RC Plane - Lost in the Fog - CRASH !!!

Here's a great video and story. My son Greg and I have the RC flight bug. It just finished raining on New Years Day. All the fields are muddy except for Leavitts Field, an astroturf field about 8 blocks from my house.

Before that day, Greg has taken off a few times, practiced his landing approachs, but has never landed. It was very calm after the rainstorm so the first two batteries, which last about 10 minutes each, he flew. Congratulations to Greg, he did a couple of 'touch and go' passes and landed for his first time ever!

Then it was Dad's turn for a flight. I always fly with a video camera in the plane. Greg had flown into the coulds during his flight, but not so far that he lost sight of the plane. It was the first time I had ever seen an RC plane go into clouds. I was excited to think that I would get video, inside the clouds. I took off and played with a building, did a low pass over the field, and then went up for a 'loop de loop'. It was at that point that the trouble began. When it came out of the first or second loop, I lost it. As I called out to my Dad and my sons who were with me, I paniced and shut the motor off. Hindsight tells me that what I should have done was, after shutting off the motor, put the plane into a downward spiral, so it would have come out of the clouds where I was still looking. When I shut the motor off, it just stayed more or less level and flew through the clouds, where I couldn't see it. Now I know for next time, spiral out.

So we all get to the car and start driving around, looking for the wreckage. After a few times around the 'hood, I had the good idea of going up to the roof of one of the many six story buildings, to see if I could spot it. When I get up to the roof I started scanning the area. I couldn't see the tops of the other roofs but I could see the ground around the building well. I looked over one side, then another side. When I got to the back of the building, as I approached the edge, there was my plane. It was about 100 feet from the edge, nicely stuck in the top of a tree. It was between the 4th and 5th story. I went back down to the car to tell my Dad and my kids the good and bad news. We went home to get some baseballs, softballs, and tennis balls, in hopes of knocking it out of the tree. First we had to ask the super to let us in. The courtyard below the plane was locked and bob-wired. I hit the plane a few times, but I could hear the tree laughing at me. It wasn't letting go. I knew it was supposed to be windy overnight and hoped that it would blow down, but my hopes were not high, certainly not as high as the plane.

The next day I returned at 8AM. There it was, just like it was the day before. The tree was holding on and would not let go. After the purchase of 100 ft. of rope I went to the roof again. I started by throwing a piece of exaust pipe, tied to the rope. The first thing to fall to earth was the video camera. Luckily, it fell onto the soft dirt, missing the concrete by inches, where it would have shattered. After the exaust pipe untied, and I threw it over the tree, I switched to a heavy pair of visegrips. They were working better, but that damn tree was really holding on. Finally after two-and-a-half hours of throwing the rope over the plane, (and one broken apartment window) it finally fell to earth.

We got most all the expensive stuff, and I got the video!

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Levitts
• Field
• RC
• Plane
• R/C
• Airplane
• Flight
• Cam
• Camera
• Video
• Fog
• Crash

[Softee64]

these planes don't go anywhere near the height of a passenger plane.... and it's not FPV, it's watch the plane and fly it! - I learned a lesson, if you lose sight of the plane, just put the plane into a downward spiral and it will come out of the clouds.... Now I TRY and get above the clouds! VERY COOL VIDEOS! - I have a few posted already!

[Softee64]

Moral of the story... Live and Learn... next time I'll just put the plane into a spiral/roll downward!

[hman1975]

nice vid, reminds me of GTA 3 in the clipped wing cessna!

what city is it?

Years ago i had a radio failure on a RC ane and it flew away, it came down on a house roof about 2 miles away and took out 5 tiles!We have insurance for that in the UK but you have to be flying at a proper flying site for it to pay out ;-)

have you seen rc dons vids? have a look they're awesome

[Softee64]

New York City... Borough of Queens... Town/City of Flushing

[mazack00]

Aw, what a shame but a cool video! Mind sharing what camera you used? Mine's way too heavy :)

[Softee64]

Mustek DV4000 ... Weights about 4-5 oz. I also have an Oregon Scientific about the same weight which I will be trying soon. ATC-1000

[Julian192001]

How fast were your plane going and how high?

[cireonmythrown]

I agree with Hootydavis who has already left you a comment... First off... for a 43 year old, you should have better reading comprehension... Greg is 12 years old (and probably comprehends better than you), his father flew into the fog. Second rc planes don't have 'instuments'...

[ricksteffey123]

Glad it got lost in the fog...hope you didn't recover the FPV gear! Crap like this is going to get the sport "Regulated" by the FAA due to idiots that pose a threat to "Airspace security violation"...like this!

[paigefive]

THAT WAS COOL VIDEO NICELEY DONE..

[Jerkreal]

lol at 1:44 wing falls but srry about tht

[greenyoshi48]

wat city is this

[Commiton]

Yes

[wiimaster494]

im gonna use my book light...lol

[ALEXKELLETT]

That is funny and im sorry about the plane make another video of the whole city good luck

[warderseeker]

Supercubs are great, they are very durable trainers. I have tons of footage of rookies bouncing them off the pavement, in slow mo, it looks very cool, and they are usually fine. Throw some glow in the dark light sticks on the supercub next time, with scotch tape. I just did a night flight with my balsa nitro trainer.