Does anyone know what my problem may be? I phoned customer support and was told to hold and someone from support would be right with me. I was on hold for 15 minutes and hung up. I phoned againg and was asked to leave my number with reception and was told customer support would call me back soonest, but it's been 3 days with no reply. Sent an e-mail with same request but the e-mail will not be answered bycustomer support until 3-5 days.

This is a brand new PZ Spitfire just out of the box and has never been flown.

With fully charged Transmitter batteries and aircraft battery the ailerons were very slow to react to Left and Right Aileron stick input. The ailerons took about 3 seconds to react to aileron stick movement, then it would take approximately 5 seconds after the stick was released for the ailerons to return to neutral. After approximately 2 minutes of constant aileron stick movements the problem began to worsen so I disconnected the aircraft battery, waited 1 minute and reconnected the aircraft battery. Upon reconnecting the aircraft battery the flight controls did a quick cycle (normal?) and 5 seconds later the ailerons did a full right wing down movement without any input from the control stick. Now the ailerons will not move from full right wing down no matter how often the control stick is moved in the opposite direction. I disconnected and reconnected the aircraft battery several more times with the same results.
The instructions in the manual concerning aileron and elevator testing were followed to the letter. The aileron servo is connected properly and securely to the correct terminal on the aircraft Receiver. The Transmitter throttle control and elevator control work as advertised. What might the problem be??

ForcesR...since there's only one aileron servo....it could be weak....or the control wires for the aileron are binding. I would disconnect the aileron wires from the servo control arm then check the servo for movement via the transmitter, also manually pull the wires and test for binding....

Reading some of the PZ threads I have heard that the wires can get rusty...and possibly bind.

LICobra

Ditto what LC said, sounds just like the problems the Mustangs had. Couple of other things to check also, that I found on the Stangs, kinked control tube, and loose control tube. But both of these were at the aileron side of the tube, and could only be rectified by taking the wing apart.

LICobra and Shelby1, I really appreciate your input.

I called Horizon Hobby product support again and this time I was able to get tech support on the line. I explained the problem with the ailerons and he suspected that it was the aileron servo at fault and Horizon Hobby would send out an aileron servo replacement. Myself, I suspected that it was the transmitter at fault and asked the tech if there was a test I could do to confirm that the aileron servo was indeed faulty. Tech support suggested to disconnect the elevator servo at the aircraft receiver and reconnect the aileron servo to the elevator port on the receiver, lo and behold the ailerons worked as they should. Tech support said the faulty component is either the transmitter or the receiver. I asked if there was another test that I could conduct that would confirm that the faulty component was the transmitter or the receiver. Unfortunately he said there was no other test that I could do without having the proper electronic testing equipment.

This is the best part with the whole situation! Tech support said Horizon Hobby would send to me a replacement transmitter and a replacement receiver, free of charge to solve the aileron problem with my Spitfire. Now that is what I call a great company backing their products with a 200% + warranty!!

It is such a pleasure to purchase an item from a company that gives this degree of warranty and product support. My next purchases will be the Park Zone P51 and FW190, knowing full well the degree of product support that will be there if I ever require it!!

Nice job on your part for the diagnostics performed. I'll be honest I hadn't even thought of an rx/tx fault. Good on you. And to Horizon, for making it right.

Originally Posted by SHELBY1

Nice job on your part for the diagnostics performed. I'll be honest I hadn't even thought of an rx/tx fault. Good on you. And to Horizon, for making it right.

I concur....

