Ok......heres a little flight story. On Sunday I met up with Bill, my flying buddy and had Oly in the van with me. We met up at a schoolyard we had discovered a few weeks before. It is a small field (100 - 150 ft across) but is fairly long. On the left about 100 ft from where we take off are 2 Pine trees each around 100 ft tall. Oly and i arrived first and I immediatly set up the Slow Stick and flew. Landed and Oly then flew his 3D plane with some impressive near misses and close calls.
Bill and his kidlet showed up and he brought out his Firebird Phantom to teach the kidlet how to fly. Those have that darn ACT system set up (supposedly to help keep the plane in the air) and if you forget to disable it by holding a button on the TX while powering on it makes controlling your plane impossible. It worked as designed and the plane after 2 circuits and loops (unintentional I think) decided to get as close to the vehicle it came in and kissed the asphalt at a high rate of speed. Its a $70 RTF so there really wasn't a lot of anguish over its broken wing. Next up was his Slow Stick. Up and flying a couple of circuits and he was then doing some inverted flight and was getting close to the trees so flipped it upright and started his banking turn away from them. I would have sworn he was going to clear the tree............ not so! it lodged itself about 60 ft up in the branches and refused to budge. Breeze was almost non existant so waiting for the wind was not an option. We went ahead and flew some more planes then our helis. All the helis flew fairly nicely and the breeze was starting to come up.
The Slow Stick had moved a little so a repaired Phantom was called into service.............. The ACT system! That is short for anti crash technology but I believe it stands for Assured Crash Technique. Lanched it and everytime Bill tried to turn the plane back in the direction of the tree......... it looped and headed across the street, over a fire station and into a Pine tree across the way. 2 Planes .......1 day. Plan B was called into service........... The branches were perfect for climbing. Spaced 2 - 3 ft apart and wide open made climbing a possibility but the 12 ft to the first branch made reaching the lower branches a bit harder. After a quick trip to Bills home and grabbing a ladder it was back to the tree and the climb up.
Now keep in mind that i am almost 47 and haven't climbed a tree in over 30 years. However 20 years working at a ski area and 10 years as a carpenter and a painter make me very familiar with ladders. After a 60 ft climb with some quick rest stops on the way up I was on the branch that held the prize! The branch was so thick that jumping up and down on it would not produce enough shake to loosen the plane. Well, there was a smaller branch that was actually in my way so with my brute strength I broke it off and delimbed all but the very end of it. 5 minutes of slapping the wing with the end of the branch it dislodged and was looking like it was going to make it to the ground. DOH!!!! Who put that darn branch down at about 30 ft? As is the case with most trees, as you get closer to the ground the branches get longer and thicker. It looked like the only way to get it now was to try and toss sticks at it and try to dislodge it.



To be continued...................................


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Of all the things I ever lost....................................... I miss my mind the most!