O.K. Make fun of me all you want. I just got a firebird II ST. I am brand new to any kind of r/c. I'm looking for something new and exciting. I bought this plane since it was for beginners. However, I was flying it in an experts area. It landed in a tree and had to spend several days suspended in ice and torential rains. The plane was recovered today using a 22 caliber rifle and around 35 rounds of ammunition. The plane seems to be unharmed, although, I have this question. If I let it dry out, will it be O.K.?

Holy crap dude... that sounds like alot of fun.. I would have liked to be in on that airframe recovery evolution... I'm not sure the plane would be good or not... seems like the extreme temperatures along with the .22 caliber bullets might degrade performance just a tad... but who knows... great story though..

Casey

Don't worry about people making fun of you... it happens to a lot of us...damn tree still has half of one my wings![:@]. Our club has business cards for tree trimming services in the shed and one member who works for the electric company has been up more trees than he cares to count!

As for whether you airplane will be OK..... tough to tell...try asking/searching in the boating or seaplane forums what they do for waterlogged electronics.

Good luck!

Caught in a tree??? Shhhheeeeeesh.....

I would never do that.......







well.... except for my .46 SPAD .......and my Zagi..........and my Firebird once.!

We used an old climbing rope to lasso them!



Let it dry COMPLETELY... then give it a shot.....

Your plane should be ok, providing the radio gear dident get to wet. Mind, i would have consitered a long stick or a bb gun or somthing first. But as long as u dident shoot the plane it will be fine

Not knowing the exact specifics of where you were stuck in the tree, I would have worried more about the unexpected trajectory of expelled projectiles........

Welcome to the club! Been there, done that, more than once too! I would check out the plane very carefully. The battery pack in the plane will most likely be toast. The combination of being fully discharged and being in very cold temperatures have most likely killed it. If you don't have a charger/cycler unit to really test the pack, replace the pack.

Cheers

Yea man, don't use rifles to recover airplanes. I know you were trying to shoot the branch to make it break, but every time you missed, that bullet came down somewhere. And with a rifle, that could be somewhere in someones backyard where their kids are playing or something. Of course, if you're miles from civilization, then that would be different.

Yeah we all have one of those, I lost a GWS in the trees at the schoolyard up my street, in a TALL pine,this is when you realize hey this RX is worth $25 the plane is like $35 but the guts of the plane are like $100!!! I work at night ,but would wake up in the afternoon and walk to the school to see if it had fallen out...one morning I sat in my car across the street with binocs looking for it when a cop rode by,,45 year old watching the elementary school...bad idea, just so happens after my Barney Phife recon missions there was a storm 5 days later that knocked it outa the tree ...of course this was at 3:00 when the kids were getting out and here I was running across the playground to get my plane..the wing was shot, the control rods were rusted, but everything inside was okay.....still have that whole system,,Rog

Caught in a tree? I've never landed in a tree!

All I can say is little brothers are good for something.

I didn't do it, nobody saw me do it, can't prove anything!

A long long time ago in a far way land, I too landed a Super Sportser in the very tippy top of a 100 ft tall pine. As I was on approach and very slow, no apparent damage was caused. But the plane was stuck firmly in that evil pine's grip. We did try a shotgun. That managed to make the plane jump a little, but nothing more. As I had to work the next morning, and I intended to have another try the next night. But when I got home form work, I found that a good friend had wrangled a tree surgeon to climb the mammoth tree and retrieve my plane. As the man descended with the plane he shouted down the awful news that the plane had been vandalized with a shotgun. My friend, to embarrassed to admit that it was us that had shot the plane, just shook his head and acted as though he were disgusted, " man, who would do such a thing? "

I did have to recover the plane. Amazingly the only component to take a hit was the battery pack.

There are folks that can scurry up even the biggest trees and faster than you can imagine. I recommend there services highly.

thanks for all the quick responses. i let my plane dry over night in our heated boot drying room at work and charged the battery up and it seems to work fine. been raining here a lot (washington) so i haven't actually flown it again. in response to some of the other posts, i tried everything. i'm in the middle of nowhere and shooting at things is in my redneck blood anyhow. i tried casting a lead weight with a fishing pole over the branch to shake it down. and if you think shooting was dangerous, you should have seen me standing on an icy wooden pallet 25 ft up on a forklift with a 40 ft aluminum pole, plus i'm 6'5" and my buddy telling me "just a little more". anyhow, it seems to be working and thanks again for all the replies.

