Official Freewing 80mm Avanti S Sport Jet Thread

[Beachsideflyer]

Amazing timing on this after seeing the recent issues, I have had my Avanti (Red) now for about 3.5 months and she has been absolutely rock solid until this past Sunday... Roughly about 4min into my flight I banked hard right and started to roll (clockwise) to bank back left and once it was inverted it locked up (Thank god this thing tracks like a pattern plane) a few heart beats and a large gasp I got it back threw the gear and touched down safely. immediately started checking things over, surfaces were all solid, horns seemed locked on servo, battery was at 22.80 (~3.8v/Cell), performed range check and everything was good. After a bit I put another pack in and flew it again and just cruised around for the first min then started to roll and do some vertical stuff, on a Half Cuban 8 I started to roll it back over and it 'twitched' like a glitch almost could of been thought as something caused by the wind but it was dead calm, it had the same thing happen (same direction even) when I performed knife edge.
So somethings that I have that are different then others, I bypassed all boards and went straight into the receiver. The radio (ix12) shows 0 frame losses and 0 holds and even in range check mode it says i have 98% signal strength at 3/4 throttle.
So with all that considered, could it be the aileron servo(s) slowly going out? As these are all happening after some form of roll? Bad servo causing brown outs? Just trying to find the solution before...well i ain't gonna say that lol
Any help or ideas are appreciated, and happy new years!

Turn and Burn,

A fellow club member had told me of his Avanti losing both an aileron and elevator servo at the same time leading to a total loss of his airframe. This was about two weeks before my crash, but I just sorta told myself that couldn’t happen to ME. Anyhow my new ship is ready to maiden and I’ve done full power run ups on the ground, everything seems to be go for launch. I had an issue similar to yours with my HK Jetstar, first a twitch or wobble while flying. Then on subsequent flights, complete control craziness until throttled back then suddenly smooth again. Ground testing reveled the rudder servo would Swing hard over sporadically at full throttle and return to normal throttled down bellow half stick. The manufacturers seem to be putting $4.00 servos in planes costing hundreds of dollars nowadays!

[Beachsideflyer]

Maidened my Avanti #2 today and had two nice flights. Seemed to need a lot of down trim until I realized I had the takeoff flaps down the whole flight. Chalk it up to maiden jitters? Really happy to have it back, easily my favorite model!

[Nosram]

I am considering getting an Advanti, does anyone have any gyro recommendations? I'm thinking of using it in F3S aerobatic competitions...
Thanks

[Hugh Wiedman]

I am considering getting an Advanti, does anyone have any gyro recommendations? I'm thinking of using it in F3S aerobatic competitions...
Thanks

I may be mistaken, but I do not believe a gyro is permitted in the F3 aerobatic competitions. In any event, for what it's worth, I use the AR636 6 channel receiver which includes a programmable gyro that you can program 3 different modes into and love it with this jet (and 25 other jets/prop planes I have). If you already have a "favorite" receiver and just want to add a gyro, then try one of Motion's gyros (I haven't, so can't offer a choice).

[James]

I am considering getting an Advanti, does anyone have any gyro recommendations? I'm thinking of using it in F3S aerobatic competitions...
Thanks

Welcome to HobbySquawk Nosram ! The Avanti is a great choice and although it doesn't need a gyro you definitely have some options. If you fly spektrum you could go with the Admiral RX600SP receiver as it has a built-in gyro and I produced a step by step video series to help you get it set up which you can in the video tab on the product page here: https://www.motionrc.com/products/ad...izer#video-tab

Or if you already have a receiver then you can add a stand-alone Hobby Eagle gyro which again I produced step-by-step set-up videos for and they are on the video tabs of each product page, you can find those here: https://www.motionrc.com/collections...and=HobbyEagle

I am unfamiliar with the F3 rules regarding gyros so maybe someone else can answer that, but those links should get you started in making the right decision. Welcome to the Squawk!

