Story time:

Today, I lost an airplane. After wrapping up work early, I went out to fly my Carbon Cub S+...everything was fantastic until I was joined by a bald eagle (always makes me nervous). After the initial "Oh, neat!" reaction, I realized this bird wasn't happy to share territory. So, in haste, I lined up to land, but completely misjudged my descent rate while clearing a tree line.

Now, raise your hand if you think the tree reached up and snatched the airplane!?! Correct. Down it went. Of course, the area it went down in is essentially swamp (with what I'm pretty sure is an adjacent coyote den as an added bonus). I sunk my shoes all the way into the swamp, before resigning myself to the fact that I'm unlikely to recover the plane. I'll check with a drone tomorrow to see what turns up.

I went straight to the local shop and grabbed a Carbon Cub S2, and will chalk it up to a learning experience.

That's bad luck; I know what it is like to have to evade big eagles.
I was slope flying my very slippery P39 Airacobra off my favourite mountain when a pair of our Wedgetailed Eagles became very agressive towards it.
(Our Wedgetail is related to the bald eagle I think?).
I gave up trying to dodge them and flew the downwind, base and final legs of our landing circuit.
On final approach, one of the eagles rammed it head on (I did not see it coming and I was flying alone), she hit one wing and stopped the glider mid flight, spinning it around on its horizontal axis. The model then dropped and fell nose first into soft dirt, missing logs, a toilet building and rocks, coming to rest nose first in soft wet soil. Minimal damage.

I hope you find your lost "Carbon Cub" to at least, recover some of the gear which is likely to be ok.
Have you spotted it with your quadcopter yet?

By the way, why is the Carbon Cub called "Carbon" when it is a foam plane, is it not?

Jim.

Iowa buzzards are OK with sail planes but will scatter to the four winds if you throttle up a bit from just gliding.

I like to get above them and off set a bit then shut down the motor and join them as they know where the thermals are.

Here in Quincy our old flying field was in the Mississippi flood plane and there were plenty of eagles in the area but have never had one bother an RC plane or glider.

I once hit a Mallard duck on final approach at Iowa City. Left wing hit (Cherokee 140) and punched through the leading edge. Internal wing structure and the hit turned him into duck burger.

Originally Posted by Jim.Thompson

That's bad luck; I know what it is like to have to evade big eagles.
I was slope flying my very slippery P39 Airacobra off my favourite mountain when a pair of our Wedgetailed Eagles became very agressive towards it.
(Our Wedgetail is related to the bald eagle I think?).
I gave up trying to dodge them and flew the downwind, base and final legs of our landing circuit.
On final approach, one of the eagles rammed it head on (I did not see it coming and I was flying alone), she hit one wing and stopped the glider mid flight, spinning it around on its horizontal axis. The model then dropped and fell nose first into soft dirt, missing logs, a toilet building and rocks, coming to rest nose first in soft wet soil. Minimal damage.

I hope you find your lost "Carbon Cub" to at least, recover some of the gear which is likely to be ok.
Have you spotted it with your quadcopter yet?

By the way, why is the Carbon Cub called "Carbon" when it is a foam plane, is it not?

Jim.

Our Bald Eagle has a reputation in line with your Wedgetailed Hawk, especially during nesting season. I've read horror stories of the hawks in you part of the world!

The Carbon Cub is based on the CubCrafters Carbon Cub, and the model is indeed foam.

Originally Posted by Hugh P

Iowa buzzards are OK with sail planes but will scatter to the four winds if you throttle up a bit from just gliding.

I like to get above them and off set a bit then shut down the motor and join them as they know where the thermals are.

Here in Quincy our old flying field was in the Mississippi flood plane and there were plenty of eagles in the area but have never had one bother an RC plane or glider.

I once hit a Mallard duck on final approach at Iowa City. Left wing hit (Cherokee 140) and punched through the leading edge. Internal wing structure and the hit turned him into duck burger.

We have buzzards that tend to keep to themselves. Good thinking on taking their lead with thermals!

I fly quadcopters for a living, and am able to mitigate eagle encounters simply by climbing away. A sudden vertical climb tends to throw them off enough that they leave. Crows are a big problem here on the east coast, and are incessant during the spring months.

I think my panic and haste to land were rooted in the comparative lack of maneuverability that I've enjoyed with drones. I just got back into airplanes after a 10 year absence from the hobby, and when this incident happened, I was probably on my third trip out and still super rusty.

Cheers!