts arrive
I received the pitch slider from Rick's R/C.  Lucky for me I bought a belt at Pegasus when I was there yesterday.  I had ordered one from Rick's R/C, but it didn't show up.  They didn't charge me either, so it's all good.  I finished installing all the replacement and upgrade parts.  Tomorrow I need to do some final setup adjustments and check all screws, bolt and nuts.

03/17/2000 - Final setup, ready to fly
I finished setting up the GPH today.  Checked all the pitches, cut out the holes in the side of the canopy and drilled the mounting holes in the canopy too.  This fiberglass canopy is great.  I just wish I had time to paint it before the weekend.  I hate to get the glow fuel all over it before it's painted. 

03/18/2000 - Airborne again
I flew 3 tanks today.  Used up the last of my 15% fuel.  I have a new gallon of 30% that I'm going to try tomorrow.  The heli runs great.  The new tail rotor blades are quite a bit larger than the stock ones and I can definitely tell the difference.  The new paddles are nice too.  I'm running "Quick 30" paddles and they are quick!  I mounted them in the rearward hole, which is a "3D" setting.  Now, my aileron rolls and loops are just as tight in low dual rates as they were in high dual rates with the original paddles.  When I'm in "High Rate" the engine bogs down a bit in tight rolls.  This is either because the engine is running too rich, or the control throws are just too far.  Even my GV-1 governor cannot keep up.  For now, I'm suspecting engine performance.  We'll see.

03/19/2000 - More flying, second auto-rotate
Ran through 4 tanks today.  I'm having some rudder stabilization problems that I didn't have yesterday.  I inspected the tail area, rudder servo and linkages but didn't find any problems.  It might just be the large tail rotor blades.  I played with the gyro gain a bit (CSM540).  It was at 60%, I tried 70%, then 50% and finally 45%.  At 45% it seems a bit better, but still not good enough.  Yes, my belt is tight.  I guess I'll try some lower gains and see what happens.

I ran the sucker out of fuel on accident.  I checked my fuel and it looked OK.  I guess I flew around too much because it shut off completely while nose-in at about 6 feet off the ground.  On the video you see the heli do a 360 pirouette.  I don't think the gyro would allow this to happen, so I must have pushed in the rudder.  Chances are I was about to turn it tail in and the engine quit at the exact same time.  Anyway, I managed to land it safely without any damage.  WAHOO!

03/25/2000 - No static in the morning, static in the afternoon
I flew for three tanks this morning before heading out to help my wife's cousin move.  All went well.  I practiced forward tumbles for a while.  About 7 in a row!

In the afternoon I was not able to fly.  The wind had picked up a bit, but not enough to ground me.  I started up the heli and tried to take off.  When the blades came up to speed the tail started twitching a lot.  I'm talking about 180 degree twitches!  I immediately shut it down and checked for the usual loose screws or loose belt.  Everything looked fine.  I spun it up again and the same thing happened.  I found that when I remove the carbon fiber boom supports the trail operates just fine.  I worked on trying to locate the problem for about an hour but never found it.  I'm hoping it's a weather thing, cause everything was fine this morning and nothing changed on the heli.

03/26/2000 - More static
This morning I had the same problem as last evening.  I completely de-routed all my wires trying to find the source of the problem.  I also tried removing the CSM540 gyro and installing a simple and cheap piezo gyro.  Still had the same problem.  Again I removed the carbon fiber boom supports and the problem went away.  I figured it must be static electricity, but why all of the sudden does it cause a problem?  I grounded the CSM540 gyro and the battery pack but that did no good.  Finally, after I went home and gave up for the day, I decided to add a ground strap from the metal frame of the heli to the aluminum brackets that hold the boom mounted rudder servo.  I ran up the blades in the driveway and there was no problem.  Even with the carbon fiber boom supports installed everything looked OK.  I rerouted all my wires and verified that the gyro was installed securely and heading out the to cul-de-sac where we fly.  Fired up the heli and hovered.  Everything was fine again.  I flew for one tank in the wind (very strong wind).  It's still a mystery why I was able to fly for 1 week, nothing changed on the heli and all of the sudden I have a static electricity problem that requires a ground strap to resolve.

04/01/2000 - Good Flights
I had a couple of good flights this morning.  I flew for two tanks.  At one point I even started practicing backwards flight.  Not a very long flight.  I started facing myself (high altitude) and started backing up.  I took it out probably 20 or 30 feet and made a 180 degree left banking turn.  That's my left, not the heli's left.  After the turn I stopped the backwards flight and did it all over again.  I did this about 3 or 4 times.  Just until I started to get really confused.  I also did my normal barrel rolls, loops, and inverted hover.  My inverted hover still needs a lot of work.  I also practiced controlled pirouetting.

04/02/2000 - Practiced auto's and a real auto
No backwards flight today but I did do some barrel rolls and loops.  My inverted hover looks a little better than yesterday, but I still don't trust myself below about 50 feet.  On my second flight I practiced some auto rotations.  These were my first practiced auto's without the whiffle ball training gear.  I did rather well on most of them but I did bounce it real hard once.  Not sure what happened there, but I think I just reacted too late on the flare.  After the hard bounce I decided to just fly around for a bit but the engine was not running smoothly.  It seemed to rev up and down on it's own.  I brought it to about a 6 foot hover in front of me to just observe it for the moment.  Smoke seemed to be pouring from the engine itself.  Just as I was about to swing the heli around to the cul-de-sac, it shut off.  I managed to auto it down (all 6 feet) and land smoothly without damage.  My guess is that the engine has some bolts/screws coming loose,  perhaps something as simple as a loose glow plug.  I'm going to pull the engine and inspect it.

