Bandit explodes in pear tree

[tic]

O.K. this is getting bad...I have now hit this one Pear tree that is right at the threshold of the landing area TWICE with the same bandit!.The tree is about 8 feet high and right in the centerline of the approach when wind is from the south.. I want to cut the damn tree down but I don't think my G/F would be very happy if I did that.. The first collision resulted in a stripped aileron servo and some other minor damage.. Today's collison? not so lucky.. It was gusty windy so I was carrying extra speed for landing. Cell phone started ringing on final... I was tired, still getting over being sick, in a hurry to fly after working.. yeah, yeah, excuses ... Well, I hit the tree solid and it stuck.... I was stupified.. Leaves flew everywhere.. I had to laugh it was just so classic, as if I'd aimed for it... A solid branch met the leading edge of the left wing panel and gouged out a crater the size of a 50cent piece.. Stripped a servo, cracked wing saddle, busted out both wing pins.. I would NOT have laughed if it had been one of my scorpios... It's fixable,,, but what a pain....Just thought I'd brighten everyones day

[Rayven]

Didja ever consider that maybe the tree hit your Bandit and not the other way around?? There is a tree at our local hand glider/parkflyer field that we swear attacks and eats our airplanes. You can nearly always go by and see little bits and pieces of balsa and foam impaled on the branches.

So which do you enjoy flying more, by the way--the Bandit or the Scorpio? I'm asking because I'm considering buying the Scorpio (the one from Shredair--same one, right?).

[RocketRob]

Hey Tic....I 'll even bet it was the g-g-g-g-g-girlfriend ringing you up on the cell phone? Never fails. "Honey what are you doing?" ;)

[blfinche]

You gotta show pics of something like that. It's not fair making us use our imaginations. :) Good to hear the damage is repairable.

Bobby

[tic]

Sorry, no digital cam yet... No, it wasn't the G/F calling.. it was work. I hardly fly the bandit anymore.. Only reason yesterday was because it's quicker to get in the air than the scorpio.. The scorpio is a far better electric sailplane than the bandit, it is more fun to fly .... hands down. I only fly the bandit now when I'm pressed for time or it's 35mph gusty winds. ( I don't cry when the bandit goes in )

[PeterB]

It's amazing how a few drill holes (1/4 to 1/2") around near the base of the tree filled with neat glyphosate results in a tree that looks like it's been attacked by borers or hit by lightening.
Don't get me wrong, I love trees and manage vegetation for a living but a pear tree on the landing approach is a weed.
PeterB

[GregG]

I've heard that a few copper nails strategically placed low in the trunk does the same thing. Makes it look like the tree died slowly on its own.

[RocketRob]

Save the tree! oust the Bush! :D

[VBSuperMaxx]

Kill a tree for a toy????? What are we coming too??? The people of Easter Island killed all their trees and well you know what happened. Shame. Just kidding.

Although, 2 men were arrested and fined 10,000 dollars for cutting a tree down at our field that was in the East landing approach. They were caught and prosecuted. Oh, this is a Forest Preserve field BTW.

Funny thing, there are still some guys at our field who want to further "trim" back the tree line at the East. Proof that history teaches us nothing.

[talonxracer]

Water the tree with MEK,,,,Did it to a obnoxious neighbors tree years ago when I was still in the navy. Took care of the tree!

[Neil Walker]

Change your name to Charlie Brown and just accept your fate.

[tic]

Lol

[356Jim]

I used to fly at a local park early in the morning on my way to work. The park was newly developed and there was only one tree - about 5 feet high - very young, not even considered a sapling yet. But even at that tender age, the tree had a strong desire to devour balsa, foam, lite ply and heat shrink covering. Now picture a tiny little tree and all that land. I swear that a tree has some form of wood magnetism that sucks airplanes into its field and attacks them.

At another park, where I flew virtually daily at lunch time, there were several mature trees that were outside the flying area (one of these was my friend, since it spawned thermals from its upper branches when I flew HLG's). Didn't matter a bit to them. They just extended their wood-magnetism and increased their reach. It was here that I was forced to expand my arsenal of tree-extrication hardware. Send me a SASE and I'll send you the essential contents list of the finest and most advanced "get a model down from a tree without the use of high explosives" kit.

[Miami Mike]

It looks like we need a new forum called, "Tree Killing".

[Viper Pilot]

tic,

Buy a couple of turtledoves . . . . and wait for Christmas

". . . and a Bandit in a pear tree"

[P-38J-Lightning]

i know a guy who was P.O. at a cherry tree and put batery asid near the roots. killed it VERY quickly and loksed like it diesd naturally

[Miami Mike]

And that was a perfectly proper thing to do. Jesus Himself once killed a fig tree that he didn't like. (Matthew 21:18-19)

[Tommy2gunn]

Has Any One Ever Heard Of The Word Chain Saw............................................... ..........................
Timber Heheheheheh

[Karl B²]

I'll send you the essential contents list of the finest and most advanced "get a model down from a tree without the use of high explosives" kit.
The real question is if you can get it down without tuching (http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=293638). :)

[mdlifcrisis]

A bad, bad tree got me yesterday too with an Electrostreak. Hit LVC, (which I knew was coming) while I was putzing around low. Tried a quick throttle reset during a yank and bank to get back over the field. No dice..CRACK! :o

[kwmtrubrit]

Hey Tic....I 'll even bet it was the g-g-g-g-g-girlfriend ringing you up on the cell phone? Never fails. "Honey what are you doing?" ;)
Watch out, women have very long memories. If she reads this it will come back and bite you one day. Been there done that. I lost a fishing knife one day because my wife suggested that I clean the fish back at the dock instead of on the boat (here I go again). While cleaning the fish, the knife fell from the dock into about 12ft of water. She looked at me and said " I guess you're going to blame me for that." I said " you DID say to clean the fish here." That was 15-20yrs ago and I'll be damned if she didn't mention it to friends just a few weeks ago. BE WARNED. P.S. I went back with a bloody big magnet and got the knife back, only to lose it several years later doing the same bloody thing.

[spinbotz]

In this case, it was my fault instead of the tree I impaled my kite plane on.. *wished I had a picture of it* I came zipping in at a fair clip, and misgauging how close the wing was to the top of the tree, I continued merrily on, until my kiteplane's guy lines holding the wing to the fuse struck the top of the tree and did the dosi doe, making a full 360 rotation around the tree and hung by the wing and guylines. I had to replace the entire plastic sheeting the wing covering is made of because it shredded a very large hole.

[LuckyArmpit]

Last year at one the of the clubs I belong to, I had my Spacewalker II out.
Just got done repairing the landing gear after a rather tuff landing. Pre-flighted the thing and fired up the thunder tiger pro .46 engine. Taxi'd out and took off. After about 9 minutes or so, my tx was beeping letting me know that fuel is running low. Lined it up for final. Coming in pretty slowly.
There is a small tree at the corner of the field. Plane is slowly descending.
I'm thinkin, " :censored: , looks like the plane is gonna hit that tree. It did.
Ripped the damn wing off. At least I wasn't going full blast. Over the years, that tree has claimed many a plane.

Dave...