Horizon Hobby Carbon Cub S+ flew out of sight never to return

[Skyboom]

Disconnect all that stuff. You don't need it anymore. You can always put it back in the future. Just run a regular 6 channel rx. You'll have way more fun with it then. I did.

[MrVoyagerx]

Am so glad I learn to fly back in the antenna age, no dual rates, just a buddy box and my $12 EBay simulator.

[Huey D]

Thank you for this forum.

I'm in Western Australia and I (still) have a Sportsman S+ Gen 1. I fly with a Spectrum DX7 Tx. We tried to test fly it this morning at the Wanneroo Aeromodellers field.

Did a compass calibration, set VFA, then went to the edge of the airstrip and armed it with the wings parallel to the airstrip. We waited till we heard the ascending three tones. Then my partner carried the aircraft to the centre of the airstrip and HELD it pointing into the wind. I then opened to throttle to 100% and he walked down the strip, holding the aircraft pointing in the direction of take off. As he walked, I throttled back. NOTHING happened. The throttle stayed at 100%. Then the throttle started to change rpm, slowed down, increased revs etc, without any throttle from me. All the time my mate was still holding the aircraft. I tried to de activate the GPS "in the air" so to speak, nothing. Finally we disconnected the battery.

We tried this a few times, once with the aircraft being held on the ground, same result each time. I presume that, had we actually taken off, we would have had a "fly away".

On our last test, by sheer chance I pulled back on the elevator stick. The throttle closed down when I pulled it back. Let the elevator centre and the throttle revved up again, even though I was holding the stick at zero throttle, it continued of change rpm speed.

I have read somewhere, that there is a link between the throttle and elevator for Autolandings, but that's all.

To the best of our knowledge, my mate is a computer and aircraft whiz, we did everything right. We even programmed another and used another Tx. Still the same result. My mate says that there is a fault in the GPS module.

Any suggestions please?

[Skyboom]

Send it back to Horizon Hobby and ask for a refund. Buy the XK Sky King glider from Motion rc. I guarantee you will have a blast with it and not a bunch of headaches.

[Huey D]

Thanks SkyBoom, I haven't got the receipt any more and I bought it at least 12 months ago. Since my last post, I have pulled the GPS module cable out of the Rx. I don't mind flying it with only AS3X and SAFE, but now it won't bind, goes through the motions well, but no response to any control inputs. Any suggestions anyone?
Oh yeah, I'll have a look at the Sky King.

[xviper]

Thanks SkyBoom, I haven't got the receipt any more and I bought it at least 12 months ago. Since my last post, I have pulled the GPS module cable out of the Rx. I don't mind flying it with only AS3X and SAFE, but now it won't bind, goes through the motions well, but no response to any control inputs. Any suggestions anyone?
Oh yeah, I'll have a look at the Sky King.

The AS3X RX is likely programmed to work with the GPS module. Without it, it may not function properly. My suggestion would be to not use the RX at all and put in a simple Lemon RX. If you want or need stability, put in a cheap gyro. Or put in a Lemon or Admiral stabilized RX.

[Triker]

Late answer. Mine did same. Lost gps in flight, not know how to disconnect. Lost for 10 weeks. Found by homeowner, been in many thunderstorms. Every thing works except the battery. Now I bought a Whistle 3 dog tracker, fits perfectly into battery area, works great. If lost, can pinpoint location. When not in the air plane, I keep it in my car because it has been stolen twice in the past.

[Laurie02]

Hi
I've been reading this as I have just bought a carbon cub myself RTF, and had some wierd stuff happen to me like no response to the TX , Throttle staying on, random direction changes in the air with no input from me....can anyone help me with the steps u need to do to disconnect the GPS please
I'm new to flying so it's all a bit complicated.
Cheers

[F22trainer]

Hi
I've been reading this as I have just bought a carbon cub myself RTF, and had some wierd stuff happen to me like no response to the TX , Throttle staying on, random direction changes in the air with no input from me....can anyone help me with the steps u need to do to disconnect the GPS please
I'm new to flying so it's all a bit complicated.
Cheers

Turn on your Transmitter, make sure throttle is at idle / off, and wait 10 seconds, then plug in the battery. Let it go through al the start up motions with the elevator. When it is done, push and hold the Bind button and move the flight mode (Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced) switch 3 times through the flight modes. You’ll hear a series of beeps and the controls surfaces will ‘wag’. When finished, the GPS is inactive but the flight modes will still work - put it in Beginner mode.
Now I also recommend getting some assistance from an experienced flyer, if possible.
Welcome, Happy Landings, and let us know how you are doing.

[Laurie02]

Oh thanks I know that one from the manual, however I want to disable/ bypass/unplug the GPS system permanently I read somewhere to bind first then unplug, then somewhere else to unplug it then bind but unplug it from where?
i have a DX8e transmitter and the original DXe also
I'm using the DXe until I know more about the electronics, and flying!

[mshagg]

You can physically disconnect the GPS unit but I understand it needs to be connected for the binding process. If the plane is bound and working, just unplug the GPS unit from the flight controller (it's technically an FC not just an RX).

It's easy to see how once you remove the wing. The GPS unit sits on top, with the flight controller underneath.

I'd advocate just disabling the features using the sequence outlined above, it yields the same result, but unplugging it is easy enough.

[Laurie02]

Thanks mshagg, I'll try it by the manual however if I do unplug it, will safe and stability still work?
cheers

[mshagg]

Yes sir. The beginner/intermediate/experienced (SAFE) switch will act exactly as before. You will lose the holding pattern, auto land and virtual fence functionality.

[Laurie02]

So I just popped the connector and unplugged 5ge battery, waited a minute, fired the Cub up and....voila! No more glitchy movements and everything else still works!
i put the GPS unit back in for ballast so it will fly well and under my control!
Thanks mshagg for the tips

[Quarterback11111]

Hallo heeft hier iemand zijn carbon cub opgewardeerd / uitgebreid? Evt andere motor / accu of andere zaken
zou graag iets horen

[Boss 223]

I have the carbon cub s also. I am exspericed and have been flying for years, it is a grate plane but I have had a lot of strange issues with the plane , I had a fly off, I have had all the initial set ups go hay wire and not even resemble the control function as in the manual, and the pulse function refuse to go off after going through correct procedures. The plane flys grate, but I do believe there are bugs in the system that needs worked out! It is not a beginner plane! Good for beginners to learn to fly but only with an exspericed pilot!,

[xviper]

A flying buddy at one of my fields has one of these plane with the GPS, geofencing, the works. It's his first plane and he has had nothing but problems with it all season. After many, many repairs and long walks into the horse pasture to fetch it, he was about to give up on it. He even had one of the club's "experts" go over his plane (more than once) but to no avail. After his last repair, another flyer (and myself) told him to ditch the GPS and the features that went with it and re-bind it to have only AS3X and SAFE. Since then, he has had several successful flights and has a renewed enthusiasm for the hobby.

[F22trainer]

A flying buddy at one of my fields has one of these plane with the GPS, geofencing, the works. It's his first plane and he has had nothing but problems with it all season. After many, many repairs and long walks into the horse pasture to fetch it, he was about to give up on it. He even had one of the club's "experts" go over his plane (more than once) but to no avail. After his last repair, another flyer (and myself) told him to ditch the GPS and the features that went with it and re-bind it to have only AS3X and SAFE. Since then, he has had several successful flights and has a renewed enthusiasm for the hobby.

Pretty much what I have been advocating both on line and to new flyers who have the plane. Once they have had some success with SAFE and even solo, I show them how to make those features work as a demonstration- in all cases they have responded, “...I guess I really don’t need that.”