My Last Landing

[VanSheppard]

Well, I was wrapping up my last flight of the day this afternoon at ORCC, and finished my turn from base leg to final.... a little low as it turns out.

I leveled out and my plane disappeared behind the big tree beyond the east end of the runway.... :eek: Oops, I applied up elevator and throttle to pop over the big tree and waited for my plane to reappear..... and waited ..... and waited.... well I'm sure by now you get the picture, but just to be absolutely clear.....see the attached pictures.

There is a reward of 24 beer, your choice of brand, for the resourceful individual that can reclaim my plane from the top of the tree and return the remains to me!

Cheers!

[cgroves]

I leveled out and my plane disappeared behind the big tree beyond the east end of the runway.... :eek: Oops,
Aaaahh yes, the great eastern plane eater. Has claimed many an airplane when the circuit is low. If it is any consolation you are not alone.

[Rick Ramalho]

Where is this? The ORCC, Stetson, Arnprior ...... :confused:

-Rick

[VanSheppard]

Rick,

I edited my original post and it now says that it was at ORCC.

[Dave Rees]

Van,

Man that sux!!

But, as Corey said there are quite a few of us who've had experiences with that tree. Myself included, twice actually. I might be able to get my hands on a ladder and stuff, lemme know if you want to meet out there sometime and we can try to get it down.

Cheers,
Dave

[Rick Ramalho]

Might I suggest a chain saw?:)

[cgroves]

I have been known to use a paintball marker to get a glider down that couldn't be reached by a ladder. Pretty much toasts the plane but at least you can recover the electronics.

[Ken Park]

ORCC field

[VanSheppard]

Ken,

When I was being taught to fly the pattern for landing, I was given reference points to use for turning base and final. Both were trees. One was the tree I landed in. I know I was low in the landing pattern, but I didn't make it overly large.

In the aerial photo of the field posted in this thread, the gully and tree in question are about the length of the runway away from the east end of the runway. This doesn't seem like an inappropriate distance to turn from base to final...... however tree top level, or in this case slightly below, is most definitely not a good altitude to be at when turning onto final.... :o :o

Van

[VanSheppard]

Dave,

I have a friend at work who is a rock climber. He and I are going out after work on Tuesday for him to give it a try. I'll let you know how it goes....

If this doesn't get me back my plane then the tree may not survive the approaching hurricane...... ;) ;)

Van.

[Dave Rees]

Excellent, I might be heading out to the field tomorrow as well. What time were you thinking, perhaps I can lend a hand.

Dave

[John Weekes]

It's a bummer that the plane is up so high in the tree...probably about 80 feet up.

The tree doesn't look like it's good for climbing...but you rock climbing friend might have better luck.

I have a hunch that you'll have to wait for a strong wind to blow it down.:o

Good Luck!!!

John

[Ken Park]

They teach you to turn on final over a tree that is south of the runway?
Iam sorry if I was harsh with my previous post - I've deleted if I offended.

But! the Circuit no matter what field you fly at should be a stright line from turning on final onto the runway. The plane should never go over your left shoulder was what I was taught 2000000 million BC ago. Has this changed?

[Ken Park]

IF the tree is in direct line with the turning on final and the direct line on final than this tree needs to talk to Mr Chain saw!

[reefhawg]

Well, I see a few Nexstars have gone MIA lately, so if anyone is interested, my Nexstar is for sale. No engine, no servos. Tank is in. Good shape.
$80
geoff fry

[VanSheppard]

Dave,

We plan to leave work in Bells Corners around 3:00 pm and will probably arrive at the tree between 3:15 and 3:30. Onlookers, spectators and helpers are more than welcome.

Cheers,

Van.

[VanSheppard]

Ken,

I'll let everyone decide for themselves if the tree is aligned with the runway, but I added some lines and a circle around the offending tree and it looks pretty well aligned to me.

Van.

PS. I have no problems with the chainsaw idea, but I don't know anyone with a large enough chainsaw.....yet! ;)

[Rick Ramalho]

Not being a regular flyer at the ORCC, from my point of view, that tree looks likes it's several hundred meters (or more) from the end of the runway. Why on earth are you turning to final so far out?

Landings would be MUCH better if your final approach is a lot closer. You'll be better able to see the plane, control it, and it won't take forever to land the thing.

If you need to turn to final so far out, you are probably too high and shouldn't be attempting a landing in the first place.

There ... that's my $0.02 worth. :rolleyes:

-Rick

... but in any event, I still like the chainsaw idea !! LOL

[Jinker]

If you need to turn to final so far out, you are probably too high and shouldn't be attempting a landing in the first place.



