Another simple approach is to use one of the cheap key chain cameras, taped on the side of a plane pointed straight down. Fly back and forth in a straight pattern near/over the area where the canopy came off moving a little further out with each pass and simple half cuban eight turnarounds on the ends. We had the same type canopy 'problem' at our field here in Sacramento with an Integral canopy. The pilot didn't really see the canopy come off so the area where it might have come down was pretty large. We flew many passes at low speeds about 50-75 ft high. The image was good enough we spotted the canopy and because it was a controlled over flight pattern, we could figure out where the canopy was. We played the video back on a laptop, spotted what looked like the canopy and the pilot walked right to the canopy. It was much further away than we guessed and had been searching in the previous day.

No special equipment other than the cheap key chain camera and an electric pattern plane. We thought the electric pattern plane would cause less vibration and blurring than a glo powered plane.

Woodie