litebipe

This thread is inspired by kevod's AWOL Funtana that was recovered recently after disappearing for two months.

What's the best thing you've found in the vicinity of your field? I wish I could start with a good find, but I've come across nothing but broken props and spinners. I just know there has to be serious booty nearby, buried in our local swamp or hiding in a thick tree. Heck, maybe the prairie dogs have something of value (off-pavement landings at our field are to be avoided at all costs).

Have any of you actively pursued such a treasure hunt? How hard would you try to find the rightful owner of a near-perfect Funtana with Saito .91 up front?

love those warbirds

My Feedback: (39)

I fly my electrics in a soccer field and men do they leave some good stuff like chairs,balls,coolers maybe i'll get lucky and find like a cell phone or something

ScienceisCool

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they leave their balls? hehe

Live Wire

You would not believe how hard it is to find something you loose at the field! There is a Quadra motor and some batteries , tires and what all out there some where

[8D]

Razguel

Me and my friends do searches at our field often. I have found a micro servo, fuel tanks, spinners, mufflers and prop nuts. All the stuff i used again in my combat planes.

For a plane and engine I would cover alot of ground for quite a bit of time

chancer

Some time ago whilst walking the dog I found a .21 buggy, I handed in to the police, at the time I had absolutely no interest in RC. Three months later the police contacted me to say that as no-one had claimed it the buggy was now mine. It seemed like a good idea at the time to learn how to use it (I didn’t even know how to start the thing).Well that started me on the downward slope of being an RC fanatic, If my wife had known then what she knows now I think she would have made me throw the thing in the bin. We would be £££ better off and she wouldn’t be an RC widow.

Deadeye

I've lost a tire in mid flight, out in the middle of the unmowed pasture part of our field. 3 months later, a guy deadsticks his plane, and landed it right next to my wheel!

powertoys

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A friend and I went out in to the field to pick up his plane that dead-sticked. We picked up four mufflers. Three of them belonged to a friend of ours that had spent a day looking for just one of them. Needless to say he was happy to have those back as they are about $30 a piece.

As for recovering your own plane, I lost my Dago Red Mustang into the trees due to elevator failure. After I added up the cost of the YS-63, the plane, radio gear and other odds and ends I figured I had about $800 in it. So thought at $10 an hour labor I could search for about 80 hours. It took three days but I finally got it back in easily repairable shape. Thanks to two friends, two machetes, and a hand held GPS. She still flies today.

Mike

Steve-o-RCU

Just had to add...... not really RC related, but treasure hunt related.

I am a commercial roofer, and you guys would not believe the things I find on roofs. of course the usual bra, panties, liquor bottle/condom combination is popular. Shoes of course, ussually only one though.

I have found a lot of wallets, no money, only the ID & credit cards. I will always put these in the mail to the address on the driver's liscense. Once I found a briefcase with $380.- in it. That bought my Mariner .40 !!

Car parts are always popular, I can imagine the pissed off guy who throws the water pump from his truck onto the warehouse roof !

Friday I found 16 superballs.

I have found real aircraft parts, like a battery access cover with the Dzus fastener still locked into the socket........but no RC planes or such......I will keep looking !!

curious stuff..........

love those warbirds

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Hehe oops[8D]

TimC

A friend of mine was quail hunting in a canyon at least 8 miles from a flying field. He found a Kadet Senior that had been there for years. All the radio gear was ruined from rain and the engine had torn off and couldn't be found. I guess it was trimmed out pretty good to go that far.

CGRetired

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One of the strangest things I have found at our flying field is a deer skull, fresh kill (eaten out by something, probably a cyote).

I didn't see the thing until I landed and drove over the stupid thing. From the distance, it looked like a clump of grass on the opposite side of the center of the runway but when I landed my Tiger 60, doing a touch-and-go, it bumped over this thing and the prop hit the ground and stalled the engine. When I walked out there, I saw this red skull of what looked like a deer that was all eaten out but very recently (like the previous night). Only the skull.

speed_freak1

i havent found anything strange but i have some how lost a OS.61 fx Max witha fuel tank, the fire wall and 3 servos.........in a feild... we saw the impact ran over to impact spot to try and find decent bits, found plane, 2 servos, and a few leads and a few other bits and bobs. but none of the list above

Underaged Pilot

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peopel say there's 3 planes in the lake next to the run way

hookedonrc

I don't look much around our field, the farmer farms on all three sides so anything on top gets plowed under.