I've been avoiding this problem by altering my approach slightly. Though the powerlines at the Stetson's are perilously close and much taller than they appear, catching visiting pilots with their giant scale planes while on approach from time to time, I've been able to avoid them with the following two approach styles.

Step 1) Align yourself vertically over the runway on the downwind.

2) Throttle back around the midpoint of the runway.

3a) Pull up just past the threshold into a vertical climb, let airspeed bleed off and give a stab of rudder and jazz the throttle before the airplane begins to slide backwards. (hammerhead approach)

or

3b) Do a 1/2 slow roll, and pull to a vertical downline (split-s approach)

4) Pull up sharply at just the right moment. It is important to make this a HARD pull up as you want to use the high G to induce a lot of drag slowing you down to just a touch above your stall speed. Timing is important as well, too early and you'll be way too high, too late and it can be 'difficult' to complete the 'pull up'.

5) Float to a beautiful 3 point flare.


Downsides of these two approach styles:

1) You piss off people who are fond of flying 'the circuit' (old timer fogeys with slow airplanes that took waaaay too much time to build mostly)

2) You need to ensure that you have garbage bags with you as you will be bringing home balsa splinters and covering scraps somewhat more frequently than if you fly a boring '747 style' approach.

Advantages:

1) You look like a hotshot who's full of himself.

2) You never have to worry about picking your airplane out of a tree on final.

-Greg

[ablais007]

Any news Van?

[Ken Park]

:eek: Plane is still hanging in the tree as of 10:30 AM today even with a stiff breeze its hanging by its nose wheel that is wedge in place. I doubt it will fall even in the heavy winds of this afternoon.

[VanSheppard]

Well, last night things finally came together and my plane, or at least the part I wanted, is back in my garage. All it took was a properly equipped expedition. This time I brought along a 30 foot long stick and my friend was able to poke the plane loose from a perch only about 40 feet up.... I'll post some pictures in the next couple of days showing the condition of the plane.

Unfortunately I didn't get many actual pictures of the rescue because it was getting dark by the time Adam (my climbing friend) was actually ready to poke the plane out of the tree, and my camera wanted to open the shutter for a quarter of second, while zoomed in pretty far. For those that aren't familiar with cameras, that amounts to "impossible"....

I am pretty impressed with the damage that a paintball "marker" can do!! I expected the wings and covering to be shot full of holes, but there were holes right through some areas that were wrapped in balsa....

Engine looks a little dirty and is coated in paint, but it still turns very nicely and has good compression.... I'd be happy to hear some advice about how good a cleaning I should give it before putting it to use again......

The batteries were dead, so I couldn't test to see if all the electronics still worked, but the servos moved well and looked to be in very good shape, other than the thin layer of paint....

I am pretty sure I will be able to recover all the hardware from the plane, and I might attempt to repair the fuselage and order a new wing for the plane over the winter.

On an even brighter note, my new plane, a super sportster MkII showed up yesterday as well, so I now have almost all the gear I'll need to construct my next plane... :D :D

[Dave Rees]

Van,

Glad to hear you've finally got your plane back!!:) As far as cleaning the engine is concerned I'd probably start with a relatively mild solvent and see if that works. I figure WD-40 would probably clean off the paint and it wouldn't be harmfull to the engine. Don't know what kind of paint it is but I woud guess that it is water-based of some sort. Corey?? You might want to plug the carb opening and the exhaust with some paper towel while going over it initially. That way no large particles of paint will get into the engine. After you've gotten the big bits of paint off, pull the carb, glow plug, and the muffler off and give it a thourough spraying while turning the engine over slowly. If you've got some particularly nasty bits that won't come off then you can try Castrol Super Clean. Purple spray bottle. I've used this stuff with a softer steel brush or even an old toothbrush to remove baked on fuel residue with good success. This stuff IS corosive though so wear gloves and take extra precaution not to get any inside the engine. Re-mount carb and muffler, add fuel and GO!!:p

Hope this helps,
Dave

[John Weekes]

Congratulations, Van!!! ...I'm glad to hear that you will soon be back in business.

I'll second Dave's recommendation re- Castrol Super Clean...this stuff works wonders (available in the automotive cleaning materials section of CTC).

I'd also recommend that you also use a mask that filters fumes as well as gloves...it is corrosive.

It probably won't take much to bring you engine back to it's original paint-free condition.

...A job well done!!!:D :D

[cgroves]

The "paint" is sorbitol and some dyes, very water soluble and should
come off of everything with just quick rinse and maybe a light scrub.
No need for the nasty chemicals. However, between the paint and two
weeks of rain/weather I would check for rust inside the engine and a
full disassembly and oiling is probably in order.