aeajr

My Feedback: (2)

Are you a new pilot?

I have been flying for 4 month and I have learned how
hard it can be to find a plane that has landed in the woods, tall grass and
other places where you can't see it. I learned this lesson the hard way and wanted to pass along what I learned to spare you the same unfortunate experience.

I didn't know enough to avoid a windy day for my first flights. I lost my Aerobird by crashing into deep woods. This is a 4 foot wide orange plane. I was sure I would find it but I didn't, even though I was certain I knew where it went down. That was in March. I bought another Aerobird and fly it often. I love it!

This past weekend I was flying my new glider, a Great Planes Spirit 2 Meter
with a 6.5 foot wing span. I got into trouble and it went down into heavy
woods and brush. I went into the woods to find it. Twenty feet into the
woods, trying to decide how to proceed since the area the plane went down
could not be seen from a trail, I heard Beep Beep Beep. My plane locator had
activated. I had the plane located and out in 10 minutes. Believe me, where
it had landed I likely would not have found it.

What was the difference? A plane locator. A little device you put in the
plane that gets attached to the receiver. If you turn off the transmitter,
the thing starts beeping loudly. Several companies make them. Typically they
cost from $15-$30.

I have three different ones:

This is in my Electrajet which is a delta wing parkflyer with an electric
motor.
http://www.hobbico.com/accys/hcap0335.html
The Air Alert is intended for electric planes. It connects to the throttle
channel.

I have this installed in my Glider
http://www.foamfly.com/customer/prod...&page=1&XCARTS
ESSID=247447e257cd206601b76b2716efe0b5
It hooks to any channel or it can share a channel with one of your servos. It
has the connector to pass through to the servo with no impact on the servo.
This will work in any plane with a 72 MHZ receiver.

Low Voltage Watch

In addition to helping me find the plane, both of these devices also monitor
my battery pack voltage and sound an alarm if the pack voltage gets below a
safe level.

So, even if the plane is in the air, if the pack voltage drops
below safe levels, they beep so I can land the plane before the battery runs
out. This is especially valuable on my glider. If I catch a good thermal, I could
be in the air for over an hour, so a pack that tested good on the ground could
run low during the flight.

Channel Conflict Warning!

They can also serve as a test to make sure no one is flying on your channel.
Turn on the receiver only. If the device does not go into lost plane mode,
then someone else is on your frequency.


For 27mHZ planes

My Aerobird does not have a conventional receiver that I can connect to. The
electronics and servos are one integrated circuit board. No place to connect
one of the above locators.

On the Aerobird I use one of these on the plane and one stays in my pocket.
If I am looking for the plane, I click the one in my hand and the one on the
plane answers:
www.keyringer.com

Here is a review of another Emergency Locator Beacon that illustrates its
value (this site is somewhat unreliable)
http://webhome.idirect.com/~arrowmfg...s/elb-revi.htm


Every plane I ever own will have some kind of locator from now on. Of course
you only need one. You can move it from plane to plane, but at $15-30 they
are cheap enough you can put one in every plane and forget it!

For really long range finds, measured in miles, there is the Walston system. The plane unit is about $150 and the tracking unit is hundreds of dollars. This is good for clubs, especially glider clubs where the club buys the tracking unit and the members buy the tracker. If your glider costs $1200, a $150 transmitter is worth the cost.
http://www.texastimers.com/helpful_h.../wal_cover.htm

Many new pilots don't know about these devices. Now you do! Install one before you need it!

ballgunner

My Feedback: (1)

A less expensive method is to keep a small pocket compass in your field box. When you see where the model went down take a bearing on the spot and follow along that line. This is surely not as efficient or reliable as the plane finder but will help somewhat if it's all you have at the time.

dr_wogz

My Feedback: (3)

And there's usually a bunch of guys a the feild who have been watching. Rarely do we get one or two guys retriveing a plane. Most likely it's a bunch!

ballgunner

My Feedback: (1)

Dr Wogz just proves what I've always said. RC'ers are the best. Same at our field. No one ever has to go it alone if they lose a plane in the woods or cornfields.

aeajr

My Feedback: (2)

I think this is a valuable topic for new pilots. Many pilots have contacte me to tell me how they have found their planes using one of these devices.