SoonerAce

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I have a older member, in our club, who lost a 2.3cc motor in the lake after it did a splash and no go. the plane was recovered, but he was out the $500 for the engine. He now has a novel system of engine retrieval/retention. He ties 50 feet of 100lb monofiliment to a steel leader that he loops around the cylinder. Then anchors the other end back near the rudder root spar. Now if the engine gets detached from the plane in a splash-down landing, the plane becomes a bobber to locate the engine with. Sounded crazy, but I'm probably gonna install on on my GB ultimate(Saito 120).

electricfan

My Feedback: (1)

i found an $80 servo in the middle of the field.
being a roofer sounds fun

Thunderhead

LMAO, how true is that!? Its always just 1! Where does the other one go?
You know, I bet there is a place all of the lost one shoes go to die and the other is always trying to find them, and it too dies trying to find its mate. Thats the one we always see dead along the side of the road, or in some cases, on the roof

Gary Arthur

My Feedback: (29)

I am 100% for finding lost aircraft at our local field. I recently found a couple of engines, one with the firewall and a servo still attached. A member lost a plane by getting disorientated. I found the plane 5 months later. It was in the opposite direction from where he thought he lost it.

love those warbirds

My Feedback: (39)

One time I lost a good,brand new dress shoe for my 8th grade graduation. Then I found out a kid though it in a near by stream. I beat him up good for that. (the shoes where $90, Come on give me some slack here)

DiscoWings

My Feedback: (76)

I found a wallet (nice aligator skin) with around 400 dollars in it
It also had like 5 credit cards, some memebrs hip card to a gym and stuff
I took the money and the wallent and threw away the CC's and other junk
This was also in the tall grass area of our field.

Amazingly thier was no drivers liecnse in it so I couldn't call the owner even if I wanted to (not that I would have called even if thier was one in it)

khodges

My Feedback: (1)

I mid-aired my trainer last summer, searched the field several times and never found the receiver or servos. New Years Day, was at the field, one of the guys has a rudder servo freeze up and puts his GP Gypsy Moth into a big Cedar tree. When we climb the tree to retrieve it we found a servo tray(with 3 servos) sitting in the broke wing of the Moth and upon inspecting the plane, realized that not only were they NOT the servos for the Moth, but they WERE my lost servos, from the previous summer; they had been up in the tree all that time. We found my receiver lying on the ground at the foot of the tree. It had also been up in the tree, and had been knocked out by the Moth.

I took everything home, hooked the receiver up in my trainer and range tested it to 300 feet, worked perfectly. It had been in a plastic bag wrapped in foam rubber. One of the three servos works great, one was froze up, and one had a stripped gear. I took the gears out of the frozen one and put them in the one with the stripped gear, it works great. So now I have an almost complete radio system to put in something else (I still have the transmitter) All Futaba BTW.

LuckyArmpit

I found a Sony Mavica 1.3 megapixel camera at our new year's fun fly. I was the last guy to leave so I figured it was a member's camera. Called the club's secretary and had him call everyone who flew that day. No one lost a camera. We even had member's call relatives who were at the field and not one of them lost it either. So, I have another digital camera!

Dave...

Addison

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At our local jet feild witch was closed a year back do to sound problems a freind and i went out back in the woods way past the tree line with our atvs and found a fues of an F-15 fully intact near mint condition to besides some dirt and a few cracks and missing stabs the plane surprisingly looked repairable. Upon inspection of the aircraft i opened a piston power hatch on the jet and discoverd all equipement still inside raido reciever all landing gear and hardware and computer electronics. The turbin is a jetcat titan i believe its big with a purple head on it no damage what so ever this bird afte clearing the trees had an easy float down we could see the path it took through the brush. We assumed some one went flying after the feild had closed and crashed an not to get in trouble left the seen and never found her or didnt bother to. Anway anbody wants the parts and engine ect. contact me at [email protected]. Ill sell it all for 500.00 i want an rc truck preferably a T-MAX or savage ss so i dont realy care what price this stuff sells for. I know its probaly worth more well let me know.

Underaged Pilot

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dang thats a good price the turbine would go for $2000 i bet!