Beware the Co-Pilot

[Andrew]

I did a lawn dart the other day with my Z230. I was flying with the FMA co-pilot on when it decided up was down and down was up. It flipped me right over and headed towards the ground before I could turn it off. I got it upright, but too late before slamming into the mud. NEVER fly the co-pilot unless it is a crystal clear day. I won't be flying with this product ever again. I was just lucky that I wasn't flying with the camera equipment when this happened.

On a happier note, I am working on getting a new JR Voyager GS up and running.

[Andrew]

What!!! No sympathy? Or better yet...empathy would be nice. Anybody else have experiences they'd like to share using the FMA Co-Pilot?

Yes Andrew, I am sorry to hear of your unscheduled landing. How far did you throw the co-pilot? Thanks for the heads up on them.

[Andrew]

I am happy to report that the co-pilot did not survive the crash. I threw it approximately 2 feet...from my hand to the trash can.

Just out of blind curiosity, what is the FMA co-pilot? and why would one use it?

if it' what i think it is ,it' s a fail safe device you install thrue your rx
sort of like a gyro but for the swash plate.as soon as you let the sticks go ,it takes over and it levels the heli to a hover.
but it needs to see the horizon to work ex: brigh sunny day because as soon as it gets dark or if your flying on and overcast day the system can't tell up from down
and as soon as you touch the sticks you override the system.
not a bad product but i did recommend not to buy it to my buddys as i feel you don't get to realy learn how your machine reacts you sort of trust the system instead,,,like keeping your training gear on when your to the stage of doing loops and rolls.

[Andrew]

The fma co-pilot is from www.fmadirect.com. It works either during the day or at night since it reads infared light and not visible light. It seems to have MAJOR problems when it is a little bit hazy out as I so aptly found out. It works by modifying inputs to your pitch and roll servos to a non-ccpm swashplate when you're not putting input on the sticks. It levels the heli by reading the infared (temperature) difference between the ground and the sky.

cool this one sounds better then the other one i've seen,
infared should be better than visible light.the one that i 've seen beffor needed a visible horizon and the instruction warned that dark,hazy,or fkying where their were to many hills would make the system non functional or react eraticaly.

i'll look this one up


steff