Fly aways

[Bob Cotsford]

And another Matador doing it's own thing, mine was from Sutton park in about 1968. If anyone in North Birmingham comes across it could they let me know please?

Previous to that I lost a freeflight Keilkraft Conquest that I'd strapped a Cox PeeWee on the front of. Again that little engine ran a lot longer than I'd expected on a quarter tank, the Conquest climbing almost vertically out of sight and hearing.

MIL lost a kite down on the South Downs when she let go of the end of the string, does that count?

[J D 8]

Like Peter I found out the hard way just how long PeeWee would run for on it's half filled little tank, the FF glider I had fitted it to then caught some lift off the ridge behind my house and went up and up cleared the ridge as a dot in the sky never to be seen again.

[Doctor Chinnery]

I've had my share of fly aways over the years but the most memorable took place in the time of grey shorts, long grey woollen socks and Clark's Sandals. My first diesel - a 1cc Allbon Merlin ( an absolute pig to start but to us seemed pretty powerful once you'd got it running ) on my first F/F model - a Slicker Mite. That was a great combination on short runs that kept the little beauty within the Marston Green Rec' as long as there was only a little wind and the D/T worked. This memorable flight happened on a warm and practically windless August early Saturday evening - and everything was going well, we'd had several nice flights and no dramas when we managed to launch into what turned out to be one of those 'brick lifters" and into the bargain the D/T failed to work. The Mite shortly disappeared still going almost vertically upwards rather than downwind (there wasn't any ). I went home, bereft. Father unamused - money wasted etc etc. Better things to do with your pocket money etc etc. Early the following morning the phone rang - have you lost a toy plane? No, my son has. ( Yes - name, address & phone number on the pylon.) It landed on our greenhouse during the night, can he come and collect it? Has it caused any damage? No, I found it upside down on the lawn this morning. Where are you - Sutton Coldfield. Much muttering on Father's part and promises of many (very many) additional chores on mine and off we went ( it was Sunday morning and he hadn't yet caught Golf yet ). My beautiful Slicker Mite was undamaged though the dew had caused some of the tissue covering to sag, easily sorted out and she went on to fly happily for some months until two nights stuck in a tree and terminal damage sustained retrieving her ended her career. I've never forgotten the Slicker Mite and her overnight point to point flight of approximately 12 miles, despite Father bending my ear bent repeatedly about the Hobby I subsequently heard he needed very little prompting to brag about his son's long distance model ( not toy ) plane flight.

[Richard Clark 2]

Posted by fly boy3 on 17/07/2020 20:29:37:

Hi all, just wondered how frequent fly - aways are at club level, and if so,what would be most common cause.

Rare at our club but 90% of those that do are caused by people letting the plane fly too FAR away so they lose 'orientation' and can't see where it's going. Shortly after it vanishes.

Letting the plane control them rather than them controlling the plane.

It's the same with crashing - "Oh it's tipped over and pointing at the ground, I shall watch what happens"

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

Just for clarification, was the OP asking about lost models (commonly due to pilot error) or genuine fly-aways where the model continues to fly in a stable manner with no response to control inputs?

[Richard Clark 2]

Posted by Martin Harris on 18/07/2020 16:27:22:

Just for clarification, was the OP asking about lost models (commonly due to pilot error) or genuine fly-aways where the model continues to fly in a stable manner with no response to control inputs?

I don't think anyone will be offended if you report on either as both are "genuine" fly aways if the plane flies away

[Simon Chaddock]

My only fly away wasn't really a fly away so much as OOS.

In a thermal it was a classic "Its about time I brought it back, no, I'll just go round one more time" moment.

I should have known better. Even a 2.2 m glider is very hard to see when 'edge on', particularly when its all white!

Never saw it again.

Apparently when you loose sight of a small object that you have concentrating on your brain instantly goes into a 'scan' mode equivalent to 'low definition' so unless it really 'stands out' from the back ground the chances of you picking it up again are much reduced even though technically it would still be visible.

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

Staring at the last place you saw the model is not always the best way to re-acquire it. The human brain/eyesight has evolved to perceive threats moving in peripheral vision and then focus onto that threat. A threat appears as something moving in relation to the eyes and the way to help spot that small item is to move your head - it's no coincidence that fighter pilots are taught to keep their heads moving. The danger is that your eyes may no longer be focussing at long distance once you lose sight of your model so scanning may improve your chances of spotting it again.

