Nearly lost my plane today!

[Simon Hall 2]

Basically I was flying too high and WAY too far downwind. It seemed to happen really quickly too. How far downwind was the scariest part as I have never had the plane that far away from me before. I was also flying at a totally new site. I'm sure some of you as beginners must have had that moment when you suddenly realise that you are in big trouble and think you will lose your plane. I tried to keep calm and not let my sight off the plane for a second as it was so small and far away. Thank god I painted the rudder and wing tips fluorescent orange, otherwise I am very sure I would have lost it. I really needed those very tiny flashes of orange to get an idea on its direction. Anyway, lesson learned! I had 2 perfect landings though which was the good part. I will post some pics later of my new flying field. It's very good and a lot further away from the airport which is what I was looking for. The grass is short and it's a little soft underfoot, but still it's a lot better than my old site. I was chatting with another flyer on the way out who uses the field and flies IC planes. There was no one there when I was flying though. 

Edited By Simon Hall 2 on 06/12/2014 16:31:06

Edited By Simon Hall 2 on 06/12/2014 16:44:44

[Colin Carpenter]

Simon - an excellent tip about painting fins and wing tips a bright colour. When I was teaching myself early on I coloured the same areas on my Easyglider and EScale Electraglide a bright orange/red with a permanent marker. I also tended to fly a distance away and these aids to vision were really useful. I tell the beginners in my club to do the same on thier white foamies but do they ? Heh Ho !!

Colin

[Chris Barlow]

Sometimes you have to get into a bit of a scary situation to appreciate how fast it happens.

Next time Simon learn to recognise where the limit is where you need start thinking about a way out or time to start coming back in/down. Thermals high up can be nasty lifting a plane out of sight in seconds if you don't realise whats happening (Brick Lifters!) Quite easy to get caught out over 1,000ft

But you did the right thing in keeping calm and dealing with the situation rather than panicking & possibly making it worse by diving in the wrong direction!

[Simon Hall 2]

Chris, I knew I had to get it pointing towards me and lose altitude steadily in mini dives. It was almost invisible head on, but the visual cues from the orange gave me confidence that I was pointing it towards me rather than away. I am sure I got some unexpected lift too at some point. I don't think I was above 1000ft, but the distance away was the problem. I will check the altimeter later. I have been at 1400ft without problems, but the plane was near by.

[Simon Hall 2]

Colin, I used the foam friendly rc paint from the model shop. I also did large black strips on the underwings. I reckon these are a very good idea for gliders or planes that fly relatively high as recommended here and on other forums. 

Edited By Simon Hall 2 on 06/12/2014 17:05:51

[Pete B]

I've found that the darker the underside of sailplane wings the better, regardless of weather conditions, so I now use dark blue or black panels under white or pale coloured wings.

I've recently been flying a Reichard Champion (2.7m) which has a built-up wing with red/orange translucent film. Once over 1500ft in a clear blue sky, it becomes surprisingly difficult to see, compared to the black underwings of my 2.0m Phoenix 2000 and Easyglider. Contrast, rather than colour, is the most important factor.

Pete

[Simon Hall 2]

After looking at the altimeter graph, as I thought, I was only just over 800ft high max but the distance got me!

Edited By Simon Hall 2 on 06/12/2014 18:21:00

[John Privett]

Well done for getting it back Simon.

And you probably now appreciate why you need to be cautious about flying a long way away when downwind. If/when things do start going wrong, the plane is most likely going to get further and further away, making it even more difficult to get back under control. If you'd been a long way out upwind, then at least the wind would have tended to blow the model back towards you.

[Pete B]

Posted by John Privett on 06/12/2014 18:57:00:

[EDIT] Duplicate post...

Mods, please delete!

(And ideally fix the problem that allows the same post to be posted twice!)

Post deleted, John - can't do much about your twitch though....

Pete

[Simon Hall 2]

Posted by John Privett on 06/12/2014 18:56:58:

Well done for getting it back Simon.

And you probably now appreciate why you need to be cautious about flying a long way away when downwind. If/when things do start going wrong, the plane is most likely going to get further and further away, making it even more difficult to get back under control. If you'd been a long way out upwind, then at least the wind would have tended to blow the model back towards you.

That was it John, I knew I was in trouble in the worst way being so far down wind. I really was on a wing and a prayer for a while! Never again! Here are the pics of my new field. It's on a gradual slope, but it's really quite big so this does not matter. I walked to near the top of the field and left my plane about 3/4 way down to give an idea on the size. I feel very lucky to now have this field to fly in, at least for now.

