JimmyZep

Took off, flew around for a while then was makeing a nice wide
turn for a landing and slaped hard into a bunch of trees on the
other side of the field.

I think I need glasses because I thought I was ok but I was about 10 feet over more than I thought.

What a crunch sound it made, never heard that before.

All the gear is good plane is crap, oh well.

Jimmy

KitBuilder

It happens.... one of the hazards of "park" flying

JimmyZep

Its no park, a regular club field.

noveldoc

My Feedback: (2)

Have to watch those trees. Sometimes wooden planes want to go home to mother. ;-)

Tom

dredhea

My Feedback: (13)

If not watched very closely, trees can move as much as 29.6 feet to get in front of an airplane. That's the excuse I use.

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

The can also extend their branches out to catch you plane, and then before you can get to the tree the branches will retract to their original position so you don't know what happened!!!!

Ken

MrGoodwreck

This type of thread is worthless without pictures.[&o]

blikseme300

My Feedback: (118)

Jimmy,

Don't feel bad as you are not alone in mis-judging distance/altitude.

I found a large California oak to stop all forward motion on my Kadet Senior while turning onto final. When I looked back at the field from the scene of impact I could not believe how far I was from the strip. This was many years ago and I since have learnt how to be more accurate than that day.

Don't give up and keep trying.

Bliksem

JimmyZep

I swear thats what happened!!!

No pics I had no camera.

The damn thing was flyin great right up untill it hit the trees.

Is it illeagal to burn down a bunch of trees on sombody elses property?

I now hate trees!

Jimmy

StevL

Sorry for your crash! Here is a photo of a 50cc yak put in a tree at our fly-in this past weekend. You could say this pilot had a bad day.

Steve

StevL

This is my all time favorite... and a real good reason not to fly behind our flight line. This was a visiting pilot once again.


Steve

lopflyers

My Feedback: (12)

For trees Monokote and Balsa taste just like chicken

ec121

My Feedback: (2)

There is something in a tree that creates a sort of vacuum but more like a magnetic field. It just sucks a plane right out of the sky. Most of the time you are too far out on the approach when it happens.

bruce88123

Now you have to do it again and get pictures this time. And yes, it is illegal.

scooterinvegas

My Feedback: (1)

I've flew through two bushes about 8' high. First time the plane came out the other side still flying, but with no landing gear. The 2nd time, with LG but dead stick.

Both times I swore I was on the field. Planes look closer than they really are.

ArcticCatRider

My Feedback: (6)

Not the end of the world....get another plane!

Don't feel bad. Back in my early days.....I didn't encounter any trees. What I did encounter wasa good, high altitude, a nicely trimmed plane on a calm day, 3/4 tank of gas, having a great time.....followed by a "loss of control." Meaning I watched my plane keep going. And going. And going. Never to be seen, or heard from again.

For all I know that plane is up in orbit somewhere.

billd76

My Feedback: (3)

Been there done that, I have also watched some experienced pilots get sucked into trees. I was lucky, in that I was able to take a swimming pool vacum pole and get mine out with minimal damage. I did get lucky and catch the plane once I freed it fromthe trees grasp, before it hit the ground. It is a common mishap. The worst thing I ever did was take off with the ailerons reversed. Now that was a real DUH moment!! corrected right as soon as the plane took off and the plane corrected left right into mother earth.

redraze

Bought a brand new cessna 182 55" foamy, put it together and on the first flight (13 seconds long) miss judged some 60' pines and "WHACK SNAP" peices were stuck in the tree, prop looked like it was made out of glass. I did however salvage the elecs for spad building

dasquirrelisme

My Feedback: (81)

I hit trees so many times I nicknamed my airplane the scotch tape racer after I repaired my covering with packing tape so many times..the worst was when it was stuck about 50 feet up and I climbed up that damn tree about 6 times to try to shake it out before I got smart and decided to climb the tree again with a small hatchet in my mouth like I was an army commando...after hacking for about 25 minutes it finally broke....only to fall about 4 feet lower on the next branch down..I hope that tree gets struck by lightening

Luchnia

My Feedback: (21)

You guys got it ALL wrong. The trees don't move, the landing strip moves toward the trees while you are flying....sheesh how hard can the stuff be? [X(]

Nathan King

Congratulations on the solo! Don't feel bad about the mishap; human eyes are notoriously bad at judging exact position and distance without much practice.

dredhea

My Feedback: (13)

The worst tree mishap I've had was with a camara mounted to a trainer at a spectator event. There was a large crowd watching the video monitor and I was asked to do a low approach. I had been usung a tree as a landmark to know when I was in line with the runway. I could have sworn that I was in front of the tree until the plane disappeared behind it. Needless to say, I was out farther than I thought when I turned in on final. After the crash, several people commented that it "was cool" how the monitor just suddenly went all green.

PatrickCurry

My Feedback: (20)

My first scratch-built foamie I flew RIGHT into a light pole flying in a parking lot.  I could have SWORN I was nowhere near that pole.  Did it not once but twice!  Flew one of my SPAD trainers into a big tree at our field.  Luckily it fell out and only damage was dirt in the engine and I took it all apart, washed it out and reassembled with no damage.   A friend who has been flying a lot longer than I have flew into the same tree with a Sig Kadet and wasn't so lucky.  Landed in a big V and sliced off most of one wing.  Luckily some young cats were out there watching us fly and one of them shimmied up there and retrieved the plane for him.  Don't worry about it Jimmy just keep on flying.   It's hard to judge distance sometimes but that skill will grow with time.  And then just when you think you've got it mastered you'll probably fly into another tree.  LOL