[Hugh Wiedman]

As I understand the F3 rules for jet acrobatics, no gyro is allowed.

[Patrnflyr]

We had an epic day yesterday with 5mph winds right down the runway and 68 degrees, clear skies. It’ll be a little worse today with a chance of snow. Oh well, on to the question. I was able to fly 7packs thru my red Avanti S and an issue started to pop up. Perfect flight slow smooth landings but when taxiing back, I’d retract the flaps and the right flap would stay down. I’d flip it back and forth and it would retract just fine. It did this twice. I cycled it maybe 10-15 times with no other issues. Does it sound like a connection issue or servo going bad? (And yes, it’s grounded until I can figure it out)

[mirion]

After reading about suspected aileron servo issues being the cause of Avanti crashes and the fact that my used Avanti appears to have had a lot of hard use I am considering putting in some new servos. I see that the new "High Performance" Avanti has different servos than the Red Avanti.

Do you think these new Avanti servos from Motion RC are a much better servo or are there some other suggestions for quality servos that will fit in the same opening?

[Mach9]

We had an epic day yesterday with 5mph winds right down the runway and 68 degrees, clear skies. It’ll be a little worse today with a chance of snow. Oh well, on to the question. I was able to fly 7packs thru my red Avanti S and an issue started to pop up. Perfect flight slow smooth landings but when taxiing back, I’d retract the flaps and the right flap would stay down. I’d flip it back and forth and it would retract just fine. It did this twice. I cycled it maybe 10-15 times with no other issues. Does it sound like a connection issue or servo going bad? (And yes, it’s grounded until I can figure it out)

This has been happening since the first Avanti was made. Some state that not having a delay on the flaps solved the problem. I have never had a delay and it has happened to me. Others also that do not use a delay have had it happen. Some have bypassed all of the circuit boards. I know the wing boards had an issue with the pins being soldered at the wrong lengths but seems to not be the case now. I have not seen a definitive answer as to whether the problem ever happened again with the boards bypassed. I presented several possibilities to investigate but it seems Freewing has not followed up on anything. Several years now and not a solution in sight. Being as random as it is makes it very difficult to pinpoint.

[Hugh Wiedman]

This has been happening since the first Avanti was made. Some state that not having a delay on the flaps solved the problem. I have never had a delay and it has happened to me. Others also that do not use a delay have had it happen. Some have bypassed all of the circuit boards. I know the wing boards had an issue with the pins being soldered at the wrong lengths but seems to not be the case now. I have not seen a definitive answer as to whether the problem ever happened again with the boards bypassed. I presented several possibilities to investigate but it seems Freewing has not followed up on anything. Several years now and not a solution in sight. Being as random as it is makes it very difficult to pinpoint.

My Avanti did it with the left flap almost from the first flight when I had a 4 second delay in it. After having it happen about a dozen times, I replace the servo and it still happened. Then I reduced the delay from 4 sec, to 3 sec, to 1 to 0, and it happened less frequently when I reduced it, but it still happened until I went to 0. Since then, about 50 flights and it has not occurred since. Both my B-24's had the same issue until I went to 0 delay. Not sure if that solved it, but I think it has something to do with the circuit boards (which I did not replace in either plane). I'm still cognizant of the potential problem with any plane having a flap stick, but so far, so good. Not sure we'll ever find the culprit, so I just make sure that when I change flap settings, I ready for an issue in flight, meaning with a little altitude. I'll still occasionally drop full flaps for a low, slow pass, but when returning them to full up, I make sure I'm not inches above deck and ready to return them to the last setting at a moments notice. Good luck brother, I think some of us are in the same boat.

[Mach9]

Hugh: For the record, when you replaced the servo, did you use an original or something different?

[Hugh Wiedman]

Hugh: For the record, when you replaced the servo, did you use an original or something different?

