Moral of the story, don't try to glide too long with a speed controller without a voltage cutoff.
This was one of those situations when it seemed like absolutely nothing, could go right. I was flying my Pinocchio park flyer plane in a park on a hot, humid, calm evening. Tried to get as long a flight as possible on the electric motor by flying at reduced power and at a fairly high altitude. When the electric motor quit, I would try for a nice long glide. But I must have had one of those speed controllers that does not shut off the electric motor when there is still enough battery left to glide down, because all of a sudden, I had no control. So I watch my plane do lazy circles right into the top of a tree. Found some dead limbs from trees and broke off pieces about two feet long and threw the sticks at the plane above. Several times the sticks hit the plane, but this only budged it a tiny bit, more often the sticks would get stuck in the tree. So I went to a store less than a mile away and bought a baseball and a softball. Amazed myself how many times I could hit the plane with the balls, but this hardly moved the plane at all. Just as amazing, I got the baseball stuck in the tree. By now it was getting close to 9:00 pm and darkness was setting in. My flying buddy suggested that I needed a string around what ever I was throwing, and shake the branch. So I went home and got my spinning rod with 8 pound test line. Attached the softball to the line and threw it into a branch close to the plane. Shook the branch and the plane fell further, but still holding by the tail, pointed straight down. Further attempts, and the line broke, leaving the softball stuck up in the tree. Now I am running around in the dark looking for something heavy to attach to the string, found a heavy cardboard cylinder in a trash can and tied that on to my line. Repeatedly I shook the branches, and repeated the line broke. It was still hot and humid and the mosquitoes were getting vicious. Decided I needed heavier fishing line so I went home again, luckily it is only a few blocks away. All I could find was a heavy duty bait casting setup, that would have to do. Cut off a couple of boards to attach to the line, and headed back to the park. It was really dark, so I drove my van right near the tree. My dad gave me a spotlight that plugs into the cigarette lighter, so I positioned that to shine right on the plane. Pulled out line from the reel and threw the board in the tree again. The line might have been heavier, but it was old and continued to break off. The line snarled up in the reel, so I could not use the reel any longer. Still I continued to throw the board into the tree and shake the branches. Why it wasn't coming down was really puzzling, but I wasn't going to give up. Finally the tree released its final grip and the plane came straight down to the ground. The wing popped off, but the damage wasn't bad, especially considering how many times it had been beaten. I wound the line around the pole (couldn't reel it), and headed home with my plane, it was 10:15 pm. Two hours after getting the plane stuck in the tree. RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
