We used Jen's approach to save a plane where the pilot lost sight just the other day. Holding full elevator kept the plane from hitting the ground long enough for others to spot it and take the transmitter. It ended up more than a km downwind at one point but we still were able to fly it back safely to the frontside.

wow

Yep, up elevator was held from moment of loss of sight for the reason. Idea is to make the planform in full view and also try keep it in the same space for longer.

Problem is we were getting 100mph gusts, things travel fast away from were you are with that speed of moving airmass

Bummer on the loss. I've seen it happen so often (my club is a lot of oldies).

Perhaps a package of tinsel/foil blasted from the fuselage - you'd reckon a glitter cloud would be easily visible?

How to configure/trigger is the question - a tiny dedicated, spring-loaded package with servo - or a self-contained drop-in unit?

Perhaps a small GPS-based unit with dedicated battery installed in fuz, developed to activate & transmit its geographical position when subjected to a very high shock loading?

On reflection, one that continuously transmits its location during every flight such that its static location on crashing/landing is immediately revealed & recorded.
Software could also analyze flight to reveal groundspeeds.
Cost covered by savings on radar gun.
And no cosine error suffered with radars.

Originally Posted by ALEX HEWSON

Yep, up elevator was held from moment of loss of sight for the reason. Idea is to make the planform in full view and also try keep it in the same space for longer.

Problem is we were getting 100mph gusts, things travel fast away from were you are with that speed of moving airmass

Originally Posted by fly2bob

THANKS Alex!!!

I haven't studied the caption photos yet, but I will. Hopefully they are for Android, because that's what I've got.

It's late, and I just got home from work, so I'm not going to try and post it now. In fact, I don't feel an urgency to submit my post anytime soon, because I doubt with it being a few days before Christmas that you are going to be going out and searching for the Transonic again until Christmas is over. That could be an incorrect assumption however. If so.....no problem, just let me know, and I will try and make the time to do so.

I don't want to get your hopes up, but I found a few possible sightings of your plane after 0:41.

What's amazing, and I don't understand, is how you can't readily see it just 2 seconds later after 0:41 when you turned around the other way and made a full circle to your left.

I don't know why, it's not even my plane, but I just got a bug up my butt, and was on a mission to try and spot your plane again somewhere throughout the video.

I spent literally hours, analyzing it and studying it, frame by frame, taking notes and photos. But at the very least, it'll give you some more leads to study, and perhaps give you some more places to search with your drone if you haven't searched those places already. I assume that's what the Microlite you refer to was, a real time FPV micro drone.

Basically though, I think it's on the front side of the hill, not the backside.
Why? Because when it was last well seen at 0:41, it was in a climbing left turn, which was away from the hill.

Analyzing the video, I can totally understand how you didn't see it when you looked back as you were making your way down the backside of the hill, because at that split-second looked back to the front side to keep an eye on it, it was in a part of the right hand turn that it was facing directly away from you, making it almost impossible to see.

Then you started pulling slightly up. And since you knew it was a right hand turn, you probably didn't even think about it, but instinctively gave it a little bit of left as you did so.

Anyway, in the meantime, I have a couple questions for you...................

1) At what time index was the telemetry last seen?

2) Do you have a record of it?

3) From the photo you posted of your search pattern you've done thus far, it's hard to tell where the ridgeline runs, but I would assume that part of it is in the center of the center circle, and that the yellow squiggly lines to the bottom right of the photo is the front side.
Is that correct?

Let me know.
Bob

Originally Posted by ALEX HEWSON

I will be doing exactly the same from now on

Sorry Alex - I forgot about this.

I will post what I have tomm.

I still say I think it's frontside to the left since it's last seen in the video at 0:41 pulling up starting to bank left, probably right before you put it in landing mode. In the video, you probably didn't look left enough when you did your turn around (spinning around the other way).

I didn't want to post any 'what should have been done' comments cuz I didn't want to rub salt in the wound, but since enough time has gone by & others have, next time........besides making sure someone keeps an eye on it, another good idea it's to try & keep it slower & closer to the crest of the ridge, perhaps with flaps down as you are making ur way down the backside.

Like I said, I'll post what I have tomorrow.

Bob

Not sure if it's been mentioned, but using a radio with RSSI, you can use that to radio locate the model from very long distances. I've done it before finding a model that went down a long way across Christchurch City. Homed in on it close enough to be able to hear the servos operating. Then saw it in a tree by a garage.