PZ Spitfire, Replacement Transmitter and Receiver Finally Delivered
I was thrilled that the replacement TX & Rx was finally delivered by Fedex but my thrill quickly turned to disappointment when I unpacked the items. Horizon Hobby shipping had packed the TX in a box that was way to small, the Gimbal stick had worn a hole completely through the inner packing box, the RX was ok though. When I removed the TX from the box, I could see that the Gimbal stick was pushed down inside the Gimbal housing and the stick was way off centre with no return spring pressure. I shook the TX and all I could hear were pieces of something rattling around in side.
I decided to take the TX apart to see if it could possibly be fixed, rather than calling Horizon Hobby and complaining about the shipping damage. I removed the back of the TX and several small plastic pieces fell out, including a small screw. These pieces turned out to be from the Elevator Rheostat mounting support which I soon realized could not be fixed. It looked as though I would require another replacement TX.
I thought about it for a while and decided to try an experiment with the original TX received with the Spitfire. I swapped out the circuit boards, I took the board from the replacement TX and installed it in the original TX. Unfortunately when the AC battery was connected the same problem existed, the ailerons went hard over without any input from the control stick.
I was still convinced that the problem existed with the TX not the RX. The only components left in the original TX that were not swapped out was the elevator and aileron Rheostats. I could not swap out the elevator Rheostat because the replacement TX Rheostat mounts were beyond repair due to the shipping damage. There was no damage to the aileron Rheostat mounts so I swapped out the aileron Rheostat. When the AC battery was connected, the ailerons worked as per the manual. If this experiment did not work I was going to order another TX from the local HS anyway, that way I could check the TX when it arrived at the HS for any shipping damage before I paid for it. I still have very high praise for Horizon Hobby for having sent me the replacement TX and RX under warranty, even though the TX was not packed properly for shipping. I still plan on purchasing 2 more PZ AC.

ForcesR....do yourself a big favor...and upgrade to a better radio/tx. I finally listened to the experienced flyers and ditched the PZ radios and bought a Spectrum DX7....interference free and I now use one radio with all 6 aircraft. I didn't want to spend the money, but in the end it was well worth the expense, especially if you have several aircraft.

Im sorry I had 3 PZ radios and receivers, figuring I'll never use them again I tossed them....not realzing a fellow flyer might be able to use these items....

To LICobra; thank-you for the information concerning the Spectrum DX7. I have salvaged all usable components from the replacement TX to make my original PZ TX serviceable for now. I will wait a while before I decide to spend that much money for a DX7. I am new to the RC aircraft hobby so I have to ask you, what you may think is a dumb Question: Did you have to swap out all of the RX's and servo's from your PZ aircraft before you could use your DX7.
Thank-you again for your valuable knowledge and in-put, any bit of information concerning RC TX's, Rx's and servos will help me greatly!!

Originally Posted by ForcesR

Question: Did you have to swap out all of the RX's and servo's from your PZ aircraft before you could use your DX7.

ForcesR....I asked that same question not long ago.....After purchasing the DX7 (christmas present to myself) I installed spectrum AR6100 receivers in all my parkflyer aircraft, so I purchased 5 more recievers, not all at one time of course, as they were built. The DX7 will handle 20 aircraft...just think if you have 4 parkzone aircraft...how many transmitter batteries do you need and 4 radios to keep track of...

The parkzone rx is a receiver and an esc built into one unit, so by removing the parkzone rx/tx you will also need to install a new brushed motor ESC to control the stock 480 motor.

As far as the servo's go.... with the Spectrum tx/rx in the PZ Mustang I had to change both servo's because parkzone uses 5 wire servos in the Mustang (definately not industry standard), but in the Spit parkzone uses 3 wire servo's so it's just a plug in to the new rx...very easy...but not cheap !!!

This sounds to me as if the assemblers at the factory put the aileron servo output arm on with the servo not centered.(Pretty typical) So when you power up the system the servo is going to its neutral position as it should, but with the output arm in the wrong position.
Take the output arm off, put it back on with the ailerons neutralized. Now test movement, and see if things are normal.

LICobra; thank-you very, very much for the valuable information.

SabreHawk; the problem turned out to be the TX, (aileron rheostat) was shorting out.

The aileron wires do rust , put a drop of oil where they exit the wing and operate the servo.