I put my combat plane into the trees today. The prop was wrapped in vines about 40 - 50 feet up ?

To far to toss a rope with a water bottle tied to it. We put a ladder on a tree and got closer to the plane. About 50 throws later I hooked the plane and got it down with no damage, fueled it up and flew. Its a Battle Axe...


MY QUESTION IS.. Has anyone used a slingshot or something home made to shoot a line up into the trees. Every plane I've retreived was a matter of shaking the branches and the plane has fallen down. Something with an old fishing reel to hold the line... attached to a tennis ball or something smaller?
The small line could then be used to pull a heavier line up if needed. 50 - 60 feet up would be good. Anything would be better than dragging the ladder out there and the risk of falling...


This must have been tried???


Steve

I have a small handheld crossbow pistol that I use for pulling network wire. I attached a fishing reel to the crossbow and then I shoot above the suspended ceilings, then attach the network wire to that and pull it across the ceiling. Same thing could easily be used for your application of getting the plane out of a tree.

Ken

Ken, Network Wire? Is that like punched cards and tabulating machines??


Don

Ken, you're showing your age... You do qualify as an AARP member you know.

... just kidding. We met at Top Gun in '08.

I have a youth sized compound bow that I use. I have also used a fishing pole with a heavy lead weight. I have also used a professional tree climber...yeah, lots of things can be tried.
I have heard (not seen) of someone using ten foot pieces of PVC pushed together w/o glueing the couplings....
I try to stay out of trees.
Bob

I just don't fly my planes into trees

Well in western Oregon Trees are a natural part of R/C flying for many people. We had a club member stick one in a tree, said he didn't see it, during our annual air show. We remove most of them with a fishing rod with some heavy line and an assortment of weights, depending on how far you need to cast. Works every time unless you can't cast high enough. On occasion someone will put one so high up a tree 100-150 feet that a professional must be brought in to climb and retrieve the plane (no you can't cut the tree down, not in Oregon by Government).

Minnflyer- Ya dont fly in to trees- they just reach out and swat ya when ya get to close to there area - O and I forgot they have plane magnets in them so dont fly to close or they gitcha- -Going to Big Sky Hobby Swap Meet in AM -leave bout 4 am - man thats berore the donut man starts
Don

I have used PVC irrigation pipe with different fittings on the end.. awkward but it works and CHEAP! You can make it as long as needed... almost...

Hey Popriv, try one of these available from http://stores.slingshotsusa.com/StoreFront.bok
Works great and if you notice in one of the pics; there is a pop-up rest for shooting arrows. Saved my bacon a few times!

Hey, Thats just what I wanted. I have the surgical tubing and an old fishing reel so I'll cobble something together and test it out...

While it might not work in every situation it will be good to leave in the truck. I'm going to suggest we leave some PVC poles at the field with connectors.

The ground hasnt been my problem its those darn trees that keep grabbing me...


Thanks for the ideas.

Steve

We have a couple of long poles at the field, I think they are metal conduit. We also have an old tree trimming pole without a blade that can hook a branch. I have also had success with a fishing pole. the only weight on it was a medium size bobber. I was able to snag the branch and shake the plane out. Beats climbing the tree and stomping around among the underbrush and poison oak.

I think, if we have too many ideas here, we need to avoid the trees better.

We are going to be flying combat over these trees so theres a good chance of going down into them...
To many trees around our small field.

steve

Hey Kidbuilder I like your logo. Go Gators.
It is so true trees have plane magnets, they atract your plane if you fly it within 100 ft of them, fortunately our field does not have too many.

It's not plane magnets, it's a little-known phenomenon called an "Arboreal Vortex" which actually sucks the airplane into the trees. It also works for kites.

papermache

It's true.  Our field is a small airport and there are no trees for thousands of feet ahead of the flightline.  I went to visit a different field for a winter Chili-Fly and there were only a few trees at the down-wind end of the double-socker-field runway.  One of those nasty trees ran in 100 feet and jumped 20 feet into the air to snatch my Hot Stik on my final turn.  It happened so fast only I saw it move.