04/03/2000 - New workbench
I spent the evening building a new workbench in the garage.  This workbench is at 42" high so I can stand at it or sit on a stool and work on the heli.  Also, the bench is mounted between my two garage doors and allows me to spin the main blades without hitting a wall or anything else.

04/04/2000 - Loose bolts on the engine
I removed the engine (on my new fancy workbench).  When I pulled the two shroud halves out of the heli, two screws fell on the workbench.  After I got the engine completely out, I found where the screws go.  Six of them hold the head to the block on my Enya 50.  Two were completely backed out and the other four were about half way out.  I guess this explains the engine smoking and shutting off in flight.  Also, the screws were clean as a whistle.  I guess Enya doesn't like Lock-tite.  I cleaned up the parts as best I could and re-installed the head.  Then I removed the four screws that hold the front and back crank case halves together.  No Lock-tite there either.  I wonder why they build their engines dry?  Anyway, I reinstalled the screws using Lock-tite and I don't expect this to be a problem again.  After I re-installed the engine and most of the other stuff that has to be removed to get the engine out, I came to the muffler.  It rattled as I picked it up.  Turns out the the baffle plate on the inside had broken.  I can't get the loose piece out so I'm ordering a new muffler to replace it.  Bummer, $45 down the drain.  Most likely it wasn't a defective part.  I did crash this bird on 03-12-2000 and most likely that cracked the baffle plate.  Normal vibrations probably cause it to break the rest of the way.

04/05/2000 - New muffler ordered
I tried calling Rick's R/C to get some advice on a tuned pipe for my GPH.  Unfortunately I couldn't get anyone on the phone.  I haven't had good experiences with leaving a voice mail for them so I didn't bother.  I called Heli-World and got someone on the phone on the first try.  They had a Hatori "Tuned Muffler" in stock (CNH447) $89.95, so I ordered it.  Should be here Friday so I can fly this weekend.  According to the Heli-World guy, a header is not required because this is a tuned "muffler" not a tuned "pipe".  I hope he's right.

04/08/2000 - More flights on the old muffler
I flew for a total of about 1 tank today.  Never really had a good flight.  Everything seemed good when flying right-side-up, but when I inverted the GPH the engine just about shut off.  I managed to control crash it.  Not quite a crash, not quite an auto and certainly not flying!  The heli was flying just a little sideways when it touched down which broke the skid off one side.  No other damage that I know of though.  For the next flight I cut the landing gear struts the same height as the broken side.  I just wanted to lift it up and try to tune the engine.  Again, it ran like a champ right-side-up.  I did a couple of barrel rolls, and loops and the engine seemed fine.  I put the GPH in a steady hover (high) and started a forward tumble.  When it went up-side-down the engine boggled and struggled.  The heli started falling fast.  I finally got it right-side-up with probably about 1,000 RPM head speed.  It was falling fast and I was doing my best to hold it up as long as possible.  Then the engine almost shut off completely at about 15 feet.  I figured it was all over at that point.  At about 5 feet the engine came back to life.  It still hit the ground (right-side-up) but the engine definitely saved it. When I examined the old muffler I discovered that a patched hole (original location of the exhaust pressure nipple for the fuel tank) was wide open.  Apparently I was not getting any help from exhaust pressure to feed fuel.  I also run a header tank which I imagine just made things worse.

Later in the afternoon my new muffler arrived.  It is a "muffler" type, not a "pipe".  Oh well, that's the trouble with mail ordering.  I ran out to Pegasus hobbies to pickup more fuel (4th gallon through this heli), new landing gear and #8 glow plugs.  I installed the new landing gear and I installed some rubber donuts on the landing gear so the heli will grab the ground better and not dance around.

04/09/2000 - Two awesome flights
The new muffler did the trick.  The heli is flying great now.  I had to trim in the mixture at the beginning of my first flight, but after that it ran like a champ.  I did a lot of inverted hover practice.  Boy, do I need practice.  I'm having trouble seeing the blades to help me hover inverted so I'm thinking of adding some fat tracking tape.  That should help me see the blade plane when it's really high (where I go inverted).  The rubber donuts on the landing gear are cool.  The heli doesn't torque to the side when I spin up the blades anymore.

04/11/2000 - Installed new elevator stabilizer bracket
We went to Pegasus hobbies today and I bought a metal elevator stabilizer bracket.  It's made by Century and offers a little more throw then the plastic part.  I don't think I need the extra throw right now, but maybe I will in the future.  The only thing I don't like about the part is that it came with short counter-sink screws that will not work on my GPH.  The screws that mounted the plastic part will not work either because they thread into plastic.  I found some machined Philips pan-head screws the correct length that will work for now.  I'd like to find some 2.5mm Allen head screws like the others on the heli. 

04/15/2000 - "Big Boy" autos and inverted turns
I flew two tanks today.  I decided I wanted to learn "Big Boy" auto-rotations.  I started with some power-on approaches.  I did about 5 of those.  Then I hit the switch at probably about 75 feet.  I auto'd down to about 20 feet and aborted.  I did that about 5 times to get use to the decent.  That was pretty cool watching the heli fly by with the rotor plane not spinning.  After that I decided to go for it and I hit the switch at about 100 feet.  I auto'd down and set it down nice and gentle.  What a great feeling.  A little later I did an auto and landed in the street right in front of me.  Also today I practiced a little inverted forward flight.  I even tossed in a left turn while in inverted forward flight.  All the SIM practice really pays off!

04/22/2000 - More autos
I flew for two tanks today.  More autos, barrel rolls, loops and inverted forward flight.

