If it works, it works, and I'd hate to waste your time on this when it could be spent doing cooler things on what is already a very cool project.
But here is the part that concerns me:
The arduino's signals from the servo library methods seem to be powerful enough to drown out all signals coming from the radio control unit. I'd thought that sending the:
ailerons.detatch();
command (from the servo library) would be enough to give me back control but apparently not.
This "mixing" of signals from the RCU and the Arduino is really the root cause of the problem, and I think root causes should be eliminated. They can lead to unforeseen problems down the road (or in the sky). If you have some kind of schematic that shows how you are doing this mixing perhaps we can help with that instead.
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The Rugged Motor Driver: two H-bridges, more power than an L298, fully protected