[Simon Hall 2]

Just out of interest, I am now very seriously considering getting BMFA insurance after this. As you can probably see from the pic, I am in the countryside well away from built up areas and major roads. Will the BMFA cover me if I fly here on my own, not connected to a club or under instruction and lose my plane?

Edited By Simon Hall 2 on 06/12/2014 19:32:42

[Old Geezer]

Simon - had a similar experience myself this morning with my Mpx Dogfighter - saved ( again ! ! ) by Mpx Fluo' Red paint on the upper surfaces of the outboard halves of both wings and the whole tail unit - didn't lose it, but might have done so without the fluo' paint to maintain my orientation so far out. In fact, practically every airframe in the shed has fluorescent paint on it to enhance visibility and orientation, not exactly cool, but there you go, it keeps me happy!

[Simon Hall 2]

Sorry, I meant third party cover if my plane crashes into something/someone as opposed to me recovering the cost of my plane

Edited By Simon Hall 2 on 06/12/2014 19:45:57

[Dave Hopkin]

The Standard BMFA Insurance that comes as part of the membership will cover you for 3rd party claims

You can join as a country member if you don't belong to a club

The BMFA web site seems to be up the swanee at the moment but check it out when its back up

[Simon Hall 2]

Posted by Gurth Scriven 2 on 06/12/2014 19:39:45:

Simon - had a similar experience myself this morning with my Mpx Dogfighter - saved ( again ! ! ) by Mpx Fluo' Red paint on the upper surfaces of the outboard halves of both wings and the whole tail unit - didn't lose it, but might have done so without the fluo' paint to maintain my orientation so far out. In fact, practically every airframe in the shed has fluorescent paint on it to enhance visibility and orientation, not exactly cool, but there you go, it keeps me happy!

I am glad I painted my Radian and will do this on my new second Radian before it's flown. I do agree with Pete B regarding the colour of the underside wings, especially when over 1000ft. Mine was getting quite small at 1400ft and as Pete B said, completely black underside wings would be even better than the thick black stripes. This situation today was different though, as I was only around 800ft, but my plane was a long way out. I really think those bright day glow colours saved my bacon!

[Simon Chaddock]

Simon

A little tip I use is to imagine I am flying within the boundaries of a cone with me at the point. The further away the higher I have to be. Provided I keep the lower boundary of the cone higher than the glide angle of the plane I know I can get back even if the power fails. The actual angle of the 'Cone of safety' depends on the planes glide performance.

It still air the cone is symmetrical all around you but wind makes the cone tip towards the wind.

It may look obvious but keeping within the cone should mean you are always looking up at the underside of the plane so you should avoid that difficult head on view.

Note when the cone is 'tipped' due to the wind the area of safety down wind gets smaller and although you can technically get back from a greater distance up wind the safe distance actually reduces because low down the plane will be in the dreaded head on view.

The fly in the ointment is that gliders tend to have quite a small area side as well so when banked with the wing directly edge on to your line of sight it can temporarily disappear or in my case it was permanent!

[Nigel Dell]

Simon H

Well done for getting it back! I think most have been there at some point or other, especially flying gliders I know I have.

A few years ago I bought myself some Ray Bans Drivers sun glasses these enhance reds, I have to be honest I was sceptical but I got them for the car honest, I tried them when flying and most of my gliders have red on them somewhere and was pleasently suprised they do in fact work very well and have helped me avert losing models at a distance on more than one occasion, just a bit more insurance, the only trouble is now I am getting to the point of needing a perscription pair in the near future so I need to get some more.

Nice site you have the use of there!

Cheers

Nige.

[Martin - RAM Models]

Posted by Pete B - Moderator on 06/12/2014 18:14:05:

I've found that the darker the underside of sailplane wings the better, regardless of weather conditions, so I now use dark blue or black panels under white or pale coloured wings.

This no doubt tallies with the reason why RAF training aircraft are now black. Trials by the RAF showed it to be the colour that stood out best under a variety of weather conditions.

[Simon Hall 2]

Below is a Google Earth view of my new flying site 'flying field 2'. I have abandoned my old 'flying field 1' as even low flying here is worrying me now with all the media hype regarding drones and near misses flying close to airports. The new site is still not ideal, but I think it's in a better spot in relation to the runway if I fly sensibly. The red circle is 2.5 miles from the centre of the main runway.