04/23/2000 - Easter flying, broken bolt
Today is Easter Sunday.  I managed to get a couple of flights in this morning.  I tried a hammerhead, without the hammerhead.  Basically, pulled to vertical, then did not rudder around.  Instead I just came back down backwards.  Unfortunately I forgot to put the gyro in heading hold mode.  It started to weather vane on the way down.  It was a little confusing, but I managed to save it.  After that I tried the trick again, this time in heading hold mode.  I managed to come out backwards, but not very fast.  Takes a lot of trust in that gyro to come way down before pulling (or pushing) out.

Later in the afternoon I came out for more flying.  Early into my first flight an intense rattle started on the heli.  I brought it in close to have a look.  It looked to me like the rudder linkage next to the tail boom was shaking violently.  I decided I need to land it fast.  I landed right in soft fluffy dirt.  The landing was soft, but the dirt caked everything.  The damage turned out to be a broken bolt holding one of the boom supports to the main frame.  The boom support worked it's way up parallel to the boom and vibrated right next to the rudder linkage.  I was able to install another bolt in place of the broken one, but I decided not to fly until I clean up the dirt.

04/25/2000 - Broken bolt again
I flew after work today for one tank.  My wife's grandparents wanted to see the heli fly, so I put on a short show.  Early into the flight I heard a vibration.  I brought the heli in close and saw that the same boom support that gave me a problem last Sunday was shaking again.  I landed and discovered that the new bolt broke as well.  This is not a great surprise, because the replacement bolt I installed was a pan head and didn't look too strong.  I completely removed the boom support on that side of the heli and flew with only one support.  The heli seemed to perform just fine with only one support, but now there's a single point of failure.  I did some inverted hover, moon slides, 540 hammerheads, barrel rolls and inverted forward flight.  I'm getting a lot more comfortable with IFF, but I'm still plenty high before I try it.

04/29/2000 - Flew two tanks
Today I flew two tanks.  Nothing out of the ordinary.  Loops, rolls and a little inverted hover.  I did work more on my 540 Pushovers.  So far, they still look ugly, but I'm getting there.

This evening I was checking the heli over when I discovered that my fancy $41 Aluminum Pitch Slider from Rick's R/C is wearing out.  The guide screws from the pitch slider arm are wearing out the channel in the pitch slider.  I'm not sure what to do about this.  The pitch slider came with a pin that threads in the slider.  I could use this to go through one guide screw hole.

04/30/2000 - FFF auto
This morning I was flying around doing my normal loops, rolls and inverted turns.  I flew for two tanks.  On my last flight of the morning, I was in fast forward flight and low to the ground when the engine just quit.  No warning whatsoever.  I pitched the nose up to about 45 degrees and pulled back on the collective.  I was running in IdleUp-2, so I immediately got 10 degrees of negative.  That's a little too much negative for an auto, so I went to just below mid stick.  I used all that forward speed to keep the blades spinning and set her down nice and gentle.  I believe the cause of the flame out was a glow plug going bad.  I've been running really rich for about the last month or so and I know that takes it's toll on glow plugs.  This particular plug was a type "F" that I stole from my Giles-202 (Saito .91FS).  I replaced the glow plug with a #8 and flew another flight later in the afternoon.  This later flight was at the Temecula Valley Flyers airfield and I'm thinking about joining.  The engine seemed to run OK and I did lean out the top end just a little (1/8 turn).

05/05/2000 - Can't find fuel
I'm almost out of fuel and I can't find any 30% Cool Power.  I checked at Gyro and Hobby Shack in Orange County but both shops say they can't get any right now.

05/06/2000 - Cruising around
This morning I went to the Hemet Model Masters 4-Stroke Fun Fly.  I was only their for 30 minutes or so but I saw a lot of great airplanes.  I was hoping I'd find someone there selling fuel, but there wasn't.  Later I flew for 1 tank (the last of the fuel).  A couple of friends were visiting and they wanted to see the heli fly.  I did some inverted forward flight, hammer-heads, forward tumbles, etc.

05/07/2000 - Can't find fuel
I tried ordering 30% Cool Power from Heli-World, but they are sold out as well.  After work I drove up to Pegasus and bought 4 gallons of "30% Performance Plus" manufactured by West Coast Fuels Div.  I'm flying this coming Saturday, so I'm hoping that this fuel works out.  Also, the Performance Plus was $15.99/gal whereas the Cool Power is $21.95/gal.

05/13/2000 - Good fuel, cracked tail housing
I flew today for a few flights.  I practiced inverted hover and actually got pretty good at it.  I got down to about 10 feet off the ground!  The new fuel seems to work just fine.  I don't notice any difference between the new "Performance Plus 30%" and the "Cool Power 30%.  While I was cleaning up the heli after flying I discovered that my tail housing was cracked.  The tail housing has two verticle aluminum parts that make up main structure.  Well, one of those pieces is broken in two.

Later in the evening I JB Welded the two pieces back together and I'll try that tomorrow.  I plan on replacing the part with brand new pieces, but in order to fly tomorrow, I have to try to repair this.

05/14/2000 - JB Weld didn't hold
It didn't result in a crash, but the JB Weld couldn't handle the load.  I only got one flight in and I decided not to tempt fate anymore and I grounded myself for the day.

05/16/2000 - Got a new tail housing
I drove up to Pegasus today to get a new tail housing.  That sucker cost $90.00!  Sheesh.   I went home and installed it and I'm ready for this coming weekend.

05/18/2000 - New 3D fins on the way
I ordered a set of Carbon Fiber 3D fins from AeroHobbies.  They won't be here before the weekend, but I should have them for the next weekend

05/20/2000 - Good flying, another flame out
I flew about 3 tanks today.  I was just thinking about working on some inverted hover, when the engine quit in forward flight.  The auto went well and I landed out in the weeds rather smoothly.  My guess is the major weather change we've been having lately.  It's considerably warming today than it has been in the past.

