Comments on: How to Rescue Your RC Plane from a Tree http://thesmithfam.org/blog/2006/11/08/how-to-rescue-your-rc-plane-from-a-tree/ Your blog is probably better than mine. Sun, 05 Feb 2012 05:18:10 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Dave http://thesmithfam.org/blog/2006/11/08/how-to-rescue-your-rc-plane-from-a-tree/comment-page-2/#comment-169273 Dave Sun, 05 Feb 2012 02:33:24 +0000 http://thesmithfam.org/blog/2006/11/08/how-to-rescue-your-rc-plane-from-a-tree/#comment-169273 Stewart, that is an epic story! Did you find this blog before or after rescuing your plane? Stewart, that is an epic story! Did you find this blog before or after rescuing your plane?

]]> By: Stewart http://thesmithfam.org/blog/2006/11/08/how-to-rescue-your-rc-plane-from-a-tree/comment-page-2/#comment-169269 Stewart Sun, 05 Feb 2012 02:14:30 +0000 http://thesmithfam.org/blog/2006/11/08/how-to-rescue-your-rc-plane-from-a-tree/#comment-169269 Got my FPV-equipped plane stuck 75 feet up in a tree after the motor cut out. I tried so many things, including a bow and arrow, slingshot with twine tied to 3/4oz. sinker, giant homemade slingshot with the same sinker, pellet gun, disc golf discs and my paintball gun (which wouldn't work right) and I had no success for 72 hours until I switched my slingshot setup up. I used an $8 slingshot and a $3 spool of 50lb. test fishing line, along with a 3/4oz. egg-shaped sinker, to finally dislodge my AXN. The key was bringing a blanket to spread out on the ground so the line wouldn't snag on the grass and weeds. With the thin twine attached to the sinker, I lost about 30 feet of range. I should have used the fishing line from the beginning. The amazing part of this story is that both of my LiPo's are charging just fine after being completely drained. Got my FPV-equipped plane stuck 75 feet up in a tree after the motor cut out. I tried so many things, including a bow and arrow, slingshot with twine tied to 3/4oz. sinker, giant homemade slingshot with the same sinker, pellet gun, disc golf discs and my paintball gun (which wouldn’t work right) and I had no success for 72 hours until I switched my slingshot setup up. I used an $8 slingshot and a $3 spool of 50lb. test fishing line, along with a 3/4oz. egg-shaped sinker, to finally dislodge my AXN. The key was bringing a blanket to spread out on the ground so the line wouldn’t snag on the grass and weeds. With the thin twine attached to the sinker, I lost about 30 feet of range. I should have used the fishing line from the beginning. The amazing part of this story is that both of my LiPo’s are charging just fine after being completely drained.

]]> By: Daniel http://thesmithfam.org/blog/2006/11/08/how-to-rescue-your-rc-plane-from-a-tree/comment-page-2/#comment-167974 Daniel Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:20:23 +0000 http://thesmithfam.org/blog/2006/11/08/how-to-rescue-your-rc-plane-from-a-tree/#comment-167974 LOL nice read and video. I like your sense of humor. Anyways ... I recently recovered my double horse 9053 heli out of a tree with a bobcat forklift, and a rake. Needless to say, it wasnt fun standing on the forks holding a rake with one hand ... But it got the job done. Now that I think about it, ill try something different next time. Perhaps using fishing line, lead weights, and a slingshot ? LOL nice read and video. I like your sense of humor. Anyways … I recently recovered my double horse 9053 heli out of a tree with a bobcat forklift, and a rake. Needless to say, it wasnt fun standing on the forks holding a rake with one hand … But it got the job done. Now that I think about it, ill try something different next time. Perhaps using fishing line, lead weights, and a slingshot ?

]]> By: Dave http://thesmithfam.org/blog/2006/11/08/how-to-rescue-your-rc-plane-from-a-tree/comment-page-2/#comment-163534 Dave Fri, 30 Dec 2011 02:28:25 +0000 http://thesmithfam.org/blog/2006/11/08/how-to-rescue-your-rc-plane-from-a-tree/#comment-163534 Coxy, that is an epic story! I am so glad to hear you got your heli back. Coxy, that is an epic story! I am so glad to hear you got your heli back.

