lost plane locater?
 

Is there available a tracking device to help locate a downed plane in a hard to find area?
Such as a farmers corn field.
Thanks in advance.
Laurence

RE: lost plane locater?
 

you could put a little passive gps chip in it like they have for pets and subscribe to the service locating it via laptop!! (or just rub a steak on it before takeoff.. and bring your dog along... [sm=spinnyeyes.gif] )

Seriously you could probably rig up a beeping noise (little speaker/buzzer) that could run off your battery w/activation by elevator servo in full down (completing the circuit) or something like that... so you basically wouldn't hear it or have it draw power until needed... They're tiny and put out lots of shrill noise.. check radio shack... Sounds little extreme but definately doable.
Mike

RE: lost plane locater?
 

One technique my friends and I have used with great success is to have another plane circle over the area where the plane went down. Everyone else runs into the woods or corn feild and positions themselves under the orbiting model. Then when the airborne plane flys away, work the radio and listen for the servos. Works great. Its generally within a few yards.

RE: lost plane locater?
 

You could buy one:

[link=http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXSZ87&P=ML]Air Alert[/link]

or make one....

[link=http://www.uoguelph.ca/~antoon/gadgets/locator.htm]Crashed Aircraft Beacon[/link]

Of course you have to put these in BEFORE you lose the airplane ;) There are other brands and designs out there as well - try a google search for "plane locator"

RE: lost plane locater?
 

United Hobbies carries the GWS Be Found for a very reasonable $9.99:

https://www.unitedhobbies.com/UNITED...idProduct=4282

This device hooks in line with the receiver and will begin emitting a loud, regular beep if the plane loses contact with the transmitter.

RE: lost plane locater?
 

Air Alert

RE: lost plane locater?
 

The [link=http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXSZ87&P=ML]Air Alert[/link] is what I've used. Funny thing is... the one time I really needed it, my plane managed to shut itself off when it crashed, so the air alert wasn't working!

A better solution would probably be a beeper that is always on (or comes on after a fixed time period), and is physically attached to it's own battery or pack. In a crash, this setup will be unlikely to get powered down or shut off.

RE: lost plane locater?
 

Take a look at this one, I've used them for a long time and they have helped a couple times. WWW.c-tronicsinc.com.

ENJOY !!! RED

RE: lost plane locater?
 

I've heard this story 50 times at my field all ready...

This guy was flying his T-Rex, small electric heli mind you, and it went down way off in the distance in the woods and at that second he stuck his arm out pointing straight where it went down and had another guy get his GPS out of his truck, pointed it where his hand was pointed had it set a line straight to where he saw it go down, he followed it and came back out 20 min. later, which is amazing because that was all probably the time walking to the area I was told.

Because he set a line on his GPS, once he got to the area he could wonder around and if he found nothing he could easily go right back to the line of sight where he saw it went down. Genius!

RE: lost plane locater?
 

Here's an idea...how about getting the plane to the runway?

That's just 'Crazy Talk'....what was I thinking?

Learning to fly is more rewarding than learning to recover crashed, junk airplanes...I'm just sayin'.

Why is it that there are so many who just REFUSE to learn to fly?

RE: lost plane locater?
 

Had a friend loose a plane in the thick scrub next to our field 12 months ago,took 8 of us 3 hours to find the carcass.[:o]
Started worry about loosing one of mine out there,did some searching and located these here in Australia
http://www.lakemunmorahhobbies.com.a...oducts_id=1989
And about a month ago I was really thankful for fitting it .[8D]
Was at the field early one morning prior to work on my own with my Spitfire,as you know covered in camouflage,when the wing failed during a loop and it spun in out in the middle of the scrub.[:-]
Simply headed out in the general area and the high pitched alarm lead me straight to it in a couple of minutes,I'm now fitting them to all my planes.
As you can see also helpful to remind you to turn off the plane if you forget
Cheers:)

RE: lost plane locater?
 

:eek: Even the best pilots have planes go down occasionally... and if you're field is situated such that you fly over corn fields or dense trees or brush, an audible locator is very helpful.

RE: lost plane locater?
 

while i do agree with learning to fly apposed to recovering the plane, there are sometimes crashes that are not caused from pilot error - shot down, stuck servo, etc.

as a simple and cheap idea guys; why not get one of those key finders u chain to your keyring (whistle and it will emit a beeping noise) and stick one of these in your plane (maybe have a small cut out to allow to speaker to be a bit louder) or strip the case down to the bare board if your concerned about weight...just a thought?!