2 month old Futaba 16SZ, with R7008SB receiver. Over 20 flights with zero problems. Punn intended. Older plane with servos that require a voltage regulator. New battery. So from the battery we went to the voltage regulator, to the switch and then to the receiver. G62 with mag so no ignition. Range checked many times. Into my flight for about 8 minutes, was on a base leg and was turning a slight right when she dipped down. Tried to correct with ailerons but nothing. Rudder, nothing. Elevator, nothing. Engine was at half throttle the entire time. She began to go into a right hand dive and I hit the kill, which did nothing. Splat.

Turned off my transmitter. Arrived at the crash site and my JR style switch was glowing green. Fuselage was in tact more or less but wings destroyed. Brought back to the field. Turned on transmitter. Other than the wing servos, they all worked. Put the transmitter into range check.... all fine. Turned off transmitter to see if failsafe was working. It was. The only thing that makes sense to me is I lost power to the receiver despite it working after the crash. If I would have had a loss of signal, failsafe would have shut my engine to idle. I have jiggled every wire from the battery to receiver. Needless to say I will be chucking the voltage regulator, switch and possibly the battery.

Just curious if anyone has seen intermittent issues with jr style switches, voltage regulator or batteries. The fact that it's all working fine on my bench has me baffled. Oh yeah... I will also not use the receiver as well.

Any input is welcome.

Going to head to the shop this morning and check voltage from the voltage regulator and then the switch. I should also mention that I checked voltage at the battery before the flight and after was @ 8.02 which I believe is about 80% of the battery.

Definitely sounds like a power issue. Since you (wisely) had a failsafe set you can pretty much eliminate loss of signal as the issue because that would have caused a failsafe event. What regulator are you using?

Bummer about the crash, they always suck!!

Added: Look at Post #4 below. An overheated regulator could be the culprit, it had cooled off and was working fine by the time you got to the crash site. Seen it before.

Had a similar event on a two receiver airplane so lost half the controls but saved the plane. After a while everything worked fine. Found that one voltage reg would overheat and quit.

Probably not relevant to your crash, but would it be better to have the switch between the battery and BEC, as the BEC will continue to draw some battery power even if there is no draw on it.

Also on my larger planes, having had problems with mechanical switches I've gone over to the FET electronic safety switches, I use the Multiplex ones but there are other brands available.

No markings on the regulator. Here's a pic. Man I hooked it all up on my bench and ran voltage checks. Sat there and ran servos for over ten minutes. Even applied heat tug o the regulator and receiver. Nothing even hinted a failure. The only think I cannot duplicate is engine vibration / harmonics. The old guy I bought the plane from had a little pedestal for the receiver. It had a velcro stuck to it and I used it. First time I've ever not had a receiver on a rubber mat or on a foam block piece. I don't know. I guess I put all of these in a questionable box for foamies and such and just move on. I hate these types of intermittent issues that I cannot duplicate. Would rather find a bonehead problem related to a screw up and chalk it up to experience.

Looks like one of the older Fromeco regulators. I still use in a heli I have. Vibration into the switch is another likely cause. But I am with you in that I always put a little foam under my RX. I do not use mechanical switches any longer either.

I opted for the smart fly pin and flag with charge port which I will use just to check voltage. As I remember from years ago, the pin in turns it off. With the pin out it's on meaning if it fails, it fails on. Honestly I don't know what the electronic units have in addition that warrants $75.00. Perhaps someone can enlighten me.

I've used the Smart-Fly. Good stuff and way better than a slide switch.

When you were turning base to final were you coming in to land? Possibly dropping flaps or gear? It's possible that you could have seen a moment of high amp draw that killed power to the RX, especially with only one servo connector providing power to the entire system if what you're showing in your bench test is exactly how it was installed in the plane.

Had not dropped flaps yet. The zero had fixed gear, not my choice but the old guy who built it. Certainly a good thought though. I was really just in that 1/2 throttle mode....uneventful at best until it wasn't.

On a side note, that Zero, heavy as it was, was one of the best flying planes I've owned and that's a bunch. Gave the hobby up over 10 years ago flying large 100 and 150cc 3D and aerobatic planes but some great memories of flying an old Aeronca brought me back and now I'm collecting and flying large warbirds. I was also thinking about sending my brand-new transmitter to Radio South just because but logic is telling me that it's not the issue. You could say that I'm perplexed and paranoid at this point. Think I will just fly the crap out of the champ and see how things go for a while.

Lost a YAK 54 on takeoff from about 20-25ft. Total loss of engine and flight functions. Nothing worked at the crash site. Put everything in the pits still nothing. Picked up the regulator and all functions returned- tapped it and everything quit again. Tossed it and no more regulators. I only use voltage compatible components- all low or all high rated. Just my preverence after taht experience.

If it is a brand new radio why would you not send it to FutabaUSA ? Surely it is within the warranty period.

I still suspect a power issue and think there is little in the TX that could have caused the crash. A transmitter problem would cause a loss of signal which would have triggered a failsafe event.

So that leaves 2 possibilities:

1) some sort of intermittent power issue.
2) RX issue

Of the two, a power issue is still my leading contender.

Yeah, that's me as well with all my new planes. No regulators. This one was there when I got it. Next time if I buy a used plane, it's going to get my same config.

With respect to radio south. I used to use him years ago. Turn around used to be pretty quick and I trust him. I'm with you though Judge. I seriously doubt it's the TX. Just freaked out a bit.