Failsafe settings

[knight500]

My brother mentioned to me that one of the things you need to do when starting out and setting up a new plane is failsafes. I'm just wondering what other people set their plane up to do if they lose radio contact with it. We thought that setting it up to make a big slow circle and slowly lose altitude would be a good pattern. But fast enough to not drain the battery before hitting the ground (assuming you have enough battery charge left to complete this maneuver). What are some of your ideas? Is there a standard for this?
The plane in question here is a Freewing Pandora 4in1.

Thanks for any input

[xviper]

Making a plane do what you would like it to do when “failsafe” is activated is very hard to predict. First, the receiver must have failsafe capability and not all do. Those that do, can be set for control surface position and throttle position, however, what the plane does when it loses signal and failsafe is initiated will depend on what attitude it had at the time. Usually, at about the time that signal is lost, the pilot is working the sticks to try to get it back. That means the plane may not necessarily be in the kind of attitude that would be complimentary to any failsafe settings. So in general, for failsafe operation, one would like to have the plane cut power and crank control surfaces slightly to one direction, causing the plane to fall in a gentler manner. Although this may not be a guarantee, it’s better than the option where the plane could come down fast and steep.
Having said all that, here’s my “ideal” scenario, which I have used successfully by myself and by others. The first thing is to equip the plane with a failsafe receiver. Next is to provide it with some sort of “Return to Home” device (example: Bigaole). Set failsafe to throw the switch for “RTH” and for sufficient throttle to fly the plane home even against the wind. Several of us had this set up in our sailplanes (because a sailplane is more likely to fly very high and far and get out of sight). One day, my buddy’s transmitter battery power fizzled out, thus, signal stopped. The plane immediately activated failsafe, which meant “RTH” was initiated with set throttle. The plane turned around, held it’s altitude, came back to our location and circled overhead in a 300 foot circle. This gave us time for me to land, take out the battery from my TX and put it into his. Then he turned on his TX, got control of his plane and landed safely. The plane was never lost or damaged and no property was damaged. Of course, this was the most ideal situation. Had power been lost in the plane, this could not have happened, but then, without flight power, failsafe and “RTH” wouldn’t work anyway.

[Icarus’ Landing]

xviper r.Totally good advise. I have found that RTH can sometimes scupper your when you are learning to fly. It has sent my plane into a hedge before now. Got to check the orientation of the stability board more often. It only does what you tell it...

[xviper]

@Icarus’ Landing Yes, these sorts of electronics will do only what you've programmed into it to do. For RTH devices that you want to respond (particularly in conjunction with a
"failsafe" device), it is very important to set the throttle high enough for it to fly home against the wind. Some RTH devices will actually go to a minimum altitude (above the set home position) BUT there must be enough throttle to get the plane there. It is also very important to set the home position of the place where you are flying or the plane will fly to the last location you were flying at. These things are only as foolproof as the person using them.
Even "recovery" or "SAFE" systems won't save the plane if it's too close to the ground at the time of activation.