]]> By: Coxy http://thesmithfam.org/blog/2006/11/08/how-to-rescue-your-rc-plane-from-a-tree/comment-page-2/#comment-163523 Coxy Fri, 30 Dec 2011 01:21:09 +0000 http://thesmithfam.org/blog/2006/11/08/how-to-rescue-your-rc-plane-from-a-tree/#comment-163523 Hi, for Christmas I received a sweet 42 inch RC helicopter. I began my first test flight the next day and within 20 seconds of flight a big dog was trying to eat it. for 10 seconds this did not appear to be a problem and I just kept my baby in the air - then the wind blew for the first time that day... 10 seconds later I had the dilema: land the copter and let the dog eat it or let the wind take it further and further away. I thought I could control it... 5 more seconds passed and the copter was over a roof, above a road, next to a high tree and spinning round and round completly out of control. 5 seconds later the wind took it higher and higher. This was my first flight so a crash land was almost inevitable and I was determined to bring it back above the grass to at least give it a chance of survival. I kept pulling at the controls and it kept going higher and higher and round and round until it made friends with the tallest tree in the park, about 4 stories high. So my first flight lasted less than 1 minute and my Christmas gift was now up a tree. I tried tennis balls, block and tackels etc etc. I went to the tree every hour when the wind picked up in the evenings and also checked the area at 4:30am in the mornings before anyone walked their dogs (I live in Australia and its summer time right now). Then I found this forum. Adopting the fishing wire method I invited my frined round with his fishing rod and using his strongest line we tied a Y shaped branch and cast the line over and over again trying to snag the highest branch. Over 1.5 hours we snaged the branch only 5 times in the ideal spot and were able to shake the hell out of it before the line broke. Eventiualy on the 6th sucessfull snag we managed to shake the copter out of the tree. It fell through the tree so I had just enough time to figure out its direction and caught it in my hands about 2 meters off the concret ground. Suprisingly, after 3 days of extreem Australian summer heat the copter still works. Thanks 2 everyone for all their advice, hope my method helps someone else. Hi, for Christmas I received a sweet 42 inch RC helicopter. I began my first test flight the next day and within 20 seconds of flight a big dog was trying to eat it. for 10 seconds this did not appear to be a problem and I just kept my baby in the air – then the wind blew for the first time that day… 10 seconds later I had the dilema: land the copter and let the dog eat it or let the wind take it further and further away. I thought I could control it… 5 more seconds passed and the copter was over a roof, above a road, next to a high tree and spinning round and round completly out of control. 5 seconds later the wind took it higher and higher. This was my first flight so a crash land was almost inevitable and I was determined to bring it back above the grass to at least give it a chance of survival. I kept pulling at the controls and it kept going higher and higher and round and round until it made friends with the tallest tree in the park, about 4 stories high. So my first flight lasted less than 1 minute and my Christmas gift was now up a tree. I tried tennis balls, block and tackels etc etc. I went to the tree every hour when the wind picked up in the evenings and also checked the area at 4:30am in the mornings before anyone walked their dogs (I live in Australia and its summer time right now). Then I found this forum. Adopting the fishing wire method I invited my frined round with his fishing rod and using his strongest line we tied a Y shaped branch and cast the line over and over again trying to snag the highest branch. Over 1.5 hours we snaged the branch only 5 times in the ideal spot and were able to shake the hell out of it before the line broke. Eventiualy on the 6th sucessfull snag we managed to shake the copter out of the tree. It fell through the tree so I had just enough time to figure out its direction and caught it in my hands about 2 meters off the concret ground. Suprisingly, after 3 days of extreem Australian summer heat the copter still works. Thanks 2 everyone for all their advice, hope my method helps someone else.

]]> By: JONES http://thesmithfam.org/blog/2006/11/08/how-to-rescue-your-rc-plane-from-a-tree/comment-page-1/#comment-162866 JONES Mon, 26 Dec 2011 23:14:07 +0000 http://thesmithfam.org/blog/2006/11/08/how-to-rescue-your-rc-plane-from-a-tree/#comment-162866 hi how are you i have a simmilar problem i have an rc heli and it got stuck in a tree probably 60 70 feet high but t is held by really skinny twigs and small branches do you what to do and the tree breanchis over an unbusy street please help hi how are you
i have a simmilar problem i have an rc heli and it got stuck in a tree probably 60 70 feet high but t is held by really skinny twigs and small branches do you what to do and the tree breanchis over an unbusy street please help

]]> By: AirHogs01 http://thesmithfam.org/blog/2006/11/08/how-to-rescue-your-rc-plane-from-a-tree/comment-page-1/#comment-159775 AirHogs01 Sun, 11 Dec 2011 13:37:36 +0000 http://thesmithfam.org/blog/2006/11/08/how-to-rescue-your-rc-plane-from-a-tree/#comment-159775 I just called the fire department. I just called the fire department.

