Today’s adventure with model airplanes.

I took my new Pinna Flyer over to Butcher Park at about 9 AM to try for longer flights in the larger field. Sprinklers were watering the north west quadrant of the square, the north east quadrant had been watered so the grass was wet and there were puddles of standing water, not good for a tissue paper airplane. I moved south and detected a tiny bit of drift from the east, so I launched to circle in the south east quadrant. (The south west quadrant is a baseball diamond with chain link fence and backstop.) I put 1,600 turns into the 13 1/4″ loop of 3/32″ rubber, a bit more than the 1,588 estimated breaking number (different batch of rubber), and it still seemed able to take more, but having only the one motor and a limited flying field argues against pushing too far. Previous flights had shown it to have good longitudinal stability and trim without any added clay ballast. It made a nice, steep, steady climb, kept climbing higher and higher in large right circles, then started to drift west and a bit to the south. It was moving over the southern tree line, so I started running toward it; I wanted to stay under it and cross through the trees below it so I could see where it came down. It paused and circled right over the tallest tree in the park, tightening its circle and settling gently among the highest branches.

You can watch the video here.

https://youtu.be/-8jXsbA2La4

When I started running, a couple dogs decided to chase me, zooming around in circles, barking and one snapping at my legs. That must have distracted me and I must have bumped something on the camera which shut it off just before the plane landed. (This camera has buttons all over it and the slightest touch changes everything. You can’t handle it without hitting something. All the logical places to hold it have several sensitive buttons.) I timed the flight on the video and the plane landed a bit after one minute and twenty two, three, four seconds. I went down field and paced off the horizontal projection of the airplane height at about 60 feet.

That is too high for me to reach with my 31 foot pole.

I went home and got a kite, but there was not enough wind. I towed it up until I reached the north tree line and had to stop, then it settled to the ground. Yes, that’s right, Charley Brown, I use kites to get little airplanes out of airplane eating trees. I went grocery shopping and ate lunch. When I got back to the park there was plenty of wind, going in the opposite direction, parallel with the tree line, making it difficult to get the line near the airplane. The kite went up nicely. This is a four foot sled kite. And, yes, Charley Brown, there is a Great Pumpkin.

I had made a three pronged grappling hook from a 6″ length of paperclip wire. I’m not sure it played a role in the rescue. It is hard to see it at 60 feet. It might have been possible to hook and lift the plane itself, but I expected to at least shake tree branches.

I maneuvered the line among waving branches in erratic wind until it could touch the airplane and nearby branches.

With much running around and jerking the line, I was able to knock the plane free with the kite line, once to a lower branch, then into an adjacent tree where it fell twice until it was low enough to reach with my pole.

My next problem was to get the kite line free from the tree and wind the kite down to put it away.

I put a small twig through the ring in the tip of the pole and used the T to catch the airplane and gently pull it down through the branches.

The wing was loose and had two small puncture holes, all of which were easily repaired. This may have happened when I pulled it down at the end. Otherwise it was undamaged, and even had a few turns still in the motor.

I am concerned that the circle seemed to be tightening and the descent steepening at the end. We have seen this before. I want to see an entire descent from this height. There may be a lack of directional stability when the power runs down and there is no longer a propeller slipstream and airflow on the small fin. This would be easily fixed with a larger fin. I have already built a larger fin. The original fin was lightly tack glued on, so replacing it will be easy.

What adventure will tomorrow bring?

(Tomorrow now. 8 AM and already too much wind for safe flying in small parks. If there is enough wind to spin the propeller, there is enough wind to take the airplane out of the park with the altitude and time I intend to fly.)