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Originally Posted by fly2bob

besides making sure someone keeps an eye on it, another good idea it's to try & keep it slower & closer to the crest of the ridge, perhaps with flaps down as you are making ur way down the backside.


Bob

Absolutely Bob. I was complacent and excited with apprehension for the flight and didn't take my time. I should have held it right on top in front with flaps down. No risk analysis was done, even thought about, and there was a lot of new factors at play that day. Poor visibility, strongest winds I've ever flown in, two new-to-DS attendees, and so on

Originally Posted by taurineman

Not sure if it's been mentioned, but using a radio with RSSI, you can use that to radio locate the model from very long distances. I've done it before finding a model that went down a long way across Christchurch City. Homed in on it close enough to be able to hear the servos operating. Then saw it in a tree by a garage.

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That method works nicely when the aircraft lands intact, I have used that method several times via the telemetry downlink when landing under control at a distance to sort out the details of location when walking to the plane. The odds of a strong/heavy DS aircraft that is at altitude and uncontrolled to survive sufficiently well such that the electrical power and radio gear works to use telemetry data to find the location... we need more zeros for the odds calculation.

The best way I have found is A drone. Especially as the sun comes and you can use a thermal camera drone. The carbon heats up very fast compared to the surrounding brush. It will stick out like a sore thumb.

Originally Posted by ALEX HEWSON

Absolutely Bob. I was complacent and excited with apprehension for the flight and didn't take my time. I should have held it right on top in front with flaps down. No risk analysis was done, even thought about, and there was a lot of new factors at play that day. Poor visibility, strongest winds I've ever flown in, two new-to-DS attendees, and so on

Alex.........don't feel bad for not thinking enough ahead in lieu of the excitement
of what's to come.

It happens to the best of us.

It happened to my wife and I last Thursday, January 21st. We were on a 6 day driving trip, from San Diego California to San Francisco California, over 500 miles, ultimately to visit the redwood forest at Muir Woods.

We did everything wrong, and didn't think it would be a big deal until it got to be too late.

1st mistake.........we got lost on our way driving up the mountain, and thus, weren't paying enough attention while trying to find our way back there to make sure that our cell phones were charging, so they would have a good charge once we arrived.

Since we got there late, 4:15 p.m., I stop the car by the entrance, ran up and showed the ticket window person our downloaded reservation on my wife's phone, and asked if we could just go in for a 1/2 hour to see a few redwoods, and take a few pictures to be able to say we were there. We figured we'd go 15 minutes in, then it would be 15 minutes out.

He said sure no problem. So I ran back and parked our long vehicle - our SUV towing a pop-up trailer, and we started hiking in.

2nd mistake........If we had got there on time, closer to 3 p.m., we would have made a couple of sandwiches, and put those, plus 4-6 bottles of water, our compass, walkie-talkies, and a flashlight in a backpack, and taken that with us. But since we were only going to be there for a 1/2 hour, we didn't bother.

3rd mistake............We didn't look at the trail map placard, or take a paper trail map with us. We just started hiking up the first trail that was off of the main entrance trail, assuming it was the 15 minute loop trail.

After about 15 min.'s of hiking uphill we crossed a bridge, thinking we were crossing the gorge, and thought, "Okay, maybe we are on the 1/2 hour trail loop. We should still be able to make it back okay. We kept expecting, at any time, that we would start going downhill, and that it would then soon put us back onto the main entrance trail. But even though there were some downhills, it generally just kept going uphill, as we later crossed another bridge, then still later, another.

Both of our mouths & lips were terribly dry. We had both obviously become very dehydrated.

It was becoming dusk, and now we started to worry if we are going to be able to make it out of there. My cell phone was totally dead after taking a few pictures when we got there, and hers only had 11% left. We figured that if we turned ON the flashlight on her phone, that it would only last for 5-10 minutes before the battery totally died.

Soon my wife, who is 58 y/o w/ with high pressure, was telling me........."Honey, I'm having a hard time! You're just going to have to leave me here, and take my phone so you have some light, so you can get out of here and make it back to the car. Then you can get the flashlight, and put some bottles of water in the backpack, and come back to find me." But I told her, "I'm NOT leaving you out here by yourself!".

