Found aeroplane Pattingham West Midlands area

[BiggusBobbus]

HI, 

New to the forum and I don't fly, just trying to help someone who's lost a plane. 

My friends saw a model aeroplane fly over them and crash whilst walking their dogs in the Pattingham area of the West Midlands. 

 

They left it, thinking it would be recovered by someone, but as it was still there today they brought it back. 

I don't know if this is the best place to post this, just trying to get a plane back to its rightful owner. 

 

Any advice, or a better place to post this? 

 

Thanks

Bob. 

 

[EvilC57]

It’s a perfectly good place to report it Bob. The BMFA Club Finder shows 5 model flying clubs within 10 miles of Pattingham, so hopefully someone will come forward to claim it.

 

There should also, in theory (if it weighs more than 250g), be a CAA registration number label on it somewhere, the BMFA or police should be able to use this to trace the owner.

 

I don’t think you should be too surprised it was there unrecovered for a couple of days, we’ve had people lose models, and it’s taken numerous searches before they’ve been found - after all, models are quite small, and the countryside is very big.

Edited December 28, 2022 by EvilC57

[leccyflyer]

The model, if heavier than 250g, should have the pilot's Operator number shown somewhere on or inside the model. If you've recovered the model reporting that number to the BMFA will help to locate the operator/owner/pilot. https://nationalcentre.bmfa.org/contact-us

 

It it's an electric model - with no obvious engine fitted - for the sake of safety you should look for a battery access hatch and disconnect the main flight battery, by disconnecting the plug fitted to the battery.

 

If you've any questions on how to handle the model, this is a good place to ask.

[BiggusBobbus]

Thanks for the fast replies. 

 

It's a bigger model than 250g and it's not an all electric model. 

I will get them to check it for a number and report it. 

 

Hopefully we can get the model back to the owner ASAP. 

 

 

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

If it was flown from a BMFA club then there should have been an incident report raised in order to comply with their Article 16 exemption. I suppose it’s possible that if it happened over the Christmas period there may have been a delay but it might be worth those local clubs ensuring that if any of their members have lost this model they have managed to file a report successfully. 

[PeterF]

I believe you can report a found drone/ plane at the link https://dronesreunited.uk/#menu which is run by the CAA but the drone/ plane must have the OP number and for a plane use the type "other".

[Piers Bowlan]

14 hours ago, BiggusBobbus said:

Thanks for the fast replies. 

 

It's a bigger model than 250g and it's not an all electric model. 

I will get them to check it for a number and report it. 

 

Hopefully we can get the model back to the owner ASAP. 

 

 

If you were to post a picture of it here someone may even recognise it as belonging to a fellow club member. A long shot but possible.

[BiggusBobbus]

We've had a look at the plane and even taken the wing off to look inside, but there's no obvious ID number that can be seen. 

There are however 2 BMFA stickers on the tail so it looks like it was flown by a member. 

I'm reluctant to post a picture but it's at least 1m long and 1m wide, so it's not a tiny thing. 

 

I'll see if I can find any local clubs websites. 

 

[Graham Bowers]

25 minutes ago, BiggusBobbus said:

We've had a look at the plane and even taken the wing off to look inside, but there's no obvious ID number that can be seen. 

There are however 2 BMFA stickers on the tail so it looks like it was flown by a member. 

I'm reluctant to post a picture but it's at least 1m long and 1m wide, so it's not a tiny thing. 

 

I'll see if I can find any local clubs websites. 

 

BMFA club finder linked above in the thread is your best bet. The closest is 3 Shires. 

[BiggusBobbus]

Thanks Graham I found that club and it looks to be based nearby, unfortunately they don't have a working website. 

 

I think we will hand it in at a local police station, but I'll drop an email to the address above mentioning the details just in case it's still a working club.  

[Piers Bowlan]

Did you try calling the phone number for the Three Shires MFC? 
‘Local police station’ : The owner might not think of contacting the police if he hasn’t bothered to mark the model with an Operator ID. Bit like driving without a licence!

 

Is the model radio controlled BiggusB? If it is, it will have servos and pushrods connected to the control surfaces (elevator, rudder, ailerons etc).

I just wondered if it was a free flight flyaway, although in that case you would expect the address to be on it somewhere.

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

6 minutes ago, Piers Bowlan said:

Did you try calling the phone number for the Three Shires MFC? 
‘Local police station’ : The owner might not think of contacting the police if he hasn’t bothered to mark the model with an Operator ID. Bit like driving without a licence!