John Eubanks, a great conservationist, always took a chain saw with him when he went 'coon hunting.

Hi, My ready2 trainer has just come back to earth after 4 days on top of an old 100ft oak tree at our field. Even though its been blowing, snowing and raining here in Scotland, there was no way it was coming down in a hurry. So I hired the help of a tree surgeon, these guys used rope access, and were up and down in no time. No damage to the plane, apart from a bit off the prop, and split leading edge seem on one wing. OK it cost a few quid but it was worth getting it back in one piece, and the hassle of rebuilding. So its back in the air at the weekend. (weather permitting, and tree surgeons phone number in pocket)

Cheers,

Kev.

If it makes you feel any better, I flew my Aerobird into the Ohio river. It floated for about 3 minutes before I could get to it. I let it dry for about 4 days and still fly it to this day.

What does retreival of a plane from a tree usually cost you guys?

crossj, i was thinking the same thing. Prolly cheaper to buy a new kit

Hello; My thunderbird spent 6 month in the cradle of an ancient cedar tree near our strip. It took 3 months to find it, some local hang gliders were jumping off a nearby mountain so we asked them to keep an eye out for it. They saw it and took a photo of where it was. Another flier at our field is a black powder fan and brought out a musket with drilled balls and a spinning reel. The idea being to use the fishing line to pull a 3/16 poly rope up and (hopefully ) over it. His first shot went right through the reciever, but the fishing line untied itself first. Turns out the heat from the shot was burning through the fishing line. We tried a sling shot and the spinning reel, and got that to work, pulled the poly rope back over, snagging the landing gear and knocking it down. Finding the receiver blown to bits. I re-built it and still fly it occasionally. I think it took about 16 hours labor to get it back. Everyone was happy to help, realizing that they might be in the same situation some day.

i bought a firebird commander, first plane i ever owned, and on its second flight I lost it and it went into a bunch of pines. It was resting around 100' up in a pine..I tried aluminun poles, ropes, and some more stuff I won't mention before I gave up because a tropical storm was coming. It sat up there through the tropical storm..i figured that blew it down, but it did'nt..so a buddy of mine ended up taking his climbing tree stand (for deer hunting) and climbing as high as he could, then he took a 30' aluminum pole (used as a handle for an old swimming pool vacuum) and knocked my plane out. I let it dry, recharged the battery, and it flew many more times (but never got stuck again like that).

The next time I tree'd a plane I landed my Twist 15' up in a pine (i don't have depth perception worth anything!) but got it out, undamaged, standing in the bed of my truck.

The next tree incident happened because my RX battery plug came out (!! yeah i did a preflight, but evidently not good enough) and I "lost" control...plane went down on the far end of the field. I looked for it for a couple of hours before I found it 30' up a live oak tree...which was growing in a fencerow....amongst a bunch of hedges. I tried 4,367 different things before in a fit of rage I cut the tree down with a crosscut saw (it was about 10" in diameter!)..but it got hung up in hedges and I still couldnt reach the plane. So I tied the tree to my truck with a chain and jerked the tree until I pulled it out of the hedges enough to let if fall..it finally fell low enough I could reach it. Plane sustained two holes in the covering, one in the aileron and one in the rudder. That whole endeavor, from getting to the field until I finally got the plane down took around 6 hours (including one trip back home to get a saw, chain, extension ladder, and some other things..).that was a baaaaaaaad day...

Got your plane stuck in a tree? Gee, that's never happened to me before!

to quote from the back of the box of remington thunderbolt 22 cartriges "can kill with in 1 1/2 miles" that doesn't mean they stop at that distance. they are still dangerouse at 2 miles away. and that is for the smallest weakest rifle calibure out there, just thought it was some food for thought there...


also, half of my landings are in trees so don't feel bad. but then again I fly the park flyers, so any sizeable wind gust will blow them around unexpectantly. thats why they are so cheap.

It's true there's at least one in every thread Thanks for the "help" there sarge Sheesh!!!!!!!