Wasn't the temperature, at least not entirely the temp.  I found that the fuel line going to the clunk inside the main tank is very deteriorated.  I squished it in my fingers and I had pieces of the hose left over on both fingers.  It seems that the fuel broke down hose and turned it into a gooey piece of gum.  This collapsed hose obviously cause a vacuum effect when fuel was drawn out of the header tank.  I replaced the hose and put the heli back together.  After that  took apart the autorotation unit.  I wanted more tail during autos so I cleaned all the exhaust gunk out the the unit and redesigned the thin wafer washer next to the rubber o-ring.  I created 4 high spots on the washer so it has more drag.

05/21/2000 - Great flying, autos
I tuned the motor a bit today.  I richened up the top end a lot to compensate for the warmer weather.  I also discovered that the low end was a little rich.  The engine would "load up" while idling.  I made the changes to the mixtures and it ran awesome. Flew 4 tanks today.   I worked on inverted hover a little, but I didn't "feel" it, so I stopped.  I did to some low ground work which was exciting.  A lot of pirouettes and nose in forward flight close to the ground.  The autorotation unit is awesome!  I performed some pirouettes during autos.  The tail is not "direct drive" but it definitely spins more.  If I peg the rudder hard right away, the tail definitely slows down.  During the auto though, the tail does pick up speed again. I also tried a "flare" about half way down from the auto, then fall and try to pick up rotor speed to have enough momentum to land.  I didn't actually land it, but I believe their was plenty of energy left.  A couple of tricks I got on video are an Alleyopp and Inverted Pirouettes.

05/22/2000 - 3D fins arrive
My new 3D fins arrived from AeroHobbies today.  During installation I noticed that the vertical fin does not clear the two screws that hold the tail housing side plates to the tail housing root.  I used the Dremel to route out the vertical fin to fit over the two screws.  Other than that, the fins mounted perfectly.

05/27/2000 - Another crash
This crash was devastating.  After flying 3 flights I decided to go up for one more and work on loops.  I did a couple right side up loops and thought I'd try a loop while inverted.  I thought I was plenty high to attempt it, but wasn't.  After rounding the top of the loop I started the decent around the bottom of the loop.  The inverted performance just wasn't enough.  I tried to flip it back upright, but there wasn't enough time/altitude.  It smacked the ground extremely hard on the muffler side.  The damage is unbelievable.  Even the engine is broke in half.  Items that seem to have survived the crash are the gyro, governor, receiver, battery, 4 of 5 servos, head, swashplate, see-saw and mixing arms.  Everything else is damaged.  Even the bearing blocks that hold the mast are gone.  All 4 frame sides, stock gyro plate, receiver tray and those aluminum frame spacers are all bent beyond repair.

05/30/2000 - Ordered a new kit
After examining all the damaged parts I decided it would be cheaper to buy a new kit.  I placed an order with Rick's R/C for a new GPH346 Option, OS .46FX-H, taper collet and a 9202 servo case.  Should be here by Thursday.

05/31/2000 - Enya has a wonderful guarantee
I found out today that Enya has a one year crash-guarantee.  They will fix my engine for free!  I'v already ordered my OS .46FX-H from Rick's so I'll have the Enya as a backup engine.

06/01/2000 - GPH-II arrives
As I was taking pictures of the damaged parts from GPH-I, the UPS guy arrived with GPH-II, an OS 46FX-H, taper collet and a Futaba s9202 servo case.  In the evening I began assembling the new heli.  Things went a lot fast this time since I'm more familiar with the model now.

06/02/2000 - Finished building
This evening I finished the assembly of GPH-II.  I built this one with the metal super fan that I bought back when I crashed GPH-I the first time.  I had to dig the magnet out of the old fan and drill about a 1/16" deep hole in the new metal fan.  All went well and I completed the assembly and setup of GPH-II.  Tomorrow morning will be the first flight

06/03/2000 - GPH-II first flight
I first took the heli up at about 4" off the ground without the canopy to make sure I didn't hear any strange noises.  Everything went well so I landed and installed the canopy.  The engine loaded up and quit while it was idling.  I leaned out the low end needle a little and it idles much better now.  After the canopy was installed I took the heli up into forward flight.  The engine runs great but it feels like I don't have the vertical performance I had before.  I know this is partially due to my pitch changes.  On GPH-I I was +12 and -9 which I believe helped contribute to the crash.  GPH-II is setup +10 and -10 to give a more symmetrical feel when flying inverted.  All went well and I flew about 4 tanks

06/04/2000 - Skidding stops
Today I played around with sliding stops.  Since when I built GPH-II I did not install rubber feet on the skids, I decided to take advantage of that and try some touch 'n goes and slides.  It was a lot of fun.  I also worked on some pirouettes and close to ground flying.  I burned about 3 tanks.

06/11/2000 - New tricks
I flew for about 4 tanks today.  I did a couple of new tricks.  One I believe is called a "Descending Spider" or something like that.  Here's how it's done.  From a very high altitude, aileron roll 90 degrees to the left and zero the collective.  As the heli is falling toward Earth, pull back full elevator and the heli spins around.  After 360 degrees of rotation, rudder left 90 degrees, introduce positive collective and pull back on the elevator to pull out.  Another trick I worked on is aileron rolls on the way up to a hammerhead.  Eventually I'd like to aileron roll 360 degrees and come out in backwards flight, but for now I aileron roll 180 degrees and then rudder 180 degrees and pull out.  One last trick I worked on is half a moon slide (into backwards inverted flight) then rudder 180 degrees so then it's in forward inverted flight.

We also found out that a few helis fly near our area.  We met up with those folk and flew a flight or two.  Nice to have more people in the hobby.

06/16/2000 - Before work flights
I flew two tanks today before work.  The usual pirouettes, moon slides, a couple "Descending Spider's" or "Death Spiral's" whatever they're called.

