308jockey

A club member's Spacewalker had an elevator linkage problem Sunday near the end of the day and went for a swim. We finally found a boat a couple of miles away. The plane floated for nearly an hour before we got it back to shore. We tried snagging it with a rope and even sent in a chocolate lab trying to get it back before we found the boat. If he can get it dried out it will probably fly again. The guys in the photos are the pilot, John Grant, and my nephew Kyle, one of the two best pilots in our club.

Rick H.

Connery

Hmmmm sounds like your club needs to invest in a small boat

love those warbirds

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Yeah, That thing you got right now is like going out on a flat peace of steel . Lucky for your club tho you got a floating peace of sheet metal. When I crashed my cub at the park pond I had to wade out.....I'm not the most graceful in the water.[sm=idea.gif][sm=drowning.gif]

TREADSTONE

Wonderfull post.. and that first picture is just great....so are all the rest realy..hope it all dries out for you O.K....

blobnroar

So were you flying floats or on land?
Plus after what happened won't there be a lot of warping and/or twisting in the air?

308jockey

This was a land airplane that just ended up in the drink. It made a splash about 10 feet tall and the landing gear was still attached when we pulled it out. I'm afraid there will be some problems with the wood when it is all dried out but it is still repairable I think. I don't know what condition the electronics are in and I hope the hot engine didn't get damaged by a dunk in the cool-ish water.

Thanks for the compliment on the photos. I had to boogey back to the car to grab a camera once I realized I had a pretty nice scene. I was thinking of submitting it to Fly R/C.

Rick H.

Jeffpro

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Beautiful pics!

Here in Knoxville, TN, we have a beautiful field that's surrounded on three sides by lake. It adds real urgency to the cry "deadstick!" A couple of Januaries ago, we had a guy visiting from Florida who took off with his ailerons reversed and put his plane in the drink. He started to strip off his clothes to swim out about 100 yards to his plane and it was all we could do to talk him out of it. Let's see...January...38 degree water...which is worth more? Your plane or your life?

love those warbirds

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It's a gamble. But it's also your plane.

The Internet Killer

here is a link to a satellite view of our club, please note on approach the sewage filled salt water tidal slew between the 2 roads.
It gets fed a few planes every year

http://local.live.com/default.aspx?v...&scene=2792222

blw

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I was there when the Spacewalker hit the water. I heard a very loud splat. Someone saw it skip up and hit again. That's the third plane to hit that pond. One of mine was the second one, about a year and a half ago. The land owner got a jon boat about like the one in the pic and I rowed out to get the plane. I also had elevator flutter like the Spacewalker.

The first plane in the drink was a bipe. We still laugh at the story of the guy stripping buck *****ed naked and swimming out to get it. I wasn't there but that story was told again last night with some buddies.

editted for grammar

salome

thanks Rick for the photos
JG

WALKERS210-RCU

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I had something simular back in the mid 60's. Flying off pier, at a Naval Station, never found out why it went in but it sank before we could be boats out to it. Glad you were able to retrieve the plane.

drunkenbushman

Hey thanks for sharing very nice pictures, very nice backdrop to fly in.

Very brave men those going out in a boat that looks so very unstable.