The Police is the last thing our model clubs need, 🤐

[Rich Griff]

May I ask does the model look "new" as in bought for an Xmas present, it has it been in situ for some time ?

 

You say it has an "engine" rather than an electric motor.

 

Prop broken ? And does the engine turn over ?

 

Does the engine have a T shaped screw on top of the cylinder head, and as has been asked, servo controlled elevater, rudder, ailerons ?

 

The rudder and elevater are on the tail, ailerons on the wings.

 

A picture would be a great help.

 

Someone is missing a model and probably very red faced.

 

Metre by metre, so not that big. Bet it's a cheapo foamy that "escaped".

[BiggusBobbus]

I have called the number and it went to answering machine. 

I've emailed the address. 

 

I tried to find a local police station and there aren't any locally! So it won't be going there. 

 

[Graham Bowers]

@BiggusBobbusI just rang the number for the 3 spires club and the guy who answered is going to check if there's been a flyaway. He's also going to look here, so perhaps worth hanging on to it a bit to see if this line on enquiry bears fruit. 

[BiggusBobbus]

The model doesn't look old, but looks older than a Christmas present. 

The prop has 2 blades and the engine has compression. There's a little damage to the nose just behind the engine, but the rest of it looks OK.

There's also 5 - 6 servo's for the control surfaces and throttle (I didn't look that closely, but I'm an electronics engineer so I know a bit) 

 

I don't want to post pictures or say what the model is for obvious reasons.

 

Thanks Graham, I hate answering machines so sent an email, we'll hang on to it for a while, I'm visiting my friends who found the plane for the holidays and have nothing better to do other than watching Netflix, eating and sleeping. 

 

[kc]

One thing to note is that you could be sure that the model belongs to anyone who claims it ( if it's a Radio Control model ) because the rightful owner can prove it's his because his transmitter can work with the model.  With the latest 2.4 Ghz RC equipment it's absolutely unique & certain and with older gear it needs matching crystals ( about 25 possible variations)

So no need to worry about publishing details - the owner can simply produce a Tx that works with the model  to prove it's his!

Edited December 29, 2022 by kc

[BiggusBobbus]

Excellent point KC. My knowledge of anything RC stopped decades ago when it was different colours crystals running at 27MHz (and there were arguments with CB radio people if I remember correctly) 

The receiver in the plane does say 2.4 GHz so I guess it's OK to say it's a Cougar 2000, nice but doesn't look particularly sophisticated.  The engine is an Irvine. 

 

 

 

 

[Solly]

16 minutes ago, kc said:

One thing to note is that you could be sure that the model belongs to anyone who claims it ( if it's a Radio Control model ) because the rightful owner can prove it's his because his transmitter can work with the model.  With the latest 2.4 Ghz RC equipment it's absolutely unique & certain and with older gear it needs matching crystals ( about 25 possible variations)

So no need to worry about publishing details - the owner can simply produce a Tx that works with the model  to prove it's his!

Problem is, if the model flew away, the radio might not be working.

[Piers Bowlan]

If it wasn’t working I can’t imagine it flying for more than ten seconds before crashing. The operator must have been very near to where it came down. You would also expect a lot of damage with an out of control fun-fly model. Something funny going on here?

Edited December 29, 2022 by Piers Bowlan

[Pete32]

Hello

Thanks to Graham calling me, I have identified one of our members who has lost the plane.

He has spent hours trying to find it.

I've contacted the person who started this thread and hopefully we can re-unite our member with his plane.

Thanks for all the messages

[Rich Griff]

Spanish inquisition to come .... ?

 

Would be interesting and informative to find out the why's and how far it flew from take off location, all done very quietly of course....

 

Maybe we can all learn something .....

[BiggusBobbus]

HI, 

The plane was just collected. 

 

Thanks for the help getting it back to the owner, this seems like a nice community of helpful people. 

 

Have a happy new year and happy flying

 

Bob

[leccyflyer]

Thanks Bob - good to hear a happy ending. 

Happy New Year.

Brian

[Graham Bowers]

1 hour ago, Rich Griff said:

Spanish inquisition to come .... ?

 

Would be interesting and informative to find out the why's and how far it flew from take off location, all done very quietly of course....

 

Maybe we can all learn something .....

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition 😉