We continued forward, figuring we MUST be past the halfway point. But it's wasn't until we saw the sign that said we were NOW AT the halfway point, that we realized we must actually be on the hour-long trail loop.

It was 4:50 p.m. now, and sunset was at
5 p.m. But with the redwood trees towering hundreds of feet high, the canopy of the trees was blocking out much of the daylight, and it was getting dark fast! Also, we knew once it got totally dark, that the canopy of trees would also block out much of the moonlight as well.

Laurie wanted to continue forward the 1.6 miles the sign said it was back to the visitor's center. But I insisted, "NO, we are going back the way we came! The sign says it 0.2 miles shorter that way, and it was mostly uphill, so that means it'll be mostly downhill going back. And besides, we are familiar with that trail since we were just on it, but we don't know what lies ahead."

So we walked briskly back down the trail we came, hoping we could do it much faster than we just did, but had to keep stopping to rest since we were spent.

Soon it was almost entirely dark. I waited until the very last minute, when I was starting to lose orientation of where I was stepping on the trail before I took her phone out of my pocket to power it on. I had been thinking, and since we had no idea how close we were to the main entrance trail, and with only 5-10 minutes of flashlight available on her phone, I instead decided it would be better to just hit the power button every 10 seconds or so that the screen turned off, and just use the minimal light the screen provided to give us just enough light to be able to see where we were stepping so the battery would last longer. I held the phone out with my left hand, about waist level, screen side down. I tied my jacket around my waist, and Laurie grabbed ahold of it to stay right behind me as I explain to her what I was stepping over, roots, rocks, one or more steps down, etc.

From the time that we started using the front screen of her phone to provide minimal light, until the time that we got out onto the main trail going in to Muir Woods, was at least a half hour! I kept listening to see if I could hear any wildlife, like bears, or mountain lions, but thankfully didn't.

I guess the employees, and Rangers there looked at their watch and said, "Well it's 5pm, time to go home.", and didn't care that our long vehicle was still in the parking lot, thinking, "Hey, maybe somebody is still up there in the woods.", because when we got back down, everybody was gone.

As we got back to our vehicle, Laurie let go of my jacket, and went around to the right side of the trailer to get in our SUV to drink some water, and warm up. But in the pitch black darkness, she didn't see the cement parking stop, and tripped over it hard, breaking her hand in the process.

All in all, it could have been much worse.

She could have tripped and fell on the trail that we were trying to hurry along, where in many places, on the right side, was a steep drop off, going down anywhere from 20-70 feet. Which is why, even though my left arm was sore from holding it out away from my body for so long, I continued to hold it with my left hand, so I wouldn't make a mistake, and accidentally drop it down the slope by trying to hold it with my right hand.

I guess we were just lucky we made it out of there okay.

Bob

Geez Bob, that's a rather gripping little story. You're right ... stuff happens. I try to reconcile my own proclivity for creating disasters by telling myself that if you do stuff, stuff happens. Many years ago (well before mobile phones) my wife Janet went on a girls weekend with her friend Cheryl and had a similar misjudgement of distance/ time on a walk near Binna Burra in Qld, and ended up walking back the last few k's in pitch black dark with no torch ... and Janet was carrying a baby on her back. They were literally shuffling along feeling the track out, trying to keep away from the cliff edge. They made it, fortunately! The only people who don't have things go wrong are those who don't do anything ... so you have to pat yourself on the back that at least you have a pulse and you try to get out there. Glad it wasn't worse, and I hope Laurie's hand is OK!

Originally Posted by fly2bob

...
It happens to the best of us.
...

You think of Your wife and You? Well, very sad story , a broken hand will heal.
BUT ALEX LOST HIS MODEL!

Originally Posted by Joe W

That method works nicely when the aircraft lands intact, I have used that method several times via the telemetry downlink when landing under control at a distance to sort out the details of location when walking to the plane. The odds of a strong/heavy DS aircraft that is at altitude and uncontrolled to survive sufficiently well such that the electrical power and radio gear works to use telemetry data to find the location... we need more zeros for the odds calculation.

I've had more walks of shame to get crashed DS planes than I care to admit, and I've learnt a few things. Firstly most hard crashes the electrics are usually still working. Second, if they're not working, the model is usually smashed beyond repair and not worth retrieving.

Having said that I don't fly a transonic and not at those speeds...

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