06/17/2000 - Two tanks
I flew two tanks today.  Did the normal stuff.  Nothing exciting.

06/25/2000 - Wind, wind wind
I flew 1 tank at our normal flying spot in the wind.  After that I went over to a new place that some other guys have been gathering at in town.  The wind wasn't as bad there so I flew another tank.

07/01/2000 - Just one flight
I flew just one flight today.  It just didn't feel "right", so I landed and decided to fly another day.

12/03/2000 - Finally flew again
I flew for one tank today.  First time in a very long time.  The only thing I had to fix before my flight was the rubber band that holds tension on the antenna.  I merely hovered around and did a few pirouettes.

12/06/2000 - Sent the Enya 50 back to Altech
I finally boxed up the broken Enya 50 and sent it to Altech Marketing to take advantage of their 1 year crash guarantee.

12/17/2000 - Flew one tank
Today I did some forward flight and pulled one barrel roll.  Nothing too dramatic, but it was nice to fly again.  Only one tank.

12/26/2000 - Received the Enya 50 back from Altech
The brand new Enya 50 arrived from Altech today.  I'm really happy with their warranty and now I just wish I had another heli to put this engine in.  It's going to sit on a shelf for a while.

12/31/2000 - Flew in the desert
Today I flew for some friends while we were camping near Calico, CA.  I did some barrel rolls, moon slides, pirouettes and stuff like that.  One tank

01/01/2001 - Flew for the friends again
I flew another tank today in the desert.  I got a bit more brave this time and went for lower moon slides, windmills, 540 stall turns and a death spiral. 

01/27/2001 - Flight Video
Today I dissected a XCAM2 camera for www.x10.com and installed it on the GPH.  I mounted the camera itself on the tail of the heli next to the vertical fin.  I mounted the transformer, antenna and batteries under the main body on the skids.  Since the camera runs on 12VDC, I used a 9V and two AA batteries all in series to give me the juice.  If I had to rate the video quality on a scale of 1 to 10, I'd give it a 2.  Actually, the video itself looks great, as long as you're not moving.  I didn't seem to run out of range like I expected, but the video constantly glitches while the heli is in motion.  Also, there's a lot of vibration, but that's not the camera's fault.  I think I need to balance my engine/fan/clutch.  The vibration was amplified by mounting the camera on the tail.  I think I'll move the camera to the skids just to clean up the picture a little.

02/10/2001 - One flight
Today I flew 1 tank.  The rain started so I had to land and pack it up.

03/25/01 - One flight, let it all hang out
I flew 1 tank today.  I let it all hang out with Windmills, Moon Slides, Hammerheads, short inverted hover about 10' off the deck, sideways flight forward tumbles, etc...

05/16/01 - Flew one flight
Today I flew one flight for my parents.  The Futaba Governor wouldn't hold the throttle so I'll have to investigate what is wrong.  Since my throttle curves are set, I was still able to Aileron Roll and Moon Slide.

06/17/01 - Flew for friends
I'm still having problems with the GV-1, but I haven't investigated the problem yet.  I flew out in front of the house and over the houses on my street.  Normally I don't fly in such tight quarters, but everyone wanted to see it hover and I wasn't content with just hovering.  All turned out OK and my neighbors got a good show.  I did some barrel rolls, tumbles, moon slides and inverted hovering (very brief).  One tank.

07/22/01 - Fixed GV-1, Flew again
After searching over the helicopter and radio for why my GV-1 wouldn't hold the throttle I finally found the problem.  The dial for Channel 8 has to be turned all the way to the right.  I'm sure I knew this when I originally installed the governor, but I've since forgotten.  maybe I'll remember now :)

I flew one tank for so friends that were visiting.  I did a couple barrel rolls, some forward tumbles and I even shot 1 auto.

03/03/03 - Minor crash
Took the heli to TDS this weekend.  I guess there was too much RF interference out there with 1500 vehicles with CB's, marine radios, etc.  I barely got off the ground and the heli started ignoring me.  I fussed with the controller trying to find out what the problem was.  At about 18" off the ground it went vertical, nose up, and backed into the ground.  Typical breakage, blades, boom, belt, etc.

05/18/05 - Parts ordered
Today I finally ordered my repair parts.  The heli has been damaged for two years now.

05/28/05 - Picked up parts
Since an online order had 8 of 11 parts on back-order, I decided to buy all the parts at a local shop.  In the evening I swapped all the parts so I'm ready to fly tomorrow

05/29/05 - Hovered for a few minutes
After Mark and I drove all over Temecula looking for the perfect spot to fly, we ended up back at my house to hover the GPH.  It was up for a few minutes when the tail stopped responding for a second, then twitched 90 degrees.  I quickly set it down and avoided damage.  I bought some parts to relocate my tail servo on to the boom, but they didn't fit.  In the evening I set forth on combining parts from an old tail boom server mount, with the new parts.  I also wanted to go through the gyro setup and make sure that it's correct.  What I found was that the connections from the gyro to the receiver had soaked in glow fuel for too long and had corroded to the point that the plastic was gummy.  I chopped the wires and soldered on some from old servos.

05/30/05 - Busted blades
This morning I was still nervous about the tail twitch, so I brought my saw horse, a lazy-susan and a couple tie-down straps.  I strapped the lazy-susan to the saw horse, then the heli to the lazy-susan.  I had the engine running for a minute or two and was pleased with the tail response.  I didn't notice that the heli was sliding off the lazy-susan.  It slid off the left side and started to tip.  I reached on the controller to shut off the engine, then went in to grab the tail boom.  I didn't hit the right switch and I didn't get to the boom in time.  The blades smacked the ground and got torn up.