An original replacement from Motion I had in inventory. I also tried reducing the deflection on the landing flaps since it only would stick with landing flaps, never take-off flaps. Made no difference though. The only thing that stopped it was changing the delay to 0, but I've heard in this thread that for some, that didn't help either. Wish I knew for certain what causes this, but it may remain a mystery, for me at least. My last resort was going to be first change to a new circuit board, then bypass it completely, but for now with no delay it hasn't happened again, at least up till now.

[rpellicciotti]

I am considering getting an Advanti, does anyone have any gyro recommendations? I'm thinking of using it in F3S aerobatic competitions...
Thanks

Hi. The Avanti is a great plane and you will love it. I fly Spektrum and I have used the AR9350 in both of my Avanti's. This receiver has built in telemetry and AS3X gyros.

[Nosram]

Thank you Rpellicciotti, that's very good info. I have Spektrum and also have a couple of foam warbirds with AR636 receivers.
Quick question regarding the AR9350:
Did you program the gyro gains, or just use it as it came? If you programmed them can you please post what you input?
Thank you in advance,
Nick Marson

[rpellicciotti]

Thank you Rpellicciotti, that's very good info. I have Spektrum and also have a couple of foam warbirds with AR636 receivers.
Quick question regarding the AR9350:
Did you program the gyro gains, or just use it as it came? If you programmed them can you please post what you input?
Thank you in advance,
Nick Marson

A little more about my setup. I push the red wire out of the throttle lead from the ESC/BEC and run a separate 1100mah LiFe receiver battery. I run a voltage sensor on the flight battery and a temperature sensor. With this receiver you get all of that through the telemetry. I use a switch for the gyro with one position being OFF and the other position enable the gyros in rate mode. I do not have any heading mode set. The highest rate I have is about 20%. I'm not home right now but I can share my setup file with you if you want. You can email me at: rick@avantijet.com

[Nosram]

Thank you Rick, I have sent an email....

[Jimbo818]

HI,
What is the deal with the new in runner EFD? Does it have more power?

[Jimbo818]

Gyro -
I run a Jeti Assist Rx in my Avanti. It flies great with it turned off, but it flies like it is on rails with the gyro on. I also use other gyros with great success. Recently I put an Aura 8 in a Timber-X and it makes a huge difference and the airplane is much funner to fly.
If you fly a few race track laps and compare the flight characteristics with the gyro on vs off - you will notice that the airplane is flying like it is much larger. The oscillations are gone.
So, an Avanti certainly does not need a gyro, but is better with one in.

[Patriotic_Banana]

Hey all,

I've had my Avanti for over 2 years at this point, probably 70+ flights. But I'm starting to get frustrated because it seems to develop new gremlins every 15 flights or so. So here is a list of the problems I've been having, a few of them are common known Avanti issues:
1. Left flap gets stuck for no reason, super common issue (Solution: Bypass board?)
2. Right aileron begins to vibrate around center if moved at all manually, really weird issue
3. Nose gear steering will not work after gear deploy unless the rudder is cycled fully in both directions 2 times, which isn't a good idea on final
4. Landing gear have a LOT of slop after so many grass op flights, and plane is hard to keep in a straight line on the ground as a result (Solution: New Gear?)

In conclusion it seems like replacing/bypassing the blue box will tell me more about these issues. The landing gear probably just need to be replaced. I also have everything on the plane powered by a Castle BEC.

[mshagg]

I dont think there's many servos like being horsed around manually when they're powered up lol. But that said the servos the avanti ships with arent exactly bullet proof. I probably wouldnt tolerate a questionable aileron servo, given the cost of replacing - and 2 years seems like a respectable service life.

Not sure bypassing the junction box is all that easy given the electronics in the wing are connected via a ribbon cable, but it's doable. I've heard it said that using a slowdown on the Avanti flap servo contributes to the problem so you could try disabling that if you use it.

The struts do get a bit sloppy, grass takes its toll even on this fantastic gear, but you need to identify where the slop is. If it's between the strut and the trunion then might just be the grub screws.