i took my nexstar out today, with my neighbor/freind. that should say something. anyway i had it for like 2 years and it flew good. so today i was talked into teaching me neighbor/freind. with the buddy box system, i took off and landed.the place started to get bussy so we left. well later on he called me to go fly, so i bit. anyway it was later in the day and with that stupid eye, it made the plane hard to handle. well i tried to buddy box my freind again. things went well, unti"ll he got ready for final approoach. i could let go of the buddy switch fast enough, and the plane went down. first crash ever, nock on wood. so anyway we went looking in the woods. it was getting dark, so i left with out my plane, pissed off. well i'll go look tommorrow. anyway thats my sad story. i just needed to talk about it, as he seemed to not care. it won't happen again. thanks for the ear. thanks guys, happy flying

It's a trainer. You'll have it flying again in no-time....that is, assuming you find it and everything.


The rule is , 'Your Plane, Your Problem'. Exceptions include frequency conflicts and malicious distractions.

Good Luck!!

That's unfortunate, but probably repairable once you find it again.

Had you played with the buddy box and a student before? It's a real blood-pressure event the first time you do, I know... cuz it was for me. And, it usually calms down after the first few buddy box flights, but you never know.

You didn't mention your method in your teaching process for approaches and landing, but I would hope that you did many many.. approaches at altitude, sort of false landings at, say 50 feet or so (as we say, two mistakes high) to get him used to making slow and deliberate approches that are on the runway centerline? If you did not, then perhaps that's how you ought to approach (no pun intended) his buddy box approaches and landings.. Then slowly decreasing his altitude until he is low enough to land.

You probably know all this, but sometimes a little reminder on how it may be better is always a good thing to do.

Best of luck finding the Nexstar and best of luck in your continued efforts to "bring another lamb into the fold"....

DS

If you are going to teach/mentor for the first time and you are going to use the buddy box then its imperitive for you to practice with the master box and its use with an experianced pilot on the student box.

Anything less and you do yourself as well as the prospective student a major disfavor.


John

Sorry to here you lost your plane, hopefully you find it and it in good shape.
I understand you feeling bummed , but I would`nt be sore at your friend. Remember, you could of said no. and if he was just learning to fly, probably did`nt have a clue about what was going on. But it`s still a bummer.

Murphy shows up for all of us sooner or later. If he has left you alone for 2 years , that's a pretty good run in this hobby. lol But now that Murphys found you, you`ll need to double check every thing, and sometimes that's not good enough.
Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

Sorry to hear about the problems you had. Being an instructor can be very trying because you now have the responsibility for your students plane. Here are a couple of tips that may help you a little bit as you try to save the students plane. First, have an experienced pilot go up on the buddy box with you on the main radio. Have him put the plane into "out of control" situations up high, and you can practice releasing the trainer switch and recovering the plane. Second, when you have the student flying the plane I always move my sticks on the main radio as if I was flying it. If you do this then you will be instantly ready to take control of his plane when it needs to be saved.

Just like everything else in this hobby, being an instructor needs to be learned. There is a skill set that you need to learn in order to help your student. Hang in there, you'll get it. I'm glad that you stepped up to help teach this great hobby to somebody else, we definitely need more that are willing to do that.

Ken

Wow, I think the woods were hungry yesterday. I too lost control of my plane while flying and it "landed" in the woods on the edge of our field. Fortunately for me some fellow club members found it lodged in the top of a tree. After some intense negotiations with the tree it finally agreed to let me have my plane back. It is a little worse for the wear, needs a few replacement parts but she will fly again.

I sincerely hope you can find your plane. After having to deal with that feeling myself I know how agonizing it can be. Good luck finding it, hopefully it will not be damaged too bad.

Good for you! Not the crash, but helping out someone with a simular interest. Since I have soloed I have put my kids on the buddy box as often as they will come to the field.

When we get a spectator and one of us has a buddy box we try to get them to give it a whirl. Some have a natural knack for it others really struggle. Both can pose issues as the ones that struggle you constantly have to correct. Ones that have a knack you can easily let your guard down.

As a side note I wouldn't try to teach anyone to land with my limited experience teaching. My theory is to get them hooked into flying and let them get there own plane to learn to land. As the altitude decreases so does recoverability.

