aeajr
Posts: 5525
Joined: 1/14/2003
From: Long Island,
NY, USA
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I have posted pieces and parts of this in other threads but have never started a thread on the topic. I have revised and updated the article for your consideration.
FINDING LOST PLANES - Plane Locators
by Ed Anderson
aeajr on the forums
updated Oct 2008
Over the years I have been flying 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. On my second flight, I lost my Aerobird when a huge gust of wind carried
it over deep woods, never to be seen again. Even though I was certain I knew
where it went down, after 8 hours of searching, and the help of friends, nothing.
When I moved on to sailplanes I started by flying a Great Planes
Spirit 2 Meter. Again, during my early learning phase, I got into trouble
and it went down into heavy woods and brush in a very hard to search area. I
went into the woods about fifty feet, trying to decide how to proceed when I
heard Beep Beep Beep. The plane was about 100 feet away in heavy tree
growth. I could not see it, but I could hear it. I had the plane located and out
in 10 minutes. Believe me, where it had landed I likely would not have found it.
The difference was a little device you put in the plane. Over time I have come
across several types of locators and with a wide variety of costs and ranges. Some
attach to your receiver and some don't.
SOUND BASED LOCATORS THAT ATTACH TO YOUR RECEIVER
The most common and lowest cost of the locators attach to your receiver. Normally they
draw very little power and are quiet. But if the signal is lost, or if you activate a particular
channel, they let out a sound that can be hear for 50 to 150 feet. Normally that is enough
to help you locate the plane quickly.
I have sound based locators in most of my sailplanes, slope gliders and parkflyers.
SkyKing RC Lost Model Locator - $20
My current favorite because it works with my PCM receivers too.
http://www.skykingrcproducts.com/accessories/lostmodel/lost_rc_model_alarm.html
Review
http://www.slopeflyer.com/artman/publish/skyking_lost_model_alarm.shtml
The Lost Model Alarm - I have a bunch of these too
http://www.californiasailplanes.com/Lost%20model%20alarm.html
They hook to any channel or can share a channel with one of your servos.
These will work most planes with a 72 MHZ receiver and may work with other
radio band equipment too. If you use PCM or if your receiver has a fail safe setting
check with the locator maker as the fail safe may prevent the locator from working.
Channel Conflict Test!
Because these watch for a transmitter signal, they can also tell
if someone is on my channel. If I turn on the receiver only, and not the
transmitter, and the device does not go into lost plane mode then someone
else is on that frequency. I may have just saved my plane, or someone else's.
Low Voltage Watch - Mostly of value with gliders or glow planes
In addition to helping me find the plane, both locators also monitor my
battery pack voltage and sound an alarm if the pack voltage gets below a
safe level. This is especially valuable on my gliders. If I catch a good
thermal, or if I am slope soaring, 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. These
alarms would warn me during the flight. If the plane is not too far away, I
can hear them in the air.
Here are two others I have not tried.
Lost Model Locator - $10
http://www.allthingsrc.com/webshop/product_info.php/cPath/24/products_id/39
RC Reporter - $24
A bunch of features
http://wingedshadow.com/rcrprod.html
MODEL LOCATORS THAT DO NOT ATTACH TO YOUR RECEIVER
The Loc8tor - $100 for receiver and two transmitters
http://www.loc8tor.com/faqs.asp#G3
The locators above won't work with many 27 MHz, 2.4 GHz or planes that
have failsafe features on their recievers. As noted above the Sky King can work
with PCM based systems.
For these planes an alternative would be the Loc8tor. This is a medium range
transmitter/receiver system that is good for 100 to 600 feet.
The system consists of a small 5 g tag that you put in the plane. The battery is
good for months. This is bound to a receiver that can read the signal and take
you to within a foot of the plane. The higher the plane, the greater the range.
In windy conditions, such as when you are slope soaring, a sound beeper may be
hard to hear. The Loc8tor could work much better and provide longer range.
Also note that most of the sound beepers work off the receiver battery. If the
crash is hard enough, the receiver battery can be disconnected. The transmitter
on the Loc8tor uses an internal battery. Even if it is thrown from the plane, it will
be powered by its own battery. Assuming it is not destroyed in the crash, you
should still be able to find it and be near the plane.
$100 gets you the receiver and two transmitter tags. You can move the tags
from plane to plane or buy more tags at about $25 each. Each receiver can
monitor and locate up to 24 transmitters so you can buy one and share it
among a group of pilots. Cost per plane is then about $26.
The Walston System - Long Range Finder - $540-$740
http://walstonretrieval.com/main.htm
For really long range finds, measured in miles, there is the Walston system.
The plane unit is about $140 while the tracking unit is $400 to $600 dollars.
This is especially appropriate for purchase by sailplane clubs, where a
sailplane can cost over $1000 A $140 transmitter is worth the cost. Each
pilots buys one or more transmitters and the club buys the receiver/tracker.
This is not a low cost system, but for high value planes that are flown at great
distances, this is THE solution to have.
SUMMARY
Every plane I own has some kind of locator and/or a battery monitor.
Of course I could move one from plane to plane, but at $10-25 the sound
beepers are cheap enough I can put one in every plane and forget it!
I have not tried the Loc8tor but it looks very intersting and at $25 per plane has
a longwr range than the sound beepers and is not dependant on the receiver battery.
It will work with any plane regardless of the radio system.
For my big gliders that are flown up to a mile out and over 1000 feet high I add the
Walston. I had a servo fail on one of my big gliders which caused it to crash
a half mile from the field. I looked for 3 days, with the help of several
people. We did not find this 10 foot wing span plane. Finally a hiker found it,
found my name stickers and called me. That was the last time a glider went
out without a locator AND the Walston. Between the two I am sure I would
have found it.
Many new pilots don't know about these devices. Now you do!
< Message edited by aeajr -- 11/3/2007 1:06:49 PM >
_____________________________
Clear Skies and Safe Flying!
Ed Anderson
Moderator
Park Pilot Program Partner
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