06/03/05 - More parts
I drove up to the hobby shop today and picked up more blades.  I also wanted to get a tail pitch slider, but they didn't have it.  When I got home I installed the new blades and swapped out the flybar.  The old one was bent just a touch, and I had a new one still in the packaging.  I plan to hover the heli on Sunday without a lazy-susan or a saw horse :)

06/05/05 - Scary landing
I was hovering for a few minutes making sure everything was good on the heli.  I traveled up the street a bit, then back down.  All of the sudden the heli started wobbling and came down fast.  Luckily I was only about 6 inches off the ground at the time.  A ball link screw on the mixing arms had come off in flight.  Without pitch control on one blade it just flapped in the wind.  Mark had suggested I tighten the blade holders last weekend and I'm really glad I took his advice.  The heli landed without any damage.  The wobbly blade didn't even touch the boom.  Mark had a screw to put that ball joint back together, but I decided I need to remove every screw I can and re-loctite them back together before I try flying again.  This time the engine really sounded good though.  I think it's finally cleared out it's cobwebs from sitting on the shelf for two years.

03/18/06 - Part ordered
I didn't fly today, but I ordered a new tail pitch slider.  I hovered the heli (a few inches off the ground) a couple weeks ago and it wasn't up 15 seconds and the tail drifted right and wouldn't respond.  At first I was thinking that the ICG540 gyro was too blame, but now I'm not sure.  The tail pitch slider has a nasty grooved out section and it's possible that it stuck in there.  I'm gonna replace this part and try hovering again to see if the tail is better

03/22/06 - Part arrived
The tail pitch slider arrived today.  When I took things apart to replace it I discovered that the shaft that connects the two tail blades together was bent a couple degrees.  This isn't a revolving item, the blades just pivot on it, so it's not that big of a deal.  Still I put it in the vise and straightened it out.  Someday I'll probably replace it, but not today.  I also diagnosed a few other parts.  I found that the ICG540 gyro looks like it got too hot.  A couple sets of the wires were bonded together, but no wires were exposed.  The wires seem crispy and there's smoke evidence inside the case.  It's just not worth it.  Mark really wants me to fly my heli with him, so he volunteered to "sponsor" a new gyro and a faster servo.  The Futaba GY401 and S9254 will fit the bill.

I was trying to verify the governor settings, but the battery pack didn't have enough juice.  This is strange because it was charged before I flew a couple weeks ago and should have enough power to sit at idle.  I grabbed my battery pack from the crash parts from the Giles.  It's just a 600mAh pack, but it worked fine for bench testing.  It worked so well that it made me wonder why this pack has juice (Giles crashed months ago) and the heli pack is dead after a couple weeks.  I gave the heli pack to Mark to cycle on his fancy battery charge/discharge thingy and he found that it had a serious memory issue.  This makes me wonder if the tail problem I've been having is from a bad gyro or a bad battery pack.  At this point it's not worth risking, so both components are being replaced.

03/26/06 - Bad battery cell
Mark did some more diagnosing on the battery pack.  It appears that the 2nd cell in the pack is bad.  After just a couple minutes the voltage jumps down to around 4.3v.  When he put the pack back on the charger, 3 of the cells remained relatively cool, but the 2nd cell in line got very warm.  Enough is enough, the pack went in the trash. A new pack is due to arrive with the gyro and servo this week.  Hopefully this weekend I'll get the heli off the ground again.

03/30/06 - New gyro, rudder servo, battery
I installed the GY401 gyro, s9254 servo and the 1800mAh battery today.  I relocated the s9250 servo to the throttle.  Hopefully I can get this bird in the air this weekend

04/01/06 - Hovered
I hovered the GPH for almost a full tank today.  Everything was going fine until I tried the governor.  The heli was sitting on the ground and I flipped the Gov On-Off switch to On.  Almost immediately the heli jerked back and to the right.  I corrected, but I think the tip of the blades touched ground.  Very slight and almost disastrous.  I lowered the throttle stick, turned off the governor hit the throttle hold, then shut down completely.  I didn't have any time to diagnose the problem today.

04/05/06 - Maintenance
I took the GPH mostly apart today and did some maintenance.  I was hoping to find a bad bearing to blame the last flight glitch on, but everything seemed good.  I still oiled, dried and greased all the bearings.  I did find that one of the exhaust bolts was loose enough that it dripped exhaust/fuel.  Hopefully that was the cause of the glitch.

04/15/06 - Back in the air
Mark helped me out and bought some 1/2" dowel rod and wiffle balls.  I drilled out a block and we home made some training gear.  It's funny to think that I've flown over a hundred tanks of fuel through my GPH and now I need wiffle balls.  The glitch just makes me nervous since I didn't find the smoking gun.  Anyways, I strapped on the landing gear, realized I forgot my transmitter at home, got back to the flying spot and hovered a tank without any issues.  YAY!  After flying the Dazzler for a tank I flew the GPH again without the wiffle balls and took it a bit higher.  I even did a couple aileron rolls.

05/21/06 - Glitch?
I tried hovering again today but the collective and rudder were on a delayed response.  I was just hovering, so I wasn't inputting cyclic or I would have seen it there too.  I landed quickly, no damage.

05/28/06 - Flew again
I was planning to install an FM receiver from my glider (originally from the Giles-202) in place of the PCM receiver currently in the heli.  The PCM receiver has been through a couple hard crashes and maybe it's just got problems.  Mark also brought a PCM receiver that he isn't using, along with a transmitter module on ch51.  While installing his PCM receiver I found I was missing a screw that holds the fan shroud to the metal frame.  This could cause interference. 

Flew a couple tanks today.  Actually, I flew a couple 1/2 tanks getting use to it again.  No glitching on the replacement receiver.

