Simon Chaddock Posted March 24, 2012 Share Posted March 24, 2012 Nice calm warm sunny conditions but rather misty. So I decided to fly my "2 hour" duration plane - not for two hours - but for a longish flight to see how well it could be trimmed to fly hands off. To save weight it is mainly left natural white depron. 30 minutes of slow gentle circling. So far so good but eventually it got rather high for the conditions and.......... it was gone! Power off. Keep searching but it has a very low sink rate so it could go a long way. Still nothing - need to do something The human eye is very sensitive to a flash of light particularly in peripheral vision so stick full back and to the right to put it into a steep spiral dive. Hopefully its white wings would reflect the sunlight as it rotated and I would see it - before it hit the ground! It did so panic over but as a method it is not good for the nerves! Edited By Simon Chaddock on 24/03/2012 22:47:15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Hooper Posted March 24, 2012 Share Posted March 24, 2012 Hmmmm...... A bit hazy here today too. Saw several members lose orientation as their models became silhouetted against the sun (myself included). tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Privett Posted March 25, 2012 Share Posted March 25, 2012 A good number of years ago we were flying late in the afternoon on a very dull, overcast winter day. Everybody was packing up for the day except one young lad who carried on flying a small silver/grey model. Not the best colour I reckoned to show up against dark grey clouds! Watching his model I was struggling to keep it visible and I was amazed that the lad was able to see it well enough to continue flying. Then the model just disappeared from my view. That confirmed my opinion that he obviously had super-human eyesight - or so I thought! I kept looking in the direction I'd last seen the model and suddenly it came back into view - low down and heading downwards. I let out an involuntary "WHOOOOOA" - not that I reckoned the plane would have heard it... The plane did however pull out of the dive, carried on back towards the strip and landed. After a few minutes I went over and had a chat with the lad and told him how surprised I was that he'd been able to see the model in those conditions. "Actually," he replied, "I completely lost it just before the end. But somebody shouted something and I instinctively yanked the stick back. It was only then that I saw the model again!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamish Posted March 25, 2012 Share Posted March 25, 2012 On a diferent forum I accused a pilot of being totally irresponsible. His idea of fun was to fly into the clouds so his model disappeared and then put a dive in and then search it out. He could not understand that I considered this iresponsible as he had done it many times and had not lost a model. Was I being over cautious ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Cotsford Posted March 25, 2012 Share Posted March 25, 2012 as he couldn't see what else was in or above the clouds, then I would agree Hamish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Marsh Posted March 25, 2012 Share Posted March 25, 2012 A while back, I was flying a SAS Star Delta on a hazy day. I did a big loop, and when the aircraft was vertical, it disappered into the mist! I didn't panic, of course, just kept pulling the loop, and turned where it would likely come out. It did, and carried on flying, but at lower altitude, or course!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Miller Posted March 25, 2012 Share Posted March 25, 2012 I was flying my Easy Pigeon and glanced away. Looked back and it had gone. I spent several afternoons searching for it but didn't find it. Then one afternoon the farmer arrived with the remains. He had found it intact in completely the opposite direction from where I had thought it had been. The problem was that he could not get the model in the cab of his tractor so he had placed it on the bonnet. The model then slid off and he drove over it. He only got half a bottle of whiskey as a thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator Posted March 25, 2012 Share Posted March 25, 2012 Posted by Hamish on 25/03/2012 10:06:18: On a diferent forum I accused a pilot of being totally irresponsible. His idea of fun was to fly into the clouds so his model disappeared and then put a dive in and then search it out. He could not understand that I considered this iresponsible as he had done it many times and had not lost a model. Was I being over cautious ? No, I don't believe so - acidentally loosing eye contact and/or orientation is one thing, to deliberately do so is reckless in my opinion. BEB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve W-O Posted March 25, 2012 Share Posted March 25, 2012 Posted by Peter Miller on 25/03/2012 11:17:04: I was flying my Easy Pigeon and glanced away. Looked back and it had gone. I spent several afternoons searching for it but didn't find it. Then one afternoon the farmer arrived with the remains. He had found it intact in completely the opposite direction from where I had thought it had been. The problem was that he could not get the model in the cab of his tractor so he had placed it on the bonnet. The model then slid off and he drove over it. He only got half a bottle of whiskey as a thank you. Hope you opened the bottle and put it on the tractor bonnet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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