]]> By: RobHob http://thesmithfam.org/blog/2006/11/08/how-to-rescue-your-rc-plane-from-a-tree/comment-page-1/#comment-157778 RobHob Tue, 29 Nov 2011 22:53:07 +0000 http://thesmithfam.org/blog/2006/11/08/how-to-rescue-your-rc-plane-from-a-tree/#comment-157778 LOL...excellent writing. I have not had the bad luck yet of getting my heli in a tree, but now I know what to do if it happens. Thanks for the post. LOL…excellent writing. I have not had the bad luck yet of getting my heli in a tree, but now I know what to do if it happens.

Thanks for the post.

]]> By: Janos http://thesmithfam.org/blog/2006/11/08/how-to-rescue-your-rc-plane-from-a-tree/comment-page-1/#comment-150571 Janos Mon, 17 Oct 2011 21:16:51 +0000 http://thesmithfam.org/blog/2006/11/08/how-to-rescue-your-rc-plane-from-a-tree/#comment-150571 Holy cow, I had my first meeting with trees yesterday !! I have flown my Mustang P51D into a 15m tree yesterday evening, right to the top. I was totally upset, it was still half hour left until the evening falls and I spotted my plane between the bush of branches, seemingly intact. But it was a tree with very thin branches ( actually a large bush-like thing ), so there was no way to climb on it. Wat shall I do ?? Panic, panic ! Since there was no time and ewuipment left, I went home and started thinking. Found this blog and it was giving me hope, thanks guys ! And I had plan: I make a long stick with a wooden Y at the end, and i will pull my plane down as gently as possible. I could hardly wait until the next mornig ! I went to the hobby shop to buy some strong wooden sticks of 3m , I tied them together. 4 sticks were just long enough to reach the top of the tree! It was an acrobatic excercise to aim the plane with a 12m stick, but I succeeded. First I could pull it down by 2 meters and got blocked by another branch. Ok, now with 3 stick it was easier to continue. After 3 more pulls it was down, almost intact. The only two damages were a broken tip of the left wing and a small missing piece of the trailing edge of the right wing. I am so happy, I repaired it with some foam and epoxy within half hour. Testing of the electronic showed that everything works normally, no prop damage, no servo damage !! I was extremely lucky. ... and I will NEVER EVER fly close to trees !!! So this is my story, with happy end this time. I will do my best not to let it happen again !! Holy cow, I had my first meeting with trees yesterday !! I have flown my Mustang P51D into a 15m tree yesterday evening, right to the top. I was totally upset, it was still half hour left until the evening falls and I spotted my plane between the bush of branches, seemingly intact. But it was a tree with very thin branches ( actually a large bush-like thing ), so there was no way to climb on it. Wat shall I do ?? Panic, panic !
Since there was no time and ewuipment left, I went home and started thinking. Found this blog and it was giving me hope, thanks guys !
And I had plan: I make a long stick with a wooden Y at the end, and i will pull my plane down as gently as possible. I could hardly wait until the next mornig ! I went to the hobby shop to buy some strong wooden sticks of 3m , I tied them together. 4 sticks were just long enough to reach the top of the tree! It was an acrobatic excercise to aim the plane with a 12m stick, but I succeeded. First I could pull it down by 2 meters and got blocked by another branch. Ok, now with 3 stick it was easier to continue. After 3 more pulls it was down, almost intact. The only two damages were a broken tip of the left wing and a small missing piece of the trailing edge of the right wing. I am so happy, I repaired it with some foam and epoxy within half hour. Testing of the electronic showed that everything works normally, no prop damage, no servo damage !! I was extremely lucky.
… and I will NEVER EVER fly close to trees !!!
So this is my story, with happy end this time. I will do my best not to let it happen again !!

]]> By: brandon http://thesmithfam.org/blog/2006/11/08/how-to-rescue-your-rc-plane-from-a-tree/comment-page-1/#comment-144659 brandon Tue, 30 Aug 2011 18:32:24 +0000 http://thesmithfam.org/blog/2006/11/08/how-to-rescue-your-rc-plane-from-a-tree/#comment-144659 Bow and arrow! Diddnt work. Twine I used never got to fishing line. That might help. But in the end I aimed for my stiraphon head ach three days latter and shoot it down ! Just made a hole . No internal damage. Good luck Bow and arrow! Diddnt work. Twine I used never got to fishing line. That might help. But in the end I aimed for my stiraphon head ach three days latter and shoot it down ! Just made a hole . No internal damage. Good luck

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