I've been seeing some cool places to fly my FPV FunJet lately, but many don't have a suitable landing area, like a grass strip which is ideal for a FunJet. This led me to start thinking of alternative methods for recovering an FPV plane outside of a normal belly down landing. I've seen some techniques used by the military like flying into a large net or using an arresting hook to catch a horizontal bungee cord up in the air 10 to 15 ft. Neither are ideal for me. But it would be cool so pull up somewhere, throw the FunJet up for some quick flights and then recover the FJ from flight without a landing strip, throw everything back into the car. Obviously a heli or quad would be good (I used to fly helis for years) for this application but want to stay with the FunJet platform. Anyone thought of this or have similar ideas? I guess I need an FPV Osprey

Hey Tom, you could try to build a Skyhook type of system like our buddies in the Gorge use...

Scan Eagle Landing (0 min 38 sec)

Basically just a hook on the wingtip, this design does rely on the sweep of the wing to make the rope slide to the wingtip for capture, so I don't know about your FJ, but it might work great on a Zephyr or similar...

I have the same problem here, my family have a farm in the mountains, very nice place, but each landing is a broken and unbalanced plane

What's wrong with a net? Something like a badminton net would be light and easy to transport, but large enough to fly the plane into. Keep the poles loose so the net catches the plane instead of the plane bouncing off.

I have a friend who flew at night and used christmas light nets to land.

Originally Posted by ashdec87

What's wrong with a net? Something like a badminton net would be light and easy to transport, but large enough to fly the plane into. Keep the poles loose so the net catches the plane instead of the plane bouncing off.

I have a friend who flew at night and used christmas light nets to land.

Yea, the net idea is simple to try out. I guess there wouldn't be much chance of damage to the plane or external camera.

This is probably the least risky to try out. I've never tried finding a badminton net in the winter in the NW. That might be a challenge.

Originally Posted by aaronredbaron

Hey Tom, you could try to build a Skyhook type of system like our buddies in the Gorge use...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w88uC...ed&safe=active

Basically just a hook on the wingtip, this design does rely on the sweep of the wing to make the rope slide to the wingtip for capture, so I don't know about your FJ, but it might work great on a Zephyr or similar...

Hi Arron, if I go with an arrester hook concept I might try a small light hook that drops from the bottom of the plane? Would need all my fly skills to catch the arrester cord. Actually I don't know why those guys in Iraq don't have a nice long runway with all that desert. Probably issue for security.

Originally Posted by ashdec87

What's wrong with a net? Something like a badminton net would be light and easy to transport, but large enough to fly the plane into. Keep the poles loose so the net catches the plane instead of the plane bouncing off.

I have a friend who flew at night and used christmas light nets to land.

You mean he used the light nets to trace out the landing space at night or he actually flew into it like a bird into a net?

parachute.

Originally Posted by ttucker

You mean he used the light nets to trace out the landing space at night or he actually flew into it like a bird into a net?

He flew it directly into the light net and used that to stop the plane. More expensive solution. You could also rig up a tarp if you cant find a badminton net.

Originally Posted by benderfly

parachute.

I agree, parachute is also an option,

Flite Test - Parachute Plane - PROJECT (6 min 27 sec)

Originally Posted by omer921

I agree, parachute is also an option, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOkfBGgrXoY

Yea, that works really well and simple release mechanism. I'd want to put inside my FJ and deploy through a hatch of some sort, I'll need to look at that. The only draw back would be controlling where everything is going to come down, hopefully not water or a tree top. If I had a wide open space for the drop then I could just as easily land normally, but still great idea.

You give it thrust vectoring, and then you do a line-of-sight harrier landing.

What you could do is check for wind direction, and if you dont make the parachute that big the rate of descent can give a an accurate estimation on the touchdown point and not deviate from from the point you deployed the chute. If the FJ is sturdy enough you won't damage it if it hits the ground with a bit of momentum.