05/29/06 - Flew again
Had a couple good flights today.  Actually flew one tank almost completely out.  I practiced a couple autos, although I didn't actually set them down on the ground.  Back in the day, I auto'd with tail control and I guess that's what I'm use to.  The GPH is currently setup stock, so the tail rotor stops when I throttle hold. 

06/01/06 - Loose screw
I decided to give the GPH a once over.  I noticed that the flybar was a little wobbly, laterally.  I took a closer look and noticed that the mounting block for the mixing arms was loose.  Two screws hold it in place (one on each side) and one had backed completely out along with it's bearing.  I had not lost it because the mixing arm itself trapped it in there.  When I removed it I found it had no loc-tite at all.  I removed the opposite side and found the same, although it was tight.  I applied loc-tite and reassembled.  I searched for other problems but found none.

A few days ago I ordered a new transmitter module for my 8u radio.  It arrived today.  It's the one that you can set to any channel.

06/02/06 - Back to ch20
After finding those 2 loose screws, I've decided that's where my interference comes from.  I re-installed my original PCM receiver on ch20. 

06/03/06 - Minor crash
Turns out the PCM receiver that I have on ch20 definitely has a problem.  I was hovering for a few minutes when I saw the tail twitch about 20 degrees.  I made my way back to the landing area and it glitched real bad low to the ground.  The blade tips scraped the ground hard enough that I had to replace them.  Mark and I drove to Pegasus Hobbies in the afternoon and I picked up some new ones.  Turns out I have been running the wrong blades for a while now.  I seem to remember that 580mm blades are stock.  For some reason I've been flying 550's.  Pegasus only had 600's so I thought I'd give them a try

06/04/06 - Great flights
The new blades work awesome.  I'm not sure that I can tell a difference since I haven't been flying enough.  The heli flew great and Mark and I even had a few head-to-head drag races.

06/11/06 - New flying site
Mark and I found a new place to fly today.  It's further from my house, but closer to his.  It's a construction site where they've leveled off lots for houses, but haven't worked in there for a while (weeds).  I flew a couple tanks.  The 1st was fairly exciting trying to remember old tricks.  I held in inverted for half a pattern, hammer heads, alley-oops, barrel rolls, etc.  I tried a stationary forward flip and did pretty well (not a lot of altitude loss, if any).  Then I tried a trick I've always wanted to do.  I started up high, but it's meant to be done at take off.  You collective up, hard, pull back on the elevator and rotate back about 120 degrees.  Then you go to full negative collective and push away inverted and backwards.  Fairly quickly I pulled back on the elevator again and basically did a moon-slide around to forward flight.  After doing that a couple times I did 2 of them at take off.  It went pretty well, but I think my gyro gain can't keep up in backwards flight because it started coming around.  Luckily I corrected the right direction and kept it in the air.

On my 2nd flight I decided to start the flight with my new trick.  It didn't go as well this time.  I didn't get high enough and the tail came around too much.  I didn't hit the ground, but I mowed at least one weed while in inverted backwards (well kinda sideways) flight.  I came back around, landed and tried again.  This time I shot up higher before flipping back, but the tail still came around a little and it was ugly.  I'll have to work on the gyro gain.

06/13/06 - New transmitter
My 12ZH transmitter arrived yesterday and I configured the GPH on it today.  I'm using the G3-2048 receiver and I moved all the servo plugs to the new Futaba scheme. 

Since this radio is a "heli" version, as opposed to my 8UAPS, which is "airplane", by default the shoulder switches trade sides.  I'm use to Idle-up and Gyro gain on the right and Throttle-Hold and Engine-Kill (Trainer) on the left.  On the 12ZH it's the opposite. I could switch them, but since this is the standard, I'm going to try to learn it. 

I made some setting changes that I've been thinking about.  My old setup had +10 to -4 pitch settings in Norm, Idle-1 and Hold.  Idle-2 had +10 to -10.  This made the heli jump or drop when switching between Idle-1 and Idle-2.  My new settings have +10 to -10 everywhere.  The idle-up switch now just controls the GV-1 governor.  Norm has no governor settings, so it runs on curves.  This is because over the past few weeks, with my governor on-off switch on the Throttle-Hold switch, the heli spools up very fast and usually spins around 180 degrees before getting up to speed.  With no governor on Norm, I can control the spool up rate.  Idle-1 turns the governor on and holds it at 1,600 rpm.  Idle-2 holds it at 1,700 rpm.  While doing the governor settings, I discovered that the 12ZH radio synchronizes with the GV-1 governor and I can make head speed changes on the radio, instead of on the GV-1.  That's pretty sweet!

I also configured the right finger trim (located on the side-back of the radio) to adjust the gyro gain when in AVCS mode.  This way I can take the heli up and adjust the gain without looking at the radio, or even moving my fingers from the sticks.  I'll fine tune the setting I want, then hard-code it into the radio and disable the finger-trim.

06/17/06 - Short flight
I flew a half tank today.  Just wanted to fly the new 12Z radio with the new settings.  The hover was smoother than I expected with the 20 degree pitch range.  It was nice to be able to switch back and forth from Norm-Idle1-Idle2 without worrying about pitch changes.  The only thing that makes me nervous now is doing an autorotation with the 20 degree range.  I didn't try that today though.

08/13/06 - Another flight
I've actually had several short flights over the past few weeks, but nothing worth mentioning.  Today was another tank full.  I buzzed around, rolled, flipped, etc.  The little Reflection plane is so much fun to fly (and cheap) that it really holds my attention these days

04/08/07 - Flame out
I've had several flights over the past few months, but today was the first problem in a long time.  While seeing how fast the heli would scream acros the sky (full throttle, full collective, oval circuits), the engine shut off.  This was a surprise and I auto'd in without much problem.  The auto was a long was away and looked great from a distance, but I guess it was backing up a little when it landed.  The vertical fin twisted and bent the tail boom.

