Discussion Remote Control Fairy micro heli causes fire

[dinesh]

Hello Rcgroups.com,

I am writing this message to inform the public about a terrible tragedy that my son has experienced. I bought him a remote control micro heli called 'Fairy' from a shop in the USA about 2 weeks ago, I was there on business and my son in India asked that I get him a remote control helicopter. I bought it in a large mall in California and unfortunatley I do not remember the mall name. It caught my attention when I saw a salesman flying one of them around and he sold it to me for $40 which I thought was a bargain for a toy like this. I brought it back to my son in India and this is where the tragedy struck. He had only tried to fly it once but it did not seem to fly so he said that he charged it with the black controller. He left it on his bed while we had dinner and about 20 minutes later we smelt fire. I went upstairways and found his entire bedroom on fire and I panicked. My son, Dulal was seriously burnt on his hand when he tried to save some of his possesions. Our neighbours helped stop the fire by throwing buckets of water over it. All of his school books, his toys, his clothes and just about everything he had was destoyed. He is very upset about this situation and beside himself.

We cannot believe how a remote control mini heli started this fire and so I looked on the internet to find some information about the 'Fairy', but I am having difficulty in doing so. The package it came in was also destroyed in the fire. We would like to find the maker of this mini-heli and somehow if possible try and get some compensation.
I remember a few details of the heli, it was very small, about the length of a pen. It had a bubble shape at the front and had American air-force sticker on the side. The controller is black and had a red part on the top. The mini-heli looks like a real helicopter yet is very very small. It was mostly white and had white fins on the tail. The box was green and white I think. It had 'Fairy' written on the front of the box.

Since I have no way to contact the maker, I would like someones help if possible to find this company and make a complaint and if possible receive compensation for my son. He is extremley depressed about all of this and I blame myself for buying him this dangerous toy. My wife is also angry about this and it has caused many arguements between us. They are staying with relatives now because our house is being repaired.

The fire happened about 5 days ago and we only want to be compensated for our situation. We would also like to know if this has happened to anybody else. The burn on his hand is healing well but I think he will be very traumatized for a while. I just cannot see how people can make such dangerous remote control helicopters when they can catch fire like this.

If anyone can help me find information about this mini-heli and the maker then I will be very grateful to you.

Sincerlely, Dinesh Tendulkar

[helitaiwan963]

First, I'm very very sorry to hear about this incident.

This heli sounds to me like a knock off of a Picco Z or an Airhog's Havoc. Even though these are some small and inexpensive heli's. I think they have Lipo's in them. As well all know, Lipos are extremely unstable and if harmed in any way, will explode. Maybe something happened where the Lipo battery got stressed and just exploded. That's what might've happened. Or the "fairy" was just an extrememly bad knock off and the charger it comes with doesn't have an auto stop or something. and the battery got over charged and decided to expolde. Mr. Tendulkar, rc helis is very dangerous. They look fun, and are, but if you get hit with a bigger heli, it can do some damage or even death. The "fairy" sized isn't that bad but as you get bigger, it gets even worse. The Lipos are bigger. People call these things "flying buzzsaws".

Hope everything gets better
Eric

[helitaiwan963]

Ok, I also did some reserch on this and I think I've found what your talking about. http://www.hobbytron.com/ElectricHug...rDYTSM609.html
It is a knock off a picco z. I think this thing was dicussed only a few days ago. I'm not too sure though. The cannopy seems to be just like the bigger helis where the battery is inside. Picco z's are inside the styrophone and is more protected. But who knows.I don't think it says who the maker is though. Yep, further reading down the page and it says it does use a Litium Polymer battery. Most of us in the Rc Heli Hobby knows how dangerous these things can get. Maybe to see if it was the battery expolding. Ask your son if he remembers anything and "Did you smell and really stinky and funny smell when there was the fire" When Lipo's vent, they usually smell really horrible. If you remember a smell that was just wierd but not the smoke, then it was probably the Lipo battery.

**edit** I forgot to say, Please don't be discuraged by this happening. It was really really bad thing but, rc heli is a great hobby that you and your son can enjoy together for life. Just be careful and do a little more research on the heli before you buy and read the safetly guidlines about LIPO batteries and the safetly guidlines on flying helis. Then you will enjoy the Rc heli hobby for a long time.

Again, I'm sorry to hear such a thing.
Eric

[heli-parkflyer]

There are several threads about this heli in the Micro RTF forums of rcgroups:

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=684146

It gets pretty high marks for how well it flies compared to a PicooZ/ Havoc, first I heard of one catching fire.

There manufactured by a company called Syma

[PLATINUM]

Very sorry to hear this happend. I hate to lay a bad egg but..please keep in mind that if you did not follow the instructions for charging this heli.. it may actually be you or your son who is at fault. I would read the fine print that came with it

[c54fun]

Wow sory to here that. I thought I was the only one to have one of these little things burn up. I had one charging on the glass table in the living room. While I was in the other room I heard a ffffffsssssst. When I went into the room there was a haze of smoke in the room and the heli was burnt up with what looked like acid under it. If it were on a bed it would have cought fire. In the manual it did say not to leave it unatended. I got a refund from the guy from ebay that I bought it from. Also this was not just like yours but simular.

Terry

[rocknbil]

This is actually a serious problem for any of us because there's no way to force "lipo education" on a consumer who just thinks he's buying a toy safe to give a child. It's painfully obvious you thought this was the case - but rule one of **any** rechargable battery is do not charge unattended. In the case of lipos this is even more important. I find it difficult to believe any lipo-powered device is distributed without this warning.

