Lost and Found

[Aero Ace Ace]

I've posted a similar thread in RCGroups, but I wanted to share some cool stuff here too. About a week ago I lost a Funjet to radio interference. The fields surrounding our runway are extremely thick with brush. In some places it's like trying to crawl thru a chain-link fence. In other areas, reeds tower over you as you struggle thru thigh-deep water. I searched the area I thought the Funjet was lost in for 2 days, but I made very little progress. By the third day I had re-installed some new hardware in my Twinstar and sent her up with the camera. After the second sortie she returnd with several pictures that clearly showed the position of the plane; farther from the field than I thought, but quite easy to reach. the airframe was badly damaged, but I managed to fix it, and it is flying today.

Just this morning I searched an area suggested to me by another frequent flier. The brush was also quite thick there, and the pictures I took only had one clue. It turned out to be the airplane in question. If the wing had not been ripped off, I doubt there would have been a trace from the air. I think the plane is 100% repairable without too much effort.

[CHELLIE]

Hi Areo if your on 72 MHz, use a Berg receiver, and you may never ever have any Radio Interference again, they are in a league all there own, its all i use now, its like having a 2.4 radio, as your receiver will lock onto your transmitter, even if some one else is on your channel.use a small piece of scotch tape on all micro receivers to hold the crystal in place and tape the antenna to the receiver, lay it on the receiver and use some fiberglass straping tape, that will keep the antenna from ever wanting to pull out of the receiver, just incase of a hard landing, only use Berg crystals with a Berg receiver, I Like the 4L receiver, hope that helps, Chellie

http://www.bphobbies.com/view.asp?id=V457587

http://www.castlecreations.com/suppo...user_guide.pdf

[Aero Ace Ace]

Here's a few more I found! I've since recovered an electric F-35, a small electric model called a Mach 9, and an OS .60 powered Ugly Stick that is 100% intact. The pilot could not be happier! The Ugly Stick fell into some very thick reeds and never touched the ground, the F-35 was not as lucky, but contained several expensive undamaged parts. The Mach 9 was wing deep in soft dirt, when we pulled it out we were surprised to see the nose was intact! It needs a little work, but appears repairable.

[rdlb23]

Holy Moly! That's just awesome! Every thought about joining the CIA and getting into image analysis?

[newjak]

Very impressive!! You guys sure loose ALOT of planes!

[Lieutenant Loughead]

LOL -- that sounds like the tree that eats Charlie Brown's kite. I would stop flying at that location.

[stevecooper]

Way cool!! bubsteve

[Aero Ace Ace]

Originally Posted by rdlb23

Holy Moly! That's just awesome! Every thought about joining the CIA and getting into image analysis?

There are a few tricks for finding what you're looking for, be it an RC airplane or a covert missile silo. Narrow down the seach area as much as possible. Don't fly too high while taking photos, higher than 50-75ft and the details become too small. At least one photo of your target needs to have some sort of landmark in the frame to guide you to the wreck.

In some cases the plane is smiling right back at you. The Mach 9 couldn't have been any more obvious. In one photo of the Ugly Stick, the maltese cross was visible. The Funjet is a color not found in nature in that area. In some cases you might only see a small piece of the plane, but if that piece is a sharp polygon in a color that doesn't match the terrain, it's definitely man-made.

[rdlb23]

I don't know f you have photoshop but there are some tricks you can use to highlight items that don't belong. Its frequently used to double check for fraud it the publication of scientific photographs.


You can desaturate/oversaturate certain color groups (photo 1), inverting the image will bring out some things (photo 2), or you can use increased contrast in black and white, by adding alot of red and subtracting blue or vice versa.(photo 3)

It seems like its no big deal because you already know where the plane is in the picture, but it totally works and you can get really good at it. I'm not good at it I just know about it, my friend is a graphic designer for a scientific journal in NY and she does these checks all the time. Shes got it super fine tuned and can find the smallest flaws in high resolution stuff...





As you can see from the pictures, sometimes things get highlighted that aren't crashed planes.

[Fangar]

Dude... I think you have discovered the Bermuda triangle of RC Fields.

[Sparky Paul]

Looking at the terrain, there's probably things that go "rattle-rattle" when you walk thru.
I'd not go too far into that stuff myself, looking for a plane.

[crxmanpat]

Ace, you are the man with your recovery skills! I know that Gary is very happy you found his F-35.


This is Bennett Field in Las Vegas (well, Henderson really). It's right next to Sam K Boyd stadium where UNLV plays football. I have flown there twice now, but have been fortunate enough not to have had a plane go down in the "swamp".

I was there a few weeks ago at the Ace In The Hole electric fly-in, and watched the F-35 go in (I was taking video at the time as well). I went out with the owner and searched for quite a while. The weeds out there are so thick you could literally walk right by the plane and not know it. And believe me, I was carrying a big stick with me to herd off any wild critters I came across!

I'm working on a combo AP/FPV setup on a Slow Stick. I got my FPV mount from Blue Sky RC. I just need to get a decent FPV outfit, most of which will come from Range Video. No goggles yet as I have a video camera and laptop that will be dedicated to the system. Not real keen on flying true FPV right now, but that may change in the future. I just can't drop $225 on goggles right now.

My plan is to overfly the suspected impact area (not using FPV), and have an observer looking at the laptop screen. The camera will be pointed almost straight down so that planes can be spotted from directly overhead. If they see something of interest, I can then orbit the area, get a closer look, then send out searchers on foot once a plane is spotted. And if we spot something while flying low, I can then gain altitude so that the observer can get a good triangulation on the crash site.

I hope to put this plan to the test next year.

[Aero Ace Ace]

I have a few more planes to find far out into some extremely tall reeds. It's tough to see stuff in there from an angle so I have re-mounted the camera pointing straight down on a MPX Acromaster. The plan is to fly in a straight line starting from a landmark and re-create a path to the wreck from there.

I got a blip today, but with the angle the camera was mounted in, I couldn't figure out exactly where to look.

[crxmanpat]

Wow, that just goes to show how bad it is. Looks like just the tailplane in that pic. Would be almost impossible to spot from 100' up.

[Aero Ace Ace]

This one was the toughest to find once I was on the ground, but also the most rewarding. There is no damage to the plane, other than a completely discharged lipo. I flew it the next day! From the air, I thought I had spotted a Tiger II several people saw go down. It turned out to be an E-flite Extra-260 that I didn't know was back there. There was no name or AMA number on the plane.

I cleaned it up with a damp rag and shook all the insects out. I found a tiny scorpion, but his tail was broken off.

I've swapped out the rudder servo for more torque, and added a pilot. Hans may have become an ace in a BF-109, but he has become proficient in the Extra as well.