1st time out this season and I blew it. Got a little far out over the trees while setting up for a landing, as I should have made my last turn towards me the plane went the other way. It got down behind the trees before I could react..
Never saw it again.. It went down in what I'd call a flood plain for the charles river..Worst place it could go, Mostly open land but covered with vines and thick growth from 2 to 5' high. water is from ankle to waist deep. I walked out into it in a big U. every step is a battle fighting to step over vines, usually knee deep occasionally thigh deep in water. I made two trips out and back. soaked up to my waist. gave up, went home.
By the time I got home I knew I had to go back. Changed my clothes, grabbed a ladder and headed back.
I dragged the ladder through the swamp setting it up against the few trees in this " swamp ". I climbed the ladder and used binoculars looking for a bit of red... Nothing... how about that tree over there? I climbed 5 - 6 trees and finally gave up. I'm pretty sure its in this open area, only thing I could think of now is an arial photo. If I could see it I could battle my way to it...
Am I correct that the engine should be good for some time if its only in water and wasnt damaged on impact.

Any links to inexpensive light RC cameras?

I'm looking for someone with a camera already setup...

I feel like theres no closure. there are no remains....

Bummer..

Steve

If it is fresh water, your engine should be fine for a few days. Once you get it back, drain it real well and fill it with oil. Good Luck on finding it, Dave

Sorry to read that, Steve.

You can find some ideas for picture or video taking at this forums:

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/forumid_352/tt.htm

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/forumid_81/tt.htm

Any old digital camera can do it for you, if you have a computer to download the pictures or video into and another model able to carry half to one extra pound.

The installation can be done with thick foam and many rubber bands, always directly under the CG location.

Point the camera in an angle, not directly down or forward.

Shooting from high can give you better orientation and reference points.

If your camera has auto shooting, you don't need a servo for pressing the shooter.

If the engine is underwater, it will be OK; electronics may be damaged.

Best luck recovering the Tiger!

Really sorry for your bad luck.

With my last club, we hd a virtual forrest just in front of our runway and I lost a trainer there, lookee for about 10 days and then all of a sudden there it was fuse and wing both leaning up aginst a tree, fortunately for me the damage was not severe and I was able to rebuild, {That Time].

I am posting some pictures of my SSE later, it's crash was a result of getting too far out. I have always learned the hard way.

Gary

I think its a gonner! in this shot X marks the pilots station and the runway. I was in a clockwise pattern and screwed up the last turn. This picture shows more water than there is now.
I think I'm in the area by the ?

It's very sad, I know the pain once you lose your plane. Very sorry, I hope you find your plane. Hang in there & Good Luck


Mody

generally speaking you will be farther out than you thought it was...did you get a good line that you can go back to the flight line and find? a compass heading would help..hope you can find it.

I did a poor job of lining it up when it went down.
I may go back to the flightline tomorow and line it up from the original viewpoint.
A lesson learned the hard way. I should have spent more time lineing things up when it went down..
I think your right about it being farther out...Unfortunatly that just puts it farther out in no mans land.
I did walk around from the right side to see if I could see anything.

I may take the canoe out in the am on the longshot It made it as far as the river.. not likely but at thet point I think I can say I did all I can. then I can write it off..

Steve

R/C is about Patience, Persistence and Perseverance, people say which is true also about Pay Check so there are 4P's. I hope your endurance would get you your plane.

All the best again[sm=thumbs_up.gif][sm=thumbup.gif]

Steve, I have a small, on-board video camera that you could strap to the bottom of another plane and fly over the area with. If you PM your address to me, I'll ship it out to you tomorrow.

If I lose a plane in the trees, and it has no emergency signal on it, I try to get to the area as fast as I can and wiggle the control surfaces. I will move around in the area I think it went down and listen very closely. I have found every plane I have lost this way. Getting them down is the hard part.-BW

H'mmmm I didnt think of that. Moving the sticks..
I thought many times about adding a beeper..


Steve

Sorry for your loss. Where I fly 200' west of the entire length of runway it is almost a jungle, under growth, trees 40' high, plus a small river. In the 38 years of flying there is must have eaten about 300+ planes. About the only thing you can do is realign yourself from the flight line and where you estimated where it when in. Turn around 180 degrees and have a reference point backwards. Then start walking to where you think it went in, occasionally looking back at your reference point. I had a few airplanes go down in the jungle but was lucky enough to find them. Now days I do nothing short field landing approaches, which keeps the plane close on landing approaches. Best of luck.

I have often wondered if attaching some sort of streamer wouldn't be a good idea for those flying in very rough and swampy areas. That way you might have a long bright object that would hang, or float near the wreck. Wading through swamps doesn't sound fun.

Funny, sorta, everyone I've talked to at the field has had a story about the plane they lost out in that area. It was setting up for a long approch that got me in trouble...

If there is a next time, I'll be sure to get my bearings before I head out. Gee, I can now think of a dozen things I should have done differently

steve

What you need to do is go on this yahoo group... http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ppgbiglist/ I have found several planes for guys at the local rc clubs.. We can fly 20mph inches off the ground or as high as we want.... If you join that site, its free, then ask for help locating your plane. Tell them where youfly from Iwill garentee someone will help for free. Us, Powered Paraglider pilots love to fly and love to help people out.... Its worth ashot.....Carl

While I am sure that your battery is dead by now, taking your transmitter on the hike into the swamp can help you. I lost one in the forest to the south of our field. I hiked into the forest and spent 2 hours looking down. I hiked back out and got my transmitter and went back in. I got into the general area that I figured it had gone down in and by operating the sticks I could hear the plane. Did I feel stupid for having spent so many hours looking down as the plane was parked perfectly in the top of a tree. Once we got her down, she had a few holes in the covering and one broken wing rib. Had her repaired and ready for flight in about an hour. I hope that you can find her. Hopefully Mikes camera can help locate it. Good Luck, Dave