Just my 2 cents.

Del

hey guys, thanks for the support. i took the day off, and me and the kids went stompping through the woods. after about 2 hours we started to find peices. not good. anyway i found the engine, gas tank, one wheel and half of the wing. these where just scattered around several large trees, so apon farther looking i found the rest of the plane, it was and still is about 35 feet in the top of one of those darn trees. it looks like the tail is ok and the fuse looks like front end damage from what i can tell. you guys have any ideas on how i can get it down? it is supposed to rain later on. so i would like to get it, so the electronics don't get wet. ok i'll let you guys know what happens. thanks all

I use a sling shot, fishing rod and reel, 100 ft of lite cord and a 100 ft of heavy cord 3/8 nuts.
Hook fishline to 3/8 nut. shoot over limb with slingshot. Tie light cord to line and gently pull line up and over with fish line. Then tie heavy cord to lite cord. Pull over limb and tie off. Grab rope and shake like crazy. Run ! plane coming down lol
Good luck

Sounds like you have some experience with that Insane!

Ouch! Sorry, it sounds like you will have a heck of a rebuilding program on your hands.

You may get lucky and only have to order a new wing.

Good luck!

manks

PS - MoonDoggie's idea works really well - I have some excperience with that getting a friends plane out of a 50 foot tree.

I have tried many different methods of retrieval from trees... the best I have found is to hire a young tree climber from the local "Tree Service" guys. He had my Kaos in my hands in 10 minutes after he got there !! Cost me $50. But I got my complete plane back before it rained !!

Ugo

Don't know how to get it down but when I'm instructing I ALWAYS assume the worst is about to happen and constantly plan my recovery. I always know what I'm going to do if that (##*$&%^^ moron I'm teaching (oops, did I say that? I meant student) decides to kill his plane.

Always fly the same moves the student does and keep the throttle stick in "FULL BLOW" for instant response...you'll need it !
Ugo

Yes sir I have. And a few of my flying buddies like my retevial kit too!lol.
Check this out. This is what I use when my kit wont reach. [link=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBKNbbncdfA]Insanes TreeTop landing[/link]

well i tried with a fishing pole(i don't have a slingshot), i couldn't get it up there. to many other smaller tree and stickers. i must of tried for about 2 and a half hours, i was starting to lose light in there. anyway i'm going to try again tomorrow, i've got a buddy coming over with a bow. yes thats right, i'm thinking about a stick and pull. at this point i just want the rest of the gear, i can get a new air frame for about $100.00. it's killing me to just leave it there. well thanks for the idears, i'll let you know how i make out

of course your nieghbor/friend is there to help you too eh?

sorry for your loss.

Not to be cruel, but please take some photos when you get it down!

I hope you get all the parts before it rains.

Good luck

it's me again, yes my neighbor/freind wants to be there to help. so we'll see. i have a digital cam, so i'll take some pics. maybe i'll zoom in and out, to show you guys the situation and then a few after i hopefully get it home. (but i'm not to sure how to post pics on the forum). anyway i can say i'm in better spirits about this hole thing, being my first crash and all. ok guys i'll talk to you later, thanks again

You`ll get it down. By the way I picked up my wrist rocket sling shot at WalMart for 6.00 dollars. Good luck. And yes the first crash is the hardest.

Don't feel too bad......The first crash is the most painful!!!
Also Check these photos out.
Landed in this tree a week ago. Waiting for a tree climber. 1st time I haven't retrieved a plane immediately!!![]
This plane is at least 100 feet up!!![]

By the way my version of "Murphy's Law" is "All Murphy's planes will eventually become accordions"!!!

Murph..................

i wanted to post acouple of pics, but i'm not sure how

You need to resize your pics. I use [link=http://www.fookes.com/ezthumbs/]Easythumbnails[/link] free program. It`s easy to use , resize your pics to 640x480.
To upload click upload at bottom of post , Browse to your thumbnail pic , highlite and click open, should start your upload. may take a few minutes depending on your connection speed.

At the bottom of the text box there look for the link the says "Click here to upload images and files!"

A new box will open up, select "Browse" and select the photos you want to upload.