Have you ever had a plane loose control and fly away. If so, did you find it? How far away? Did it destroy anything?

Last year I had one up and started having problems with the trim, it got kind of far out and then i could not seem to get control, it was looping and rolling spirals then it was gone[]. I went looking for it and while I was gone someone came over to the field and told the other guys they seen a out of control plane go down on the other side of the hiway. We went over where it was last seen and about 300 yards behind a car dealer in a swampy area we found it about a mile and a half from the field. The plane was junk but the engine was fine and the radio stuff was very old any way. Couple days later when I was trying to charge the tx battery my charger a triton jr. keep beeping I then became aware that the Tx battery was no good and would fall on its face when loaded. So now every so often I use a cycler to not only condition my batteries but to test then as well.

we had a member with the same problem, his plane flew away twice, first time about a mile away where a farmer found while harvesting his soy beans a week later, very little damage, broken nose wheel, second time, about a month later and 2nd flight after repairs, found it about 1/2 mile away in a tree right off the road, he's rebuilding the wings and engine area, and buying a new battery, check mine before each flight now

Several times, Once I had a problem starting an engine on a 40 size cub I believe it was a K&B .45 anyways after figuring out it was the fuel line, fixed the problem, pointed into the wind and took off lost it after 40 yards or so. Forgot to pull the antenna out. Plane kinda floated around on its own then ended up in the top of a tree.
Direct Connection Tsunami bad cell in the on board pack, lots of altitude full throttle nothing no control, plane dipped a wing and dived straight down.

Yep, Sr. Telemaster and my field at that time was in the mountains. When the fuel finally ran out the big beast just floated on down but landed in the hills behind the road. I drove up to the top of the closest hill and walked to the top then when I looked down there that big yellow critter was sitting. Figured it was about a mile off, drove that mile and walked out and found it. The LG block was broken out. The RX battery was down too low before the flight but my instructor wanted to get in one more flight before we left. This was before we had fields chargers, they were out but not very many people had them yet.

When I was still on the buddy box, a guy turned on his tX on my channel. My plane nosed over and went in like a lawn dart. It was four months before the fuselage was found. It picked the deepest, most densly overgrown part of the creek behind our field. Ihad a sight line to where it went down, but the under growth was so dense that you couldn't get into it. Not knowing exactly where, it was useless to try to cut your way in. Ieven ask the power line guys to have a look for it when they had their truck out with the big lift bucket on it. His report was that if it was a full size plane, he wouldn't have been able to see it. Then one day, an ex club member came by and we were telling my tale of woe and he pipes up, I'll find it. The next day he showed up at the field again and did some hi, how are you's and left. Just as I was packaing up to go home he came back and motioned for me to come look at what he had found. IT was busted up badly. The wing had seperated so I lost a couple digital servos, theDubro composite landing gear also stripped of and was never found. Igot the engine and two usable servos, the third had the gears stripped. The only thing left of the tail was the rudder hanging off the push rod. I sent in the RX for a check up and they replaced a couple parts and all is well with it.

On the loss of control, Ihad a RX battery pack open in flight. The tab between two cells snapped of a cell. Iwas flying a scratch built 3D and was up a couple hundred feet and doing a slow turn at about half throttle. When I wen't to pull out of the turn, nothing happened. The plane flew big flat turns for what seemed like 10 minutes or so. It was slowly drifting twoard the college off the end of our runway. It finally lost enough elevation that it tangled with a big bush and put an end to the Free Flight portion of the show. If I had been in full control, I couldn't have flown that many circles. Irepaired it and flew it again only to loose it due to a dumb move on landing.

Don

Transmitter crystal fell out of my Neon. Watched my Slow Stick fly away. Found it 2 days later in somebodys back yard, almost no damage,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, one of my best landings.

Parkzone Trojan. I was teaching my son on the T28. I kept telling him not to get so far downwind. Problem was the battery had drained faster than I expected and the poor kid wound up fighting the wind while bypassing the low voltage cutoff. I took over but it was way too late (I still didn't realize what happened, it was a long ways off by now). I kept climbing and stalling trying to get it back. Wound up in a very nice gentleman’s tree. Guy gave me a call when the wind blew it down. Lipo was puffed but after a little epoxy it was as good as new, with a little extra weight .

By the way, we've ran that thing in the earth so many times I've nicknamed it "dirt nap one." Add a little epoxy and its good to go. Great machine.

At our last Club picnic one of the otherInstructors was giving Buddy Box flights and decided to push the quick charge on the Rx Battery one flight too many. It was about 400 feet up in a gentle turn at about 1/4 throttle at the time. We watched it go in wider and wider circles until it straightened out and got out of sight over the tree line. It actaully got turned around and was heading back toward the field when it ran out of fuel and hit a house about 1/2 mile away. No more "quick" charges like that....

I don't know if its of interest to you guys..But I had wrote a post here on RCU about a guy that had lost a brand new 60 sized motor off his plane. It came right off the firewall..and flew into some timber. I guess this was right around the time 60 sized glow motors came out..because it was one of the first in our area.. To make a long story short a guy found it while mushroom hunting...20 years later. I had some pics on that old thread if I remember right...

here it is ! http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_76...tm.htm#7617312

Yep.  Had one fly away on me.   It was a Falcon 56 that I had flown for the first time just a few weeks before.  Must have been the summer of 1986 sicen it was well before I could drive.   I was relatively new to RC but had been signed off by the local club.  Went  to the local high school (Homestead - SW of FT Wayne, IN) and flew off the soccar fields.  Started it, ran through the final checks, took off and flew for about 2 min before it was heading off on it's own.   My father and I hopped into the car and took off after it.   We found it in a freshly plowed farm field several miles down the road.  It was upside down but not a scratch!  