04/15/07 - Lost communication
I replaced the tail boom and was just hovering today when the heli suddenly hit the ground.  I was only hovering about 6 to 12 inches from the ground when it seems the collective went negative and landed HARD.  Both upper and lower frame sets are bent, blades have enough damage that they aren't flyable anymore.  That sucks because they are Thunder Tiger carbon fibre and are rather pricey.

07/10/07 - Finally ordered parts
After a couple months (due to a move to northern California) I've finally ordered the repair parts.  I tried to order from RonLund.com but again became frustrated with their website.  Normally I can send an email and in a couple days have a positive response, but I'm tired of that.  This time I found the parts at zoomsheli.com and ordered online from them.  A few weeks ago I visited an R/C shop up here near Sacramento, but their heli parts selection was lacking.

    Parts ordered:
        Upper frame set
        Lower frame set
        Lower frame "L" bars
        Skid feet
        Skid bars
        600mm RadiX blades
        Thread-Lock

01/17/08 - GPH is flight ready but has not been flown in a while
Shortly after the parts arrive back in July, the GPH was torn down and repaired.  That was 6 months ago and I have yet to test fly it.  Life got in the way.

01/08/09 - OK, another year slipped by
I thought I might take the heli to work this week and buzz around for the co-workers.  Yesterday I cycled the receiver battery pack a few times and it appears in good shape.  The plan was to start the engine tonight and maybe hover it to make sure things are good.  When I did my control check I discovered that the collective was slow, end-to-end.  I disconnected the linkage at the servo to see if it's a servo gone bad (Futaba 9202).  The servo was quick.  The linkage movement of the collective mechanism was very sticky though.  Turns out the main shalf had collected a year + of dust and whatever else, so the swashplate and mixing arms wouldn't move smoothly.  I took the head apart, took out the main shaft, cleaned it up, cleaned up the inside of the swashplate and mixing arm carriage.  When it was all re-assembled it moved very smooth.  Too late to fire the engine, so that's left to another day.

Something that concerned me was the pressure that the servo was placing on the collective mechanism.  The plastic servo horn was taking a lot of abuse and I'm pretty sure it was deflecting.  I'm not a big fan of plastic on my heli, so I think I'll look into some aluminum servo horns.

01/10/09 - Engine won't start
I tried to start the GPH today to see how the engine is running.  Turns out, it's not.  Actually, it started right up and idled for a minute while I walked the heli out into the middle of the courtyard.  When I bumped the throttle, it shut down.  It wouldn't re-start.  The header tank had a leak while I was filling it so I suspected I was losing fuel pressure.  I removed the header tank to run only from the main tank, but it still would not start.  The fuel I have has been sitting on a shelf in a half full container for 2 years, so I drained it and used different fuel.  The "new" fuel has also been on the shelf for two years, but the container has never been opened and there is limited air inside.  Still would not start.  I removed the glow plug and it appears to light when the glow igniter is attached, but I suspect it isn't quite good enough.  I don't have any spare A3's so I'll order some next week (along with a replacement header tank).

01/12/09 - Parts ordered
I ordered a few A3 glow plugs, a 2oz fuel tank, aluminum servo horns and a Futaba S9252 servo.  At this point I'm just hoping that the 2oz fuel tank will fit in the nifty tank mount that I have.  It was a cheap alternative to ordering a "header tank" from a heli shop. ($4 instead of $16).  I ordered the S9252 after witnessing the slow collective last week.  Sure, that was caused by gunk on the main shaft, but even in perfect conditions, the S9202 server I was using doesn't have the best torque or speed.  The S9202 is listed at 55.5 oz-in torque and .26 sec/60° speed.  The S9252 is a digital servo with 92 oz-in torque and .14 sec/60° speed.

Reading on the website for Morgan Fuels (I run Cool Power 30% fuel), I learned that the shelf life for their fuel is 5-7 years.  That comforts me that I don't have to replace my gallon that has been sitting for 2 years ($45 +/-).

01/17/09 - Parts installed
I installed all the new parts today.  The 2oz fuel tank fit nicely in the existing mount.  I swapped out most of the plastic servo horns for the new aluminum ones.  The one that I couldn't change out was the elevator double arm.  I forgot that linkage was doubled.  Also, the servo is located too close to the lower frame for an aluminum double arm to work.  Since I've relocated my rudder servo to the tail, I can relocate the elevator servo there and shorten the linkage.  A job for another day

Even on the new A3 glow plug, the engine still would not start.

01/29/09 - Finally got the engine started
As I was checking the heli over for reasons that the engine wouldn't start, I noticed that the high-end mixture screw was very easy to turn.  I found the book for the OS 46FX-H engine and it indicated it should be set 1-1/2 to 2 turns out.  It was well over 2 turns.  I cranked it in to 1-1/2 turns and it fired right up.  A trick I use on my fuel planes is I place fuel tubing over the mixture screw to keep it in place.  I don't know why I've never needed it on the heli before.  Anyways, the mixture barrel is much larger on the heli and fuel tubing doesn't fit.  I ended up wrapping it with a couple layers of electrical tape, then zip-tying around it.  It will hold it in place and allow adjustment, but it looks terrible.  I'll see if I can find some larger fuel tubing.

01/30/09 - Flew at work
I flew about 1/2 tank at work today.  Only one other person there had ever seen a glow heli fly, so it was new for most of them.  I didn't do much considering it's been a couple years, but I did manage to aileron roll a couple times and I held it inverted for a bit.  It was fun to tear up the sky again and just buzz around.  No glitches, engine bobbles or any other problems.