[dinesh]

Thank you for the responses, some are quite helpful. Yes, the link in post 3 is the helicopter I bought for my son. I have tried to find a contact number and address but this has been impossible to do. I would agree when one says not to leave any rechargeable toy unattended but you must understand that we were unaware of this rule. I would guess that similar batteries are used in cell phones and I ask you this question: Do you watch your cell phone for the several hours it takes to charge?
Probably not. Although this point is beside itself, I hope you can see it was mostly the helicopter at fault that caused the fire, not my son or myself.

The age this helicopter is recommended to is for 8 and over. Who on earth would sell a potentially deadly helicopter when people know they catch fire? Outrageous.
To assume an eight year old child has the capacity to deal with a hazardous helicopter like this is cause for concern. I share the blame too for buying this helicopter and assuming my son would be able to handle it. My son is at fault for leaving the helicopter alone while charging but it is the maker most at fault for this disaster.

I hope you understand my situation as a father dealing with an awful incident. I would ask any father out there, would you hold yourself responsable or the maker? Upon reading further in RCgroups.com, I found many helicopters very similar to the Fairy. They all have the same controller so they must be made by the same company. I really do feel as though something is very strange here, if Syma makes the helicopters then howcome other companies use THAT controller, the same type that came with our Fairy? It seems as though Syma or whoever makes these helicopters just sell them under different names. I feel it is this controller that started a short in the helicopter resulting in the fire.

I just cannot understand how some people here think it is actually 'normal' for these helicopters to catch fire and the fact that one must watch it while charging. I would think most toys that have this habit would be 'recalled' and destroyed and obviously I was unaware of the Lipo battery danger.

I hope you see my point that not everyone is familiar with this hazard.
My son lost everything and I am very upset by everything that has happened.

Thank you to those who shared their sympathy,

Dinesh

[Letcraft]

The original version of that toy is made by Silverlit. Many knockoffs have come to market the are not are basically, not so good, unauthorized (pirated) copies of the original Picco Z by Silverlit. Airhogs 'Havoc' is a legit copy of the Silverlit product (I would assume), and would be perhaps far less likely to create the unfortunate accident you had with the Fairy heli. The heli is a fun toy that can be operated safely by your son but try to steer try clear of the counterfeit stuff out there.(easier said than done)

[TachyonDriver]

I am very sorry to hear of your family's loss, Dinesh. I have an original PicooZ (european Picco Z) made by Silverlit. Their transmitter shuts off the charger when the heli is fully charged. The transmitter will also switch itself off if left for a few minutes (not charging the heli).

EDIT:- I believe the Airhogs Reflex had a recall when it first came out due to chraging issues..

I wish you luck in any claim.

Mark.

[Steph280]

Dinesh,

I am really sorry to hear about what's happened. As a father myself I can relate to how you feel.

I did some search for the manufacturer and found the website: www.symatoys.com. The contact info are as follow:
SYMA Toys industrial Co.Ltd,
LINK:Mr. Chen
TEL:0754-5719662
FAX:0754-5810662
E-mail:symatoys@126.com
MSN：cyfivan001@hotmail.com
QQ:68863926
ADD: Donghu Industrial park.Chenghai,Shantou City

I hope they will compensate you in some way. Best of luck. And don't let this one incidence stop your son from pursuing this excellent hobby.

Stephen

[websitedragon]

Damn, that sucks . Presumably you haven't got proof of purchase though (otherwise you would know where it came from), in which case you're not really going to have much luck.

If you do find out for certain what manufacturer it was then it'll be great if you could post it up. You maybe tarnishing an innocent companies' name.

[PLATINUM]

People do not think about if something is counterfeit when they are spending $30.00 on a toy for their kid.. it isn't a reality for 98% of the people who buy toys for their kids.

People see toys in the store and assume that the store has worked it out with the manufacturer that the toy is safe.

Same goes for many other items.. cosmetics come to mind since they have been in the news recently. Some cheap china cosmetics are made with lead. For instance lead eye shadow.

I say sue the ever living hell out of em!

[rcdriver0604]

Well I can see your frustration, but yeah Lipo technology is very dangerous. But it has a big plus, it's light weight. And for a heli that tiny, you can't have a huge Nimh battery stickin out of it and expect it to fly. I believe that the reason for the accident is because he didn't know how dangerous lipo's are. Another thought came to mind too. Did he modify the heli in any way? Like I know a popular thing to do with a heli this small is to put a thumb tack in the nose of the heli to creat more forward flight. If he put a tack in the nose he could have punctured the cell and caused a short, and when he charged it, the battery caught fire. So yeah, you can try to get the company to give you some money, but most likely, they will tell you, you should have read the manual thoughly. And next time, he will know to be more carefully with lipo technology. And ohh yeah, this could happen with you cell phones too! So don't just blame it on the heli! Lion batteries are very explosive too. Ohh yeah and next time, don't mess with cheap stuff like that!

Jacob

[BowerR64]

Probobly was hooked to charge in reverse.

One of the things about clones is they always reverse somthing. If its not the controler, its motors, batteries or somthing.

The thing may have come with a test charge then tested fine, when it was plugged in it was reversed causing it to overheat and catch fire.

It could of been reversed internaly, or in the controler.

Sometimes i think this is why they are clones, they know there is a "bad run" or some production flaws so insted of taking a risk they sell off an entire batch or an entire run of production that may have flaws. 99% could be fine the 1% is what they dont want to risk.

You could buy 10 more and not one will have a problem.

The controlers look identical to the airhog/silverlet but the helicopter is different. It looks like a little different design and that could be the mismatch.