Battery testers were very expensive and very rare back then.   I think we just bought a new pack the next week.  This plane is in my basement waiting for the snow to melt so that i can fly it again.   It's my go-to plane for spring to get the cob webs worked ouf of my fingers (i'm always lucky with this plane).   After this incident I used to turn on the planes and time how long they ran off the battery before quitting.  Now I just use my battery cycler but it was a valuable lesson that has saved several airplanes for me over the years.  

 

Hey,
On my second day as a student on the buddy box another student shot me down. My instructer shouted out and it got turned of pretty fast but we could not find my trainer before dark. WE COULD HEAR IT THOUGH! It was still running on the ground. It ran out of gas and we had to give up do to darkness. The next day at daylight I was out and found it sitting upright on the ground in deep woods with just a slightly cracked tail feather. BIG oaks all around that it had to of flown through at least one of them. It flew that evening and lasted for around eight years.
It was a Goldberg Eagle 63. I still have the old AM radio and OS 40 ABC FSR That was in it.

I got a gws pico stick stuck in the top of a tree a couple blocks from my house,,I had just been retraining myself in the local schoolyard, too high to get to so I waited for a spring storm (they always blow up pretty quick here) well meanwhile the only place I can see it from is across the street from the school at the mental health center parking lot..so there I am with binoculars in the mental health center watching the elementary school and as I look up theres a cop at the light looking my way...he didnt notice, but man how was I gonna talk my way out of that??...the next day about 3pm storm blew up so I ran over and sure enough it came down and I snatched it up and went home..I dont think anything was still any good, maybe the battery, but that was about 10 years ago...you dont realize how worthless a tx is when everything else is up in a tree.....Rog

Last year I had my Parkzone Radian (electric sailplane) up and got into a thermal that I didn't realize was as strong as it was. Also I have to admit I was trying to see how high I could get it. Well I got it high alright. So high I couldn't see it anymore. "bye bye Birdie". After 30 minutes of trying to see or find it, I packed up and went home. Luckily I had my phone number on it and someone found it and called me, it crashed into their house. He was about 1/2 mile away from the park I was flying at. Plane was pretty cracked up and he wouldn't take any $. I did glue it back together and fly it again many times.

Always put your name and phone # on your planes.

I started flying RC 47 years ago with home built equipement that had a range of less than 200 yards. You ALWAYS flew upwind so if you lost RC contact it would drift back to you. Flyawys were not uncommon and you would only fuel for 2 or 3 minutes flying to restrict the distance.

The fields downwind of our flying field were well trampled and yet still yielded a few come harvest time. Just as well the farmer was a modeller too!

I used to fly at Great Leighs in Essex.
One of the members, Malcolm Rose, had a diesel powered "classic" . This thing just kept flying and flying on a thimble full. He got it up so high, he laid down on his back to look at it....then fell asleep.
The plane was found at Black Notley railway station, about 6 or 8 miles away, where it had landed perfectly on the platform. He had put his telephone number in the model and some kind soul rang him!

At the same site, I was flying a Precedent Hi-Boy Turbo, an "advanced trainer", in a strong wind. It had Micron 7 kit built radio gear. I took off and as the model was turning cross-wind, the radio stopped responding. So it was at full chat, with a little left aileron applied. The model turned downwind and disappeared over our heads doing about 120 mph. After it cleared the boundary hedge, there was this little fountain of wood and covering that shot up above the hedge line. We had to dig the engine out with a spade. It turned out to be a cracked wire in the 1st IF coil. I flew the replacement model for about 20 years before I sold it at a club auction. (bored!)

Out of 7 years of flying I haven't lost a plane like that, I've been lucky so far I guess. I haven't seen it happen with someone else yet either which is a good thing.


Pete

[quote]ORIGINAL: psuguru

I used to fly at Great Leighs in Essex.
One of the members, Malcolm Rose, had a diesel powered ''classic'' . This thing just kept flying and flying on a thimble full. He got it up so high, he laid down on his back to look at it....then fell asleep.
The plane was found at Black Notley railway station, about 6 or 8 miles away, where it had landed perfectly on the platform. He had put his telephone number in the model and some kind soul rang him!










that is funny

Knock on wood, I haven't personally had a flyaway yet.

However, about two years back, my father and I were at the club field, I flying some electrics and he flying the LT40 Kadet my brother and I had gotten him for Christmas. After the second or third flight with the Kadet, he refueled and took off again, and I launched my mini Telemaster. Shortly after he climbed to altitude, we heard his transmitter start beeping. I glance over and its the low voltage alarm. I tell him he'd better land, and I ran out of juice about that time so I brought the telemaster down. I notice he's looking increasingly concerned and the Kadet is still way up there. Then he tells me he's got no control. I frantically look to see what channel his transmitter is on and dial my spectra module to that channel, find a memory slot that had neutral trims and no programming and turn on the Tx. I was hoping we could at least bring the plane down close by, and away from the roads. No dice, it just kept circling nice wide level circles and drifting away on the wind toward the northwest.

Of course it had a full tank......last we saw it was a speck about 500' up over the state park nearby and heading for I-80. I was cringing the rest of the day waiting for the phone call from the state police about his plane crashing into the highway[X(], but it must have gone down in the forest. Never did figure out why the transmitter battery dumped so quickly, but it was replaced immediately!