chopper man

Crashing my 1st plane was bad enough but not being able to find it is down right got me bent out of shape. Has anyone ever used a plane locating device such as this www.qualityrcproducts.com/prod_locator.html
Any thoughts or ideas?
Thanks
chopper man

nothinbetr2do

yes, and i would say it's mendatory. you never know when you'll need it. this is the one i use http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...0335&search=Go after look at the one you posted, i like mine better. it doesn't need a extra batt, and has a low volt watch, plus it'll tell you if you forget to turn off rx

chopper man

Thanks. I looked all over the Tower site for something like that and couldn't find it. I wish I have one in my trainer. That's on my list with a new plane for my next order.
chopper man

felixone

I have crashed a plane into the woods at our field before so I know how you feel. One of other pilots was able to find it after about 30-45 minutes of wandering around in the trees so I was fortunate. A few weeks ago another pilot lost one over the woods. He had more difficulty finding his, but was able to do it. What he did was bring his transmitter into the woods and move surfaces around while listening for the servo buzz. I don't know how long it has been since you lost the plane but if there is a chance the battery is working this technique might just help.

chopper man

Lost it on Saturday morning. My brother and I have been able to find our Easy Star that way and for some reason I didn't even think about trying that with the servos. I guess it was the stress of my first crash[]
chopper man

opjose

We did this last weekend.

It's amazing how difficult a plane can be to find in the thick brush.

We must have passed by the plane many times after having located it's broken off wing.

We kept moving the radio stick around and we swore we could hear some "ticking".

After a couple of hours of searching it was too late to proceed due to failing light.

The next moring we were back and located the plane by moving the sticks.

Much to our surprise we had come withing 7-10 feet of it, and had not seen it at all.

chopper man

That's the tough part. I walked those woods for 3 hours on Sat and 1-2 hours on Sunday. Found other wrecks but not mine. I would hate to think that I was within spitting distance and couldn't fine it. I will most likely not have time this week to go back out and then I leave town on Thursday and not back until Monday. I just hope it doesn't rain so that if I find it I can save some of the radio gear.
chopper man

Cyclic Hardover

My Feedback: (3)

Nice little device, the problem around here is not finding the plane but findling whats left of it!

chopper man

At this point I just want the new engine that I had put on it back.
chopper man

bruce88123

And maybe the radios?

xtraflyr

My Feedback: (11)

Me and some club members went in on some locaters www.loc8tor.com
Where we fly its all about the 11' high Corn Stalks on the 20+acres we fly from. The locators didnt work very well in the corn. In the trees and brush where you guys seem to be having problems it may work fine. I mean in the corn instead of having 600' we get about 75 -100',which isnt very bad. You can walk right by it so easy,so at least we have something.

I think if you get a simple compass and get a bearing on the plane when its goin in. I bet you could walk just about right to it..

Cya,
Frank

Cyclic Hardover

My Feedback: (3)

True story. About 8-9 years ago a "well known builder/designer here was testing one of his planes. I also brought out a new video camera. So they were doing what they were doing and i was fooling around with the stupid camera.

I was filming him but not really paying attention as I was just trying to familiarize myself with the camera. So he takes off and I'm filming it . Takes off, climbs straight out, turns cross wind, glitchs a bit and out and away it goes intot the desert and all we saw was a dust cloud when it hit about half mile away.

So I put the camera away and went about my business while they spent an hour trying to find it. It was a camo colored Focke Wulf-like thats going to stick out!

They gave up and came back and were now at about 2 hours after the whole thing when we realized[sm=idea.gif] Hey! I filmed this whole thing. So we get the camera out and looked at the tape on the itty bitty screen. Watch it go in, and gave them a direction and they walked right to it.

opjose

That's pretty good... you effectively had an extra set of "eyes" on the plane that you could refer to.

calvino

I would think one good way to track your plane would be with a simple ultrasonic transmitter and reciever, and or a LOUD beeper that ran off of a seperate power source, just a thought.

CGRetired

My Feedback: (1)

The SAM (Society of Antique Modelers) in our club, well, most of them, use an electronic locator on their planes.

If you are not aware of what the SAM people do, well, they have aircraft that were designed before I believe 1940. They have to use certain engines, and they usually build them from scratch using such things as fabric and dope for covering. All of them are absolutely gorgeous aircraft. These guys are usually 'old timers' and have build skills that many of wish we had.

They hand launch or ground launch, and the planes head straight up as best they can. They have a limited fuel capacity (measured in seconds) and after they run out of fuel, they are basically gliders. So, they can, and will, go wherever, based on the wind speed and direction. So, many of them will get sort of out of hand, and they will wander off. So, they use those electroinc locators all the time and, for the most part, they work.

airflow

My Feedback: (1)

The loc8tor uses 2.4 GHz for communication between its tag and hand-held unit. Is there any interference with the RC radio system?

xtraflyr

My Feedback: (11)

With the Loc8tor,if your looking in the cornfield for your plane,they only work when you get about 60-100' away. The cornstalks block alot of it,so you loose alot of range..

Just to let you know....

Cya,
Frank

ps you shouldnt get anykind of interferance with the 2.4 stuff.. Not sure though cuz Im staying away from the 2.4.. My 72mhz works fine for me.

craigss11

I've got one of these in all my planes
http://www.californiasailplanes.com/...larm%20New.htm
They're very light and small,easy to fit in anything.
Our field is surrounded on 3 sides by fairly thick scrub[forest]and it's a bugger wandering around in there for hours looking for a plane,this makes life a lot easier.
The other advantage is that it gives a voltage readout of the Rx battery everytime the plane is switched on,great idea[8D]
Cheers

Jetdesign

My Feedback: (8)

...

Rodney

I just examined the Air Alert and was quite dissapointed. It is not very loud, I do not think you will be able to hear it if you are more than 20 feet away from it in dense growth, maybe not even if just high grass. Also, in over half the crashes I've had or witnessed, the battery has become disconnected from the receiver so this (or any other alarm powered through the receiver) would be worthless. To be effective, the alarm must be self powered and a suitably loud noisemaker, preferably an intermittent warble or siren like sound. This requirement means that it will be rather large as the unit must be comprised of the sound making device, a switch and power supply that will last a few hours when needed and packaged in a relatively crash proof case. Of course, in some cases anything might be better than nothing.

xtraflyr

My Feedback: (11)

I think the best thing to use is a compass or a GPS. It will guide you right to it. What we do at our club also,is have someone take their plane and fly in the area it was last seen. That usually gets you close to it. The corn around our field get a good 8'+. The first few steps into it and your lost!!

The good news is the corn isnt goin to be there this year!! Just soy!!

Cya..
Frank