[fly boy3]

Just for clarification. I did mean when the model just "flies away," without answering to any Tx inputs. Cheers

[Wingman]

Our chairman launched his diesel Tomboy without switching the radio on. It was found several days later in a local cemetery completely undamaged - the luck of the devil!

[Cuban8]

Posted by Martin Harris on 18/07/2020 16:59:51:

Staring at the last place you saw the model is not always the best way to re-acquire it. The human brain/eyesight has evolved to perceive threats moving in peripheral vision and then focus onto that threat. A threat appears as something moving in relation to the eyes and the way to help spot that small item is to move your head - it's no coincidence that fighter pilots are taught to keep their heads moving. The danger is that your eyes may no longer be focussing at long distance once you lose sight of your model so scanning may improve your chances of spotting it again.

Not exactly a flyaway as such, but I remember taking part in a BARCS open glider comp years and years ago (Ongar Comprehensive School) where a bloke flew his slot out almost up to the point of landing with someone else's model!

He'd unwittingly lost sight of his own model and continued to fly the acquired one until he realised he didn't have control on his landing approach and then was only then informed that his model was in the next field. I've heard of this sort of mix-up happening with a group of models circling at height for a while until who's flying what is sorted out, but never right down to a few feet of the deck! Happy days!

Edited By Cuban8 on 19/07/2020 10:21:59

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

One of our “senior” members was instructing another on a Ripmax 40 trainer while a very experienced and competent instructor was teaching a pupil on an identical model. We watched the first pair’s model describe some rather unorthodox manoeuvres and crash at the edge of the field, but given the combination we weren’t completely surprised. The first instructor turned to the second and said, “What happened to your model, Mick?” to which he replied, “I don’t know but our model is still flying fine!”

Strangely enough, the same situation happened to the second instructor a year or two before while teaching at a commercial school - again, another instructor had been “flying” his model.

[wingcoax]

A similar thing happened several years ago at the Primrose Valley modelling week. We were flying gliders at the neighbouring camp and one of our senior members ended up flying another aircraft, His own was behind him on a perfect landing approach in the field at the back, we managed eventually to get him to turn round and his aircraft then did a roll to inverted and straight down.

[Richard Clark 2]

Many years ago my free flight Contest Kits 'Inchworm' A2 glider ended up about 35 miles away on 'Tennyson Down' in the Isle of Wight having crossed about 8 miles of land, 4 miles of water, and almost the entire east-west length of the island.

On the very first flight. A short 'test' in the back garden from a low level 'kneeling' hand launch.

Light the dethermaliser fuse for a quick back garden test? No chance

[John Tee]

Only lost 2 models to fly aways. The first was the classic last flight and forgetting to switch on (single channel Robot). The 2nd last year I was flying a Mini Gamma - 14 " wingspan, Was well upwind and felt something crawling up my leg, looked down and brushed my leg and looked back for the model - nowhere to be seen. Other clubmates looked for me but noone could see a very small white model against a white cloud. Only a 1s battery so could not have gone far but had stabilisation so didnt get blown back to me. Not been heard of since.

John

Edited By John Tee on 20/07/2020 18:00:02

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

A spin is a possible solution to the lost visual problem - hopefully a flash of light from the wings during each rotation may draw attention to the model before it gets too low and in the worst case scenario, the model shouldn't get too much further away, making the search for the remains a bit easier.

[Broken Prop]

I was under instruction using a buddy lead and had reached the stage where I could fly around reasonably well but could not take off or land (not much change there then!)

My instructor took off, turned the model into the wind and said, 'You have it'.

A few exploratory stick wiggles on my part evoked the reply, 'No I haven't'.

'Neither have I', he replied and we stood and watched the beautifully trimmed model steadily putter away into the distance. This happened in Corfu and I have often wondered quite what the Albanian Early Warning System made of our intrusion into their airspace.

[extra slim]

way back when a kid, I recall a member hand launching his model.. then after about 100 yards, putting his transmitter on the floor and running after it!!.. I turns out he hadnt turned his tx on and in a panic took flight towards coventry.. after about 10 mins, we heard the sound of a plane, and YES, it was heading over the backside of the field about 300ft.. a gent, wondered out to the patch, picked up the tx, turned it on, and landed it. It was placed at the boot of the guys car... after about 40mins.. he returned looking glum, but the look on his face when he saw it at the back of his car!!!...